Weekly Chillicothe crisis., 1881-06-23

London TelcG 0ph
DIR. Danford Thomas, the coroner fol
central Middlesex, held an inquest nj
Kilburn the other day on the body OF
a widow lady, 48 years of age, whose
sudden and premature death seems
almost doubtless to have been hastcned
by the senseless and preEicious prac-
tice of tight-lacing. The medical gen
tleman who had charge of the case
stated that he made a post-mortcm OF
the body, and that he found the stom-
ach was contracted in the center by a
rigid band narrowing the organ TO one
eighth of its normal dimensions, so that
there were virtually two stOmachs;
and this contraction was on level
with a deep indentation on the liver cor
responding to where the stays were
tightly laced round the body. lie fur
ther said that the liver itself was flat
tened out and driven deep down into
the plevic or abdominal region; and
this result the surgeon declared, with
out hesitation, to have been produced
by tight.lacing. The coroner incident
ly observed that he had some time ago
held an inquest in which it was shown
that the liver had been seriously injur-
ed by tight-lacing; and not without
the discreet caveat of Il "perhaps,' he
expressed the opinion that the case be-
fore him would act as Il acaution against
further indulgence in the practice now
adopted.
If remonstrance against an absurd
and mischievOus freak of fashion were
only of the day before yesterday, so to
speak, little surprise need be felt at
the slow progress made by the cause of
reason and common sense against that
of vanity and folly. As it happens,
however, experienced medical men
have been inveighing against tight
stays almost since there were any stays
at all; and it is extremely questiona-
BILE whether the "stOmacher" denounced
by the Prophet Isaiah as part of the
superIluous apparel of the naughty
daughters of Zion, and for which he
sternlyprophcsied there would he substi-
tuted "a girding of sackcloth," were
not some kind of corset. BE this as it
may, to so no further back than the
first year of the Victoria era, we llnd,in
1912, Il distinguished member Of the
Royal college Of surgeons writing in
the strongest manner against the evils
of tight-lacing. In his work on the
deformities of the spine and chest, DR..
c. Rogers Harrison speaks Of the stays
as "a barbmous instrument, invented
by the most dcpravCd coquetry to give
TO the figure Il supposed lightncSs
which it ought not to have, or TO con-
ccal some dcformtics which it often
only increases" Stays, says this
wcighty authority, are only tolcrablc in
the case of young girls approaching
wOmanhood. The grown up woman,
it is the contention of Dr. Harrison,
should remain in shape as heaven has
made her, and needs only wcll-cut
and wcll.litting "corsagc" to her dress;
and "corsagc' differs as widely from
Il corset aS gentleman'S waistcOat
differs from Il steel cuirasS. Modern
stay-makerS, in advertising their in
Vulnerable stays, patent and other
wise, are apt, with much eXultatiOn, to
boast that novel invention has
wholly dispensed with those stiff
and strong supports of wood
steel, and whalehOno, which, in
days gone by, aroused the ire Of such
writers as Soemmering, Van Swieten,
and Portal and vast deal of dust is
thrown into the public eyes nowadays
in the shape of puiIs Of scientific"
"hygienic," and "anatOmical'' corsets,
which can be worn, it isassertrd, with
out iniuring the health. The fact,
however, is still us patent in 1881 as it
was in 1912 that all stay makers leave
their stays sufficiently narrow to adj
nit of their being far too tight either
for health or for beauty; and, while
the unnatural eXiguity of the corset
itself remains, the disappearance of the
old steel. wooden and whalebOne busks
is really matter of comparatively lit
tie moment. As regards the diseases
supernduced by tight-lacing, the cata-
loguc of ailments is really appalling,
and it is impIacticablc to recapitulate
them in full. 1t may suffice in this
place to enumerate onlya few. In the
head giddiness, pain in the eyes, ring
ing in the ears, bleeding at the nose,
and headache itself. Redness of the
nasal organ is scarcely a disease, but it
is certainly IN inelegant condition of
that conspicuous feature, and is one of
the concomitants of tight .lacing. In
the thorax, besides the displacement of
the bones and the injury done to the
breast, tight lacing produces shortness of
breath, blood splitting, arrangement of
the circulation, consumption, palpita.
tOn of the heart, and water on the
chest. The abdomen of the tightly
laced female is liable to loss Of appe-
tite, deprayed digestion, collie pains, in
duration of the liver, rupture, and
dropsy. Melancholia, hysteria, and a
long list of maladies peculiar to the
feminine constitution follow; to say
little of other ills of the most dolorous
and terrible description. Ladies,
young, middle-aged and elderly, may
we'll be asked whether it is worth while
rearing this legion of children of the
painful family of death, whether it is
worth while literally to press disease to
their bosoms, and welcome deformity
and dissolution to their heart of hearts,
in order to produce OF to preserve
what is enormously supposed to be a
"lovely figure" Medical authorities of
the highest standing substantially put
to the slaves of the tyrant fashion the
short, stern question, "Why will ye
die?" The answer can only be to the
effect that the present style of dress in
vogue demands complete display of
the contours of the female figure, and
that, according to the perverted ideas
of fashionable man-milliners, dress
makers and their silly dupes, an unnat-
urally slim waist is an Indispensable
adjunct to beauty.
Money In 1t.
The best investment is in that which
will maintain health. From letter of
4