The Physiology of Taste by Brillat Savarin (bearly read books txt) 📖
- Author: Brillat Savarin
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English peas. When young they are food fit for the gods.
I?—Anathema on beans and peas.
OBESE.—Bah, for your anathema; you talk as if you were a whole
council. I.—(To another.) I congratulate you on your good health,
it seems to me that you have fattened somewhat, since I last saw
you.
OBESE.—I probably owe it to a change of diet.
I.—How so?
OBESE.—For some time I eat a rich soup for breakfast, and so
thick that the spoon would stand up in it.
I.—(To another.) Madame, if I do not mistake, you will accept a
portion of this charlotte? I will attack it.
OBESE.—No, sir. I have two things which I prefer. This gateau of
rice and that Savoy biscuit—I am very fond of sweet things.
I.—While they talk politics, madame, at the other end of the
table, will you take a piece of this tourte a la frangipane?
OBESE.—Yes; I like nothing better than pastry. We have a pastry-cook in our house as a lodger, and I think my daughter and I eat
up all his rent.
I.—(Looking at the daughter.) You both are benefitted by the
diet. Your daughter is a fine looking young woman.
OBESE LADY.—Yes; but there are persons who say she is too fat.
I.—Ah! those who do so are envious, etc., etc. By this and
similar conversations I elucidate a theory I have formed about the
human race, viz: Greasy corpulence always has, as its first cause,
a diet with too much farinacious or feculent substance. I am sure
the same regime will always have the same effect. Carniverous
animals never become fat. One has only to look at the wolf,
jackal, lion, eagle, etc.
Herbiverous animals do not either become fat until age has made
repose a necessity. They, however, fatten quickly when fed on
potatoes, farinacious grain, etc.
Obesity is rarely met with among savage nations, or in that class
of persons who eat to live, instead of living to eat.
CAUSES OF OBESITY.
From the preceding observation, the causes of which any one may
verify, it is easy to ascertain the principle causes of obesity.
The first is the nature of the individual. Almost all men are born
with predispositions, the impress of which is borne by their
faces. Of every hundred persons who die of diseases of the chest,
ninety have dark hair, long faces and sharp noses. Of every
hundred obese persons, ninety have short faces, blue eyes, and pug
noses.
Then there are beyond doubt persons predestined to obesity, the
digestive powers of whom elaborate a great quantity of grease.
This physical fact, of the truth of which I am fully satisfied,
exerts a most important influence on our manner of looking at
things.
When we meet in society, a short, fat, rosy, short-nosed
individual, with round limbs, short feet, etc., all pronounce her
charming. Better informed than others, however, I anticipate the
ravages which ten years will have effected on her, and sigh over
evils which as yet do not exist. This anticipated compassion is a
painful sentiment, and proves that a prescience of the future
would only make man more unhappy.
The second of the causes of obesity, is the fact that farinacious
and feculaferous matter is the basis of our daily food. We have
already said that all animals that live on farinaceous substances
become fat; man obeys the common law.
The fecula is more prompt in its action when it is mingled with
sugar. Sugar and grease are alike in containing large quantities
of hydrogen, and are both inflammable. This combination is the
more powerful, from the fact that it flatters the taste, and that
we never eat sweet things until the appetite is already satisfied,
so that we are forced to court the luxury of eating by every
refinement of temptation.
The fecula is not less fattening when in solution, as in beer, and
other drinks of the same kind. The nations who indulge the most in
them, are those who have the most huge stomachs. Some Parisian
families who in 1817 drank beer habitually, because of the
dearness of wine, were rewarded by a degree of embonpoint, they
would be glad to get rid of.
SEQUEL.
Another cause of obesity is found in the prolongation of sleep,
and want of exercise. The human body repairs itself much during
sleep, and at the same time loses nothing, because muscular action
is entirely suspended. The acquired superfluity must then be
evaporated by exercise.
Another consequence is, that persons who sleep soundly, always
refuse every thing that looks the least like fatigue. The excess
of assimilation is then borne away by the torrent of circulation.
It takes possession, by a process, the secret of which nature has
reserved to herself, of some hundredths of hydrogen, and fat is
formed to be deposited in the tubes of the cellular tissue.
SEQUEL.
The last cause of obesity is excess of eating and drinking.
There was justice in the assertion, that one of the privileges of
the human race is to eat without hunger, and drink without thirst.
Animals cannot have it, for it arises from reflection on the
pleasures of the table, and a desire to prolong its duration.
This double passion has been found wherever man exists. We know
savages eat to the very acme of brutality, whenever they have an
opportunity.
Cosmopolites, as citizens of two hemispheres, we fancy ourselves
at the very apogee of civilization, yet we are sure we eat too
much.
This is not the case with the few, who from avarice or want of
power, live alone. The first are delighted at the idea that they
amass money, and others distressed that they do not. It is the
case, however, with those around us, for all, whether hosts or
guests, offer and accept with complaisance.
This cause, almost always present, acts differently, according to
the constitution of individuals; and in those who have badly
organized stomachs, produces indigestion, but not obesity.
ANECDOTE.
This one instance, which all Paris will remember.
M. Lang had one of the most splendid establishments of the
capital; his table especially, was excellent, but his digestion
was bad as his gourmandise was great. He did the honors with
perfect taste, and ate with a resolution worthy of a better fate.
All used to go on very well, till coffee was introduced, but the
stomach soon refused the labor to which it had been subjected, and
the unfortunate gastronomer was forced to throw himself on the
sofa and remain in agony until the next day, in expiation of the
brief pleasure he had enjoyed.
It is very strange that he never corrected this fault: as long as
he lived, he was subjected to this alternative, yet the sufferings
of the evening never had any influence on the next days’ meal.
Persons with active digestion, fare as was described in the
preceding article. All is digested, and what is not needed for
nutrition is fixed and turned into fat.
Others have a perpetual indigestion, and food is passed without
having left any nourishment. Those who do not understand the
matter, are amazed that so many good things do not produce a
better effect.
It may be seen that I do not go very minutely into the matter, for
from our habits many secondary causes arise, due to our habits,
condition, inclinations, pleasures, etc.
I leave all this to the successor I pointed out in the
commencement of this work, and satisfy myself merely with the
prelibation, the right of the first comer to every sacrifice.
Intemperance has long attracted the attention of observers.
Princes have made sumptuary laws, religion has moralized for
gourmandise, but, alas, a mouthfull less was never eaten, and the
best of eating every day becomes more flourishing.
I would perhaps be fortunate in the adoption of a new course, and
in the exposition of the physical causes of obesity. Self-preservation would perhaps be more powerful than morals, or
persuasive than reason, have more influence than laws, and I think
the fair sex would open their eyes to the light.
INCONVENIENCE OF OBESITY.
Obesity has a lamentable influence on the two sexes, inasmuch as
it is most injurious to strength and beauty.
It lessens strength because it increases the weight to be moved,
while the motive power is unchanged. It injures respiration, and
makes all labor requiring prolonged muscular power impossible.
Obesity destroys beauty by annihilating the harmony of primitive
proportions, for all the limbs do not proportionately fatten.
It destroys beauty by filling up cavities nature’s hand itself
designed.
Nothing is so common as to see faces, once very interesting, made
common-place by obesity.
The head of the last government did not escape this law. Towards
the latter portion of his life, he (Napoleon) became bloated, and
his eyes lost a great portion of their expression.
Obesity produces a distaste for dancing, walking, riding, and an
inaptitude for those amusements which require skill or agility.
It also creates a disposition to certain diseases, such as
apoplexy, dropsy, ulcers in the legs, and makes all diseases
difficult to cure.
EXAMPLES OF OBESITY.
I can remember no corpulent heroes except Marius and John
Sobieski.
Marius was short, and was about as broad as he was long. That
probably frightened the Cimber who was about to kill him.
The obesity of the King of Poland had nearly been fatal to him,
for having stumbled on a squadron of Turkish cavalry, from which
he had to fly, he would certainly have been massacred, if his aids
had not sustained him, almost fainting from fatigue on his horse,
while others generously sacrificed themselves to protect him.
If I am not mistaken, the Duc de Vendome, a worthy son of Henry
IV., was also very corpulent. He died at an inn, deserted by all,
and preserved consciousness just long enough to see a servant
snatch away a pillow on which his head was resting.
There are many instances of remarkable obesity. I will only speak,
however, of my own observations.
M. Rameau, a fellow student of mine and maire of Chaleur, was
about five feet two inches high, but weighed five hundred pounds.
The Duc de Luynes, beside whom I often sat, became enormous. Fat
had effaced his handsome features, and he slept away the best
portion of his life.
The most remarkable case, though, I saw in New York, and many
persons now in Paris will remember to have seen at the door of a
cafe in Broadway, a person seated in an immense arm-chair, with
legs stout enough to have sustained a church. [Footnote: Many
persons in New York remember the person referred to. The
translator has heard, that as late as 1815, he was frequently to
be seen at the door of a house near where the Atheneum Hotel was.
Brillat Savarin is said scarcely to exaggerate.]
Edward was at least five feet ten inches, and was about eight feet
(French) in circumference. His fingers were like those of the
Roman Emperor, who used to wear his wife’s bracelets as rings. His
arms and legs were nearly as thick as the waist of a man of medium
size, and his feet were elephantine, covered by fat pendant from
his legs. The fat on his cheek had weighed down his lower eye-lid,
and three hanging chins made his face horrible to behold.
He passed his life near a window, which looked out on the street
and drank from time to time a glass of
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