PREVENTION OF SPINAL DISTORTION. 305 



from this disease, but by attributing it to a mode of dress, 

 which no one will deny does in many instances, at least, 

 not only create such a predisposition, but actually and 

 obviously brings on the disease; and from which the 

 males, even of the same families, escape, by using a 

 dress which allows the functions of the lungs to be con- 

 tinued agreeably to the laws of the animal economy, and 

 the design of the Creator. 



PREVENTION OF SPINAL DISTORTION. 



It is no part of the plan of this work to point out the 

 methods of cure proposed, and practiced by surgeons 

 and physicians, for the various deformities and other 

 affections, in young females, consequent upon the causes 

 w r hich have been noticed in the foregoing pages. And 

 yet, we can hardly avoid saying a few words on this 

 subject for the purpose of showing young ladies what 

 terrible remedies are employed for these deformities, 

 and how difficult it is to cure them, even in their incipi- 

 ent stages. This we do as a warning to those who are 

 still in the enjoyment of their natural forms, not to make 

 use of any of the means, or indulge themselves in any of 

 the habits which we have described as the causes of such 

 evils. And also, as a caution to mothers, how they en- 

 courage their young daughters in tight lacing for the sake 

 of procuring genteel forms, lest thereby they should thus 

 become the authors of disgusting diseases which art 

 never can remedy, instead of the fine shapes which they 

 expect will be so much admired and coveted. 



The attempts heretofore most commonly made to 

 cure curved spines have been by means of various ma- 

 chines, consisting of beams, bars, pullies, ropes, screws, 

 inclined planes, straps and buckles, more or less of which 

 are combined, and applied in different ways, according 

 to the nature of the case, or the skill of the mechanic by 

 whom these machines are employed. 



The late Mr. Shaw, a surgeon of reputation in Lon- 

 don, who has written a treatise on the cure of curved 

 spines, says that it is the practice of some to keep young 

 girls afflicted with this disease in a horizontal position, 

 for months, and even for years, " without intermission" 

 26* 



