Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-09-17
r.,n he Ntv York Ersnias Post,
TIGHT LACING.

r,,ros.-As YOU have already ex-
s ani 50 many solemn facts to your readers
~. rou will present them with the ioi-
ernSp' ay,r,ct from a little work, entitled
"" ,,,es On Health, sc. by David NJ.
D. published at the Methodist
Ese% Sc Office. No II. Crosby street.
' .Tto S,rbarous custom, so universal among
males, of tight lacing By the corset,
C. IS adopted in lieu Of the stays for
~. woro. and is no less hurtful or criminal,
-'.: wore laid aside aud abandoned by
fom,Ie ancestors, in consequence OF the
.,.s mischieGs resulting to health F; but
o,o5erp ladies' have changed the narne
f. home Of the instrument, but they retain
-. 4ss,r,,,iye characteristics. Ii was dis.
.rorod br the observations of professional
,s n ENGLAND. during the last century, and
f. them pablicIy declared, that by the stays
Nom generally worn the free expansion OF
limos was prevented, the breast became
,ocprops, the ribs aud spine from constant
omrra,,jon became distorted, shortness oil
b,o,Ib followed, and in many instances ter
amazed in consumption the digestive or
|sns suffered arrangement and frequent nau-
H. and vomiting followed
an these declarations were made public,
LITTER having distinctly traced these several re-
ISrlts 10 the use ofthe stays, by observations
m,Ie during life, and confirmed by inspec-
10, after death, Of which they had numer-
1 Gus instances.
Nov the corset so generally worn at pres
lent BY the better part Of creation,' are pro-
I%eetge ofthe SAINT effects. Almost every pro-
%es,Onal man has witnessed the fatal results
d this abomination. The author has many
times attributed diseases totlght laclng, and
! n The only two instances in which he was
permitted to dissect the bodies of two young
females of this class, the suspicion was shown
/ 10 be well founded. The adhesion Of parts
\ and arrangement Of structure were truly
! fdghtiul; and they had always been defend
4 lng themselves from the charge by saying |
\ am sureI do lot lace so tight as other girls:'
\ and when accused of violating prudence in
n this respect. when almost sutfocated, would
4 elevate the shoulders and say, 'Indeed | am
not very tight" Thus pcrsisting in their
hateful iulemperaucein dress, they prepared
for themselves a premature grave! and 1t IS a
problem which would puzzle aJesuit, to prove
that suicide is less criminal, when knowingly
persisted in by I tight laeing, than when effect
ed bY halter or ar'zor
The ingenuity of the ladies, perhaps,
could not be better exerted, han in contri-
wing some method Of preventing such havoc
ar ~annually Occasioned among them from
fshi IacIng and thin dressing. Surely the
iMr sex may invent someform ofdrcss, which
nay prevent bad effects on the constitution
While, al the same time, their elegance Of II,
gre may not fail in the smallest degree
and she or they, whose ingenuity sho Id ef'
'rct this contriyance, in a manner s~atisiac'
'0ry to those for whose benefit it is designed,
would save more lives than did Rush, or even
AIppOerates himself; aud the first inventor
would obtain as well as deserve a mortal i'm
mortality among the benefactors of our race.