34 Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin,. M.D. 



Young ladies should also he directed, where two sleep in 

 a bed, to change every night, or every week, their sides 

 of the bed; which will prevent their tendency to sleep al- 

 ways on the same side; which is not only liable to. produce 

 crookedness, but also to occasion diseases by the internal 

 parts being so long kept in uniform contact as to grow to- 

 gether. For the same reason they should not be allowed to 

 sit always on the same side of the fire or window, because 

 they will then be inclined too frequently to bend themselves 

 to one side. 



Another great cause of injury to the shape of young ladies 

 is from the pressure of stays, or other tight bandages, which 

 at the same time cause other diseases by changing the form 

 or situation of the internal parts. If a hard part of the stays, 

 even a knot of the thread, with which they are sewed to- 

 gether, is pressed hard upon one side more than the other, 

 the child bends from the side mot>t painful, and thus occa- 

 sions a curvature of the spine. To counteract this effect, 

 such stavs as have fewest hard parts, and especially such 

 as can be daily or weekly turned, are preferable to others. 



Where frequent lying down on a sofa in the day-time, 

 and swinging frequently for a short time by the hands or 

 head, with K;ose dress, do not relieve a beginning distortion 

 of the back, recourse may be had to a chair with stuffed 

 •moveable arms for the purpose of suspending the weight of 

 the body by cushions under the arm-pits, like resting on 

 crutches, or like the leading-strings of infants. From the 

 top of the back of the same chair a curved steel bar may also 

 project to suspend the body occasionally, or in part by the 

 head, like the swing above mentioned. The use of this 

 chair is more efficacious in straightening the spine, than 

 simply lyine down horizontally ; as it not only takes off the 

 pressure of the head and shoulders from the spine, but at 

 the same time the inferior parts of the body contribute to 

 draw the spine straight by their weight ; or lastly, recourse 

 may be had to a spinal machine first described in the Me- 

 moirs of the Academy of Surgery in Paris, vol. iii. p. 600, 

 bv M. Le Vacher, and since made by Mr. Jones, at No. 6, 

 INIorth- street, Tottenham-court Road, London, which sus- 

 pends 



