Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1876 — Weight of the Human Body. [ARTICLE]

Weight of the Human Body.

There are few people but like to be weighed occasionally; some do it regu* larly at certain hours, before and after meals, or taking a bath, etc. Yet there are few things so changeable' as the weight of the body; indeed, it is rarely the same for a few minutes together; and if a man were to sit qn one of the plates for a whole day, the other plate would be constantly oscillating within certain limits. The state of the weather and time of the year influence our weight. In summer we grow fatter than we are in winter, such is toe general rule; yet most people believe that hot weather makes us leaner. It is true we eat less and perspire more; these are certainly two causes of loss; but, on the other hand, we expend less to keep up the temperature of the body, and moreover we drink more, and our beverages possess the curious property of increasing our fat. Beer, and even pure water, are great fattening agents. reared for slaughter get a great deal to drink, which increases their bulk considerably; the tissues are gorged with liquid, and so the weight increases, but the sys tem is weakened. In’winter, the organism has,to be provided with heat; we eat more, but also expend more to keep up the temperature of toe body; then also we drink less, so that, on the whole, the loss is greater than the gain, and we grow lean In short, we fatten when, under ordinary circumstances, we burn more of the food we have taken, and we, therefore, in breathing, exhale carbonic acid in proportion. We begin to emit less of the latter in April; its amount diminishes considerably in July, August and September, and attains its minimum about the autumnal equinox. It then goes on increasing from October, and we begin to lose the substance gained during the summer. From December to March we remain nearly stationary. To conclude, as we consume less in summer than in winter, all other circumstances remaining the same, we are heavier in hot weather than we are in winter.— Boston Tranecrii' —The poet Tennyson is now siXty-six years old, and still in the prime of thought and capacity for work.