The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1894-05-24
The Great Evil of the Age.
A MEDICAL WARNING.
By John Ellis, VI. d.

Looking simply at the physical de-
velopment, health, symmetry of form,
beauty. increase, and perpctuity OF the
native American people. it j. perfectly
safe to say that tight dressing, rs it is
practiced to-day among the women and
girls of our country, i the greatest evil
that exists. When the writer was "a
boy, seventy yeas ago, tight dressing
among women was principally confined
to the waist and the chest, but to-day it
is carried down as low as possible
towards the hips. OF late years we
have had advertised, by the mahuiactur-
ers or their agents, corsets Tor ''con-
tracing and clongating the waist" and
we see the sad results of their use in the
deformed women all around US.
Kind reader, you who care for the
welfare of our race, please look at the
distorted figures which are intended to
represent fashionable women to be seen
in our periodicals, and even in some of
our daily papers, and which are freely
sent to and admitted into the homes
where dwell girls, young women, and
their mothers. With such illustrations
before them, what is more natural than
that the young girls should feel that
their bodies should be forced into the
shape represented in the fashion plates
before them, and too many mothers are
anxious that their daughters should be
dressed In Il fashionable style, and they
know very well that the natural human
form can only be thus distorted by the
means of corsets, tight dresses or
bandagcs, applied to their girls while
young, so as to forcibly restrain the
natural development and growth of the
waist, abdomen, and hips, mechanically
as the Chinese fashionable mother pre-
vents the growth of the feet of her girls.
In the symmetrical, well formed wo-
man the hips are much broader in pro-
portion to the bre idth of the shoulders
than they are in men, but when the de-
velopment of the waist and abdomen are
mechanically prevented from expanding.
the muscles which extend from these
structures to the bones of the pclvis be-
ing thus bound down, they hold in and
prevent the full development of the pei
Wis. In many of our young women the
pelvis is not broader in proportion to
the shoulders than it is in men. This
deformity is far-reachng in its conse-
quences.
DR.. Mary Wood Allen in The Journal
of Hygiene and Herald of Health in an
excellent article on Ground Shouldered
Girls says, in regard to the organs
within the trunk or chest and abdomen
"They are packed by the hand of Divine
Skill aud to Interfere with them is a
matter of vital import Deformty of
the shoulders is common, and a wonder
full lessening of the capacity of the lungs
for breathing Is an inevitable result of
this evil habit.
DIR. ID, Benjamin, in an illustrated ar
ticle in The Annals of IIygicne-.a Jour
nal oi llealth--aiter earnestly calling at
tention TO "the commercial view of yle
in women's clothing" aud in speaking
of the "relation of the waist to diseases
of women" says: 1.-The human body
contains no useless space. The organs
contained within the body are of the
proper size, and cannot be increased on
diminished in size without impairing
their functions and causing their utter
ruin. Nor can they be displaced with
out injury. These are facts admitted by
anatonists, psychologists, and physi-
clans. Again he says: "Ghc evil eff
fects of the publication in the fashion
columns of the magazines of such illus
trations as we have consist mainly, per
maps III us EDUCATING tll' - tN VI AAuliS
women to II false model, inclining them
to believe this is the ideal, their con
slant efforts to attain which result sc
disastrously to their health. The print
ing of such cuts, being SO great an Insult
to the intelligence and taste of humani-
ty, as well AS disastrous to health
should be prohibited.
If there are any evils in the world
which should be prohibited by legal en-.
actmcnts, surely the painting, engray
ing, public exhibition, aud printing and
circulation through our periodicals and
mails of such false and perverted repre-
sensations of the female form, and the
manufacture and sale of the corset,
which are so rapidly impairing tn,
health and vitality of our women and
thus aiding in the destruction of the ma.
tive American race, should he prohibit
ed. We men are responsible for the
continuance of these evils unrcstrained
for we only hold the right to vote fol
our legislators. Let our girls and wo-
men cast away their corsets and tight
dresSes-they will feel "all gone" for &
time; stand up AS erect as possible, re-
peatedly draw in Il full breath and ex
pand their lungs to their utmost capac
ty many times day, aud they will re
ceive renewed vitality, strength, health
and beauty, and our native race may YET
he preserved from the threatened ami
hilation.
Horaced "Mrs Chambers can read her hus-