Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1900 — FAT MEN OF OLD. [ARTICLE]

FAT MEN OF OLD.

What They Did Jo Reduce Their Weight About 200 A. D. We know from ancient history that some of the greatest men of the bld world were fat, but it is news to hear that they were troubled In their minds on that account. Banting is generally supposed to be an Invention of the pres* ent century, but that this Is not the case is shown by the treatise by Galen on the foods best adapted for preventing, or reducing, obesity, which has now been edited for the first time in the original Greek by a German scholar. From an interesting account supplied by a writer In the Lancet, we learn that the treatise in question, which was written somewhere in the second century, A. D., was discovered in 1840 and purchased by the Bibliotheque Natlonale. The MS. was frequently referred to by ancient authors, and there seems no reason to doubt that it is really the work of the famous physician. Be that as It may, it Is noteworthy that the treatise Is a scientific anticipation of the banting system, which became popular about the middle of this century. Galen deprecates the use of drugs, and says that the proper way to reduce fat Is by dieting. He recommends eating leeks, onions, mustard and nasturtiums, among green herbs, and fishes which haunt rocks and birds frequenting mountains, saying that aquatic birds are fat-produc-ers. One of his most curious hints Is that vegetables which have been preserved in vinegar or brine are food for the fat, and herein he anticipates the “mixed pickles,” which are considered on the continent to be a purely English invention. Some of his recommendations read very comically nowadays, but all of them are full of common sense, and It seems extraordinary that so much knowledge should be lost to the world for so many years. There is nothing new under the sun, not even the present craze for a slim figure, and Galen’s treatise shows us that after all people of 1700 years ago were men of like passions with ourselves.—London Globe. To speak and to offend, with some people, are butoae and the same thing. —La Bruyere,