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1: FLUENCE OF
DRESS
I PROTECAV TIAN
PHYSICAL
DECADENCE OF
ICAN
WOEN
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GENERAL LIBRARY
IVERSITY OF MICHI
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1817
VERITAS
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8
PREFACE,
THE subject matter of this pamphlet embodies, with a
few slight changes, an address delivered by the author as
orator of the Section of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
Annual Meeting of the Michigan State Medical Society, held
at Saginaw, June 11 and 12, 1891. The illustrations here-
with presented were shown upon a screen in connection
with the address, by means of a stereopticon. Several thou-
sand reprints of the address were made, but the demand for
copies has been so great that the supply has been several
times exhausted, necessitating new editions.
A few months ago the writer received from Prof. Meinert,
the eminent specialist in the treatment of the diseases of
women at Dresden, a letter from which he takes the liberty
to quote the following paragraph :
“Receive best thanks for the paper you kindly sent me.
It was to me of highest interest, as I have made studies in
the same direction. I can verify your views on every point,
as will be shown by a little work which I will send you later.
The inclosed photographs show you the results of some of
my own examinations. Your excellent book has been read
with best results by some English and American ladies, and
it would help very much if everybody could have it by book
sale. Could it not be printed again for the purpose ?"
The unqualified endorsement of so eminent an author as
Prof. Meinert, and the suggestion made by him that the work
should be placed before the laity, which he kindly empha-
sizes by citing the appreciation of several American ladies
under his professional care, to whom he showed the paper,
[iii]
33581)
..
iv
PREFACE.
has decided the author to present the address in this more
permanent form, although in so doing we must state by
way of apology for what may seem to be inappropriate
technicalities here and there, that the address is pre-
sented to the public as given before a medical audience
with scarcely the change of a word.
Eighteen years ago, the author published a small work
entitled, “The Evils of Fashionable Dress," several editions
of which, amounting to nearly 20,000 copies, found their way
into the hands of American women. The original researches
recorded in the present paper have been made since the
work referred to was written. Nevertheless, no occasion
has been found for changing the views then expressed.
The author has for several years had on hand a large amount
of material which he has hoped to organize into a volume
dealing with this subject more thoroughly and completely
than could be done in a single address or in a small pam-
phlet like this. The onerous duties of the superintendency
of a large Medical and Surgical Sanitarium during the last
seventeen years, have, however, rendered this impossible,
although the task may perhaps be accomplished sometime
in the near future. In the meantime, the author has been
pleased to note that nearly every recent writer who has
undertaken to present the necessity for improvement in the
dress of women, has not hesitated to “steal his thunder," to
use a common phrase, or, at least, to borrow it, for which
abundant opportunity has been given through the publica-
tion of the results of his researches and observations in
numerous scientific papers and magazine articles. I take
no offense at this, however, but have been encouraged by
this tangible evidence that the "thunder" was good, to con-
tinue my observations and researches, many of which, yet
PREFACE.
unpublished, I hope to present to the public, possibly within
a few months of the present time, in a more pretentious
volume.
The author wishes herewith to present his sincere thanks
to Prof. Meinert for a most interesting series of photographs
exhibiting the evil effects of corset-wearing, and confirming
completely his own observations concerning the influence of
corsets, tight bands, heavy skirts, and other errors in dress,
in producing displacement of the stomach, liver, kidneys,
bowels, and other internal organs, as well as distortion of
the figure. I hope to have permission to publish a repro-
duction of these exceedingly interesting photographs,
together with the results of other of my own recent re-
searches, in a forthcoming volume.
In conclusion, I wish to express my sincere thanks to
J. A. Seaver, M. D., professor of physical culture in Yale
University, and director of the University gymnasium, to
Anna Wood, M. D., professor of physical culture at
Wellesley College, and numerous other authorities on phys-
ical culture, who have kindly expressed their appreciation of
the author's work in developing scientific data relating to the
harmful influence of the conventional dress worn by civilized
women.
J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.
Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich., January, 1893.
PLATES,
1
PLATE I. Breathing Movements in Man and Dogs.
PLATE II. Fig. 1. Diagram Showing Normal Position of In-
ternal Organs. Figs. 2 and 3. Action of the Diaphragm.
PLATE III. Profiles of Natural Figures.
PLATE IV. Profiles of Corset Wearers.
PLATE V. Deformities from Corset Wearing.
PLATE VI. Deformities Resulting from Corsets and Belts.
PLATE VII. Profiles Showing Deformity Resulting from Corsets
and Belts.
PLATE VIII. Profiles Showing Effects of Physical Training in
Removing the Results of Corset Wearing.
PLATE IX. FIG. 1. Profile of a Natural Figure. Fig. 2. Profile
of a Corset-deformed Woman.
PLATE X. Outlines Showing Relation of Heathful and Unhealth-
ful Dress in Natural and Unnatural Figures.
>
[vi]
1
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
IN
PRODUCING
i
THE PHYSICAL DECADENCE OF AMERICAN WOMEN.
J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.,
Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Michigan.
[ “Annual Address upon Obstetrics and Gynecology," delivered before the Michigan State
Medical Society at the Annual Meeting held at Saginaw, June 11 and 12, 1891. Illustrated by a
stereopticon.]
!
As my subject suggests, I am to undertake to show that
certain features of the mode of dress common among civil-
ized American women have been, and are, a prominent
factor in producing a widespread and marked physical dete-
rioration among the women of this country. Possibly the
question may be asked whether such a deterioration exists.
It is not probable, however, that it will be worth while to
spend any considerable time in attempting to demonstrate
the proposition that American women are degenerating
physically, before an audience made up chiefly of medical
men and women; for has there been a medical convention
dinner within the last quarter of a century at which there
was not heard the familiar toast, “Woman God's best gift
to man, and the chief support of the doctors ” ?
A few months ago, I addressed an audience of six or
seven hundred young women at an educational center in a
neighboring State, upon the subject of physical culture.
As my audience seemed to be an amiable one, I ventured
to ask a few questions, and among other inquiries, asked
how many women present (all of whom had reached adult
age) believed themselves to be physically superior to their
mothers. A bare half dozen raised their hands, and two or
[3]
4
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
three of them timidly looked about, apparently to see if any
one present was prepared to contest their claim.
One of the most convincing evidences of the physical
failure of American women is to be found in the fact devel-
oped by the last census of the United States, that there has
been, in the last ten years, an enormous falling off in the
birth-rate, as the result of which several million babies are
lacking. A lowered birth-rate is a much more serious mat-
ter than an increased death-rate, although the immediate
result as regards the population might be the same. An
increased death-rate may mean nothing more than a tem-
porary increase in the activity of one or more of the causes
of disease and death, while a lowered birth-rate means a
radical and constitutional fault of some sort, threatening
the very existence of the race. Any one who has had an
opportunity to become acquainted with the physical condi-
tion of the average young woman of the present generation,
will be easily convinced that the next census will show a
still greater falling off in the birth-rate than the last. A
corset-choked woman knows very well that she is quite
unfit, physically, for the rearing of children; and besides
the physical unfitness, she finds herself so lacking in forti-
tude, and so oppressed with nerves and neuralgias and an
abnormal susceptibility to pain, that she very naturally
shrinks from the physical ordeal, as well as the mental and
moral responsibility, which motherhood involves.
Another most significant fact, for which mothers must
be held largely responsible, is the enormous business carried
on at the present time in the manufacture and sale of infant
foods. According to a paper read by Dr. Hoffman, before
the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
at its last meeting, there is consumed in the United States
every year, not less than eight or ten million dollars' worth
of infant foods. That these foods are rarely, if ever, perfect
substitutes for the child's natural aliment, is well known.
What has created such an enormous demand for these sub-
stitutes ? Certainly it is not the unnatural increase of the
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
5
:
i
number of infants which has exhausted the natural food sup-
ply; for I have already mentioned that there has been, in
the last ten years, a falling off in the birth-rate amounting
to several millions.
These evidences point with tremendous emphasis to the
fact of the decline of stamina in American women. A host
of other facts confirming and supporting those given, might
be brought forward; but I will not thus unnecessarily con-
sume your time, since the proposition is not likely to be
disputed by any intelligent physician who has had wide
opportunities for observation.
But I must not devote more of the half-hour allotted me,
to introductory remarks. Fully realizing that I am likely to
incur the displeasure of some of my fair auditors before I
have done with my subject, I may as well declare myself at
once as prepared to defend the proposition that the average
civilized American woman is deformed. This very uncom-
plimentary proposition doubtless impresses my hearers as
somewhat startling. Nevertheless, I believe the evidence
which I shall present will convince the majority of you that,
however repulsive and distressing the fact may be, it is
true.
A penchant for modifying the natural form of the body so
as to produce deformity in some part, seems to prevail quite
extensively in the human race, although it must be admitted
that in many savage, and some civilized tribes, this strange
propensity takes a less dangerous direction than among the
civilized races.
The Indian woman of Alaska ornaments her
upper lip with a pin stuck through it. Among the women
of some other savage tribes, fashion demands that a fish-
bone or a piece of wood be inserted in the under lip in a
similar fashion, by means of which the flesh is dragged
down, and a strange deformity produced. The civilized
woman finds the lobe of her ear a more convenient place
from which to hang her jewelry, and so she bores a hole
through this part of her body, and inserts a wire weighted
with a stone, and thus emulates the example of her savage
i
!
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
:
1
1
sisters. There are mothers roaming in the forest, shoeless,
hatless, and without other garments than a bark apron and
the picturesque designs of the tattooer's pencil, whose solici-
tude for their children leads them to compress their heads
into cones, or to shape them to a fascinating flatness by
the steady pressure of a board against the infant skull.
Other mothers, less barbarous, but none the less anxious for
the welfare of their little ones, squeeze the feet of their
daughters into shapeless masses of bone and gristle, in
the firm belief that no young lady can make an eligible
bride if her foot exceeds in measure the conventional three
inches. Still other mothers, more civilized, and none the
less fondly thoughtful of their daughters' interests, base their
expectations of a successful career for them as much upon
the meager dimensions of their waists as upon the comeli-
ness of their countenances or the brilliancy of their accom-
plishments.
Some years ago, while engaged in some anthropometric
studies among Chinese women and the women of the primi-
tive Indian tribes of Arizona and New Mexico, I was forcibly
struck with the marked difference in physical proportion
between the savage and the civilized woman. I have
made personally, and secured through others, a large num-
ber of measurements, which place upon a mathematical basis
certain points of difference that are exceedingly pro-
nounced, particularly the larger waist of the savage or semi-
civilized woman when compared with the highly civilized
woman. I have since extended my studies of the subject
to the peasant women of various nationalities, particularly
French, German, and Italian women, and a single race of
East Indian women. Early in the course of my studies, the
thought occurred to me that there might be a positive and
constant relation between the external configuration of the
body' and the mal-position of various internal organs. I
accordingly devised a simple apparatus for the purpose of
making outline traces of the figure at any desired angle.
With this instrument, I have made a large number of trac-
i
A
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
7
ings (several hundred in all), and have made a careful study
of the position of the abdominal and pelvic viscera in cach
case.
The following is a tabulated statement of some facts
which I have collected, and which bear especially upon the
matter of waist proportion:-
Average
waist.
Average
percentage
of waist
to height.
Average
height.
61.64 in.
60.49 in.
;
24.44 in.
24.65 in.
39.6
40.6
American women....
Telugu women of India..
English women (brickmakers who wear heavy
skirts)...
French women.
Chinese women.
Yuma women.
Civilized men American..
Mrs. Langtry...
Venus de Milo.
60.04 in.
61.06 in.
57.85 in.
66.56 in.
67.96 in.
67.00 in.
25.00 in.
28.00 in.
26.27 in.
36.84 in.
29.46 in.
26.00 in.
41.3
45.4
45.4
55.2
43.3
38.8
0
.
47.6
1
Percentage
of waist to
Hcight. Waist. height.
60.7 in. 27.1 in. 44.64
62.5 "'23.3
37.3
Average of 43 women, from 18 to 25 years old......
Average of 25 women, from 18 to 30 years old wearing
corsets or tight bands..........
Average of the same 25 women a few months after re-
forming their mode of dress.....
Average of 10 girls, from 9 to 12 years old.
Average of 2,000 men, from 18 to 27 years, measured
by Dr. Seaver, of Yale..
62.5
43.4
27.15
23.5
68.6
29.3
42.7
A few remarks upon the above figures will render them
more significant. Of the 100 American women whose average
proportions are given in the table, the majority were upwards
of 30 years of age.
Dr. M. Anna Wood, of Wellesley College, has measured
1,100 women between the ages of 19 and 21 years. Her
measurements make the height of the average American
woman to be 63 inches, waist 24.6 inches; percentage of
waist to height 39.
The Telugu women of India, as I am informed by Miss
Cummings, who kindly made a large number of measure-
8
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
ments for me, sustain the skirt, which forms almost their
only clothing, by means of a cord tied around the waist and
drawn as tightly as possible. This is doubtless the reason
for the small waists of these women as compared with those
of the women of other savage or semi-civilized tribes.
English working women doubtless often do themselves
great harm by wearing many heavy skirts attached to waist-
bands. I once found a young English woman engaged in the
very laborious occupation of making brick, kneading the clay
with her fist as a baker kneads dough, and beating it into the
moulds with her fist, who was at the same time carrying
upon her waist the weight of six heavy quilted skirts, with no
other support than bands. The average waist measure of a
dozen English women brick-makers was 25 inches, and the
proportion to height 43.7 per cent.
The German peasant woman, unless she has the misfor-
tune to live sufficiently near some large city to be somewhat
influenced by the example of her fashionable sisters, discards
waistbands altogether, and wears her garments suspended
from the shoulders by means of a waist, which gives her a
more vigorous figure than the English peasant woman.
French women are in the last-named respect also more
fortunate than their English sisters, by reason of which they
enjoy the advantage of a waist proportion of 45.4 per cent of
the height.
Chinese women, of whom I have made a large number of
measurements, and received much more data through the
kindness of Miss Culbertson, of the Home for Chinese
Women, San Francisco, and also from a lady medical mis-
sionary in China, although considerably below the average
height of American women, have two inches greater waist
circumference, which is doubtless attributable to the fact
that their mode of dress is such as to allow the most perfect
freedom of movement and room for development at the
middle portion of the trunk.
But the primitive Yuma Indian women of Arizona and
New Mexico excel all others whose waist measure I have
1
9
I
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
taken, the average waist proportion being 55.2 of the
height.
The famous English beauty, Mrs. Langtry, has recently
had published a detailed account of her physical proportions,
by which it appears that her height is 67 inches, and her
waist measure only 26 inches. Mrs. Langtry takes evident
pride in the fact that many of her measurements correspond
very closely with those of some ancient Grecian models, but
she omitted to call attention to the fact that her waist
measure is only 38.8 per cent of her height, while that of the
queen of all the ancient statues of women which have been
discovered, the famous Venus de Milo, is 47.6 per cent of the
height. Mrs. Langtry's waist measure, to be in the same
proportion as that of the Greek beauty, should be 32 inches.
I have taken the pains to make measurements of a consider-
able number of male statues, the work of eminent ancient
artists preserved in various European galleries, and find the
average proportion of the waist to height of seven famous
models to be 46.4, or a little less than that of the Venus
de Milo.
I have recently made measurements of 43 working women
between the ages of 18 and 25 years. These young women
were all wearing loose garments, having been induced to do
so by a representation of the evils resulting from waist con-
striction. Some had but recently adopted a healthful style of
clothing, while others had enjoyed the advantage of ample
waist room for several months or years. In a few instances,
corsets and tight waistbands had never been worn. I found
the
average waist measure of 43 young women, who were se-
lected only with reference to age, to be 27.15 inches, or 44.64
per cent, of the height, nearly 3 inches in excess of the
average feminine American waist. The waist of a young
woman with this proportion, and of the same height as Mrs.
Langtry, would measure 30 inches instead of 26.
Comparative measures made in the cases of 25 of these
young women showed that before the adoption of loose gar-
ments their average waist measure was 23.3 inches. · Since
10
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
4
that time there had been an increase in waist proportion to
such an extent that the average waist measure at the time the
measurements were taken was 27.15 inches. The proportion
of waist to height in these 25 young women had increased by
the change of dress from 37.3 per cent to 43.4 per cent, and
the waist measure had gained 3.85 inches, or 6.16 per cent.
I recently secured the measurements of 10 girls between
the ages of 9 and 12 years, and found the average waist meas-
ure to be 23.5 inches.
From these facts is it not evident that the small waist of
the civilized American woman is a deformity? Can any one
assign a physiological reason why the civilized woman should
have a smaller waist than the savage woman, or why Mrs.
Langtry's waist measure should be 26 inches instead of 32 ?
Certainly no other reason can be given for the abnormal waist
of the civilized woman than the fact that this portion of the
body has been subjected to abnormal pressure in such a man-
ner as to prevent natural development and to compel the
acquirement of a deformity.
If, in answer to the question why the civilized woman of
to-day has a smaller waist than the beautiful women of ancient
Greece, whose figures furnished models for the sculptors whose
masterpieces modern artists have sought in vain to equal, it
is said that the change observable is a product of evolution,
or a result of civilization, may we not pertinently inquire why
a similar change is not to be found in the modern man?
Two other pertinent questions may be asked in this
relation :-
1. Why does the civilized woman require a smaller waist
than the civilized man? Certainly no physiological reason
can be given, and well-known anatomical facts suggest that
if there is any natural difference in proportion, woman requires
a larger waist than man. She has a larger liver in proportion
to her size and weight than man, and the exigencies of mother-
hood require provision for an increase in waist capacity to
which man is not subject. It is interesting to note, also, in
this connection, that the waist proportion of the Venus de Milo,
!
*****
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
11
t
ti
2.
who may be considered as the typical woman of the ancient
Greeks, is 47.7 per cent, while that of the average Grecian
man, already shown, is 46.4.
We can draw but one conclusion from these considerations,
namely, that the small waists of the women of modern times
are an abnormality. My tables also show the average modern
feminine waist to be nearly two per cent larger in proportion
to the height than the modern male waist, when it is allowed
a chance for natural development.
A second question to which I invite attention is, Why
does the waist of the civilized woman cease to grow at the age
of 10 or 12 years, while the rest of the body continues to de-
velop? Lungs, liver, stomach, spleen, bowels, pancreas,
all the organs which occupy the region of the waist line, con-
tinue to grow, but the waist of the civilized woman absolutely
refuses to increase in size, notwithstanding the developing
force beneath it, after the age of 12 or 14 years. I find the
average waist measure of girls from 9 to 12 years of age to be
23.5. I have in some instances found the waist measure in
girls of 12 to be 26 inches. The rational answer to this ques-
tion is the fact that about this age the constricting influence
of tight bands, corset waists, or corsets begins. The fash-
ionable dressmaker insists that the young lady's figure must
be “formed," and so as she develops, she grows into a mould
like a cucumber in a bottle. And thus it happens that we
find the civilized woman with a waist disproportionately small,
as we find, among the aristocratic class of Chinese women,
dwarfed and misshapen feet. The small-footed woman of
China, in consequence of her deformity, is compelled to hobble
about in a most ungraceful fashion, requiring usually one or
more persons to sustain her in keeping her balance. She can-
not run, skip, or dance as can her large-footed sisters. She is
willing, however, to endure the inconveniences of being a
cripple and the loss of the use of her feet and legs rather than
forego the pleasure of being in fashion. If the sacrifices which
the civilized woman makes to fashion were no greater, there
would be comparatively small ground for complaint, but the
12
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
constant girding of the waist results in mischiefs of vastly
greater magnitude than those which the Chinese woman in-
flicts upon herself.
As the flat-headed woman watches with interest and
growing pride the progressive depression of her infant's skull,
while from day to day she binds more tightly upon it the flat-
tened disc of wood; and as the Chinese woman glories in the
shriveled and misshaped stump of what was once her child's
foot, as a developing mark of aristocratic gentility, in like
manner does the civilized mother pride herself on the small-
ness and roundness of her daughter's corset-deformed waist,
disregarding alike the suggestions of art, the warnings of
science, and the admonitions which nature gives in the dis-
comfort and distress occasioned by the effort to secure a
change in the natural contour of the human form which is
more monstrous in its violation of the laws of beauty, more
widely at variance with the dictates of reason, and more dis-
astrous in its consequences to bodily health and vigor,
than any similar barbarity practiced upon themselves or
their children by the members of any savage or semi-savage
tribe. How such a disfigurement of the physique could ever
have come to be considered desirable or beautiful, is a prob-
lem hard to solve, since it involves not only an enormous
loss of strength and vigor, but a violation of all the relevant
precepts and principles of art which have been handed down
to us by the great masters, as well as rules of hygiene in which
all medical men of every age agree.
I may ask further, How does it happen that the waist of
the average girl of 9 or 12 years measures 23.5 inches, while
the waist of the young woman of from 18 to 30 years who
has worn corsets or tight bands for a number of years, is only
23.3 inches? Why should the waist decrease in size with age
while every other bodily dimension increases ?
Still another question of interest arises from the fact to
which almost every woman can testify, that the waist of the
average woman accustomed to constriction from clothing,
increases in measure whenever it has an opportunity for de-
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
13
1
velopment, as when the common mode of dress is exchanged
for a more healthful one, or ordinary clothing laid aside for
a few weeks, as during confinement to bed from illness.
Probably few women will question the fact that the waist is
made smaller by constriction of the corset and tight bands.
A lady said to one of my nurses, when she learned of her
healthful mode of dress : “But how do you manage to keep
your stomach down?” The corset is worn with a deliberate
purpose of modifying the form of the waist, which it does to the
great damage of health and vigor. I have shown by careful
measurements in some hundreds of cases, that the waist of
an adult woman increases within a few months, under the
influence of proper clothing and proper exercise, from one
or two to six or seven inches.
Let me call your attention more directly to some of the
important particulars in which the ordinary mode of dress
among civilized women, especially constriction of the waist,
results in physical injury. The chief of these are:-
1. Downward displacement of all the abdominal and
pelvic organs, and numerous functional and organic diseases
growing out of this disturbance of the static relation of these
organs.
2. Lack of development of the muscles of the trunk, which
by long compression and disuse, to a very large degree lose
their functional activity, resulting in relaxation of the ab-
dominal walls, weakness of the muscles of the back, general
physical feebleness, and destruction of the natural curves of
the body, which are not only necessary for health, but also
essential to physical grace and beauty, and the development
of many bodily deformities, such as drooping shoulders, flat
or hollow chest, sunken epigastrium, straight spine.
3. An ungraceful and unnatural carriage of the body, in
sitting, standing, and walking. )
4. An abnormal mode of respiration.
The idea that a displaced stomach can be a possible cause
of disease or inconvenience may be new to some.
Neverthe-
less, the researches of Glenard, Bouchard, Dujardin-Beaumetz,
i
2
14
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
and other eminent French physicians, have shown beyond
room for doubt that displacement of the stomach, bowels,
kidneys, liver, and other abdominal viscera, may be productive
of the most pronounced disturbance of health and a source
of great inconvenience. Indeed, from my own studies on
this subject I have become convinced that a displaced and
dilated stomach is more likely to be productive of immediate
and harmful consequences of a grave character, than displace-
ment of the pelvic viscera. But before one can fully under-
stand the relation of waist constriction to displacement of the
abdominal viscera, it will be necessary to call to mind a few
important anatomical facts.
The trunk is practically divided into two cavities. The
division of the lower cavity into pelvis and abdomen is an
artificial and not an anatomical subdivision, useful for the
purpose of description, but misleading and confusing, unless
ignored in studies concerning causation and pathological re-
lations. Anatomically, the trunk is divided by the diaphragm
into two cavities only, the upper containing the chief organs
of respiration and circulation, and the lower containing the
principal organs of digestion and the genito-urinary appa-
ratus. The chief anatomical facts which I desire to be kept
in mind are, the normal position of each of the viscera which
occupy the lower cavity of the trunk, and the mode in which
these various organs are held in place. It will be remem-
bered that the liver, spleen, pancreas, and stomach are all
located above or at the waist, as shown in the accompanying
diagram after Ziemssen. Plate II. The transverse colon
lies at the waist line, the point of junction of the ascending
and transverse colon on the right side dropping a little be-
low the line, while the point of conjunction of the transverse
with the ascending colon at the left side rises considerably
above the waist line, being held in place by the pleuro-colic
fold of the meso-colon. The kidneys lie just at the waist.
The greater portion of the space below the waist is occupied
by the small intestines, the bladder, and the rectum, with the
uterus and its appendages in the femalė, and the prostate
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
15
!
gland and other special structures in the male. It is notice-
able that the organs of the greatest weight and functional
importance are located at or above the waist.
How are all these important organs held in position ?
Although fitted together with the nicety of an articulation,
the viscera are certainly not held together by anything cor-
responding to the firm ligamentous bands which unite the
osseous elements of a joint. Every abdominal surgeon will
testify to the extreme propensity for escaping from the ab-
dominal cavity when the slightest opportunity offers, mani-
fested by some of the viscera. The so-called ligaments
which hold in place the liver, stomach, spleen, and bowels,
cannot properly be called ligaments, as very little ligament-
ous structure enters into their composition. The same must
be said of the ligaments which are supposed to support in
place the uterus and ovaries, although it must be added that
some of the uterine ligaments contain muscular tissues which
play a very important part in maintaining the uterus in its
proper relation to the trunk and the contiguous organs. I
think the idea is gaining ground among those who have made
a special study of this subject, that the chief factors in the
support of the pelvic viscera, as well as other of the organs of
the lower trunk cavity, are the tone of the muscular walls of
the abdomen and the juxtaposition of the organs themselves.
Compression of the waist necessarily involves displace-
ment of the organs occupying this portion of the trunk.
The unyielding character of the chest walls, and the resist-
ance of the diaphragm prevent any considerable displace-
ment in an upward direction. Consequently, the necessary
result of waist-compression, either by the corset or by tight
bands, is, that the liver, stomach, bowels, and other organs
occupying this zone of the body, are carried downward.
The same compressing force which diminishes the circum-
ference of the body at the waist, interferes with the normal
activity and development of the muscles which form the
anterior wall of the lower trunk, so that they offer little
resistance to the displacing force applied at the waist.
i
16
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
In nearly twenty years of medical practice, I have had to
deal almost exclusively with chronic disorders of various
sorts, and especially with two classes of chronic disease, -
digestive disorders, and maladies peculiar to women. Hav-
ing under observation from 1,000 to 1,500 cases annually,
under conditions favorable for careful study and comparison,
I long ago noticed the remarkable frequency of the asso-
ciation of certain forms of pelvic disorder (especially in
women with a narrow waist and a protruding abdomen). I
did not, however, attach so great importance to the matter
as I should have done, I frankly confess, had I not had an
erroneous notion respecting the normal contour of the
female figure. It was only after careful study of this matter
among savage women, and women whose figure had never
been modified by the deforming influence of the ordinary
civilized dress, that I acquired a basis from which to view
this subject in a rational way. I then began careful inquiry
into the matter, and for several years back have made, in all
cases of pelvic diseases of women coming under my observa-
tion, a careful study of the condition and relative position
of the various abdominal viscera, as well as of the pelvic
organs.
In 250 cases of women suffering from pelvic diseases,
taken consecutively and without selection, in each of which
a careful examination was made with reference to the con-
dition and position of each of the abdominal viscera as well
as of the pelvic organs, I observed the following disturb-
ances of the static relations of the viscera :-
In 232 cases, downward displacement of stomach and
bowels.
In 71 cases, right kidney distinctly movable and sensitive
to pressure.
In 6 cases, both kidneys freely movable.
In 9 cases, downward displacement of the spleen.
In one of these cases, the spleen lay at the bottom of the
abdominal cavity. I have made a large number of outline
tracings in cases of women suffering from pelvic diseases,
:
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
17
and supplemented these by careful examination of the posi-
tion and conditions of the abdominal and pelvic viscera,
with the following results, as regards the relation of the
static changes in the abdominal organs, to similar changes
in the organs of the pelvis.
In 150 cases of pelvic disease, the stomach and bowels
were displaced in 138 cases.
In 66 cases, the stomach and bowels were displaced with-
out displacement of the uterus. In 26 of these cases, there
was also a displacement of one kidney, and in five, a dis-
placement of the liver.
In only seven cases was there displacement of the uterus
without displacement of the abdominal viscera, and three of
these were
cases of large uterine fibroids in which the
visceral displacement was probably present, but masked by
the morbid growth.
I shall have thrown upon the screen, presently, outline
tracings of the figures of some of these cases, which will
show very clearly the amount of visceral displacement
occasioned by an improper dress. My statistics
to show very clearly that visceral displacement is not a
disease which is especially confined to the pelvis. Indeed,
a careful study of the means by which the pelvic organs
are held in place, suggests that they are better provided
for in this respect than any other of the viscera below
the diaphragm. The data which I have collected respecting
the relative frequency in the displacement of the pelvic
organs, and other organs of the abdominal cavity, clearly sup-
port this idea. In 150 cases of pelvic diseases, there were
only four cases in which displacement of the pelvic organs
was present without displacement of one or more of the ab-
dominal viscera, while there were 66 cases in which the
stomach and bowels were displaced without any displace-
ment of the pelvic organs.
In 26 of these cases there was
also a displacement of the kidney, and in five a displacement
of the liver. It is evident, then, that visceral displacement
of the organs of the lower trunk must be regarded (of course
seem
.
.
18
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
leaving room for exceptions) as a general disorder, affecting
more or less the entire contents of the abdomen and pelvis,
rather than as a disease confined to one or two of the organs
in which the subjective symptoms happen to be most prom-
inently manifested.
How a displacement of the stomach, a kidney, the bowels,
the uterus, or an ovary, may occasion disease, is a patholog-
ical question which it is not necessary to spend time in dis-
cussing, since the disturbance in blood-circulation, and hence
in nutritive changes (possibly, also, in the supply of nervous
energy), and the development of abnormal and pernicious
nerve-reflexes, are etiological factors, the influence of which
is too well known and understood to be disputed, and which
are likely to come into active operation under the morbid
conditions established in an organ crowded by abnormal
pressure out of its proper place. Nature has placed each
internal organ in the position in which it can do its work
most easily and efficiently; and the studies of the results of
visceral displacement which have been made by eminent
scientific physicians, have shown that to morbid conditions
of this sort may be fairly attributable the most serious, and
not infrequently the most obstinate, disturbances of some of
the most important vital functions, and through them, of all
the other functions of the body.
The question may arise, whether we are treating the sub-
ject fairly, in charging upon errors in dress, so great and so
serious modifications of the human form as we have pointed
out, and whether it is not possible that visceral displace-
ments in some of those cases to which I have called attention
are to be found in men as well as in women. In order to
place this subject upon a rational basis, I recently made a
careful examination respecting the position of the stomach,
liver, and bowels in 50 working men and 71 working women,
all of whom were in ordinary health.
In the 71 women examined, prolapsus of the stomach
and bowels was found in 56 cases. In 19 of these cases, the
right kidney was found prolapsed, and in one case, both kid-
A
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
19
neys. The 15 cases in which the stomach and bowels were
not prolapsed were all persons under 24 years of age.
None of these had ever laced tightly, and four had never
worn corsets or tight waistbands, having always worn cloth-
ing suspended from the shoulders. It is noticeable that in
a number of cases in which corsets had never been worn,
tight waistbands had produced very extensive displacement
of the stomach, bowels, and kidney. In one of these the
liver was displaced downward.
In the 50 men, I found only six in whom the stomach and
bowels could be said to be prolapsed. In one the right kid-
ney was prolapsed. In only three was the degree of pro-
lapse anything at all comparable with that observed in
the women, and in these three (and in one other of these six
cases, making four in all) it was found on inquiry that a belt
or something equivalent had been worn in three cases, as a
means of sustaining the pantaloons. In one case the patient
attributed his condition to the wearing of a truss furnished
with a belt drawn tightly about the waist. This belt had
been worn a sufficiently long time to be an ample cause for
the visceral displacement observed. In the two cases of
slight visceral prolapse in which belts had been worn, there
was considerable deformity of the figure due to general weak-
ness, and a habitual standing with the weight upon one
foot. By comparison, we see the relative frequency of vis-
ceral prolapse in the men and women examined, was 12 per
cent of the men and 80 per cent of the women. In other
words, visceral prolapse was found to be 623 times as fre-
quent in women as in men. It is also noticeable that, with
the exception of two cases of visceral prolapse in the men,
the visceral prolapse in the men was due to the same cause
which caused visceral prolapse in women; viz., constriction
of the waist. It makes no difference, of course, whether the
constriction is applied by means of a corset or a waistband
or a belt.
I have met a number of cases of visceral prolapse in men
in which the disease was directly traceable to the wearing of
20
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
a belt. One case was that of a military officer, who wore a
tight sword belt, in which he carried almost constantly a
heavy sword. I have also made some observations of the
same character among blacksmiths, who have a habit of sus-
taining their pantaloons by means of the strings of their
leather aprons tied tightly about the waist, the suspenders
being loosened so as to give greater freedom to the move-
ments of the arms. Farmers, also, sometimes seek to liber-
ate their shoulders by wearing the suspenders tied about the
waist. Leaving out of consideration the four cases of men
in whom the visceral displacement was due to the same
causes which produce this morbid condition in women, we
find but two cases in which the viscera had become dis-
placed from other causes, or one in twenty-five,- a frequency
just one twentieth of that in which this diseased condition is
found in women who consider themselves enjoying ordinary
health.
These facts, it seems to me, are amply sufficient to estab-
lish my proposition,—that constriction of the waist is the
cause of downward displacement of the pelvic viscera, and
of the diseases which naturally grow out of such disturbances
of the static relations of the organs occupying this portion of
the trunk.
The injury inflicted upon the body at its central portion
by constriction of the waist, attacks the very citadel of its
strength and vigor, the stomach and its associate organs con-
stituting the headquarters for the supply of force and energy
for the whole system. It is doubtless for this reason that the
great abdominal brain, the largest collection of nerve matter
in the sympathetic system, is found in such close relation to
the stomach. Lying, as it does, exactly in the plane of the
waist, any abnormal pressure at this point must act directly
upon this great center of reflex nervous activity.
By the inactivity of the muscles of the trunk, and the failure
of development due to continued pressure, the muscles of the
central and anterior portions of the trunk become abnormally
weak, so that their natural tone is insufficient to support the
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
21
abdominal contents in their normal position. As I have al-
ready shown, an additional injury results from the failure of
these weakened muscles to perform their duty as guys, which
balance the upper half of the pelvis upon the trunk, and by
their efficient action in health, maintain a graceful and health-
ful poise of the body.
The strong and beautiful curves which are observed in a
spirited horse are not only attractive from an æsthetic point of
view, but are also of the highest significance from a physio-
logical standpoint. In the healthy, vigorous animal one ob-
serves that the head is held high, the neck and back strongly
curved, the limbs firmly set, and the whole expression indicates
vigor and strength. The same is equally true of the human
body. An erect head, well curved back, prominent chest,
retracted abdomen, and firmly set limbs, are indicative of an
energized carriage of the body which is characteristic of health.
The flat chest, posterior dorsal curve, projecting chin, pro-
truding abdomen, are equally indicative of a relaxed and weak
carriage of the body, characteristic of feebleness and disease.
The spiritless and tired horse does not hold his head down;
he lacks the vigor and disposition to hold it up. So the
woman who has been accustomed to the support of stays of
steel or bone, finds herself, when without these means of sup-
port, feeling, as she says, “as though she would fall to pieces."
The muscles of the waist lack the ability to balance the chest
and shoulders upon the hips.
As I shall show you presently in the outlines which will
be thrown upon the screen, the direct effect of the corset, and
of any constriction of the waist, is to break down the natural
curves of the back, straightening the spine, thus depressing
the chest, and causing the shoulders to fall forward, and pro-
ducing general collapse of the front wall of the trunk.
In consequence of the weakening of the muscles which
support the trunk, and especially weakness of the waist mus-
cles, an ungraceful and unnatural carriage of the body appears,
not only in walking and standing, but in sitting. The weak-
waisted woman is comfortable only when sitting in a rocking
22
verli...
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
or easy chair. She cannot be confortable unless the back is
supported ; consequently, in sitting the muscles of the trunk
are completely relaxed, thus causing collapse of the waist and
protrusion of the lower abdomen by the depression at the
waist occasioned by the depression of the ribs.
Such persons, in standing, assume a great variety of awk-
ward and unhealthful positions, some of the most common of
which will be shown presently upon the screen. The most
common faults are dropping the shoulders, projecting the
chin, hips too far forward, weight resting upon the heels or
upon one foot, and a general lack of even and graceful bal-
ance of the body. In walking, the forward position of the
hips makes it impossible to plant the whole sole of the foot
down at once and firmly, so the weight is thrust continually
upon the heels. This difficulty is increased by wearing high-
heeled shoes. A swinging, swaying, wriggling, or otherwise
awkward gait, is the most common mode of walking one sees
in women, very few of whom are good walkers, in consequence
of the inability to balance the body, through the weakness
of the muscles of the waist.
The fourth charge which I have made against the com-
mon mode of dress, in which the waist is constricted, is that
it induces and necessitates an abnormal mode of respiration.
In normal breathing, the shape of the chest-cavity is
changed in the act of inspiration in such a manner that
its diameter is increased in all directions. The greatest
increase, however, is in its longitudinal diameter, due to
flattening of the diaphragm; and in the lateral transverse
diameter of the lower part of the chest, due to the action of
the inspiratory muscles, and, according to Brüger, also in
part due to the depression of the abdominal viscera by the
contracting diaphragm. In normal respiration in children of
both sexes, and in both men and women of savage tribes, in
whom the dress of the two sexes is practically alike, the
chief movements noticeable to the eye in inspiration are
widening of the chest at its lower part and bulging of the
abdominal wall. There is at the same time a rhythmical
62....,,
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
23
action of the muscles of the pelvic floor, induced by the
increase of abdominal pressure resulting from the flattening
of the diaphragm, acting against the resistance of the tense
abdominal muscles.
That the respiratory movements are practically alike in
adult
persons of the two sexes, I think has been fully estab-
lished by the observations of Mays, Dickinson, and others,
as well as by my own studies upon Indian women of various
tribes, Chinese women, Italian peasant women, and American
women whose breathing has never been interfered with by
tight-fitting clothing.
The relation of corsets and tight bands to respiration has
usually been studied with reference to their influence upon
the lungs or the respiratory process. The important relation
of the respiratory process to the abdominal and pelvic
viscera has too often been overlooked, although the disturb-
ance of the normal relation existing between respiration, and
the circulation of the blood in the abdominal and pelvic
viscera, is undoubtedly a matter of far greater importance than
any interference with the respiratory process occasioned by
constriction of the waist. The effect of inspiration is to in-
crease abdominaltension. This is accomplished by the flatten-
ing of the diaphragm, which is facilitated by the increase in the
lateral transverse diameter of the lower part of the chest,
induced by contraction of the serratus and other inspiratory
muscles. The effect of abdominal tension is to facilitate the
emptying of the veins of the portal circulation, in which
there is a natural tendency to congestion, as the result of
the resistance of the hepatic capillary system, which inter-
venes between them and the general venous system. In
normal respiration, in which the intra-thoracic pressure is
diminished by proper expansion of the chest cavity, this
emptying of the portal circulation is also facilitated by a sort
of suction action, which draws the blood from the abdominal
viscera into the thoracic cavity. Thus, in normal respiration
there is a double action, the tendency of which is to accelerate
the circulation in the abdominal and pelvic organs; and it is
24
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
reasonable to suppose that the health of these organs must
largely depend upon a continuous and efficient action of this
pumping process, which is so essential a feature in the main-
tenance of the blood current in this region of the body.
When the waist is constricted, both elements of the re-
spiratory process through which the abdominal pelvic circula-
tion is assisted, are seriously weakened. The increase of the
abdominal tension, resulting from the pressure of the dia-
phragm, is prevented by the fact that the transverse diameter
of the lower portion of the chest is not only diminished, but
fixed. The lateral attachments of the diaphragm are thus
approached in such a manner that this muscle is rendered
incapable of efficient contraction. At the same time, the
intra-thoracic negative pressure is diminished through the
crippling of the inspiratory act. The lower portion of the
chest being held firmly, any increase in the transverse
diameter of this part is impossible. The normal descent of
the diaphragm being prevented, the longitudinal diameter of
the chest cannot be increased to the proper extent. The
chest is left free to act only in its upper part, the elasticity
of which is much less than that of the lower portion, in
consequence of the rigid character of the ribs, and the short-
ness of the cartilages which connect the ribs to the sternum,
as well as the comparative weakness of the muscles which
act upon this portion of the chest.
The crippled condition of respiration in a woman whose
waist is constricted by a corset or tight bands, is clearly
shown by the readiness with which such a woman gets out
of breath when called upon to make unusual exertion, or
when there is a special demand for lung activity from any
other cause. The first thing done for a fainting woman is to
cut her waistbands and corset strings; but no one would
ever think of tearing open a man's vest or slitting up his shirt
front under the same circumstances.
The proper action of the chest may be aptly compared
to that of a pair of bellows. The lower ribs, to which the
strong breathing muscles are attached, serve as the handles.
.
>
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
25
The breathing apparatus of a woman whose waist is con-
stricted by a corset or tight bands, is nearly as much em-
barrassed in its action as would be a pair of bellows with the
handles tied together. The clavicular respiration, so con-
spicuous in women who constrict the waist, is not seen
among savage women, nor in a woman whose respiratory
organs have not been restricted in their action by improper
clothing. That this mode of breathing is quite abnormal
might be fairly inferred from the structure of the upper part
of the chest, which is certainly not such as to suggest any
considerable degree of mobility. But this mode of breath-
ing is not only abnormal, but, as I think I have already
shown, it may be productive of disease. This is true of
ordinary respiration, but it is most emphatically true of
forced respiration, such as is induced by singing or active
muscular exercise. Under the imperative demand for an
increased supply of air, the respiratory muscles are made to
act with undue violence. In consequence of the constriction
and the compression of the abdominal walls by the corset,
this abnormal force is largely expended upon the organs of
the pelvis, which are forced down out of position. The pel-
vic floor is more yielding than the rigid walls of the upper
chest, and is depressed, thus laying the foundation for chronic
displacement. A civilized woman, wearing the common
dress, cannot expand her waist more than one fourth of an
inch when taking a deep inspiration. Expansion must occur
somewhere, and the abnormal mode of dress necessitates
that it shall be at the upper and lower extremities of the
trunk. The greater resistance of the upper ribs, and the
yielding character of the structures which form the pelvic
floor, l'ead to a lowering of all the organs which are dependent
upon the latter for support.
The tracings which I shall present also show an impor-
tant fact as to the influence of constriction of the waist upon
breathing. These tracings were made with a pneumograph,
the tracings obtained by which represent the whole of the
respiratory movement. Fig. 1, Plate I., represents normal
1
--------...,... --,,....
26
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
respiration. Noting the time relation between inspiration
and expiration, it will be observed that expiration is per-
ceptibly longer than the movement of inspiration. I find
this relation to be, on the average, about five for inspiration
and seven for expiration. Fig. 2 is a fac-simile of the trac-
ings produced by the same person while wearing a corset,
who without a corset produced the tracings of Fig. I. It will
be seen that there is an increase in the time of inspiration as
compared with expiration, which one would naturally expect
from the resistance offered by the corset. It will also be
noticed that a marked change in the form of the tracings is
produced by the constriction of the waist. The expiratory
portion of the tracing, which appears above the horizontal line,
drops suddenly, instead of making a gradual decline, as in
normal respiration. The tracings obtained from the woman
in a corset, show most clearly an abnormal resistance to in-
spiratory action.
In natural breathing, the action is chiefly at the waist,
although the entire trunk wall and every organ within the
trunk participates in the movement. The action begins with
expansion, first at the sides, and then in front, then a slight
elevation of the upper chest, and, in forced respiration, a
slight drawing in of the lower abdomen at the same time.
In ordinary respiration, there is simply a lifting forward of
the whole front wall of the chest and abdomen, the move-
ment extending all along the line from the upper end of the
breast bone to the pubis.
The so-called abdominal respiration is unnatural and un-
healthful; indeed, it has been in many cases productive of
serious injury. Teachers of elocution and vocal music often
instruct their pupils to breathe abdominally; that is, to give
prominence to the movements of the lower abdomen in
breathing. When the waist is constricted, the inability of the
chest to expand at the sides, compels an exaggerated move-
ment downward, so that the viscera are forced down into the
abdomen to an unusual extent. In natural respiration, the
expansion of the waist, or increase in circumference of the
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
27
trunk at its center, prevents this excessive downward move-
ment. It will be readily seen how by violent efforts to force
the breath downward with the waist confined so as to prevent
proper expansion, the supporting ligaments of the various
viscera might in time be so stretched as to produce a general
sag of the abdominal contents.
Correct breathing is as necessary to the health of the
pelvic and abdominal viscera as to a healthy condition of
the lungs; for the respiratory act not only pumps air in and
out of the body, but draws blood to the heart, assisting par-
ticularly the portal circulation, and thus also aiding in the
absorption of the products of digestion, and so facilitating
the digestive process. It is quite possible also, that the
rhythmical movements imparted to all the viscera of the trunk
by normal respiration, are a sort of vital gymnastics, essen-
tial to the health of each organ.
It is thus evident that, in its interference with the proper
respiration, as well as from the mechanical injuries which it
inflicts, the common mode of dress, which involves constric-
tion of the waist, is the most potent means of impairing the
health and vigor of the whole body, and may justly be reck-
oned as perhaps the greatest of all factors in the general
decadence in physical vigor so apparent among women of
the present and rising generation.
That there has not been a general rebellion against this
unnatural and mischief-making mode of dress on the part of
the intelligent women of this enlightened age, is probably
due to the popular but fallacious idea which seems to be so
thoroughly fixed in the minds of both men and women, that
woman is “the weaker vessel," and naturally subject to ail-
ments and weaknesses and general physical inefficiency from
which men enjoy immunity. Any one, who has made him-
self familiar with the activity of the women of savage nations,
or even the women of the peasant classes in civilized coun-
tries, must have recognized the fallaciousness of this popular
idea, which had its birth in the age of chivalry, and has come
down to us along with numerous other fancies and supersti-
:
!
28
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
tions, which have no foundation either in natural experience
or physiological science.
The average civilized woman is certainly very much in-
ferior to the average civilized man in physical vigor. The
constancy of this observation has led both the profession and
the laity to regard women as naturally weaker than men.
But that this is not necessarily so, is shown by the constant
experience and observation of travelers among uncivilized
tribes. Travelers in China are often astonished at the im-
mense loads which Chinese women carry upon their shoul-
ders. Some years ago, I.saw a woman in the market-place at
Naples, Italy, carrying off upon her head an immense load of
vegetables, which required two men to lift it into position.
De Saussure relates that when he had finished his observa-
tions in the valley of Zermatt, he packed a collection of min-
eralogical specimens in a box, and called for a porter to carry
it out of the valley, as the mountain roads were too steep to
be traveled by four-footed animals of any sort. After a
fruitless search for a man who was able to transport his box
of specimens, he was finally told if he wished a porter to
carry his package he must employ a woman, as no man could
be found who was able to even lift the box. He accordingly
engaged a woman who offered herself for the service, and
stated that she carried the heavy box of minerals over the
steep mountain roads without the slightest injury either to it
or to herself. Stanley reports that the two hundred women
porters whom he employed on one of his expeditions, proved
to be the best porters he ever had in Africa.
When in England, a few years ago, I made an expedition
into the "black country” for the purpose of studying the
women brick-makers and nail-makers of that region. I
found at Lye, some of the finest specimens of well-devel-
oped women I ever saw anywhere, women who had spent
all their lives in brick-yards or before the forge, swinging
the blacksmith's hammer and making the anvil ring. These
women never go in out of the rain for fear they will get wet
and take cold, and although working in mưd and water a
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
29
great share of the time, have no other protection for their
feet than shoes, often full of holes and almost without soles,
and wholly inadequate to protect the feet from water. They
are constantly engaged in lifting heavy weights. One woman
I saw tossing and kneading upon a block a mass of clay,
which, as I found by actual test, weighed over sixty pounds.
She handled it in her hands as though it were only a small
mass of dough; and although thus employed from early
morn until late at night, she was in no way disabled by her
occupation. A physician of long experience, who practiced
in the place, assured me that so far as his practice among
women was concerned, it amounted to nothing in a gyneco-
logical way, but that his obstetrical practice was very large.
Not long ago, a public meeting was held in Birmingham,
England, by the nail-makers of that district, for the purpose
of protesting against the employment of women in the busi-
ness of nail-making. The reason given by a prominent
member of the association for this objection to the employ-
ment of women, was that by this kind of labor a woman
became so “unsexed
unsexed” that she could outwork a man, con-
tinuing her labor hours after a man was completely used up.
These facts, and many others which might be cited, show
that woman is not necessarily weaker than man. The weak-
ness of woman is not due to natural constitution, but to a
vicious mode of dress and neglect of physical exercise,
although, possibly, heredity has some influence in the matter
at the present day.
The practical bearings of this question are too evident to
require more than mention.
1. It is evident that pelvic disease involving the displace-
ment of organs is only a part of a general disorder in which
every organ below the diaphragm may be involved, and any
system of treatment which addresses itself exclusively to the
disorders found present in the pelvis, must be unsuccessful.
Here is to be found the secret of the failure of so many
methods and systems which have been proposed for the
relief or cure of pelvic disease, particularly displacements.
3
i
30
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
I do not hesitate to make the assertion that any method of
treatment, either medical or surgical, which does not address
itself to the removal of the causes of the disorder as well
as to its effects and amelioration of symptoms, must result
in failure. Temporary relief, often apparent cure, may be
effected, but sooner or later the patient will find himself in
the same wretched condition as before. This explains the
almost universal failure of pessaries, local application of
electricity, operations upon the perineum, and the various
forms of anterior and posterior colporrhaphy, operations
for shortening the round ligaments, ventro-fixation of the
fundus, and a great variety of other methods and procedures
which have been adopted for the relief of the various forms
of displacements of the pelvic organs. The pessary some-
times succeeds, provided there is some coincident change in
the habits of the patient which increases the strength of the
muscles of the waist and abdomen. But, in my estimation,
nothing can be more absurd than to thrust a pessary up
among a mass of prolapsed abdominal and pelvic viscera,
stretched away from their normal moorings, jostling one
another about in the abdominal cavity, swaying in what-
ever direction the body happens to incline. No wonder that
such patients often complain that the pessary gives pain.
Certainly it is no marvel that ulceration, ovarian irritation
and inflammation, and even salpingitis, are not uncommon
results.
Thirty years ago, Banning undertook to effect a cure of
pelvic disorders by means of braces which supported the
trunk in a natural position. The weak point in this system
was its inability to give strength to the weakened muscles.
An external skeleton consisting of an iron frame-work is
no more efficient in developing the muscles of the trunk
than one composed of hickory or whalebone stays. The
"Neptune's girdle,” or “umschlag” of the old German water-
cures, not infrequently perfected cures by allaying local con-
gestions, irritation of the abdominal sympathetic ganglia,
and especially by sụpporting the relaxed abdominal walls,
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
31
and holding up in position the prolapsed viscera. Patients
are sometimes cured by being sent on long journeys abroad,
in which they gain muscular strength and vigor by mountain-
climbing, horseback-riding, and the active exercise neces-
sarily involved in sight-seeing.
Cures have been effected by each of these and other hap-
hazard methods of treatment, but they were accidental, and
not due to scientific methods, and patients were not infre-
quently made worse. I have known of cases in which young
women were injured for life by being advised by their phy-
sicians to exercise in a gymnasium, without the same careful
prescription as to the kind and amount of exercise to be
taken, as a judicious physician would give respecting the
administration of a powerful drug.
2. It must be evident that a large share of the symptoms
present in cases belonging to the class which is generally
referred to the gynecologist, are really due to disorders of
other organs which are involved in the general disturbance,
or, as the French call it, desequilibration, of the viscera of
the lower half of the trunk.
Most women suffering from pelvic diseases complain of
pain when on the feet, dragging pain in the bowels and the
lower portion of the back, pain at the extreme lower end of
the spine, soreness and pain in the region of the navel, a
feeling of lack of support in the lower abdomen, a sensation
commonly described as goneness at the pit of the stomach,
weakness of the lower limbs, pain in the back, crawling,
tingling, numbness, stinging, and other sensations in the legs,
cold hands and feet, burning of the soles and palms. Some-
times the patient says she is only comfortable, when on her
feet, when holding up the bowels with the hands. Such
patients tenaciously cling to the corset, because they evi-
dently need some support. These patients also often com-
plain that when they undertake to stand without a corset,
there is such a sinking at the stomach that they are com-
pelled to sit down. The evident cause is the dragging of
Ghe prolapsed bowels and stomach, occasioned by the relaxa-
32
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
tion of the abdominal muscles by which the branches of the
pneumogastric and sympathetic nerves are put under an un-
natural strain. It is evident that in these cases a large part
of the symptoms are due, not to the pelvic disorder, but to
the general disease of which this is a part.
If we expect to cure a woman who is a chronic sufferer
from pelvic disorders, we must treat the patient rather than
the malady. This is a principle which applies, in fact, to
most chronic disorders; and a failure to recognize this prin-
ciple is the rock upon which professional effort often splits.
It is as hopeless to undertake to cure such maladies by the
usual routine methods, which are addressed to local symptoms
and conditions only, as to expect to kill a noxious weed by
picking off its flowers or a few of its leaves. The whole dis.
ease must be eradicated, root and branch. This can only be
accomplished by the removal of all the morbid conditions
which are the real causes of the multitudinous symptoms by
which the disorder is recognized and for which it is often
named. Rational treatment of this class of diseases must,
then, include, first of all, the adoption of a proper dress,
which will be one in which every muscle of the trunk will
have perfect freedom to act. The patient must be instructed
to have her dress measure taken with the waist fully ex-
panded, and to allow an inch or two for growth, in the hope
that to some degree she may overcome the deformed con-
dition which she has induced by ignorant obedience to fash-
ion, rather than to the laws of physiology and the dictates
of common sense.
Health corsets are a device of the devil to keep women
in bondage who are seeking for deliverance from the weak-
ness and misery from which a really healthful mode of dress
might emancipate her. Shoulder braces and harnesses of
every description are, on the whole, a snare and a delusion.
The only correct principle is to suspend everything from
the shoulders by means of a waist which will equally
distribute the weight upon natural bearings, and at the
ON AMERICAN WOMEN
33
same time give latitude for the greatest freedom of waist
movement.
If all women would at once adopt a healthful mode of
dress, probably half of our profession would be obliged to
scek some other calling. Certainly, at the present time,
more than half our business consists in efforts to repair
damages which ignorant women have inflicted upon them-
selves. Neither a proper knowledge of the requirements of
the body, nor a just consideration of the principles of beauty,
justifies the popular mode of dress. The idea that a small
waist or a round waist is beautiful, is a mischievous and
dangerous notion, which ought to be eradicated from the
public mind./Nature never made a waist round, slight, or
tapering, as though it were chiseled out of a block of wood;
and why should we allow ourselves to be persuaded by the
fashion-mongers that a thing which from an artistic stand-
point is truly hideous, is otherwise than monstrous and
repulsive ? An artist who would make a nude figure with
the waist modeled after a French corset, would not be allowed
to exhibit his work in any respectable gallery.
A singular illustration of the inconsistency of human
nature is to be found in the fact that the saine artist who
takes so great care of his “model's " figure that he will not
allow her to wear a corset, or subject herself to waist con-
striction of any sort, never thinks to criticise his wife, who
squeezes herself into a French mould of the latest pattern, re-
gardless of the fact that the circumference of her trunk is
decreased by several inches at the middle, only at the ex-
pense of a commensurate increase below the waist, making
an unsightly protuberance of displaced adipose tissue, relaxed
abdominal muscles, and a promiscuous assemblage of stomach,
bowels, kidneys, spleen, and other things, which have been
forcibly ejected from the snug corners in which nature care-
fully stowed them away, and thrust into an unnatural and
unsightly mass below. We see in the enormous busts and
bustles which fashion prescribes, an evident attempt to cover
34
THE IMJUENCE OF DRESS
up the uncouthness of form which the corset and other fash-
ionable modes of torture have induced by means of these ex-
crescences, and by their aid to approach as far as possible to
the ideal figure, which, in its native grace and beauty, requires
no such accessories.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
PLATE I.
FIGURE 1. Pneographic tracing, showing the respiratory
movements of a healthy woman. That portion of the curve
above the base line represents expiration; the curve below
the line represents inspiration. This tracing was obtained
by means of a new form of pneumograph, or pneograph,
which represents the whole respiratory movement, and which
I have elsewhere described.
FIG. 2. Pneographic tracing furnished by a woman wear-
ing a corset. The subject was the same person who furnished
the preceding tracing, and the tracing was made with the
same instrument adjusted in the same manner. The evident
increase in the length of the expiratory movement, or rather
decrease in the length of the inspiratory movement, as well
as the change in form of the expiratory movement, are
strongly suggestive of the interference with respiration oc-
casioned by constriction of the waist.
FIG. 3. Pneumographic tracing of the upper and lower
costal novements in breathing, furnished by a healthy man.
The pneumograph employed in taking this tracing was a
modified form of the instrument designed by Paul Bert. In
obtaining the upper costal movement, the instrument was
adjusted at the middle of the sternum and the spine opposite.
In obtaining the lower costal tracing, the instrument was
adjusted to the sides of the chest.
FIG. 4. Pneumographic tracing furnished by a civilized
woman wearing a corset. It will be noticed that this tracing
is almost exactly the reverse of the preceding.

Expiration.
Inspiration.
Fig. 1. Pneographic tracing of a healthy woman.
Insp.
Expiration
FIG. 2. Pneographic tracing - woman in corset.
Costal.
Waist.
Costal.
Waist.

Mmm man
FIG. 3. Man.
FIG. 4. Woman in corset.

Costal.
Waist.
- വിവിഡിവ
Fig. 5. Chippewa Indian woman.
Waist.
Costal.
Costal.
Waist.
w
w
w
m
m
FIG. 6. Woman who never wore a corset.
FIG. 7. Man in corset.
Costal.
Waist.
M
FIG. 8. Dog
Costal.
Waist.
FIG. 9. Dog with corset on.
PLATE I.-BREATHING MOVEMENTS IN MAN AND Dog,

FIG. 2.
FIG. 3.

FIG. 1.--- Natural Position of Internal Organs.
(After Ziemssen.)
PLATE II.

ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
35
Fic. 5. Tracing obtained from a Chippewa Indian woman
who had never worn à corset.
Fig. 6. Tracing furnished by a civilized woman who had
never worn a corset. It will be noticed that the last two
tracings have the same character as the tracing furnished by
a healthy man, shown in Fig. 3.
FIG. 7. Tracing furnished by a man wearing a corset.
This tracing is practically identical with the one shown in
Fig. 4, furnished by a woman wearing a corset.
Fig. 8. Tracing obtained from a healthy dog.
Fig. 9. Tracing obtained from a dog with a corset on.
By examination of the last two tracings it will be seen that
a healthy dog breathes just as does a healthy man or healthy
woman whose respiratory movements are unobstructed, and
that a dog wearing a corset breathes as does a woman under
the same circumstances, chiefly with the upper instead of the
lower portion of the chest.
PLATE II.
FIGURE I. Diagram of the trunk, showing position of
the viscera, after Ziemssen. It will be noticed that the
lower border of the stomach falls at a point about midway
between the lower end of the sternum and the umbilicus.
Fig. 2. Diagram showing the action of the diaphragm,
front view.
FIG. 3. Diagram showing the action of the diaphragm,
side view.
PLATE III.
This plate is a representation of natural figures.
FIGURE 1. Outline of a healthy, well-developed man,
thirty years of age.
FIG. 2.
Outline of a well-developed woman, of twenty-
six years.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 4.
A Greek statue.
Outline of an Italian model girl.
36
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
PLATE IV.
Outlines showing the effect of the corset in destroying
the natural symmetry of the figure.
FIGURE 1. Side profile of a young woman who had once
been addicted to tight lacing, but had greatly improved her
figure by reforming her dress.
FIG. 2. Side profile of the same person with corset on.
This tracing shows clearly the influence of the corset in de
stroying the natural dorsal curve, and producing protrusion
of the lower abdomen.
FIG. 3. Front profile of a young woman of seventeen
years who had never worn anything tight in her life. The
two side sets of lines illustrate the form of the waist with a
corset on and with it off. This young woman's waist meas-
ure was three inches less outside all her clothing with the
corset on, than next the skin with the clothing removed.
FIG. 4. Side profile of the same person who furnished
the preceding outline, showing the distortion of the figure
and displacement of the internal viscera occasioned by tight
lacing.
PLATE V.
FIGURE I. The outline of a young woman who supposed
she had always dressed healthfully, having worn a health-
corset and suspended her clothing from her shoulders. The
so-called health corset was tight and rigid with stays, and
the skirt-bands were also tight and the skirts heavy. In
consequence, the bowels and stomach were prolapsed, the
lower border of the stomach reaching three inches below the
umbilicus.
FIG. 2.
The solid lines within the figure indicate the
position of the stomach, liver, and right kidney. The dotted
lines indicate the lower border of these organs when in nor-
mal position. The young woman
The young woman was in most wretched
health. She had suffered for many years from nervous dys-
pepsia, and also from pelvic congestion and displacement of
the uterus and ovaries.

FIG.1. Man.
FIG. 2.
Woman.
FIG. 3. Greek Statue.
Fig. 4. Italian model girl.
PLATE III.
NATURAL FIGURES.

FIG. 4. Side view of the same.
FIG.1. Reformed corset wearer.
FIG. 2.
The same with corset. FIG. 3. Young woman whose "clothes
were never tight.
PLATE IV.

FIG, I.
S
K
S
к
Spleen
Spleen
S
Effects of a
Corset.''
Health
FIG. 2.
FIG. 4. Front view of the same.
Front view of the same. FIG. 3. Displaced spleen from
corset wearing
PLATE V.

R
+
L
S
L
S
FIG. 1. Effect of tight bands
and heavy skirts.
FIG. 2.
Front view of the same.
FIG. 3. Effects of corset-wearing
and tight bands.
PLATE VI.
FIG. 4. Man who had worn
a belt.


ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
37
FIG. 3. Outline of a woman of forty-two years, who,
when a young woman, had compressed the waist for the
purpose of getting rid of an enlarged spleen, which was
finally crowded down below the waist-line, and, finding itself
cut loose from its moorings, wandered about in all parts of
the abdominal cavity. When first examined, the spleen
four or five times its normal size — lay between the uterus
and the bladder, and was mistaken for a fibroid tumor. I
discovered my error the next day, when I found the spleen
lying several inches distant from its position of the day
before.
FIG. 4. Front-view outline of the same patient. The
solid lines S and L indicate the position in which the stom-
ach and liver were found.
PLATE VI.
FIGURE I. Side-view profile of a woman who had suffered
many years from nervous dyspepsia and a variety of nervous
and pelvic troubles. She had consulted a great many physi-
cians of eminence, but had found no relief.
Fig. 2. Front view of the same patient. The liver,
stomach, and kidneys were several inches below their normal
position. The displacement of the abdominal viscera was
directly traceable to the influence of tight skirt-bands and
heavy skirts. The patient was greatly improved in health
by strengthening the abdominal walls, thus enabling them
to hold the prolapsed organs more nearly in position.
FIG. 3. Side-view outline of a woman whose figure was
greatly deformed, as the result of tight lacing and wearing
heavy skirts suspended by tight bands. The liver occupied
the position shown in the elliptical outline at L. The dotted
line L indicates the normal position of the organ.
This outline represents the side view of a man
who had injured himself by wearing a belt. The liver was
prolapsed two inches below the lowest ribs, and the stomach
had fallen two or three inches lower. He was suffering from
nervous dyspepsia, which was traced directly to the irrita-
FIG. 4.
38
THE INFLUENCE OF DRESS
tion set up in the prolapsed organs, as the result of their
abnormal position.
PLATE VII.
FIGURE 1. Side profile of a woman of thirty-two years,
who was suffering from uterine and ovarian prolapse, and
prolapse of stomach, bowels, and kidneys. In consequence,
she was a victim of nervous dyspepsia, general debility, and
a variety of reflex nervous symptoms. Three months of
careful regimen and training restored her to excellent health.
FIG. 2.
Side profile of a man of forty years, a physician,
in whom neglect of physical exercise and a bad position in
standing and sitting, had caused prolapse of the stomach
and bowels, and a numerous train of ills dependent upon
these conditions.
FIG. 3. Side profile of a healthy, well-developed man.
The same subject whose front profile is shown in Plate III.
FIG. 4. The solid outline represents the side profile of a
man of forty-five years, who had suffered many years from
nervous dyspepsia and a variety of nervous symptoms, which
the treatment of a number of most excellent Eastern spe-
cialists had failed to relieve. A few weeks' physical training,
in connection with other treatment, gave him the figure
shown in the dotted outline, and restored him to such ex-
cellent health that he was able to return to his business
enjoying better health than for many years.
The prin-
cipal causes of the deformity exhibited by this patient
were wearing a belt when a young man, and neglect of
physical exercise, his business habits having been seden-
tary from youth.
.
PLATE VIII.
FIGURE 1. Side-view outline of a woman of twenty-four
years, who was suffering from nervous dyspepsia and pro-
lapsus of uterus and ovaries.
FIG. 2.
This outline represents the same young woman
after a few months' physical training. She was restored to

FIG. 1. Effects of tight lacing.
FIG. 2. Man who had worn a belt.
FIG. 3. Side profile of a healthy man.
FIG.4. A man improved by training.
PLATE VI.

poate
FIG. I. Effects of corset and tight
FIG. 2. The same person after
lacing.
training
PLATE VIII.
I

FIG. I. A German peasant woman.
FIG. 2. Effects of corset and tight bands,
on an American woman of same age.
PLATE IX,

FIG. 1. Copied from a fashion
plate.
FIG. 2. A healthfully dressed
FIG. 3. An unnatural woman attempt.
ing to conceal defects.
FIG. 4. A natural woman whose
figure requires no appendages.

woman.
PLATE X.
ON AMERICAN WOMEN.
39
excellent health, and has since been able to engage regularly
in the profession of nursing.
PLATE IX.
FIGURE 1. Side profile of a German peasant woman,
twenty-nine years of age. Until twenty years of age, she
was accustomed to carry heavy weights upon her head, often
as much as ninety pounds, two or three miles without
stopping to rest. She never had trained in gymnastics.
It is a perfectly natural figure, and doubtless represents
very nearly the ideal female form.
FIG. 2. Side profile of a woman of the same age, who,
through neglect of muscular exercise, and by corset wear-
ing and the wearing of tight bands and heavy skirts, had
acquired the weak and deformed figure shown.
PLATE X.
FIGURE I. A corset-choked woman (copied from a fashion
plate).
FIG. 2. A healthfully dressed woman.
Fig. 3. This and the succeeding figure are intended to
show the real origin of busts and bustles. The woman
whose figure has been destroyed by corset-wearing, requires
an artificial bust in front and a bustle behind to restore the
natural curves of the figure.
FIG. 4. A woman with a natural figure who has no use
for either bustles or artificial busts.
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In the effort to supply the demand of the thousands of invalids who
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The following list includes some of the leading articles which can be
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Combination Water Bottle
and Fountain Syringe,
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SANITARIUM SANITARY SUPPLY CO., BATTLE CREEK, MICH.
THE
BATTLE CREEK
SANITARIUM
|
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FOODS.
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OR more than sixteen years the Battle Creek Sanitarium has main-
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(DYSPEPTIC.)
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Avenola,
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TO THE PUBLIC. “This certifies that
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Your “Health Foods” are the wonder of the nineteenth century. I
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We are constantly improving our foods, and adding to our list, as the
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For the latest Descriptive Circular and Price List,
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A NEW BOOK.
Physical Culture for the
Home, the School, and the
Kindergarten.
By J. H. KELLOGG, M. D
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Anatomy and Physiology of the Muscles.”
Relation of Exercise to Respiration and Heart Action."
"The Influence of Exercise upon Digestion and Blood Purification.”
'Fatigue, Its Uses and Dangers."
Natural Symmetry and Acquired Deformities - Stoop-shoulders,
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The Hygiene of Attitudes-Right and Wrong Sitting and Standing."
Walking -- How to Walk and How Not to Walk."
Physical Training of Children in the School and Kindergarten."
How to Cure Obesity by Exercise and Diet.”
'Gymnastics for Persons with Bad Stomachs & Disordered Livers.”
“Exercise for Rheumatics."
How to Cure Consumption and other Lung Disorders by Exercise."
“Exercise as a Remedy for American Nervousness, or Neuras-
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“Exercise for Chronic Invalids.”
“Swedish Gymnastics and Calisthenics.”
How to Make a Home Gymnasium.”
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Modern Medicine Pub. Co., Battle Creek, Micb-
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are so tootlisome and palatable as to be regard
1 licacies by the well.
(See inside cover page
d for descritive circular.)
Sanitarium Health Food 6, Batile Creek, M