114 DISEASES PRODUCED UY TIGHT CLOTHING. 



The Sin of Tight Lacing There are some devotees of 

 fashion who have conceived the idea that the beau ideal of beauty 

 consists in the chest being compressed into a wasp-like waist, or an 

 hour-glass shape. But it is gratifying to know that these giddy 

 persons have but few admirers, except the dandy and the fop, who 

 nave but little to pride themselves on, except their fine linen and 

 delicate hands. It can be justly said, that there are many evils in 

 our midst of infinitely less magnitude which are suppressed by law, 

 and that this custom ranks prominently in its destructive influence 

 with those other arch-enemies of human health, whisky, tobacco and 

 impure air. 



It is claimed by many that this injurious practice has done more 

 within the last hundred years than war, pestilence and famine, 

 toward the physical deterioration and destruction of our race. In 

 the case of me unfortunate victims of tight dressing, many of the 

 sins of the mother are visited upon her helpless offspring, who in 

 turn propagate disease and deformity until impotence or idiocy 

 ensues and the family is extinct. 



It is not, perhaps, too much to say that the instances in which 

 ladies, in this country, do not dress too tightly, are the rarest of all 

 exceptions to an almost universal rule; so rare, indeed, that few can 

 be found at any age; and it is doubtful if ten per cent, of ladies, 

 American-born, can be found in any city of the United States, who 

 are not now distorting their natural proportions, undermining their 

 health and laying the firm foundations of future disease and misery, 

 not only for themselves but also for their children, by wearing tight 

 clothing. 



In fact, almost any lady may be made to convict herself of this 

 sin, and actually does so, in almost every conversation which she 

 holds upon this subject. If accused of wearing tight dresses, she will 

 indignantly deny it. If asked if the dress she has on is comfortable, 

 she will answer in the affirmative. Now, if we further inquire 

 whether she feels better in it than in a loose dress, she will at once 

 impulsively reply, " Oh, yes; for, in a loose dress, I feel the want of 

 a support." She is simply like the rum-drinker without his accus- 

 tomed dram ; that is, she has dressed tightly for so long a time that 

 she has paralyzed the muscles of her body, and they no longer per- 

 form their natural office of supporting, so that she has to substitute 

 cotton, linen and whalebone in their stead, if the practice of 

 excessive tight lacing be continued, deformity and disease niust, as a 

 matter of course, soon result. The only remedy is, at once and for- 

 ever, to abandon the stays and hip-suspended skirts, and suffer the 

 discomfort entailed in becoming accustomed to the change, until 

 the muscles, by exercise, shall regain their natural activity and 

 resume their proper functions. Any woman who will not do this 

 must not have too high hopes of health, beauty and long life for 

 herself, and of^ strong, healthy and well developed children. 



Deformity is not merely occasional, but the inevitable result 



