1 82 EFFECTS OF TIGHT LACING. 



liable to take disease, and when disease occurs, there is 

 less chance of recovery. 



Consumption and other lung-diseases are especially 

 frequent in persons who live in badly ventilated rooms. 

 So are colds of all kinds. 



9. Free Chest-Movements are Necessary for Healthy 

 Breathing. Plenty of fresh air to breathe is not of much 

 use if the chest is so imprisoned that it cannot expand 

 properly. No garment which checks the free movements 

 of thorax and abdomen in breathing, should be worn. 

 The tight lacing which used to be thought elegant, and 

 is still indulged in by some who think a distorted form 

 beautiful, does harm in many ways. In the first place it 

 makes all healthy exercise impossible. A tightly laced 

 person gets " out of breath " on the least exertion. 

 Many a woman complains that she is unable to attend to 

 her household duties, because the least exertion fatigues 

 her, when all that is the matter is that she has so laced 

 her chest that it cannot do its breathing work properly. 

 Tight lacing also hampers the abdominal organs. It so 

 narrows the chest (Fig. 12) that lungs and heart are 

 pushed down towards the abdomen, to get room. The 

 heart is driven so close against the stomach that even a 

 moderate meal is apt to press unnaturally against it 

 (p. 127), and so its working is interfered with. The 

 livers of those who have practised tight lacing are often 

 found to have hard unhealthy cords on them, caused by 

 pressure from the lower ribs, squeezed in by the corset. 



badly ventilated rooms ? What diseases are especially frequent in 

 those who live in ill-ventilated rooms? 



9. What is necessary for healthy breathing, besides pure air ? How 

 does tight lacing do harm as regards exercise and work ? As regards 

 the heart? As regards the liver ? 



