298 APPENDIX. 



ed, torpid, and almost without feeling. In the fishes, the 

 small quantity of the circulating fluid, the want of an aor- 

 ta to give it velocity to the different parts of the body, 

 and the minute quantity of air the water contains; all 

 conspire to keep the temperature of these animals down 

 to that of the element in which they live, and to give 

 their flesh a pallid hue, so different from the florid com- 

 plexion of that of the Mammalia. 



It is true that the organization of these animals, is un- 

 doubtedly well fitted to their conditions, and the places 

 they were intended to occupy in the scale of creation. 

 But we find, as we rise in this scale, that the organs of 

 animals become more perfect, and that in the Mamma- 

 lia, and man, the respiratory apparatus is so complete, as 

 ' to expose the whole mass of blood to the influence of 

 the atmosphere ; and that the circulating system is such 

 as to propel the vital fluid with great force and rapidity, 

 to every part of the frame ; and hence it is, that these 

 animals differ so materially from those in which the res- 

 piratory function is less perfect, and the circulation less 

 rapid and vigorous. In the former we find a tempera- 

 ture of 98 or 100 at all seasons, instead of a death-like 

 coldness ; and a high degree of vigor and vivacity, with 

 a red muscular fibre, instead of torpor, insensibility, and 

 white flesh, as in the latter. 



Now if these very remarkable differences are in any 

 considerable degree dependent on the quantity of oxy- 

 gen, which the different races consume by the process 

 of respiration, and which the facts we have detailed 

 would seem to prove beyond all doubt ; then is it not as 

 clear, that by compressing the lungs so as to prevent the 

 ordinary supply of oxygen in respiration, that the vigor 

 of the circulation, which depends on that process, must 

 gradually be diminished ; and that paleness, torpor, list- 

 lessness, and gradual emaciation, from poverty of the 

 blood, and a consequent want of a healthy secretion, 

 must be the consequences ? 



It is quite certain that all these consequences, in very 

 numerous instances, follow excessive lacing in young fe- 

 males ; and from the hurried, and laborious respiration, 

 which those exhibit who are undergoing the process of 

 being moulded into a fashionable form, there cannot be 



