I would ask these to give mine a fair trial for three months. Anyone who has waded through my narrative will observe that the dietary I subsisted on for some months of my life was in itself incapable of reducing a man; and it was thanks to the liberal margin I had to work upon, and the facilities I enjoyed for not only weighing myself, but also my food, that I attribute in a great measure the perfecting of my theory, and the reliance that may be placed on it. Banting lays down as a principle that “quantity may fairly be left to the natural appetite, provided the quality is rigidly adhered to.” In this I disagree with him, but on the contrary confidently assert that until the subject is reduced to its proper size, it is absolutely imperative to limit the quantity as well as the quality. The quantity, however, is a liberal one, both as regards solid and fluid. At the same time it must be remembered that great ignorance exists as to the weight of the commonest articles of dietary, and to form an estimate of their weight by their appearance can only be attained by experience. One often hears of persons that “don’t eat more than a bird,” and stout people are invariably accredited with being small eaters. It would astonish these persons to find that they consume in blissful ignorance three or four pounds a day. I would recommend every corpulent person to purchase a set of cheap scales capable of weighing accurately one, two, four, and eight ounces (an ounce is a word that conveys a diminutive impression, yet eight of them constitute half a pound); these can be procured at any ironmonger’s at a cost of two or three shillings. I would also suggest a half-pint measure; this involves an outlay of about twopence. Without these two articles no corpulent person’s house can be considered properly furnished. Before commencing the experiment it is indispensable to be accurately weighed, taking care to weigh _all_ you have on (separately and at another time), so that your exact weight can be arrived at, whether attired in summer or winter clothing. By degrees this weekly weighing becomes an amusement, and one that increases as your weight decreases.