The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-10-26
For the Lancaster Gazette.
LAWS OF HEALTH.

Thirty five years ago the practice of
tight lacing was carried to such arfex-
tent as to work it's own reformation.
Whether it was written down, or
whether the number of pale, slender
forms, Increasing number of deaths
from consumption, and of deformed
and unhealthy children born, had most
to do with loosing the stays, 1 cannot
positively state at this time; but the
corsets were removed, and the chest
allowed to expand to, or as near as it
could, Its normal dimensions, very
much to the Improvement of female
health in general, and considerable
reduction Of the bills of mortality
But it is said that things come round
again; and in this matter it would
seem that the lessons of the past arc
either wholly ignored, or have carried
forward with them no intelligence to
the new generation that has come upon
the stage. Young ladies, and even
wives are seen now walking the streets
with their chests representing pyra-
mids inverted; that is, the base present.
ing upward, and the apex towards
terifrma; exactly the reverse of what
nature requires; just as if the full ex-
pansion of the lungs by filing them
with atmospheric air with every breath
that is drawn, was not matter of in
dispensablo Importance to life and
health. The lower, or short ribs, are
intended by nature TO be thrown out
ward and forward with every inspira-
ton; while the diaphragm has a free
motion upwards and downwords as
the lungs are filled and emptied in
breathing, without which the purifica-
tion and oxydation Of the blood can
not be fully accomplished, to say moth
ing of the impodiments to digestion
and the functions of the liver, which
is always cramped and pinched in this
unnatural cording up of the waist with
lacing strings. Yet, right at this point,
whore the most mischief can be- done,
is where the structures are applied. 1t
seems strange that mothers should
conutenance this practice in their
young daughters and still more
strange that married ladies should
hazard their own lives. and the well
fare Of their offspring, by persisting in
this dangerous practice. 1t may
be thought becoming but in the eyes
Of the physiologist and philan thropist
it is not SO. If physiology and anato-
my were made a part of common school
education, il would, think, do great
deal towards abating the evils of tight
lacing, by teaching people what their
lungs were made for.
The almost universal practice of
giving fashionable dinners and sup
pers, is as irrational as it is damaging
to health and comfort and under a
sensible estimate of our real wants and
necessities, the habitcan only be spo.
ken of as q sinful waste; and always a
dangerous indulgence. A sensible
writer has denominated these dinners,
a "hosp,table assault, By the host, upon
the hves Of his guests" Suppose we
were to take the collection ofindigest-
iOles and viands usually served up on
these occasions, to show our regard for
our friends, and place them in tub
instead Of a stomach, and then con-
template the fermentipg mass; what
other conclusion could we arrive at,
than that, in the stomach, it would
kill horse or an ostrich: and yet wo
90 on from day to day pressing upon
the : digestive operatus large quaint
ties of food that can neither be digest.
ed nor assimilated.
lfyour friend invites you TO a sup-
per, and you havo answered the re-
quirements of politeness; then compli-
ment yourself by taking a slice of
bread and butter, and glass of wa
ter, aud go to your couch at an early
hour. No friend can have any claims
upon you that demand the sacrifice Of
your health, or that will require you
to form habits of dissipation because
he chooses to lavish money in giving
fashionable dinners. ALPHA.