The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-02-07
The Evils Of the Corset.

The errors in woman's dress are:
1. The corset, which reduces the waist
from three to fifteen inches and pushes
the organs within downward.
2. Unequal distribution. While her
chest and hips are often overloaded, her
arms and legs are so thinly clad that
their imperfect circulation compels con
gestion of the trunk and head.
3. Long, heavy skirts which drag upon
the body and impede the movements of
the legs.
4. Tight shoes, which arrest circula-
ton, and make walking difficult. High
heels, which increase the difficulties In
walking, and so change the center Of
gravity IN the body as to produce dislo-
cations in the pelvic viscera.
Lack of space forbids details under
each OF these heads, so we speak mostly
of the corset, by far the greatest evil
We have talked with several corset
makers, and sum up their testimony as
follows: Fashionable ladies, and thous-
ands who initiate them, purchase cor
sets from three to ten inches smaller
than their waists, and then lace them SO
as to reduce their waists from two To
eight inches. More than one corset
maker has placed the average higher
than these figures.
The corset does more than squeeze the
waist. After forcing a considerable
part OF what belongs within the waist
downward into lower part of the ab-
domen, to prevent an unseemly protu-
berance, the corset is so contriyed as ia
spread over all that lower part, force It
down, and, with firm layer Of steel or
whalebone, hold it there. This presses
the abdominal viscera down upon the
orgrns in the pelvis. Then, to end this
tragedy with farce, people put on
serious faces, and wonder why women
suffer from prolapsis uteri.
DO women practice tight Iacing ?
Since beginning this paper, we have ask
ed this question of more than a score of
ladies. The answer is NO" One ladv
whose waist had been reduced moro than
eight inches declares that she has heard
about this lacing all her life. but has
never seen it, She adds: 4 wear 4 cor
set, though from my immense size (nine-
teen lnches), you would hardly think Il.
And fancy that ladies generally man
age about as do; they wear cor
set to keep their clothes in shape, but it
hardly touches them" In forty years'
experience, with the wearers Of corsets
we cannot recall a single confession. even
from those who had reduced their waists
from ten to fifteen inches. Ono AN
write freely on this subject with no fear
OF hurting the feelings Of lacinO yvonoo,,s
Tor not one OF them will imagine herself
gulity; and one can speak as disparac-
ingly as ne pleases of diminutive figures
Tor the smallest woman regards berseIf
as perfectly immense"
4 girl who has INDUCED in tight lac
ing should not marry. She may be +
very devoted wife, but her husband viii
secreteiy regret his marriage. Physi-
cians Of experience know what il meant
| while thosands Of husbands will no,s only
Know but deeply feel the meaning If
a numerous and busy class az mod
zeal specialists are devoted Ia the traot.
ment OF malpositions of the ORGANS II
the lower part Of a woman's abdomen
ihese malpositions are directly ana ~.
directly, the source of large mart of M,
III health and suferings. IL 4 nnreas ~
ape 70 say that pressue but tie mid
we q the body, which reduces the
waist from three TO fifteen inches. mus
push what Is within the waist downward
ana must inevitably produce those NAL
posltlons q the organs at the bottom
sm1 n : sane woman imagine any other re-