Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1904-11-03
PHYSICIANS AscRIBE TUeERcu.
LosIs AND ANAEMIA TO LAcING.
DENIED BY A WOMAN
Says Her Sex Has Profited by Bitter
Experience and Caution Is Now
Exercised Proper Adjustment
Most Necessary to Avert Dangerous
Consequences.

Periodically some one, becoming
wrought up over the fashion of wo-
mans dress, renews the attacks upon
the much discussed and frequently
abused bit of feminine apparel, the
corset. so many ills have been attrib.
uted to whalebone 8ises, as they are
styled, and to the effects Of tight lacing
that most women long ago ceased to
take any stock" in the alarming pre-
,dictlons concerning the influence of
the corset on future generations.
Stays, in one form or another continue
to hold their own.
Occasionally, however, a new evil
Is pointed out as the result of corset
wearing, and thus 1t appears that the
old subject of dress reform Is brought
again to the attention of the feminine
members of society. The latest Ills to
! lie ascribed to the wearing of corsets
are consumption, anaemia, and appen.
dcitis, and as these diseases are both
serious and comparatively common
women are beginning to investigate
the hyglenic properties of the modern
corset models.
Preaching dress reform, which re.
! ally means the abandonment Of cor.
sets, is a waste of time and words, so
declare many fashionable physicians,
II never saw woman yet" said one
well known man whose patients in.
clude the society set, who didn't in
/ slst that her stays were perfectly loose
and comfortable, and to prove her
point she would show how easily she
could put her hand under the front
9teels. My reply to this little bit Of
feminine deception is invariably the
same, Why, of course, you wouldn't
wear yours too tight, which assurance
I is always satisfactory. find it's the
only way to get on with women, and
experience has taught most physicians
that they might talk till doomsday on
the harmful results from wearing cor
sets, and that's all the good their lee
lures would accomplish. Women are
peculiarly stubborn when it comes to
n question of clothes and their person
al appearance; and besides, dress re-
form has become a hackneyed and al
together dead subject"
Everyone must admit, however, that
| the plable batistc and whalebone arti-
cles OF dress have assumed a new inn
portance since according to some ply
sicians, women are stared in the face
/ T. -, al ~ at 10 IN,
/ Lcrcuosis and appendicitis or renounc-
/ ing their dearly beloved physical sup
port The climax of threatened dan
gers seems to have been reached in
these latest assertions.
1t Is DR.. Sangiovanni of New York
city who declares that tuberculosis and
anaemla are due to the wearing of
corsets. DR., Sangioyanni IS said to
have been Garibaldis physician and
was decorated for his services during
the cholera morbus epidemic in Naples
IN the latter part of the seventies. The
doctor now lectures at Gotham public
schools and lately he has succeeded
in interesting the board of education
in the subject of corset wearing and
his proposed methods Of reform
In explaining the physiological rea-
sons for his remarks, DR.. Sangsovanni
Gwells upon the horrible practice, as
he calls II, followed by women in COM
pressing their waists to such a degree
that they are unable ts inhale and ex-
hale the requisite amount Of oxygen.
Besides destroying the natural lines of
the figure the fashionable pressure at
the waist and abdomen, according to
Or Sangiovanni, plays havoc with the
digestive organs, and the result Is the
incipiency Of nearly all the ills that
flesh Is heir 10.
So strongly does the doctor feel up
on this we'll worn subject that he de-
clares he would like to see bill intro
J duccd In the legislature forbidding
school teachers, superintendent OF
factories and stores to receive any girl
wearing corsets.
As If consumption and anacmIa were
not enough OF a hugaboo to femlnlnlty
incased in stays, the even more start
mug III WIS NblllCS lIbH dtIbSS the Whltl
that Paris physician proclaims cor
sets responsible for the innumerable
cases Of appendicitis which have oc-
CURED recently among women Of fash.
ion.
This gives a decidedly new aspect to
The matter, and makes II worth while
to go over the subject again especially
in the light of the market improve
ments. so considered, In the cut. shape
and style Of the corsets designed fol-
the twentieth century woman.
The fact is. women are rather proud
OF the sense and good taste they have
displayed In dress during the last few
months. and, instead of being censured
for their reform, they hoped to find en-
couragement on every side. The wo-
men Of today do not aspire to the pro
portions Of Roman matrons or strong
llmhed Amaxons, What they want is
frand0m ~ rnnvpnant hnolth - -