'^^-for curing a Stoop, !J45 



cannot hold her head or shoulders back, unless the muscles by 

 which they are naturally supported are in a proper condition. 

 Various contrivances have been proposed to strengthen these 

 muscles. Dumb bells, if managed in a particular manner, are 

 good; skipping, when the arms are thrown backwards and 

 over the head, is still better; the exercises, called Spanish 

 exercises, performed with two long poles, are also useful, but 

 to each of these there may be objections, as they all operate 

 more or less on the spine or ribs, which, in case of a bad 

 stoop, are generally affected. 



The following anecdote will, perhaps, set the question of the 

 propriety of wearing the back collar in a correct point of view. 

 A surgeon was consulted by a 'gentleman, who is now one of 

 our first tragedians, as to the best mode of correcting a stoop 

 which he had acquired. The surgeon told him that neither 

 stays nor straps would do him any essential good, and that the 

 only method of succeeding was to recollect to keep his shoul- 

 ders braced back by a voluntary effort. But the tragedian 

 replied, that this he could not do, as his mind was otherwise 

 occupied. The surgeon then told him that he could give him 

 no further assistance. Shortly after this conversation, the 

 actor ordered his tailor to make a coat of the finest kerseymere, 

 so as to fit him very tightly, when his shoulders were thrown 

 back. Whenever his shoulders fell forward he was reminded 

 by a pinch under the arms, that his coat cost him six guineas, 

 and that it was made of very fragile materials ; being thus 

 forced, for the sake of his fine coat, to keep his shoulders back, 

 he soon cured himself of the stoop. The surgeon was much 

 obliged to him for the hint, and afterwards, when consulted 

 whether young ladies should wear shoulder straps, permitted 

 them, on condition that they were made of fine muslin, or 

 valuable silk, for tearing which there should be a forfeit. 



An inquiry into the manner a girl should sit, may appear 

 trifling to those who have not been in the habit of seeing many 

 cases of distortion of the spine, but it is intimately connected 

 with the present subject, and is really of considerable import- 

 ance. The question has been disputed; one party insisting 

 that girls should always sit erect, while others are advocates for 

 a lounging position.- It is not difficult to show that both are 



