580 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



subject upon a rational basis, we recently made a care- 

 ful examination respecting the position of the stomach, 

 liver, and bowels in fifty working men and seventy-one 

 working women, all of whom were in ordinary health. 



Of the seventy-one women examined, prolapsus of 

 the stomach and bowels was found in fifty-six cases. 

 In nineteen of these cases, the right kidney was found 

 prolapsed, and in one' case, both kidneys. The fifteen 

 cases in which the stomach and bowels were not pro- 

 lapsed were all persons under twenty-four years of 

 age. None of these had ever laced tightly, and four 

 had never worn corsets or tight waistbands, having 

 always worn clothing suspended from the shoulders. 

 It is noticeable that in a number of cases in which cor- 

 sets had never been worn, tight waistbands had pro- 

 duced very extensive displacement of the stomach, 

 bowels, and kidneys. In one of these the liver was 

 displaced downward. 



In the fifty men, we found only six in whom the 

 stomach and bowels could be said to be prolapsed. In 

 one the right kidney was prolapsed. In only three was 

 the degree of prolapse anything at all comparable with 

 that observed in the women, and in these three (and 

 in one other of these six cases, making four in all) it 

 was found on inquiry that a belt or something equiva- 

 lent had been worn in three cases, as a means of sus- 

 taining the pantaloons. In one case the patient attrib- 

 uted his condition to the wearing of a truss furnished 

 with a belt drawn tightly about the waist. This belt 

 had been worn a sufficiently long time to be an ample 

 cause for the visceral displacement observed. In the 

 two cases of slight visceral prolapse in which belts had 

 been worn, there was considerable deformity of the 

 figure due to general weakness, and a habitual standing 



