120 



KNO\A^LEDGE ♦ 



[July 21, 



!is paradoxical merely l>ocause it looks so. Within the last 

 aoiton years tliero have l>een a multitude of letters from 

 time to time in the KntflUh Mfcliauic and some other 

 periodicals, from jH<rsons of all ages, including some medical 

 men. describing tlie benefits which they or their friends 

 have received from what is commonly denounced as tight- 

 lacins. hut which may mean very ditVeniit things, according 

 !« it isuscnl to confine the chest or to expand it by contract- 

 ing only the waist projier, which really is the stomach. I 

 remember that drill-sergeants used to tell us at school to 

 'draw in the tlummick; and throw back the shoulders' 

 (pronounced not like sJion but lunr). 



•• The two jioints insisted on by those who have gone 

 into particulars are that the chest or upper ribs should not 

 Ik" confined at all, and that when stays are worn (not a 

 mere lielt) they should be even larger than the natural size 

 at the top : and secondly, that the busk or plate in front 

 should l>e quite stiff, of either steel or wood, and as long as 

 will lie flat when laced up— which it is said that our 

 ancestors understood better than we do. Several of the 

 writers have said that this sometimes makes the diHerencc 

 l)etween causing and curing indigestion, and that the sen- 

 sation of a perfectly stiff busk at once convinces you that 

 it is the right thing. 



"One or two of them say that they find this treatment 

 for only the first few hours of the morning suflicient for 

 the improvement of their health and strength in standing 

 and walking, an 1 the permanent expansion of the chest 

 quite as much as their waist has been permanently reduced : 

 and in .some cases for reducing corpulence, which is a kind 

 of indigestion, and often a beginning of general weakness. 



" These statements have been sometimes denounced by 

 medical and other philosophers, who think they know what 

 'mu.st be ' bett<'r than those who have personal experience 

 of what is, or is not The philosophers certainly got the 

 worst of it in all the disfussions that I have read. And I 

 am inclined to .igree with the opinion that there must have 

 been some better reason than mere vanity for the constant 

 revival of this fa-shion or practice in every civilised country 

 after many temporary declines of it during the last 1,000 

 yeari!. And from my own observation I am convinced that, 

 for every person who has ever been injured by excessive 

 . ontraction of the waist (as, of course, some have), at least 

 a hundred suffer from undue expansion of it, and from 

 stooping and contraction of the chest, which judicious 

 tightrlacing would prevent, and often does prevent, as at 

 least some doctors have written. 



" A\ OnsEiivEU." 

 When we consider that undue expansion of the waist 

 Implies, in reality, a diseased, because abnormal, condition 

 of this part of the l>ody, i£ is not perhaps to be wondered 

 at thiit an abnormal remedy', like the modified " lacing," 

 <lescrn»ed.l>y " An Observer," 'should in some cases produce 

 good <fT."ct». We would not recommend one who wished 

 to obtain strong and synmietrieal legs to use crutches ; yet, 

 the use of crutches may produce a marked' improvement 

 in the case of a person, who, having diseasi.-d limbs, 

 has for a long while injured himself by using them without 

 artificial support Remembering, however, how the abdo- 

 men moves in normal breathing, we should say lacing must 

 in every case act injuriously on respiration. Women can 

 in that respect stand lacing bett<rr than men, for with them 

 the liosora ri»<'8 and falls in breathing, whereas with men 

 the .'ilKlomen moves, at least in normal masculine breathing. 

 1 know wveral who have tried lacing, on the 

 strength of the corresf)ondence referred to by "An 

 OlisftTver," without any of the good effects described, and 

 with some markf^lly l»ad effects — especially one, a threaten- 

 ing sense of fullness in the head. 



Some correspondents write to ask how such a construc- 

 tion as was illustrated in No. 3G can bo arranged. We 

 wish it to be understood that in no case do we suggest the 

 construction of special apparatus. We only meant our 

 picture to illustrate the kind of exercise to be taken for 

 carrying the arms well over the head, with suitable" haul- 

 ing " work. A couple of stout hooks fixed in the wall, or two 

 rings fastened to stout nails, or any such contrivance which 

 would suit the room or the wall, would serve to carry the 

 cords which bear the weights. And for tin- weights, alinost 

 anything can l)e used — a couple of pretty heavy volumes, 

 dumb-bells, clubs, or anything giving about the right kind 

 of work in hauling. Nor is it necessary to have the middle 

 bar, or stick. ■ A stout cord flung over the middle of the 

 horizontal part of the rope will give the required hold for 

 the bell-pulling action. Or, almost all apparatus may bo 

 got rid of by hanging two " extensors " of vulcanised india- 

 rubber to two pretty high nails, and hauling on them, 

 either one in each hand (the hands well apart), or holding 

 both together, as in pulling at a bell rope. In all these 

 cases it is a great point to be ready to devise and use 

 rough-and'ready contrivances — not 'to find,' in the absence 

 of pulleys or framework, an excuse for ijlrirkiiig some useful 

 exercise. ~ • ' ' ' 



With these notes, this week, we must be content In 

 another paper or two, the clirst-expanding exercises will be 

 don(! with, and then (We shall pcoceed to consider exercises 

 for strengthening arms, legs, itc, and.giying synmietry to 

 the various muscles of the trunk, which is of far greater 

 importance to ninety-nine put ,bfj a hundred, than the ex- 

 ceptional development of particular mus(;les. 

 ' (To 6e continued.) 



PHOTOGRAPHY, FOR AMATEURS. 



By a. Brothers, F.R.A.S. 



ri^'llE ability to take a photograph docs not make the 

 L photographer an arti.st, and considered artistically, 

 a collection of amateur photographs is sometimes not 

 very satisfactory. The reason is not far to seek. The eye 

 is attracted by a beautiful scene ; the camera is at once 

 placed ; the miniature picture visible on the ground glass 

 is charming in the extreme, and forthwith a plate is 

 exposed. Pos.sibly the camera is placed in the middle 

 of a road, and the result on developing the ' plate is 

 converging lines, leading to beautiful .scenery, and a 

 wonderful expanse of uninten^sting road, with not a 

 single object to vary the lines. lTow«n-er beautiful the 

 scene m'ay ' appear to 'the eye, consider carefully what 

 is required ' to , form a picture, and it may be 

 possible, by changing the point of view, so to arrange the 

 lines that the foreground will be made to form an im- 

 portant part of the picture as it ought to he. The change 

 of position, by a few yards only, makes all the difference 

 between a bad and a good picture. If figures are intro- 

 duced, they .should bo matle to appear to belong to the 

 scene, and not interested in having their portraits taken. 

 It is .seldom advi.sable that a figure should bo turned 

 towards the camera. The straight linens of hedges and 

 fences crossing tho picture horizontally should be avoided 

 as much as possible. 



Another wry important matter to obs<Tve is, that the 

 principal object in the view should not, as a rule, occupy 

 the rmfr'! of the picture. Much may bi; learned by study- 

 ing the arrangement of lines in pictures and engravings. 



