84 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



but possesses in a superior degree the quality known 

 as endurance. With a less robust frame, a more deli- 

 cately organized constitution, she will endure for 

 months what would kill a robust man in as many weeks. 

 More perfect elimination of the wastes of the body 

 secures a higher grade of vitality. On no other hy- 

 pothesis could we account for the marvelous endurance 

 of the feminine part of the civilized portion of the 

 human race, ground down under the heel of fashion 

 for ages, ''stayed," "corseted," "laced," and thereby 

 distorted and deformed in a manner that would be 

 fatal to almost any member of the masculine sex. 



A Pathological Difference.— Nearly all physiolo- 

 gists mention another particular in which woman dif- 

 fers materially from man ; viz., in naturally employing, 

 in respiration, chiefly the upper part of the lungs, while 

 man breathes chiefly with the lower part of the lungs. 

 For several years, we have carefully studied this ques- 

 tion, and we have been unable to find any physiolog- 

 ical or anatomical reason sufficient to account for this 

 fact, if it be such. 



Why a Woman Does Not Breathe Like a Man.— 

 It is undoubtedly true that most women do breathe 

 almost exclusively with the upper part of the chest; 

 but whether this is a natural peculiarity, or an acquired, 

 unnatural and depraved one, is a question which we 

 are decidedly inclined to answer in harmony with the 

 latter supposition, basing our conclusion on the fol- 

 lowing undeniable facts: 



1. In childhood, and until about the age of puberty, 

 respiration in the boy and the girl is exactly the same. 



2. Although there is a change in the mode of res- 

 piration in most females, usually soon after the period 

 of puberty, marked by increased intercostal respiration 



