99 



"In. favor of riding astride, all women should practice riding on 

 both sides of the horse. Growing girls especially. 



HENRY GRISWORD, M. D. 

 42 West 45th St., N. Y. 

 "In your circular letter of Jan. 10, you ask an interesting and im 

 portant question viz : what is the opinion of Physicians as to the ad- 

 visability of woman's riding astride from a physiological standpoint? 

 While I would not presume to speak, -with authority, I cannot believe 

 there is any impropriety in a woman's riding astride, or any physiologi- 

 cal reason for her not doing so in preference to the side saddle. 



Yours Truly 



O. B. DOUGLAS, M. D. 

 123 East 36th St., N. Y- 

 January 15, 1895. 

 Einst Carl von Gillmann, Esq., 



128 West 56th St., New York. 

 Dear Sir : 



In answer to your note of the 10th instant, I enclose a reprint of my 

 paper on the subject of "Bicycling for "Women," with the conclusions of 

 which you may not agree, but in which you will find a number of facts 

 that bear on your most interesting and important query to the physi- 

 cian. The paper -was read at a full meeting of the Society, which con- 

 tains more famous names and men noted as specialists on diseases of 

 women, than any other in America with one exception ; and among all 

 the men who took part in the discussion of the paper there was only 

 praise for the exercise and general agreement with my conclusions. At 

 the same time, almost everything that has been said in the paper and in 

 the discussion in favor of bicycling, applies equally well to horseback 

 riding astride. You will see, therefore, that I believe women should not 

 be hindered from riding as a man does, and that it would be both proper, 

 modest, comfortable and safe, and that, in all these respects, it is infin- 

 itely to be preferred to the present position. 



There is a vague and curious horror and lifting of hands among the 

 aity, particularly among elderly spinsters, at the idea of any exercise 

 with the thigh muscles, pelvic muscles or trunk muscles of women, or 

 of any jolting of the pelvic contests, which would seem to indicate that 

 the Great Anatomist had not known how to give them supports that 

 could be efficient, and the possibility, if in right dress they took exercise, 

 to properly develope these special parts of the body. The very fact that 

 they often show weakness makes more evident the need for exereises 

 properly directed and adjusted. 



In one of the recent books on Athletic Work or Physical Culture, 

 there are some interesting photographs of the actual skeleton doino- 

 various exercises ; one of them represents the crouching position on the 

 bicycle that men often assume ; another shows, from the rear, the spinal 

 otation and curvature produced by the ordinary woman's seat in the 

 saddle. I would suggest that any establishment that does solar print- 



