At the autopsy the heart weighed 8 1/2 ounces, and the
fat below the umbilicus was seven inches thick.
Abnormal Leanness.--In contrast to the fat men are the so-called
"living skeletons," or men who have attained notice by reason of
absence of the normal adipose tissue. The semimythical poet
Philotus was so thin that it was said that he fastened lead on
his shoes to prevent his being blown away,--a condition the
opposite of that of Dionysius of Heraclea, who, after choking to
death from his fat, could hardly be moved to his grave.
In March, 1754, there died in Glamorganshire of mere old age and
gradual decay a little Welshman, Hopkin Hopkins, aged seventeen
years. He had been recently exhibited in London as a natural
curiosity; he had never weighed over 17 pounds, and for the last
three years of his life never more than 12 pounds. His parents
still had six children left, all of whom were normal and healthy
except a girl of twelve, who only weighed 18 pounds and bore
marks of old age.
There was a "living skeleton" brought to England in 1825 by the
name of Claude Seurat. He was born in 1798 and was in his
twenty-seventh year. He usually ate in the course of a day a
penny roll and drank a small quantity of wine.
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