The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-12


has always been subjected TO the
harshest criticism and ridicule, is
now suddenly being endorsed by
prominent. physicians. 1t is, they
say, a Necessity to every woman,
and should not be discarded.
Throughout the centuries women
have worn this curious appliance
in one form or another, in spite of
persistent jibes and protests from
the masculine sex, because each
changing fashion demanded it.
Now for the first time in many
long years the corset is practically
out of style, and the tide OF pro-
fessional criticism is turning unex-
pectedly in its favor.
DIR. Royal S. Copeland, health
commissioner of New York city,
says that he cannot urge too
strongly upon women the advis-
ability OF wearing corsets. He de-
clares that they have worn them
for so many hundreds OF years that
they have come to need them, and
many serious disorders are apt TO
result from their abandonment.
DR.. Adolf Lorenz, the famous
Vienna surgeon, who spent last
winter in New York, also adds his
recommendation of the corset.
Every woman should wear a
corset" he says. 1T not only
braces vital organs that need brac-
ing, but it is a preventive of spinal
troubles"
Of course DR.. Lorenz does not
advocate a~return to the old wasp
wasted high corsets which cramp
the body and prevent free move
ment of the muscles. He believes
that the alI-important considera-
ton is that the corset should in
every instance be perfect fit, per
haps even modelled after casts made
from the person who is to wear it.
Yet it is doubtful if DR.. Lorenz'
preston upon the rising generation
Of young women, as long as the
corset remains out of style. Just
as their great-grandmothe insist
ed that they were healthy and COM
Portable with 13-inch waists even
while they swooned. so the mod
ern prom girls are prepared to risk
the graVest anatomical injuries
rather than be stigmatized as "Old |
Ironsides" at the college dances.
Fashions VS.. Health.
The corset controversy has ragged !
continuously from the very earliest
times, and always fashion has pre-
vailed over health. The date of !
the first appearance of the corset |
IS not known, but among the art |
works discovered in the ruins OF
0ne of the mysterious forest cities |
Of South America, whose history is /
lost in remote antiquity, there is a |
Oas-relief representing female |
figure which shows unmista kably
hat a contrivance similar to the
modern corset was then in use
This consisted of a complicated and
elaborate waist bandage, which by
. system of circular and transverse
olding and looping confined the
waist from just below the hips as
irmly and compactly as the most
corset of modern times.
Some authorities give the Ger
mans the credit for inventing the
irst European corset and possibly
it into Rome. At any
ate it is known that the early
ierman women and the fine Roman
adies wore much the same type
Il restricting bandages.
That the corset was found ridic-f
IlouS even in the somewhat ridicu-
Gus middle ages is shown by a
sketch dated 1043, found in the
British museum, which cartoons
lot only the restricting corset, but ,
lso the trailing draperies of the
eriod worn so long that they need !
d knotting to be kept from the !
The heavy steel corsets of
he time of Catherine de Medici,i
nd the hinged steel box with the j
spending rod or bar of steel over
yhich the long peaked bodice of :
he dress was adjusted, affected by .
queen Elizabeth. also produced l
luch sardonic amusement and de i
I
Never in all these years has pub l