Year: 1863




In remarkably practical and we'll
written article by DR.. R. T. Trail, pub
lished in Hygienie Teacher, he discusses
the comparative "vital stamina of
Americans and English women thus
sensibly


"The better vital development Of the
English, particularly of the women and
children, has long been subject of re-
mark with travellers; and we have been
in the habit of alluding to this subject
in ourlectures on the health and diseases
Of women. Hence, when the opportu-
nifty presents, we could not help study
ing this subject with much interest


We trace the great diferenc that ex-
lists in this respect = aud it is even
greater than we had supposed-to two
sources, the greater amount Of sleep
and the more exposure to the fresh air


English mothers expose themselves
and their children to the air often and
freely as a matter of habit, while Ameri-
can mothers exclude themselves and
their children from the fresh air as
much as possible On the cars, on the
boats, in the omnibuses, in the hotels,
everywhere, we notice the almost univer-
sal attention paid to ventilation. No
where did we see an English woman
shut a window for fear her baby would
"catch it's death Of cold" and none of
the babies seemed to have colds. All
that we noticed seemed to be remarkably
good natured. 1t is almost Impossible
to travel on a train in America where
there are several young children, with
out hearing continually the cry of dis
tress from some Of them But we heard
nothing Of this kind in England We
do not absolutely know from actual OBJ
servation and experience that an Eng
lish baby ever does cry, or can. Eng
lish women are generally less irritable,
less morbidly nervous than American
women, for the reason already assigned
more rest, more sleep, more quiet
and the circumstance, Of course, has no
small influence on the organization and
temper Of their offspring. And we
think this view of the matter is fully con-
frmed by comparison Of the waists of
English and American women. The
effect Of early and abundant exposure to,
and exercise in the open air, is to pro-
mote free breathing, enlarge the capacity
Of the respiratory apparatus, develop the
vital organs, expand the chest, and en-
large the waist And the vital resources
of any woman, orany man, or any animal,
other circumstances being equal, may be
measured by the dimensions Of the lower
part of the thorax. The hnglish women,
as a general rule, will outmeasure the
American several inches This rule is
we'll exemplifed in the German woman,
who exercise much from early childhood
in the open air, and who do notlacc their
vital organs out of all symmetrical pro-
portions to the rest of the body. On
board the Bavaria were half a hundred
women and girls from Germany, not one
Of whom had not round, full, we'll de-
veloped chest, so much SO, perhaps, as to
be regarded as decidedly ungenteel by the
wasp wasted fashionables of upper ten
dom in New York, Another circum-
stance that tells in favor Of better diges-
ton and more enduring vitality with the
English, is the habit Of eating more
slowly. Sofar as diet itselfis concerned
there is not very much to choose. But
the American people eat almost as soon
as out of bed in the morning, swallow
their food with very imperfect nnastica-
ton, and then hurry to business; all of
which tends to precocity of brain and
muscular activity, with the inevitable
consequence of early decline.