The 9th of April following this lady wrote: "My legs do not swell as they used to do, and the palpitations have ceased. I am delighted with this good result of your method of treatment."
Nothing more was heard of Madame K. until the month of August in the following year. She then writes that in accordance with the advice of the medical men of Saint Dié, she, together with her family, went to take the waters of Plombières. That on her return her legs were again swollen, and that she suffered from palpitation of the heart, which gave rise to a choking sensation. She was desirous of again undergoing the anti-obesic treatment. On the 30th of September following she wrote that she had followed my instructions during the last three weeks, and had lost only four pounds in weight; but added, I have obtained a much more valuable result, and that is, the almost total release from my troublesome heart palpitation. I have not since heard from this lady, but I have no doubt that she has been once more cured of her palpitation, and that she is no longer troubled with swellings of the feet and legs. The loss of fat in this case has been attended with freedom from palpitation of the heart, from shortness of breath, and from swelling of the lower extremities. What explanation can be given as to the cause of these results? As to her ailments, did they arise from an excess of blood in the system, or was she suffering from cardiac disease? Physicians thought so and bled her, administered sedatives and alteratives, and restricted the diet of the patient. Still they did not cure her. On the other hand I recommended her food should consist of meat principally; that she should be allowed strong coffee and wine; which, together with the employment of alkaline remedies, reduced her fat and effected a cure. The following season she goes, together with her family, to the springs, and returns thence afflicted in the same way as before, and again my mode of treatment produces the same result.
It is manifest that this heart affection, this shortness of breath, depended upon obstruction to the heart's action, and not upon any excess of blood in the system, since I abstracted no blood, but on the contrary, administered stimulants, together with the use of full meat diet. The swollen limbs arose no doubt from a partial portal obstruction, and ceased when the reduction of fat was effected. It may be urged that the patient was better, or even cured, of heart palpitation, before she had lost much in weight. She had lost, however, four pounds; and four pounds of fat occupy a large space. The fat in a living body is fluid and very light. A pound, therefore, is a large quantity. When a person begins to lose his corpulency, the reduction takes place first in the interior of the body, and consequently there is a great improvement during the first six or eight days in the general health of obese patients, when treated in accordance with the principles now advocated.
An English lady wrote to me from Dieppe, on the 15th of July, 1852. The following is an extract from her letter:—"Arrived here only a short time ago. I at once made trial of your plan for the cure of obesity, and have already experienced considerable improvement. I have not yet had an opportunity of being weighed, and therefore cannot assert positively that my actual weight is less than it was, but I certainly feel lighter, and my hands are neither so red nor so fat as formerly."
Madame Meuriot, an actress, then staying at Chatellerault, addressed me under date the 21st of August, 1851. Her letter is exceedingly lengthy and full of minutiæaelig;, that would be improper to lay before the public. But she informs me that her weight in the course of a single year had increased from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy-five pounds. In order to retain her theatrical engagements, she determined to use every possible means to overcome this troublesome embonpoint. She took her food in quantity barely sufficient to sustain nature; made use of sea biscuit instead of bread that she might eat less. For some time past she has been taking daily forty drops of the tincture of iodine, under the direction of a physician, but without appreciable benefit. Every portion of the body was loaded with fat, and the lower part of the legs were swollen. Having met with my book and dreading the effects of the iodine upon her general health, she was anxious that I should advise her. I did so; and sent the medicine, together with necessary directions from Paris to Perpignau, where she was then staying. I received a letter from her on the 9th of October following, in which she says:—"I am happy to inform you that your treatment has been attended with the most satisfactory results. My legs are no longer swollen. I walk with greater ease than formerly, and my breathing is no longer oppressed. I am unable to say how much my weight has decreased, not having ready access to platform scales; but my gowns tell me that my size is less than it was, yet not as small as could be desired." In conclusion she wished to know whether she might continue the treatment a month or two longer, and if I thought so, to please send her the requisite medicine. I did so, and heard nothing further from Madame de Meuriot until the month of August in the following year. She was then on her way to fulfil an engagement at Lille, and called to see me. She expressed great delight in having got rid of her troublesome embonpoint, and said that she had not been afflicted with swelling of the legs since placing herself under my treatment. "But something has occurred which I did not in the least expect: since my corpulency has left me, I have become enceinte."
A letter from this lady, dated Lille, the 13th October last, begins thus:—"Since I last had the pleasure of seeing you, on the occasion of my departure from Paris, I have become fully satisfied that I am in the family way, and have been so for the past eight months." My advice was requested on some points having reference to her then condition.
The preceding facts tend to shew that reduced corpulency is favourable to conception.
Towards the latter end of 1850, the wife of Dr. Pecquet, of Paris, purchased my work on Obesity. Having read it, she spoke to her husband about it, who said that, like most medical men, he was persuaded that the only way to reduce corpulency, is to eat less than the system demands.
Madame Pecquet, then about sixty years of age, had long been troubled with excessive corpulency, and weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. She had, in consequence of this affliction, passed the greater part of the last eighteen years either in her arm-chair or in bed. According to some of the most celebrated physicians of Paris, and also of her husband, her disease at one time was said to be pulmonary catarrh—at another time, disease of the heart—and again, something else; till at length Madame Pecquet had no rest, day or night.
If she attempted to go to sleep in the horizontal position, she was immediately troubled with a rush of blood to the head, accompanied with the most distressing hallucinations, which utterly prevented her from sleeping. She was unable to take exercise on foot, even when her ailments allowed her any respite, owing to the excessive pain she experienced in the region of the kidneys, and the abundant perspiration of the head, which a walk of even a few steps was sure to induce. It was consequently impossible for her to go out, unless in a carriage. Those only who are unable to enjoy this pleasure, know how great a privation it is not to be able to take a walk on a fine day, and how wearisome it is to be compelled to make use of a carriage in order to enjoy the advantages of fresh air, or to move from place to place.