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♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Feb. 9, 1883. 



" Barclay," " Barnard," " JJartram," all familiar suriianios, 

 show what souiul was usual when their prcsont spelling 

 \vas fixed. Tourists, I bolicve, talk of the " DMrwent" (as 

 they call the Dove the " Duv ") ; but the Derwent at 

 Stamford-bridge is undoubtedly Drtrwent, while the more 

 northern stream of the name is locally Darwin, a form 

 which has become illustrious as a surname. Now in words 

 of this kind, while British use is somewhat fluctuating, I 

 believe that America has universally decided for the ii 

 sound. But there can be no doubt that, whether in 

 England or in America, the sound of " D«rby " or 

 " H»rtram " is simply an attempt to adapt the .sound to the 

 spelling, while " Darby " and " Bartram " are the genuine 

 traditional sounds. — Longman's Magazine. 



[In nearly all these cases, the genuine original sound is 

 not "a" as in "far," but "a" as in "fare." The point 

 is discussed in an article which I wrote for the Gentle- 

 iiian's Magazine, now in the press for " Leisure Readings," 

 Knowledge Library. — R. A. P.] 



STAYS AND STRENGTH. 



By " An Observer " and Rich, A. Proctor. 



THE result of your own experiment in tight-lacing is 

 solid ground compared with the theories and analogies 

 in which this subject had been previously swimming. 

 And undoubtedly it proves what the sight of every fat 

 but tight-laced woman proved before, viz., that it is not an 

 infallible remedy for corpulence. But I have looked at, 

 I believe, all the letters formerly published on it to see 

 if any recommended it as such, and I do not find one 

 that goes beyond saying that the writer had foiind his or 

 her own size and weight permanently reduced by it, and, 

 therefore, it was worth trying by others who wanted such 

 reduction. Most of them, indeed, said they had originally 

 tried it for some other reason, and had incidentally derived 

 that benefit also which you did from going to America. 



(2). I do not doubt that in the least, though I cannot 

 remember the same thing happening to any of my own 

 acquaintance, and one came back fatter who was thin 

 before. 



(3). But has it ever occurred to you to reflect how 

 Knowledcje would have been writing on this suliject for 

 the last few months, if you had happened to be one of 

 those whose experience was different from your own, as of 

 course the Editor of Knowledge might have been I I will 

 not pursue that inquiry, but leave it to the meditation of 

 our readers. 



(4). I know nothing in the world of the army-surgeon 

 whom I quoted, except that he wrote like a practical man, 

 simply giving the result of an experiment which he began 

 just as you did, only ho found himself so much better for 

 it that he continued it, as sundry other writers did. And, 

 in spite of your contempt for him, I must give the sui-geon, 

 at any rate, credit for understanding his own constitution 

 better than you do for him — and indeed, the non-medical ex- 

 perimenters, too, especially as several of them said that their 

 health always relapsed whenever they gave up their stays, 

 though one or two added that they find them only neces- 

 sary for health for a few hours in the morning. Nor can 

 I see anything so very funny in his liking to contract his 

 waist to 23 in., as he finds himself better for it, and does 

 like it, like all the other advocates of it, from their own 

 experience. Such a waist will measure at least 27 in. over 

 any male dress that is worn now ; and any tailor will tell 

 you that there are many tall men with natural waists from 



that size down to 24 in. He gave his height a-s ."i ft 7 in., 

 which is not tall ; and his circumference was trumped 

 by another man of the same height, who said he had been 

 for ten years smaller by an inch in his stays. 



(5). I am quite unable, even with the help of your 

 reference to your own case, to understand your reiterated 

 medical conclusion, that " if a man finds himself better in 

 stays, it shows that they are weakening " — i.e., if a man 

 finds himself better for any treatment, that proves that he 

 is worse for it, even though he relapses into greater 

 irorseness whenever he gives it up. I give that up, as a 

 piece of logic utterly beyond me. 



(6). I must leave you and the American doctor to agree 

 on what you both really mean as to the tight-lacing of 

 American ladies (which I had heard and read of before) 

 compared with ours. You contradict him on one point, 

 and so explain him away on another that I give it up in 

 despair. 



(7). The letter of G. C. S. is in no respect worth 

 answering. An Observer. 



(1). Nay, — "fat and tight-laced women" notwithstanding, 

 — I believe tight-lacing in the manner recommended by 

 " An Observer " is a remedy for corpulence. Even my 

 own experiment would, very probably, if continued long 

 enough, have proved that. I simply could not afford to 

 pay the price, — torpid liver, impaired respiration, per- 

 manently weakened abdominal and lumbar muscles, with 

 some scarce more pleasant etceteras. There are other 

 pretty sure ways of diminishing corpulence, which are not 

 much worse. 



(2). I believe my American experience much more 

 common than that of " An Observer's " acquaintance. I 

 suppose two or three hundred cases have come under my 

 notice in the multitudinous converse I have had with 

 travellers. In the great majority of cases there is loss of 

 weight ; in a few no change; and in a very few the con- 

 trary experience has been described to me. An English- 

 man who goes to America only for a holiday may take 

 things so easily as to come back fleshier. But America is 

 a large place any way, — some of its States severally larger 

 than European countries, — so that locality may have some- 

 thing to do with the matter. 



(3). After meditating on what would probably have 

 happened if my experience had been the reverse of what 

 it has been, I feel constrained to admit that, as a general 

 rule, " If your aunt had been a man, she would have been 

 your uncle." "An Observer" does not, of course, mean 

 that I have not let both sides have their say ; for I have. 

 For every letter on his side for which room could not be 

 found, there have been about a dozen on the other in similar 

 plight. Oddly enough, though so many years have passed 

 since the corset cure for corpulence, indigestion, ttc, &c., 

 was prescribed, and hundreds must have trietl it, besides 

 them who then ad\ocated it, I have not received one single 

 letter giving a favourable account of its efficacy. 



(4). I felt well assured " An Observer " knew nothing of 

 the army surgeon. I fancy if he had ever met that 

 surgeon he would have written differently about hinT. 

 I have a strong belief, amounting almost to conviction, 

 that most of those who gave their own experience, as they 

 said, were of the " tailless fox " order. They had fallen 

 into the trap, and being no longer able to exist comfortably 

 without their corsets, tried to persuade others that they 

 liked to wear them, and would not, even if they could, 

 recover their former freedom. I set against their pretended 

 experience the results of very wide-ranging inquiries of my 

 own. I have come in my travels (lecturing and otherwise) 

 across hundreds of men with whom I have conversed about 



