Indigestion, sleeplessness, nervous indecision, palpitation of heart, and irregularity of bowels, disappear under training; but if they exist, the regimen should be entered on with more than usual caution.

An important modification of training is that which contemplates the reduction of corpulence which has increased to the extent of interfering with comfort and preventing active exercise. If an exhausting amount of muscular effort is enforced, the digestion of meat is interfered with, while at the same time there still goes on the absorption of such fat as is unavoidably present in the victuals, so that the muscles and nerves lose strength, while the adipose tissue grows. Besides this, if by violent means the weight is worked down, then, to keep it down, those violent means must be persisted in; and if they be neglected for more interesting occupations, the burden rapidly increases to a greater degree than ever. Many uncomfortably obese persons are very active in mind and body, and could not add to their muscular exercise without risk of harm.

Regimen, then, is more essentially important to them than to other trainers, and they will probably be more induced to attend to it if they understand the principles on which it is based. This is simply to exclude from the bill of fare all those articles which contain fat, or which, by the chemical actions of the digestive viscera, may be converted into fat.

For the reduction of corpulence, the following rules may be observed for a three weeks' course:

Rise at 7, rub the body well with horse-hair gloves, have a cold bath, and take a short turn in the open air. Breakfast (alone) at 8 or 8.30, on the lean of beef or mutton (cutting off the fat and skin), dry toast, biscuit or oat-cake, a tumbler of claret and water, or tea without milk or sugar, or made in the Russian way, with a slice of lemon. Lunch at 1 on bread or biscuit, Dutch cheese, salad, water-cresses or roasted apples, hung beef or anchovies, or red-herring, or olives, and similar relishes. After eating, drink claret and water, or unsweetened lemonade, or plain water, in moderation. Dine at any convenient hour. Avoid soup, fish, or pastry, but eat plain meat of any sort except pork, rejecting the fat and skin. Spinach, haricots, or any other green vegetable, may be taken, but no potatoes, made dishes, or sweets. A jelly, or a lemon-water-ice, or a roast apple, must suffice in their place. Take claret and water at dinner, and one glass of sherry or Madeira afterward.

Between meals, as a rule, exercise must always be taken to the extent of inducing perspiration. Running, when practicable, is the best form in which to take it.

Seven or eight pounds is as much as it is prudent to lose during the three weeks. If this loss is arrived at sooner, or indeed later, the severe parts of the treatment may be gradually omitted; but it is strongly recommended to modify the general habits in accordance with the principle of taking as small a quantity as possible of fat and sugar, or of substances which form fat and sugar, and sustaining the respiratory function. By this means the weight may be gradually reduced for a few months with safety.

Small quantities of dilute alcoholic liquids taken with meals slightly increase the activity of the renewal of the nitrogenous tissues, mainly muscle; that is to say, there is a more rapid reconstruction of those parts, as is shown by the augmented formation of urea and the sharpened appetite. Life is fuller and more complete, old flesh is removed, and food appropriated as new flesh, somewhat more quickly than when no alcohol is ingested. There appears to he a temporary rise in the digestive powers of the stomach, which is probably the initiative act. The nerve-functions are blunted, and a lessened excretion of phosphorus exhibits a temporary check in the wear and renewal of the nerve-tissue. The "vital capacity" of the lungs, as indicated by the spirometer, is reduced, showing a diminished oxidation of the blood.

The effect on a healthy man of taking with a meal such a quantity of fermented liquor as puts him at ease with himself and the world around, without untoward exhilaration, is to arrest the wear of the nervous system, especially that part employed in emotion and sensation. Just as often, then, as the zest for food is raised to its normal standard by a little wine or beer with a meal, the moderate consumer is as much really better as he feels the better for it. Where the food is as keenly enjoyed without it, the consumption of a stimulant is useless. But alcohol is not a source of force, and its direct action is an arrest of vitality.