22 



their comj)anions, is preferable to a sopha or plain board, which 

 are most frequently employed.* 



Tlie recumbent position is sometimes resorted to as the sole 

 means of curing, or of preventing curved spine. In several 

 celebrated boarding-schools in London, it is used indiscrimi- 

 nately for all species and degrees of distortion ; and, in some 

 seminaries, all the girls are condemned to get their lessons, dur- 

 ing so many hours every day, in the supine posture, with the 

 view of preventing the occurrence of deformity. It appears to 

 me more than unnecessary to confine healthy girls to the recum- 

 bent position ; yet too much caution cannot be used, to prevent 

 children leaning uniformly to one side, in the act of writing, draw- 

 ing, &c. — more especially if they be weakly, or if tliey seem to 

 prefer that particular position.-f- 



The advantages from exercising the spinal muscles, in various 

 positions of the body, should never be lost sight of; both as the 

 means of preventing, and of curing curvature, when the erect 

 position can be safely sustained. In some cases, where the curva- 

 ture has been slight, the persons very young, and the general 

 health good, I have succeeded in restoring the natural form, 



* I do not apply these observations to curvature from cavious or ulcerated vertebras, nor 

 do I intend to enter into tb.e consideration of that disease at present ; there being no diHer- 

 ence of opinion with medical men, respecting the propriety of treating it by rest and 

 external stimulation. 



■f It occasionally happens that strong and labouring people acquire some lateral inclination 

 of the body, and a projection of the shoulder blade, in consequence of employing one hand 

 almost exclusively in their work. — I have observed, in these cases, that the shoulder which is 

 the least exercised, is the one that stands out ; whilst the other is apt to be peculiarly well 

 formed, a fact which corroborates the principles laid down in the preceding part of this paper, 

 and suggests the propriety of teaching young people, as much as possible, to become ambi- 

 dextrous. 



