CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



parts of the body is further diminished. From 

 the uneasiness and constraint experienced in the 

 feet, sympathetic affections of a dangerous kind 

 often assail the stomach and chest. Low-heeled 

 shoes, with a sufficiency of room for the toes, 

 would completely prevent all such consequences. 



An improved taste in the male sex has long 

 since abolished the coarse and self-annoying 

 absurdity of leathern small-clothes ; but it is still 

 too common to impede the circulation and the 

 play of the muscles by tight apparel, especially in 

 the regions of the stomach and neck. The imme- 

 diate effect of these injudicious appliances is 

 much inconvenience; the remote result is a 

 diminution of the general strength and health. 

 But all the errors of the male sex sink into insig- 

 nificance when compared with one to which the 

 fair are liable. In the construction of the human 

 chest and abdomen, nature has provided ample 

 room for several important viscera, the functions 

 of which cannot be in any degree disturbed with- 

 out a wrong being inflicted upon the whole 

 system. Here reside the heart, the lungs, the 

 liver, and the stomach. Fine ladies may affect to 

 shut their mind's eye to the existence of such 

 things ; but the daintiest of their emotions de- 

 pend upon the right state of those very viscera, 

 without which they could no more think, speak, 

 and act, than they could cast languishing looks 

 without eyes, or melt our hearts by witching 

 minstrelsy without a tongue and fingers. In 

 order to reduce themselves to an ideal standard 

 of girth, almost all the unmarried, and not a few 

 of those who are otherwise, brace themselves in a 

 greater or less degree with corsets, which produce 

 the desired roundness and slenderness at the 

 expense of all the internal organs upon which 

 health depends. The false ribs are pressed in- 

 wards; the respiratory and circulatory systems 

 are crushed and thrust out of their proper place; 

 the alimentary system is deranged; and even 

 upon the exterior of the person, deformities of the 

 most glaring kind, such as humped shoulders and 

 curved spines, are produced. Custom to a certain 

 extent enables the victim to endure the incon- 

 venience ; there are even some who feel so little 

 trouble from it, as to deny that any harm ensues 

 from tight-lacing. But a violation so excessive 

 cannot be otherwise than mischievous. We have 

 seen a young lady's sash which measured exactly 

 twenty-two inches, shewing that the chest to 

 which it was applied had been reduced to a dia- 

 meter allowing for clothes of little more than 

 seven inches ! 



All who are aware of the internal organs at 

 that part of the body, know very well that it is 

 impossible for these to exist in their natural con- 

 dition within so small a space. Bruised, impeded, 

 and disordered, they must of course be, and 

 accordingly cannot fail to become a source of 

 dreadful suffering to the wretched being who 

 outrages them. Palpitations, flushings, dyspepsy, 

 determination of blood to the head, and consump- 

 tion, are among the evils which physicians enu- 

 merate as flowing from this sacrifice to vanity. 

 Another of a moral kind is acknowledged to be 

 of by no means infrequent occurrence : in order 

 to soothe the painful sensations produced by the 

 constraint, spirituous liquors and cordials are 

 resorted to, and thus habits of the most degrading 

 nature are formed. Another evil still, respecting 



732 



which a hint may be sufficient, is the unfitting of 

 the system for the duties of a mother. How 

 many domestic afflictions, which are submitted to 

 in a spirit of resignation, as the unavoidable 

 decrees of Providence ; how many of the saddest 

 scenes which this world ever presents gentle anc 

 tender girls pining away under the eyes of hop 

 less parents beloved wives torn from the arms 

 husbands and children at the very moment wher 

 prolonged life was most needful must be owing 

 to a cause too trivial and unworthy to be men- 

 tioned in the same sentence with its so dir 

 effects! No doubt, it is well to submit meekly to 

 such afflictions ; but while they are ascribed in all 

 humility to a Providence which is upon the whole 

 only another term for Mercy and Justice, let us 

 not be blind to the fact, that they accrue through 

 violations committed by ourselves upon laws 

 established by Providence for our happiness, and 

 might have been avoided by a different course of 

 conduct. 



The fashion of tight-lacing obviously owes its 

 origin to a desire on the part of the ladies to 

 attract admiration. It is of little importance to 

 point out that they are quite wrong in their 

 calculations as to the effect ; but we would press 

 upon the guilty parties, and all interested in their 

 welfare, that tight-lacing is a practice which 

 cannot be long persisted in without the most 

 disastrous consequences. It is painful to reflect 

 that in some instances, parents, so far from dis- 

 couraging the practice, are so ignorant as to force 

 it upon their children. We have heard of a young 

 lady whose mother stood over her every morning 

 with the engine of torture in her hand, and, not- 

 withstanding many remonstrative tears, obliged 

 her to submit to be laced so tightly as almost to 

 stop the power of breathing. The result is, that 

 the unfortunate victim is now severely afflicted 

 with asthma, and has fallen into a state of low 

 health. As a general rule, it cannot be too 

 strongly impressed upon those who have the care 

 of young persons, that all clothing should sit 

 lightly upon the figure, so as to allow of the full 

 play of every part of the system. 



INNOCENT ENJOYMENTS. 



A sufficiency of innocent enjoyments has been 

 set down as the sixth requisite towards the preser- 

 vation of health. It may seem almost superfluous 

 to treat this part of the subject, since the disposi- 

 tion to take amusement is one by no means gener- 

 ally wanting. A regard, however, for the com- 

 pleteness of our little treatise induces us to make 

 a few remarks on it ; and we are not satisfied that 

 there is not a considerable number of persons tc 

 whom an injunction to take innocent enjoyment 

 is needful. There may be some advantage, there 

 fore, in seeing the matter placed on something 

 like a philosophical basis. 



No physiological doctrine seems more entitle 

 to faith and regard, than that a harmonious exercise 

 in moderation, of all parts of the system, including 

 the organs of the mental faculties, is necessary for 

 health. It is proved by the very craving which 

 we experience, after a long task, or a long per- 

 severance in some particular habits, for something 

 which will engage a different set of faculties. 

 There is nothing which will pleasingly engage our 

 thoughts for any considerable length of time. 



