DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 581 



with the weight upon one foot. By comparison, we 

 see that the relative frequency of visceral prolapse in 

 the men and women examined, was twelve per cent of 

 the men, and eighty per cent of the women. In other 

 words, visceral prolapse was found to be six and two- 

 thirds times as frequent in women as in men. It is also 

 noticeable that, with the exception of two cases, the 

 visceral prolapse in the men was due to the same cause 

 which caused visceral prolapse in women; viz., con- 

 striction of the waist. It makes no difference, of course, 

 whether the constriction is applied by means of a cor- 

 set or a waistband or a belt. 



We have met a number of cases of visceral prolapse 

 in men in which the disease was directly traceable to 

 the wearing of a belt. One case was that of a military 

 officer, who wore a tight sword belt, in which he car- 

 ried almost constantly a liea\'^'^ sword. We have also 

 made some observations of the same character among 

 blacksmiths, who have a habit of sustaining their pan- 

 taloons b}^ means of the strings of their leather aprons 

 tied tightly about the waist, the suspenders being loos- 

 ened so as to give greater freedom to the movements 

 of the arms. Farmers, also, sometimes seek to liberate 

 their shoulders by wearing the suspenders tied about 

 the waist. Leaving out of consideration the four cases 

 of men in whom the visceral displacement was due to 

 the same causes which produce this morbid condition 

 in women, we find but two cases in which the viscera 

 had become displaced from other causes, or one in 

 twenty-five,— a frequency just one-twentieth of that 

 in which this diseased condition is found in women 

 who consider themselves enjoying ordinary health. 



These facts are amply sufficient to establish the 

 proposition that constriction of the waist is the cause 



