Lacing. – If all the women insane on this subject were in
the asylums, the accommodations would have to be largely increased. The habit is a general one, and very
injurious. A good authority says: “It has been found that the liver, the lungs,
and the powers of the stomach have been brought into a diseased state by this
most pernicious habit. Loss of bloom, fixed
redness of the nose, and eruptions on the skin are among the sad effects." If prolonged, there is no knowing to what
malady tight lacing might lead. Its most apparent effect is an injured
digestion, and consequent loss of appetite.
Of this, however, it is often difficult to convince the practiced
tightlacer, for vanity is generally obstinate.
But, looking at tight lacing without consideration of its effect on
health, and merely as its tendency to improve or to injure the appearance,
nothing can be more absurd than to believe that it is advantageous to the
figure. A small waist is rather a
deformity than a beauty. To see the
shoulders cramped and squeezed together is anything but agreeable. The figure should be easy, well developed,
supple. If nature has not made the waist
small, compression cannot mend her work.
Good Morals and Gentle Manners for
Schools and Families. Alex M. Gow, A.M. American Book Company, 1873. pg.
183-184.
The disturbance of the functions of the diaphragm is by no
means the only evil of tight lacing. The
circulation of the blood and the electrical radiations are impeded thereby, in
addition to which there is a still greater and more alarming evil. I allude to the pressure which is thrown on
the bowels, and from the bowels upon the womb.
The peculiar organization of woman renders the practice tenfold more
injurious to her than it would be to a male.
The shocking prevalence of prolapses uteri, commonly termed falling of
the womb, is greatly owing to the pernicious practice of tight lacing.
The fact is, it is a mistaken notion that wasp waists are
pretty. They look perfectly horrible! I would rather see a woman’s waist as big round
as a bushel basket than to see it contracted to a size a trifle larger than the
neck. Plain Home Talk and Medical Common
Sense. E.B. Foote, M.D., A.L. Bancroft
& Co., New York [etc.] 1871. pg.15.
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