OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 107 



cording to t!ie Creator's laws, are conducive td 

 muscular development, and by which bodily strength 

 and vigour can be secured. Instead of promoting 

 such exercise, however, the prevailing system ot 

 female education places the muscles of the trunk, in 

 particular, under the worst possible circumstances, 

 and renders their exercise nearly impossible. Left 

 to its own weight, the body would fall to the ground, 

 in obedience to the ordinary law of gravitation : in 

 sitting and standing, therefore, as well as in walking, 

 the position is preserved only by active muscular 

 exertion. But if we confine ourselves to one atti- 

 tude, such as that of sitting erect upon a chair or, 

 what is still worse, on benches without backs, as is 

 the common practice in schools, it is obvious that 

 we place the muscles which support the spine and 

 trunk in the very disadvantageous position of per- 

 manent instead of alternate contraction ; which we 

 have seen to be in reality more fatiguing and debili- 

 tating to them than severe labour. Girls thus re- 

 strained daily for manj 7 successive hours invariably 

 suffer being deprived of the sports and exercise 

 after school-hours which strengthen the muscles 

 of boys, and enable them to withstand the oppres- 

 sion. The muscles being thus enfeebled, they 

 either lean over insensibly to one side, and thus 

 contract curvature of the spine ; or, their weakness 

 being perceived, they are forthwith cased in stiffer 

 and stronger stays that support being sought for in 

 steel and whalebone which Nature intended they 

 should obtain from the bones and muscles of their 

 own bodies. The patient, finding the maintenance 

 of an erect carriage (the grand object for which all 

 the suffering is inflicted) thus rendered more easy 

 at first welcomes the stays, and, like her teacher 

 fancies them highly useful. Speedily, however, 

 their effects show them to be the reverse of bene- 

 ficial. The same want of varied motion, which was 

 the prime cause of the muscular weakness, is still 



