Volume 1

The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick.

  • M'Gregor-Robertson, J. (Joseph), 1858-1925
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    545/602 (page 473)
    THE EVILS OF STAYS. weight of the clothing is out of all proportion to the degree of warmth that it is required to maintain, and that if only warmth and protec- tion are to be taken into account, much of it is superfluous. Thus the weight is not only badly arranged for easy carriage, but it is excessive in amount. This becomes a very important ques- tion in relation to e.xercise. The addition of one or two pounds weight needless clothing may seem a trifling affair, but when one con- siders the bodily energy expended in carrying these few pounds a distance of a few miles, it is easily seen that that slight extra weight may be indeed a serious burden, even in the ordinary movements of locomotion, and becomes an un- conscious hindrance to free and vigorous exercise. Custom prevents this being fully appreciated, but women themselves know well how weighed down they feel when walking with clothing wet with rain. The increase in weight is not much, but it is felt as a load, just because it is more than they are accustomed to. Perhaps female di-ess does not err, from a healthy standard, more grievously than by the undue restriction of movement which it enforces. It is needless to say that the movements of the legs are very limited, and that running or jumping would be accomplished with difficulty. Tight sleeves seriously press on parts, especially at the arm- pits, and inq:)ede the circulation in the arm; garters, by their pressure below the knee, offer a very considerable obstacle to the return of blood in the veins from the parts below, and directly encourage the production of dilated veins with all their attendant evils. The Evils of Stays, and the Deformities they produce.—These mistakes are as nothing to that of tight-lacing, and the evils they pro- duce are small in comparison with those that attend this larger and greatest of all evils of feminine dress. The real effects of tic-ht-lacino- O O ought to be thoroughly considered. First of all, it undoubtedly impedes the full expansion of the lungs. In the section on Kespiration it is ex- plained (p. 2o4) that the act of breathing consists of an expansion of the chest in every direction; the cavity of the chest enlarges and air rushes in to fill up the lungs, and so occupy the increased space: thereafter the chest returns to its usual size, and air is thus expelled to permit of a dimi- nution in the expansion of the lungs to fit the diminished space. The chief way in which the chest cavity enlarges is by the descent of the diaphragm, which is at once the floor of that cavity and the roof of the cavity of the abdomen or belly. When the diaphragm descends it does so at the expense of the belly cavity, on whose space it encroaches, and to make additional room the front and side walls of the abdomen bulge outwards. Now if the waist and part of the chest are encircled by a tightly drawn and, by the agency of steel, practically unyielding structure like stays, this movement of the ab- dominal walls cannot be developed, the descent of the diaphragm is arrested, and expansion of the chest in thisdii’ection becomes difficult. To compensate for this, enlargement must take place by exaggerated raising and widening of the upper part of the chest through movements of the ribs. The lower part of the chest is re- stricted in movement, and in the up])er part the movement is overdone. The lungs are thus insufficiently and improperly inflated, in their upper portions having to bear an unnecessary strain, and their lower portions being seldom properly distended at all. Moreover, the con- stant pressure exerted by the stays forces in- wards the lower ribs and specially the last two on each side, the floating ribs, which have no attach- ment in front, and forces in to some extent also the lower ribs next to them, so that the shape of the chest becomes actually altered, and in- stead of being broad and expanded low down, it is narrowed and drawn in. All this means diminished breathing space, enfeebled breathing power, and its indirect consequences it is dif- ficult to estimate. But more than this. The px'essure exerted by tight stays seriously alters the proper positions of the various organs in the abdomen. It is difficult to state with any accuracy how many different kinds of distur- bance of a good state of health may arise in this way. The normal circumference of the waist ought to be from 25 to 27 inches. F’nder the influence of lacing this may be reduced to 20 or 22 inches, and even less, 16 inches being con- sidered by some fashionable dressmakers the goal to be reached. Now all this constriction takes place at the expense of the space within the abdomen, and partly within the chest; for, as has been stated, the lower ribs are easily compressed from the slight nature of their at- tachments in front. Now in the ordinary con- dition every inch of space is occupied by the various organs, and the compression can only be exercised at their expense. The stomach, bowels, and liver will be directly affected, pressed together to some extent, and also to some degree forced upwards or downwards. This undue pressure tends to prevent full growth of the parts, and even if they have previously been fully developed, some degree of wasting