Weight for Height.—The physician who wants to help patients by suggestion must keep before him weight tables for height, as they have been determined by statistics. When people are under weight, it matters not what they may be suffering from, improvement will come if they are made to gain in weight. To be able to show them that they are considerably below the normal and to point out what this probably means in lack of surplus energy, suffices of itself to make many people understand the necessity for [{300}] effort in the matter and to give them a strong suggestion as to probable relief of their symptoms. The following tables are the best-known averages for men and women:

ADJUSTED TABLE OF WEIGHTS FOR INSURED WOMEN, BASED ON 58,855 ACCEPTED LIVES


 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 Combined Ages
4' 11" 111 113 115 117 119 119 122 125 128 126 118
5' 0" 113 114 117 119 122 122 125 128 130 129 120
5' 1" 115 116 118 121 124 124 128 131 133 132 122
5' 2" 117 118 120 123 127 127 132 134 137 136 125
5' 3" 120 122 124 127 131 131 135 138 141 140 128
5' 4" 123 125 127 130 134 134 138 142 145 144 131
5' 5" 125 128 131 135 139 139 143 147 149 148 135
5' 6" 128 132 135 139 143 143 146 151 153 152 139
5' 7" 132 135 139 143 147 147 150 154 157 155 143
5' 8" 136 140 143 147 151 151 155 158 161 160 147
5' 9" 140 144 147 151 155 155 159 163 166 165 151
5' 10" 144 147 151 155 159 159 163 167 170 169 155
Combined Heights 123 126 129 132 136 136 139 142 145 142 133

The average shoes of the average woman will raise her about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches.

DR. SHEPHERD'S TABLE OF HEIGHT AND WEIGHT FOR MEN AT DIFFERENT AGES


15-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-6465-69
5' 0'120125128131133134134134131
5' 1'122126129131134136136136134
5' 2'124128131133136138138138137
5' 3'127131134136139141141141140140
5' 4'131135138140143144145145144143
5' 5'134138141143146147149149148147
5' 6'138142145147150151153153153151
5' 7'142147150152155156158158158156
5' 8'146151154157160161163163163162
5' 9'150155159162165166167168168168
5' 10'154159164167170171172173174174
5' 11'159164169173175177177178180180
6' 0'165170175179180183182183185185
6' 1'170177181185186189188189189189
6' 2'176184188192194196194194192192
6' 3'181190195200203204201198

Correction of Underweight.—Underweight is undesirable for many reasons, and gain in weight is often the solution of many problems in ill feeling. It is well to bear in mind that most patients who are under weight can be made to gain in weight by an appeal to their reason and by proper directions and care in seeing that those directions are carried out. Patients have told me that they could not eat more and yet I have been able to persuade them that they must eat more, and they have done so. Anyone who has much to do with tuberculous patients knows that utter repugnance for food can be overcome by will-power, when it is once made clear to the patient that they [{301}] must eat if they want to live. The most interesting event in the process is that with the increase in the amount of food taken, instead of the appetite becoming more and more satiated, as patients are likely to anticipate, and instead of the repugnance for food growing, the appetite grows stronger, and the repugnance gradually disappears. There is only one way to gain in weight; that is by eating more than one has been accustomed to eat. Persons who are twenty pounds under weight ought easily to gain three pounds a week, half a pound a day, if seriously intent on doing so, but in order to do this they will probably have to increase the amount they eat by double this quantity. That means that a solid additional pound of food, quite apart from the watery elements of the food, must be taken every day.

In the correction of under-weight details are all-important. Patients must be given specific directions as to what and how much of the various foods they should take. With regard to supposed idiosyncrasies against such nutritious substances as eggs, milk and butter, enough is said elsewhere to make it clear that, as a rule, these are merely pet notions, beginning in some unfortunate incident and cherished until they have become a mental persuasion strong enough to disturb the digestion of these substances. What is true for quality of food is true also for quantity. People must be made to understand that the amount of food is to be increased. The results attained by this method are well worth the efforts required for it. Of course, the bitter tonics, especially strychnin and cinchona, will do much to help. Just as soon as patients begin to gain in weight many of their neurotic symptoms leave them. Their tired feelings are no longer complained of and when they are up to normal weight they are quite other individuals, both in good humor and efficiency.

If for years patients have been eating less than they should, then they will have discomfort when they begin to eat more. They will have no more discomfort, however, than would be occasioned if they took more exercise than they had been accustomed to. The stomach and intestines must be gradually accustomed to the new task of disposing of more food. Unfortunately, the usual impression among these patients is that discomfort in the abdominal region, by which they mean any sense of fullness, proceeds from indigestion, and indigestion signifies developing dyspepsia with all the horrors that are supposed to go with it. In reality the slight discomfort which comes from increased eating is usually not manifest whenever the patients are occupied with something reasonably interesting. After a time the organs will become accustomed to it, and then the discomfort will cease.

Nervous Patients.—One of the strongest suggestions that we have in our power for thin nervous patients, suffering from many and various ills, is to have them gain in weight. Many of them will be found to be distinctly under weight for their height. They insist that they cannot eat more, that they are eating as much as they care to, and that they have no appetite, that when they eat more they have discomfort, etc. It must be made clear to them that their one easy road to health is to gain in weight. If they are under weight this makes a very definite purpose to put before their minds. The objection so often urged, that they come from a thin family, must not be listened to. The unalterable purpose to make them gain in weight must be insisted upon. If they can be made to eat more than they have been [{302}] eating before, they will surely gain in weight. To see themselves gaining in weight is a daily renewal of the suggestion that they will be better when they get up to their normal weight. It is much better than electricity or the rest cure, or anything else that I know; it is perfectly natural and, above all, because it may be made an auto-suggestion, it does not leave the patient after a time dependent on anyone else.