Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-10-14

der her tightly-clasping bars of cane
| In spite of himself, he becomes aD anato'
mist. He mentally dissects her. He
cannot help thinking of those plates in
! books of physiology, showing tie posi-
! ton OF the ribs anterior and posterior to
! the practice of tight-lacin'. While he
/ ought to be looking ut her face, he is, IN
| imagination, contemplating her lnngs'
/ When she sighs, il is not of her affection
! he thinks; he is considering the action
of her diaphragm. 1t is impossible fol
! the tenderest and most idealistic Of
I lovers to discern the poetry ofa mechan-
| ical waist
AS for the injurious effects of the
| practice, no correspondence of the Times
or elsewhere will alter definite scientific
facts. We are heartily glad to perceive
that the Lancet has engagedin the good
work of shifting down these fallacies
with the sIedge-hammer of its authority.
! We imagine, however, that the physical
injuries produced by tight-lacing must
be apparent TO every one and that it Is
only a piece of hypocrisy on the part OF
its advocates to say that they know oi
no cases of such injury.
The Lancet only rpeats what ought
to be known to every schoolgirl who
studies physiological questions and an
swers in her classes. For the free motion
of the lungs, free motion of the ribs is
required. Compress the bs 10y tight
lacing. and you would prevent the lungs
from obtaining air but for the action Ofthe
diaphragm, which involves noG od OF
breathing directly destructive of the
harmonious working of the internal sys-
tenn. breathing. as it is thus carried oD,
produces downwaid pressure Instead OF
lateral expansion, Increasing the diff
culties under which the digestive organs,
compressed out of shape by the c0ustric-
tion of the waist do their work. and
causingd arrangements
which create perhaps more domestic I'M
happiness tnau any other circumstance
i'm life And we do not hesitate
to say that TO hepractice of tight-lacing
is due very large number of distressin n z
female ailments, over and beyond those
arrangements of digestion and circula-
ton to which we have already referred" F"
It may be urged that if women will
kill themselves in order to attract adj
miration and crafty their vanity, they
ought to be allowed a martyrtlnm
which is clearly pleasure to them But
that is not the point. The results of
tight lacing are not confined to the sub
JtCt Oi t1le l. Inc
of the custom in this age would nateri-
ally affect the health of the next gener-
alton.
The more immediate results are mass
of needless complaints which make q
woman an infiiction upon her friends as
well as misery to herself. Constant
headaches, the querulousness OF temper
attendant upon restraint and pain, and
the thousand ills of indigestion are
part of the harvest of evil which follows
tight-lacing, and in which many an un-
happy husband has been forced to share.
For woman to have constant head
aches who has produced them by her
own wiIful folly might be regarded as a
merited punishment, but for the fact
that the punishment falls az much upon
the husband as upon herself. Probably,
however, he reaps deserved punish
ment for having been foolish enough to
marry girl given up to tight-lacing, or
for having been weak enough to let his
wife fall into the habit. Perhaps if it
were well understood that our marrying
young men-looking forward to their
future domestic comfort-were disposed
to keep clear of girls devoted to the ruin
Gus practice of tight-lacin2. the insect
waist would disappear. and there would
be an end to coffin-corsets.