Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/71

Rh pharynx, etc.; this same web of membrane is carried to the Eustachian tubes (which lead from the back part of the mouth to the cavity of the ear), and thus it is that what only visibly affects one portion, say the lachrymal canal, or the tonsils, may sympathetically disorder the sense of taste or hearing. The substance of this mucous membrane is composed of three layers, containing a cellular or folliculous system of roundish or oval cells, which are subject to morbid alterations, that affect pails far removed from the local appearance of disorder. Thus, Dr. Harvey reports: "I have seen and treated many cases of deafness which appeared to depend solely on nasal obstruction from adipose deposit. It does this by interfering with or impeding the entrance of the air to the mouth of the Eustachian tubes, undue limitation of air lessening the sensibility and acuteness of the auditory organ. These cases usually occur in persons of great corpulence, in which case local treatment is almost valueless. The corpulence itself must be reduced."

We might go on and point out many physical ills which result from obesity, and we will name a few; but our principal object in these images is to show that a redundance of adipose matter essentially weakens and impedes the power of the will. We know that it disinclines to activity, produces shortness of breath, palpitation of the heart, and comparative weakness in proportion to size, and is often accompanied by anæmia. We can make this clearer, perhaps, by an illustration. The normal weight of a man five feet in height is 120 pounds; of a man five feet ten inches, 169 pounds. Now, suppose the latter really weighs 300 pounds by accumulation of fat, what results but that all this superfluous matter has to be supplied with capillaries, and these have to get blood from vessels only constructed to circulate the original quantity? No wonder is it that the circulation is enfeebled and impeded! By this increase of adipose there is no increase of propelling force. Hence, the overstrain upon the capillaries and the ensuing comparative weakness in the vital functions are explained, and also why external injuries are less easily repaired.

It is a well-settled rule in all animal structures that, when the quantity of fat exceeds the law of their construction, bulk becomes a source of imperfect equilibrium, and therefore of danger. The most bulky animals are not the most useful nor the strongest. An elephant compared with its size is not as strong as an ant. Then there is this physiological fact, that the oleaginous principle is actually less alive than any other part of an animal. Observe the blubber of a whale, into which parasites bore an inch deep without causing any inconvenience, and into which a harpoon may be thrust without serious injury if it does not penetrate to the muscular substance. The quantity of fatty matter in animals seems to bear an inverse relation to the quantity of bodily and mental activity. Hibernating animals, who may be said to live on their own fat, are