December 9, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



of science. An annual report is to be made, and scientific papers 

 may be published from time to time in the name of the society, 

 after they have obtained the approval of a committee of scientists 

 to be designated by the directors. 



It is also intended to establish a museum at Sitka in which a 

 large portion of the material to be collected by the society can be 

 preserved. It is doubtful if any of our Territories possesses greater 

 geographical and ethnographical interest than Alaska, and we trust 

 that the Alaskan Society of Sitka will make the best use of its op- 

 portunities, and collect material which will be invaluable for scien- 

 tific purposes. 



So little is generally known in the United States concerning the 

 meteorology of Alaska, that it will be of interest to read the sum- 

 mary of the report of the Signal Service officer stationed at Sitka, 

 for the month of September last. The highest barometer for the 

 month was 30.38, and the lowest 29.26. The monthly range of the 

 barometer was 1.12. The mean temperature was 57°, the highest 

 point reached being 60°. 5 and the lowest 36°. 5. The least daily 

 range of temperature was 5°. 5, and the mean daily range ii°.6. 

 The mean daily dew-point was 45.5, and the mean daily relative 

 humidity 80.7. The total movement of the wind during the month 

 was 6,030 miles, the highest velocity reached being 46. The total 

 precipitation for the month was 10.57 inches, and on 20 days .01 

 of an inch or more of rain fell. The number of clear days during 

 the month was 5, of fair days 8, and of cloudy days 17. On three 

 days light frost occurred. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



The Corset. 



Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, lecturer on obstetrics at the Long 

 Island College Hospital, has prepared a very elaborate paper on the 

 corset, discussing from a scientific standpoint the questions of pres- 

 sure and displacement caused by it. This paper was read before 

 the Brooklyn Pathological Society, where it e.xcited great interest 

 and discussion. It has been published in full, with seventeen fig- 

 ures, all of which were drawn by the author of the paper, illus- 

 trating the effects of corset-pressure on the chest and abdomen and 

 their contained organs, in the New York Medical Journal of Nov. 

 5. Dr. Dickinson says: " Ridicule, argument, and invective have 

 been freely expended upon the artificial small waist since the days 

 of Martial and Galen. Yet the habit of corset-wearing has received 

 little systematic study, and men's opinions are widely at variance. 

 We frequently meet with the statement that corset-wearing works 

 great injury ; we discover a catalogue of five and ninety different 

 diseases and disorders due to tight lacing ; we find Bouvier, who 

 has written the elaborate and interesting history of this article of 

 dress, vigorously asserting that ' the modern corset, moderately 

 tightened, is without appreciable influence on the health of the 

 healthy woman : ' and we encounter all shades of opinion between 

 these extremes. But unsupported assertion is poor evidence, al- 

 though a general impression must carry some weight. To obtain 

 clear perceptions of the action of the corset, I have endeavored to 

 measure the amount of pressure it exerts, to ascertain the distribu- 

 tion of the pressure, and to determine the displacements resulting 

 therefrom, studying the subject with as little bias as possible, stat- 

 ing bald facts, and rarely expressing opinions." 



The first tests which Dr. Dickinson applied were to determine 

 the external pressure by the manometer ; and as a result he gives a 

 table of the various pressures within the body, as that of the blood 

 and of the expiratory force of the lungs, when compared with the 

 pressure exerted by the corset. 



In reference to the words ' tight ' and ' loose ' as applied to cor- 

 sets, the author says these words need to be defined. They lack 

 precision, but are necessar)'. We cannot determine any limit of 

 contraction in inches as the dividing-line, since in certain cases an 

 inch and a half lessening of waist-measure with one woman will 

 cause more pressure and more distress than five inches in another. 

 The guide must be the patient's sensations, when we can trust her 

 testimony, and signs that are readily appreciated, such as the re- 

 stricted respiration and movement, evident discomfort when the 

 corset is first hooked, flushing of the face in a warm room, and the 



indentations in the skin after removal of the corset. Appearance 

 goes for nothing : a large bust and wide hips or shoulders give an 

 impression of slenderness in the waist which may be entirely deceit- 

 ful. The least pressure he has estimated from a corset is twenty- 

 one pounds : the greatest pressure is eighty-eight pounds. Within 

 the half-minute that follows any exertion, such as rising, lying 

 down, turning over, or straining, the mercury in the manometer 

 rises from a half-inch to an inch and a half, then gradually falls to 

 its steady level. On taking off a corset, one often observes that if 

 the circumference of the waist is taken at once, and again a few 

 minutes later, an increase of about an inch will have occurred. Six 

 inches difference between the circumference of the waist over the 

 corset and the waist with the corset removed is the greatest differ- 

 ence which he has measured. Five and a half and five he has met 

 with once each. In the woman who wears no corsets the many 

 layers of bands about the waist, on which heavy skirts drag, are 

 sufficient to cause considerable constriction, as Dr. Mosher states. 

 The thoracic cavity suffers less diminution in size and alteration in 

 shape from corset-wearing than the abdominal. The principal 

 constricting effect is exerted below the fifth rib. The inferior edge 

 of the lung is compressed, and its ability to distend the lower part 

 of the pleural cavity seriously crippled. Compensation in part is 

 effected by the tendency of the corset, when firmly adjusted, to 

 raise the shoulders, forcing the upper lobes to do the breathing, as 

 Sibson has proved, raising the thoracic, or five upper ribs, widening 

 the interspaces (also a constant condition in the female), and in 

 this way expanding the highest part of the conical thoracic cavity. 

 Freer play of the apices in women who wear corsets would lead 

 one to expect consolidation at these points to be relatively less fre- 

 quent than in men, while affections at the base should be more 

 commonly met with. An increased tendency to emphysema of the 

 upper lobes might also be anticipated. 



The author raises this interesting question. May the peculiar char- 

 acter of the respiration in women be attributed to the use of cor- 

 sets ? Two observers who are especially qualified to testify have 

 stated the case very forcibly. Sibson says, " In the adult female 

 the form of the chest and abdomen and the respiratory movements 

 are often undoubtedly modified by tight lacing. The form of the 

 chest and the respiratory movements do not differ perceptibly in 

 giris and boys below the age of ten. Although the form of the 

 chest remains nearly the same until the age of twelve, the abdomi- 

 nal movement is then somewhat less, and the thoracic somewhat 

 greater, in girls than boys. At this age and earlier, stays are worn, 

 and, though they do not compress the body materially, yet they re- 

 strain the free expansion of the lower ribs during free exercise. 

 After the age of fourteen the form of the chest and the respiratory 

 movements differ materially in females and males. I think it prob- 

 able that in females, even if they wore no stays, the thoracic res- 

 piration would be relatively greater, and the diaphragmatic less, 

 than in man ; but this is only surmise. Delicate men," he says 

 further, " approximate to the female thoracic breathing ; vigorous 

 women, to the male abdominal breathing ; and long-distance run- 

 ners have the least thoracic breathing of all men (in the quiescent 

 condition). The diaphragm would seem, therefore, to be a muscle 

 capable of developing to meet increased demands as much as any 

 other that the athlete strengthens." 



Walshe says, " The agricultural woman, who knows not stays, 

 breathes more like a man than the town female. Besides, during 

 sleep the conditions of pectoral and ventral action of the female are 

 much less strikingly different from those in the male than in the 

 waking state : the waist is relieved for a time from constriction. 

 And, further, the male and female dog breathe almost exactly 

 alike, as do the horse and mare : the action is abdominal and lower 

 costal." 



Dr. Dickinson calls attention to the observations of Dr. Mays of 

 Philadelphia, who has recently studied the respiratory movements 

 of Indian giris in the Lincoln Institution, and whose results have 

 been referred to in Science. These girls had always worn loose 

 clothing. They ranged between ten and twenty years of age. 

 Tracings from their costal and abdominal respiratory movements 

 showed a very close analogy to those of the civilized male, and that, 

 •' so far as the Indian is concerned, the abdominal is the original 

 type of respiration in both male and female, and that the costal type in 



