Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-02
AS TO DELICATE GIRLS.
Rosy Cheeks and Elastic Steps Bet
ter Than Pale Faces.
From the Boston TranscrtDt.

From tie Boston Transcript
From an address by DR.. II. NJ. Hodges
before the Massachusetts, Medical So
ciety;
A Justly distinguished master OF the
girls high and normal school in this CITY
is reported to have said that principal
qualification tor the office he held should
be a good medical education. The first
hour OF his school dav was spent in going
from room TO room, at the call of teachers,
to see pupils who had tainted or Vomited,
or were in "spasms," in Mysteries, or in
some other way mad come to pass which
alarmed the inexperienced. These pheno-
mena he clearly recognized as due to
fatigue, insufficient sleep and the want
| OF an adequate breakiast-a meal which
these girls were too tired to eat, or which
| they did not think worth wasting time
| upon, when home duties demanded their
| cooperation, morning lesson was to be
! looked over, or neglected task TO be made
up, and long walk interviewed between
| their homes and the school.
The special provocatives of delicate
health" in young women are in a great
part social. The deleterlous influence of
a multiplicity of engagements, OF the ex-
acting demands of ambition, fashion and
gayety-and not unfrequently OF an early
beIrothal-are intensified by the capacity
for endurance which belongs to the so
called weaker sex. A girl can tire out her
partners In the german" one after an
other, and feeble wife can carry her baby
twice as long as her athletic husband.
The more strain there is upon the strength
OF women the more completely DO they
forget themselves and their material
wants. They submit and give no signs of
their emotions to the depressing influences
of misfortune or an unhappy home. They
suffer and are silent with what have been
called "bad husband headaches" They
stifie a wounded pride which is deep in
proportion to tue smallness OF the family
income and yield TO the aggressive at
tacks Of neurotic influences (the least
wearing Of which may be the mental only
when the limited energy their bodies pos
sess is exhausted and which, when once
lost, they rarely have the physical capa-
city or power OF mechanism TO replace.
The bodies and brains of young women
in the wealthiest and most luxurious cir
Giles of society constantly reveal their I'M
perfect nutrition. Refined emaciation,
fair anGmic cOmpleNiOns, eyes made
brilliant by dilated pupils, deCOrous con
ceament OF undeveloped busts aud slen-
der arms, eXcit1ble and restless tempera-
ments-Wanting sometimes in self con-
troll, nut oftener sobered by over-con-
scientiousness-are the retributiye symp-
tons which betray a lack Of TODD, sleep,
fresh air and repOse. some Of those who
embody these conditions delight 10 think
that Providence has distinguished them
from the common nerd by certain Pc
culiarities Of constitution, and they
cherish with great selt-satisiaction their
supposed idiosyncrasies ia regard 20 what
they eat and in reference 10 various habits
OF lite. They do not know, or are unwill-
ing 10 admit, that "want OF Tone" of
which they complain is only another name
for the inertia OF exhaustion.