In reference to chocolate, much difference of opinion has hitherto existed as to its nutritious properties; but we know by experience that it is easy of digestion, and eminently suited to such as are subject to great mental exertion. Some dietists have held that chocolate has a tendency to prevent any augmentation of corpulency. When made with water, it is decidedly preferable to coffee made with milk, the latter being productive of fat. Milk, by virtue of its composition, combines all the elements which are fitted for the development and nutrition of the body; casein containing nitrogen, a fatty matter (butter), and a saccharine substance (sugar of milk).
Chemistry reveals the remarkable fact, that the composition of casein or the cheesy portion of milk, is identical with that of the fibrin and albumen of the blood. Under this aspect, therefore, milk is very nutritious.
The sugar and butter which exist in milk, have no analogy with flesh; according to analysis, they are composed of carbon and the elements of water. When, therefore, we partake of milk, we obtain in one and the same substance all the elements which are necessary for the growth and nutrition of the body, and such is the case in infant life. Since, however, both carbon and hydrogen, in very large proportion, enter into the composition of milk, it is advisable, whenever there is a manifest tendency to corpulence, that the use of it as an article of diet should be avoided. Infants are usually fat, owing to the elements of adipose matter forming so large a proportion of their food, whether that consist of milk alone, or in combination with starchy or farinaceous and saccharine substances.
CHAPTER VIII.
With few exceptions, the corpulent, both male and female, drink a great deal with their meals; and I am more and more convinced, by daily experience, that the large amount of fluid thus imbibed has powerfully contributed to produce their present condition. It may be said that it is constitutional with them to require so much drink. I grant that many persons are in the habit of drinking a great deal more than others, and even that they are constitutionally so inclined; but I cannot allow that they are compelled to drink as much as they do. Habit exercises a powerful influence over all our actions; and I have no doubt that, notwithstanding the existence of a natural predisposition to drink a great deal at meal time, the inclination might be held in check, by not yielding too easily to the desire. Many people, without thinking, increase and stimulate their thirst by making use of highly seasoned dishes; it would be well that they should exercise caution in this respect. Even when using a moderate amount of beverage, a selection as to kind is necessary. Beer and cider being especially rich in aqueous and mucilaginous matter, are by virtue of these elements particularly prone to the production of corpulence. All kinds of drink, when taken in excess, act rather as depressants than stimulants of the nervous centres, and a want of physical and mental activity, alike predisposes to obesity.
Alcoholic drinks of every kind tend to the development of fat, owing to the large amount of the carbonaceous element they contain. Men who use brandy in excess are frequently so puffy and soft that you can scarcely discover the presence of muscular tissue beneath the skin. When blood is abstracted from such persons, it is found to be thin, and to contain a less amount of the most important of the sanguineous elements. We must not deceive ourselves; fat is not to be taken always as an evidence of strength, but, on the contrary, should be regarded as indicative of want of tone and of vital power, as in the case of the aged, who are frequently corpulent though infirm; young chlorotic females; persons deprived of a due supply of fresh air; and such as make use of an excessive amount of alcoholic drink. With respect to the last, it may be said, perhaps, that some are to be met with who, far from being corpulent, are excessively thin, in consequence of drinking large quantities of brandy; and such is indeed sometimes the case, but it is due to the fact that some essential organ of the body is suffering under the pernicious influence. And although the person may have been, at a former period, fat and lusty, the body finally becomes wearied with this continued excess, the stomach is diseased, nutrition is impeded or wholly suspended, and a complete destruction of the vital organism results.
It will scarcely be believed, yet it is nevertheless true, that females can bear these excesses for a longer period than men, and that when they do unfortunately yield to them, they indulge to even a greater extent.
Observation and experience fully corroborate the assertion. Among a great number of cases that could be cited, one must suffice. A young lady, a creole, living in Paris, was in the habit of taking daily a pint of brandy, without its producing any disturbance of her faculties, and, it might be almost said, without committing any excess. When she took a larger quantity,—which indeed was often the case,—she became loquacious and troublesome to her attendants: complained of headache and hallucinations, which deprived her of sleep, and said that she dreaded an attack of apoplexy. During four or five years of professional attendance upon her, I have been witness to several of these fits of excess. She rarely or ever walked, but made use of her carriage, rose late, and seldom partook of meat unless strongly seasoned with red pepper. She became excessively obese under this system of living, and when I lost sight of her she was an utter deformity. Her complexion, however, was still good, and I could attribute her obesity only to her extreme intemperance.