Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-04-26
No. 23.
SANITARY ASPECT OF DRESS.
Effect of Fashionable Clothing on the
Health of the Wearers.

At the British Sanitary Congress held at
Newcastle, a paper by DR.. Alfred Carpenter
was read on the Sanitary Aspect Of Dress"
He held that the work which rightly be-
longed to the Sanitary Institute included
everything which had reference to the house
and its surroundings. Surveying the social
points associated with health questions, he
insisted that the subject of clothing should
have full consideration. There was a field
Of sanitary work in which the law had little
influence, and that was in the way of clothing
for the public If, he said, Parliament were
to rule that imprisonment should follow the
wearing Of the 'chimney-pot" hat the prs-
Ons in the country would be insufficient to
contain those who would suffer martyrdom
sooner than give up its use. Fortunately
the days were gone when the liberty of the
subject in such matters was interfered with
by the law but there was power much
greater than the law, and so long as society"
tolerated the tall hat that institution would
flourish. But the day would come when the
'chimney.pot" would disappear, even from
the preparatory school, where it was still
looked upon as indicating the march of in
tellect," and separating particular schools
from those of inferior rank. 1t was in such
schools considered ''snobbish" not to wear
the tall hat, and in the same way the Eton
jacket and the Stock Exchange dress were
prescribed by custom from which none de-
part. The custom" and fashion" might be
unhealthy, but the votaries did not know it,
and there was no school to teach it, and
fashion ignored the teachings Of common
sense. Hence 1t was necessary the congress
and the institute should deal with this sub
ject and influence the public opinion respect
ing barbarOuS customs in regard to clothing
which continued to flourish and bear civil
fruit in thousand different ways which
produced an immense amount of disease
and misery among those who were scarcely
aware of the mischief which they had
brought upon themselves or caused other
people to suffer-
He first directed attention to the foot, and
said that not one half of the population had
really natural feet. The cause was not far to
seek, for parents were forgetful of the fact
that children's feet had tendency to grow
larger as the children grew. 1t would be far
better for children to be brought up without
wearing any kind of boot at all than to have
the muscles wasted, the bones distorted, and
the joints perverted in their action in the
way in which it was the custom now
to do among high and low, rich and poor.
Referring to high heels and pointed toes he
said it certainly argued a low taste and
very weak intellect when such things as
these We're worn by the lady who aspired to
be considered as queen of society," and
who wished to make sensation among her
fellows. High heels and pointed toes must
with exercise, must make the
wearers suffer from want of muscular eXer-
tiOn, and therefore must lay the foundation
of all those diseases which spring from dys-
pepsia and its allies. It was this tendency
to place ligatures on the other parts of the
body as well as the foot which so often rem
dered human nature ridiculous and produced
of the most serious kind. The good
sense of the English nation was abolishing
stays from the list of articles which young
girls wore, but they were sadly too much
used even now. Health was sacrificed to
figure, the vicera OF the body were displaced
in the most extraordinary manner from the
position which they should occupy, because
it was thought by some that slim waist
was thing of beauty. The way in which
infants were clothed and ligatured, often to
their fatal injury, and the materials in which
they were enveloped, too thin in cold wealth
er and too thick, heavy, and hot in summer
formed very important subject which he
dealt with in detail, and he also spoke of the
use by manufacturers of arsenic, antimOny
and lead as cOlOring materials for the pupOse
of rendering the article heavy in the weigh
ing scales.
He also touched upon the manner in which
linens and wOOlens were dressd and disguis-
ed for the market by the introduction OF for
eign earthly matters. In concluding he said
that the neglect of the laws of morality, of
the lines of true beauty, and of correct sani-
tary principals in matters of dress was suffi-
cient to justify his short paper, and to give
him reason for calling the attention Of the
congress to some of the causes of continued
i'll health among the community That
which Parliament dare not do, and which
the Queen and Court were unable to effect,
would not be produced by the Sanitary In
stitute; but as Parliament had ceased to en-
act sumptuary laws because real knowledge
and good sense were opposed to such enact
ments, so the Sanitary Institute, by promul-
eating sound information upon the matters
N question, might influence public opinion
and assist in bringing good sense into power
even among the votaries Of fashion and the
followers of custom. This might in time
produce the desired effect, even more GER
ainly than could be done by the Queen, the
lords, and the Commons combined, or by
in any form.
Brother Gardner.
IT take nlpaSOrn in iY7fnrmin, dis cIuhD