Corpulence, imbecility and tobacco

I have written about corpulence, imbecility and tobacco from the perspective of 1931 for The Critic.

 

I have before me The Home Doctor, a 391 page layman’s version of Black’s Medical Dictionary published in 1931. Under the heading of “corpulence” — a word it uses interchangeably with “obesity” — it identifies the causes as being a “luxurious, inactive, or sedentary life, with over-indulgence in sleep and absence of mental occupation”, but above all “over-feeding” especially with “fatty, sugary, and starchy elements”. 

The Home Doctor notes that “women are prone to become more corpulent than men”, a claim that is borne out by modern obesity statistics, although the difference between men and women is quite small. It also notes that “health cannot be long maintained under excessive obesity”, although “even a considerable measure of corpulence, however inconvenient, is not incompatible with a high degree of health and activity, and it is only when in great excess or rapidly increasing that it can be regarded as a morbid state.”

 

Have a read.

And if you're interested in that kind of thing, I have written about the 1982 film adaptation of Evil Under the Sun on my Substack.