EDUCATION OF YOUTH. 261 



weakness, is still further aggravated by the tight pres- 

 sure, of the stays interrupting the play of the muscles, and 

 rendering them in a few months more powerless than 

 ever. 



821. " In spite, however, of the weariness and mischief 

 which result from it, the same system is persevered in ; " 

 and, except during the short time allotted to that nomi- 

 nal exercise, the formal walk, the body is left almost as 

 motionless as before, the lower limbs only being called 

 into activity. The natural consequences of this treat- 

 ment are debility of the body, curvature of the spine, 

 impaired digestion, and, from the diminished tone of all the 

 animal and vital functions, general ill health : and yet 

 while we thus set Nature and her laws at defiance, we 

 presume to express surprise at the prevalence of female 

 deformity and disease." 



822. In the " Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine," the 

 same subject occupies the attention of several writers, and 

 sufficient proof is there adduced that Dr. Combe has not 

 been mistaken in his apprehension with respect to the 

 consequences of the course of physical education above 

 described. 



823. Dr. Forbes, one of the writers above referred to, 

 says that he " lately visited a boarding-school in a large 

 town, containing forty girls, and that he learned on close 

 and accurate inquiry, that there was not one of these girls 

 who had been at the school two years (and the majority had 

 been there as long), that was not more or less CROOKED." 



824. " Our patient," he continues, " was in this predica- 

 ment ; and we could perceive (what all may perceive 

 who meet that most melancholy of all processions a 

 boarding-school of young ladies in their walk), that all her 

 companions were pallid, sallow, and listless. We can assert, 

 on the same authority of personal observation, and on an 

 extensive scale, that scarcely a single girl (more especially 

 of the middle classes), that has been at a boarding-school 

 for two or three years, returns home with unimpaired 

 health ; and, for the truth of this assertion, we may appeal 

 to every candid father, whose daughters have been placed 

 in this situation." 



825. In th'e same work it is stated by Dr. Barlow, that, 

 it least in some boarding-schools, it is the practice to allow 



