Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-11-05

Rev Charles Kingsley, in one Of his re
/ cent lectures to ladies, delivered in London
said
1t seems to me that few centuries hence
/ when mankind has learnt to fear God more
and therefore to obey more strictly thos,
/ laws Of nature and OF science which are tn,
viii of God, it seems to me, say. that il
+ those days the present fashion Of tight lacing
viii he looked back upon ass contemplate
and bdrbarous superstition, den0ting a very
low level Of civilization in the peoples which
Lave practiced IT, That for generations past
women should have been in the habit of
vieing with each other in obedience to fash
i1u-that they should, say, have been in
the habit Of deliberately crushing that part
Of the body which should be especially left
free, contracting and tisplacing their lungs,
their heart, and all the most vital and i'm
pjrtant organs, and entailing thereby disease
Tot only on themselves, but on their children
after them; that for forty years past physi-
clans should have been telling them Of the
folly Of what they have been doing; and
JhaJ they should as Yet, in the great ma
jurity Of cases, not only turn q deaf ear to
all warnings, but actually deny the offence.
% which one glance Of the physician or the
sculptor. who know what shape the human
body ought to be. brings them in guilty
ths, ! say, is an instance Ol-What shall !
call it?-which deserves at once the lash.
not merely Of the satirist, but Of any the0-
logan vino really believes that God made
the physical universe. Let me, pray you,
appeal to your common sense for a moment.
When any one chooses a horse Of a dog,
whether for strength, for speed OF for any
other useful purpose, the first thing, almost,
to be looked at. is the gIrth round the lower
ribs, the room for heart and lungs Exactly
in proportion to that Will be the animal 5
hellthiness, power Of endurance, and value
in many other ways. IEou will look at en-
inent lawyers and famous orators, who have
attained healthy old age, you will see that
in every sc they are men Qike the late
Lord Paimerston. and others whom could
nention) Of remarkable size, not merely in
the upper, but in the lower part of the
chest; men who had, therefore. peculiar
power Of using the diaphragm to FIJI and to
clear the lungs, and therefore to oxygenate I.
the blood Of the whole body. Now it is lust
these lower ribs, across which the diaphragm 7.
is stretched, like the head Of drum, which /
stays contract TO minimum. Ii You ad- /
gised owners Of horses and hounds to put |
their horses or their hounds into stays. and |
ace them up tight in order to increase their
beauty, You would, | doubt not, receive q very
but certainly very decided re-
usal to do that which would spoil, not mere
y the animals themselves, but the whole
tud or the whole kennel for years to come.
And if you advised an orator to put himself
nto tight stays, he, no doubt, again would
i've courteous answer; but he would re-
'ly (f ne was a really educated mani that
o comply with your request would involve
iis giving up public work, under the proba.
We penalty Of being dead within the next
weve months.
And how much work Of every kind, intel
ectual as well as physical, is spoiled or hind
many deaths occur from consump-
ion and other complaints, which are the re-
ults Of this habit Of tight lacing, is known
artly to the medical men, who lift up their
oioes in vain, and known fully to Him who
Tiil not interfere with the least of his own
hysieal laws to save human beings from the
odsevuences Of their own wilful folly.