DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 571 



''There is another point that requires considera- 

 tion, and that is the practice of wearing the gown cut 

 low in the neck, so as to expose the breast, and with- 

 out covering for the arms. It is doubtful if this leads 

 to any ill consequences. It has been continued for 

 many generations without apparent injury. It might 

 be supposed, at first thought, that bronchitis, pleurisy, 

 pneumonia, and many kinds of rheumatism and neu- 

 ralgia would be the result of the custom; but such is 

 really not the case, all these affections being much more 

 frequently met with in men who cover the chest and 

 arms with several thicknesses of woolen material in 

 addition to a shirt of linen or cotton." 



Our learned author evidently delights in paradox- 

 ies. He gravely says, "There is another point that 

 requires consideration," referring to the practice of 

 exposing the arms and chest, formerly more fashion- 

 able than at the present time. One certainly would 

 expect to hear at least some word of condemnation of 

 this fashion, the unliealthf ulness of which has been too 

 frequently demonstrated by those addicted to it, to 

 require the dictum of a learned doctor either for or 

 against it. Indeed, the Professor himself seems to 

 recognize the apparent weakness of his defense of this 

 most absurd of fashionable follies, since he remarks, 

 *'It might be supposed at first thought," etc., but gives 

 no substantial reason why it might not also be sup- 

 posed at second thought, especially since the same 

 statistics which show man to be the greatest sufferer 

 from bronchitis, pneumonia, etc., as the result of his 

 greater exposure to the weather, show that consump- 

 tion, a disease which kills vastly more than all the 

 maladies named, finds by far the greatest percentage 

 of its victims among women. It is certainly a mar- 



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