352 FASHION IN DEFORMITY xx 



by comparing Figures 34 and 35, the one showing the normal 

 form, the other the result of long -continued tight -lacing. 

 The alterations in the shape and position of the organs 

 within need not be dwelt upon here ; they and the evil effects 

 arising from them are abundantly discussed in medical works. 

 When it is considered that the organs which are affected are 

 those by which the important functions of respiration, circu- 

 lation, and digestion are carried on, as well as those essential 



FIG. 35. Skeleton of the chest of a woman, twenty-three years of age, 

 deformed by tight-lacing, from Riidinger's Anatomie des Menschen. By no means 

 an extreme case. 



to the proper development and healthy growth of future 

 generations, it is no wonder that people suffer who have 

 reduced themselves to live under such conditions. 1 



The true form of the human body is familiar to us, as just 

 said, from classic models ; it is familiar from the works of our 



1 See, among many others, the section headed "Improprieties of Dress," in Dr. 

 Gaillard Thomas's Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Women (5th edit. 1881, 

 p. 45), for convincing proofs (not mere general declamation) of the ill effects 

 arising from tight-lacing. 



