Letter on corpulence : addressed to the public / by William Banting.

  • Banting, William, 1797-1878.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter on corpulence : addressed to the public / by William Banting. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    that I might obtain the fullest information from the ex- perience of others. This, of com'se, has consumed a great deal of my time, as well as occasioned considerable expense. Fortunately, hoAvever, I had leisure, inclination, and means at my disposal, and considered it a privilege to employ them in the service of my fellow-creatures. The corre- spondence has been a great source of interest to myself, and I believe will likewise interest and benefit the public at large. The great principle which Mr. William Harvey (my medical adviser), of Soho Square, inculcated, having been confirmed by my own personal experience, I was enabled to speak with perfect confidence, and I became invul- nerable to the ridicule, contempt, or abuse which were not spared in tlie earlier stages of the discussion. I believe I have subdued my discourteous assailants by silence and patience ; and I can now look with pit}^, not unmixed Avith son'ow, upon men of eminence who had the rashness and folly to designate the dietary system as humbug, and to hold up to scorn the man who put it forth, although he never derived nor sought pecuniary or personal recompense, but simply desii*ed, out of gi'atitude, to make known to other sufferers the remedy which he had found so efficacious to himself. I heartily thank the public press for the general fairness of its criticisms, and feel deeply indebted to the Morning Advertiser for its able article on 3rd October, 1865, when I was so sadly and unjustly attacked by certain pro- minent members of the British Association, whose feelings, noAv that the subject has been more widely and intelligently examined and discussed, I do not envy. My sole objects in issuing a foiu'th edition are— Fii^st.—To offer my further personal experience on the .subject since I published the third edition in 1864. Secondly.—To adduce some remarkable proofs of the benefits afforded to others by the dietary system, in verifi- cation of my own testimony.