75 2300 Medicine Banting W
- Frontwr. and title detached; owner's entry in pen and ink on frontwr.; vague fold.
= William Banting introduced the idea that carbohydrates are the cause of weight gain. His original diet included four or five glasses of claret a day with a grog of rum, brandy or gin. "Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity, and, having just emerged from a very long probation in this affliction, I am desirous of circulating my humble knowledge and experience for the benefit of my fellow man, with an earnest hope it may lead to the same comfort and happiness I now feel under the extraordinary change, which might almost be termed miraculous had it not been accomplished by the most simple common-sense means." (p.7). The letter on corpulence was first published in 1863 and all early edition are extremely rare.