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in their lower lips, often weighing two, three, or four ounces, 
which drag down and overt the lip, and expose the teeth and 
gums. These plugs are made of polished wood, bone, or agate ; the 
effect to our ideas can hardly be pleasing. Some insert round solid 
dises of wood or metal, which are gradually enlarged as the child 
grows. Some of the African tribes (notably the Bongos) treat the 
upper lip in the same way and gradually enlarge the slit which it is 
made in it in early life, till it will hold a discs of polished wood or 
metal as large as half-a-crown; then when the upper lip is quite 
horizontal, and the lower lip perforated with a large conical plug of 
. hard stone or agate (something like a Belemnite), and the head is 
nicely shaved or scraped; then and only then the lady considers 
herself ‘properly dressed.” It is true she has to hold up her 
upper lip with one hand before she can drink, but that is a small 
price to pay for adornment. Some tribes consider a large copper 
ring, such as are used for bulls, a great ornament, and of course 
we are all familiar with the nose rings worn by Ayahs when they come 
over from India, I do not know that they are any more useless 
and absurd than earrings. Some of the Musgoo women wear a 
clamp or clasp of metal at each corner of the mouth, presumably 
to lessen its dimensions, an object, to judge from my recollection 
of African mouths, not altogether unworthy. It is a very curious 
and interesting fact that so many arbitrary and quite useless 
customs should be common to races living in different quarters of 
the globe, and without any means of communication. If it points 
to community of origin it carries back fashion to a very remote 
antiquity, when the human race first began to spread itself over 
the earth’s surface, and speaks volumes for the vitality of any 
custom however senseess when once produced. 
It is difficult for a man and a doctor to speak with moderation on 
the subject of the unsightly and pernicious practice of pressing the 
ribs and waist, which is in vogue in all civilised countries. I will, 
however, endeavour to be moderate, as I believe no cause, not even 
the highest and holiest, is really served by intemperate language. I 
will endeavour to explain, thoagh I know it will be useless, some 
of the more direct consequences of compressing and displacing 
such vital organs as the liver, stomach, heart, etc. ; many of the 
more indirect consequences would require too long a medical ex- 
planation, and would be of too technical a nature. Briefly then, the 
ribs are compressed, and the chest or thorax is so altered in shape 
that from being like a 4 with base below, it is converted into a V 
with the base above, thus diminishing its capacity and interfering 
with the action of the lungs; the liver is displaced downwards. 
The diaphragm is prevented descending as it should in inspiration, 
and the heart is thus pressed on and impeded in its action, the soft 
