The Young Mother - Management of Children in Regard to Health E-Book

William Andrus Alcott

• Herausgeber: William Andrus Alcott
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

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Leseprobe

William Andrus Alcott

The Young Mother Management of Children in Regard to Health

First digital edition 2017 by Anna Ruggieri

CHAPTER I.

THE NURSERY.

General remarks. Importance of a Nursery--generally overlooked. Its walls--ceiling--windows--chimney. Two apartments. Slidingpartition. Reasons for this arrangement. Objections to carpets. Furniture, &c. Feather beds. Holes or crevices. Currents of air. Cats and dogs. "Sucking the child's breath." Brilliant objects. Squinting. Causes of blindness.

It is far from being in the power of every young mother to procure a suitable room for a nursery. In the present state of society, the majority must be contented with such places as they can get. Still there are various reasons for saying what a nursery should be. 1. It maybe of service to those whohavethe power of selection. 2. Information cannot injure those whohave not. 3. It may lead those who have wealth to extend the hand of charity in this important direction; for there are not a few who have little sympathy with the wants and distresses of the adult poor, who will yet open their hearts and unfold their hands for the relief of sufferinginfancy.

Among those who have what is called a nursery, few select for this purpose the most appropriate part of the building. It is not unfrequently the one that can best be spared, is most retired, or most convenient. Whether it is most favorable to the health and happiness of its occupants, is usually at best a secondary consideration.

But this ought not so to be. A nursery should never, forexample, be on a ground floor, or in a shaded situation, or in any circumstances which expose it to dampness, or hinder the occasional approach of the light of the sun. It should be spacious, with dry walls, high ceiling, and tight windows. The latter should always be so constructed that the upper sash can be lowered when we wish to admit or exclude air. It should have a chimney, if possible; but if not, there should be suitable holes in the ceiling, for the purposes of ventilation.

The windows should haveshutters, so that the room, when necessary, can be darkened--and green curtains. Some writers say that the windows should have cross bars before them; but if they do not descend within three feet of the floor, such an arrangement can hardly be required.

Itis highly desirable that every nursery should consist of two rooms, opening into each other; or what is still better, of one large room, with a sliding or swinging partition in the middle. The use of this is, that the mother and child may retire to one, while the other is being swept or ventilated. They would thus avoid damp air, currents, and dust. Such an arrangement would also give the occupants a room, fresh, clean and sweet, in the morning, (which is a very great advantage,) after having rendered theair of the other foul by sleeping in it.

In winter, and while there is an infant in the nursery, just beginning to walk, it is recommended by many to cover the floor with a carpet. The only advantage which they mention is, that it secures the child from injury if it falls. But I have seldom seen lasting injury inflicted by simple falls on the hard floor; and there are so many objections to carpeting a nursery, since it favors an accumulation of dust, bad air, damp, grease, and other impurities, that it seems to me preferable to omit it. Many physicians, I must own, recommend carpets during winter, though not in summer; and in no case, unless they are well shaken and aired, at least once a week.

No furniture should be admissible, except the beds for the mother and child, a table, and a few chairs. With the best writers and highest authorities on the subject, I am decidedly of opinion that all feather beds ought effectually and forever to be excluded from nurseries. The reasons for this prohibition will appearhereafter.

Every nursery should, if possible, be free from holes or crevices; otherwise the occupants will be exposed to currents of air, and their sometimes terrible and always injurious consequences. The room may, in this way, be kept at a lower medium temperature--a point of very great importance.

Cats and dogs, I believe, are usually excluded from the nursery; if not, they ought to be. For though the apprehension of cats "sucking the child's breath," is wholly groundless, yet they may be provoked by therude attacks of a child to inflict upon it a lasting injury. Besides, they assist, by respiration, in contaminating the air, like all other animals.

If there are, in the nursery, objects which, from the vivacity or brilliancy of their colors, attract theattention of the child, they should never be presented to them sideways, or immediately over their heads. The reason for this caution is, that children seek, and pursue almost instinctively, bright objects; and are thus liable to contract a habit of movingtheir eyes in an oblique direction, whichmayterminate in squinting.

Many parents seem to take great pleasure in indulging the young infant in looking at these bright objects; especially a lamp or a candle. If the child is naturally strong and vigorous,no immediate perceptible injury may arise; but I am confident in the opinion that the result is often quite otherwise. For many weeks, if not many months of their early existence, they should not be permitted to sit or lie and gaze at any bright object, beit ever so weak or distant, unless placed exactly before their eyes; and even in the latter case, it were better to avoid it.

Heat is also injurious to the eyes of all, and of course not less so to children than to adults. But when a strong light and heatare conjoined, as is the case of sitting around a large blazing fire--the former custom of New England--it is no wonder if the infantile eyes become early injured. No wonder that the generation now on the stage, early subjected to these abuses, should befound almost universally in the use of spectacles.

This may be the most proper place for observing that great care ought to be taken, at the birth of the child, to prevent a too sudden exposure of the tender organ of vision to the light. We believe this caution is generally omitted by the American physician, though it is one which accords with the plainest dictates of common sense. Who of us has not experienced the pain of emerging suddenly from the darkness of a cellar to the ordinary light of day? The strongest eyes of the adult are scarcely able to bear the transition. How much more painful to the tender organs of the new-born infant must be the change to which it is so frequently subjected? And how easy it is to prevent the pain and danger of the change,by more effectually darkening the room into which it is introduced!

But we have testimony on this point. A distinguished German physician states that he has known many cases of permanent blindness from this very cause to which we have referred. The Principal of the Institution for the Blind, at Vienna, says he is confident that most children who appear to be born blind, are actually made blind by neglecting this same precaution.

CHAPTER II.

TEMPERATURE.

General principle--"Keep cool." Our own sensations not always tobe trusted. Thermometer. Why infants require more external heatthan adults. Means of warmth. Air heated in other apartments.Clothes taking fire. Stove--railing around it. Excess of heat--itsdangers.

There is one general principle, on this subject, which is alikeapplicable to all persons and circumstances. It is, to keep alittle too cool, rather than in the slightest degree too warm. Inother words, the lowest temperature which is compatible withcomfort, is, in all cases, best adapted to health; and a slightdegree of coldness, provided it amount not to a chill, and is notlong continued, is more safe than the smallest unnecessary degreeof warmth.

But the application of this rule to those over whom we havecontrol, is not without its difficulties. Our own sensations are sovariable, independently of external and obvious causes, that wecannot at all times judge for others, especially for infants. Theabsolute and real state of temperature in a room can only beascertained by the aid of a thermometer; and no nursery should everbe without one. It should be placed, however, in such a situationas to indicate the real temperature of the atmosphere, and notwhere it will give a false result.

No mother should forget that the infant, at birth, hasnot thepower of generating heat, internally, to the extent which itpossesses afterward. The lungs have as yet but a feeble,inefficient action. The purification of the blood, through theiragency, is not only incomplete, but the heat evolved is as yetinconsiderable. In the absence of internal heat, then, there is anincreased demand externally. If 60º be deemed suitable formost other persons, the new-born infant may, for a few days,require 65º or even 70º.

Much may and should be done in preserving thechild in a propertemperature by means of its clothing. On this point I shall speakat length, in another part of this work. My present purpose issimply to treat of the temperature of the nursery.

The best way of warming a nursery--or indeed any other room,where MERE warmth is demanded--is by means of air heated in otherapartments, and admitted through openings in the floor orfire-place. The air is not only thus made more pure, but everypossibility of accidents, such as having the clothes take fire, isprecluded. This last consideration is one of very great importance,and I hope will not be much longer overlooked in infantileeducation.

Next to that, in point of usefulness and safety, is a stove,placed near or IN the fire-place, and defended by an iron railing.Most people prefer an open stove; and on some accounts it is indeedpreferable, especially where it is desirable to burn coal. Still Ithink that the direct rays of the heat, and the glare of light fromopen stoves and fire-places, particularlyfor the young, form a veryserious objection to their use.

One of the strongest objections to open stoves and fire-placesin the nursery is, the increased exposure to accidents. I know itis said that this evil may be avoided by laying aside the use ofcotton, and wearing nothing but worsted or flannel. This is indeedtrue; but I do not like the idea of being compelled to dresschildren in flannel or worsted, at all times when the leastparticle of fire is demanded; for this would be to wear thisstimulating kind of clothing, in our climate, the greater part ofthe year.

Besides, I write for many mothers who are compelled to usecotton, on account of the expense of flannel. And if the stove be aclose one, and well defended by a railing, cotton will seldomexposeto danger. Still, as has been already said, the introduction ofheated air from another apartment, whenever it can possibly beafforded, is incomparably better than either stoves orfire-places.

Dr. Dewees is fully persuaded that the excessive heatofnurseries has occasioned a great mortality among very youngchildren. "In the first place," he says, "it over-stimulates them;and in the second, it renders them so susceptible of cold, that anydraught of cold air endangers their lives. They are in a constantperspiration, which is frequently checked by an exposure to even anatmosphere of moderate temperature." If this is but to repeat whathas been already said, the importance of the subject seems to be asufficient apology.

CHAPTER III.

VENTILATION.

General ignorance of the constitution of the atmosphere. Thesubject briefly explained. Oxygen gas. Nitrogen. Carbonic acid.Fires, candles, and breathing dependent on oxygen. Danger fromcarbonic acid. How it destroys people. Impurity of the air bymeansof lamps and candles. Other sources of impurity. Experiment ofputting the candle under the bed-clothes. Covering the heads ofinfants while sleeping--its dangers. Proportions of oxygen andnitrogen in pure and impure air. No wonder children become sickly.Particular means of ventilating rooms. Caution in regard to lamps.Washing, ironing, cooking, &c., in a nursery. Their eviltendency. Fumigation--camphor, vinegar.

Few people take sufficient pains to preserve the air in any oftheir apartments pure; forfew know what the constitution of ouratmosphere is, and in how many ways and with what ease it isrendered impure.

It is not my purpose to go into a learned, scientific account inthis place, or even in this work, of the constitution of theatmosphere. Afew plain statements are all that are indispensable.The atmosphere which we breathe is composed of two different airsor gases. One of these is called oxygen, [Footnote: Oxygen gas isthe chief supporter of combustion, as well as of respiration. It isthevital part, as it were, of the air. No animal or vegetable couldlong exist without it. And yet if alone, unmixed, it is too pureand too refined for animals to breathe. Nitrogen gas, on thecontrary, while alone, will not support either respiration orcombustion; mixed, however, with oxygen, it dilutes it, and in themost happy manner fits it for reception into the lungs.] and theother nitrogen. There is anothergas usually found with these two,in smaller quantity, called carbonic acid gas; but whetherit isnecessary, in a very small quantity, to health, chemists, Ibelieve, are not agreed. One thing, however, is certain--that ifany portion of it is healthful, it must be very little--not more,certainly, than one-fiftieth or one-hundredth of the wholemass.

It is by means of the oxygen it contains, that air sustains lifeand combustion. Were it not for this, neither fires nor candleswould burn, and no animal could breathe a single moment. Breathingconsumes this oxygen of the air very rapidly. When theoxygen ispresent in about a certain proportion, combustion and respirationgo on well, but when its natural proportion is diminished, the firedoes not burn so well, neither does the candle; and no one canbreathe so freely.

Not only are breathing and combustion impeded or disturbed bythe diminution of oxygen in the atmosphere, but just in proportionas oxygen is diminished by these two processes, or either of them,carbonic acid is formed, which is not only bad for combustion, butmuch worse for health.If any considerable quantity of it isinhaled, it appears to be an absolute poison to the human system;and if invery large quantity, will often cause immediate death.

It is this gas, accumulated in large quantities, that destroysso many people in closerooms, where there is no chimney, nor anyother place for the bad air to escape. But it not only kills peopleoutright--it partly kills, that is, it poisons, more or less,hundreds of thousands.

In a nursery there is the mother and child, and perhapsthenurse, to render the air impure by breathing, the fire and thelamp or candle to contribute to the same result, besides severalother causes not yet mentioned. One of these is nearly related tothe former. I allude to the fact that our skins, by perspirationand by other means, are a source of much impurity to theatmosphere; a fact which will be more fully explained andillustrated in the chapter on Bathing and Cleanliness. It is onlynecessary to say, in this place, that it is not the matter ofperspiration alone which, issuing from the skin, renders the airimpure; there are other exhalations more or less constantly goingoff from every living body, especially from the lungs; and carbonicacid gas is even formed all over the surface of the skin, as wellas by means of the lungs.

One needs no better proof that carbonic acid is formed on thesurface of the body, than the fact that after the body has beenclosely covered all night, if you introduce a candle under thebed-clothes into this confined air, itwill be quickly extinguished,because there is too much carbonic acid gas there, and too littleoxygen.

We may hence see at once the evil of covering the heads ofinfants when they lie down--a very common practice. The air, whenpure, contains a little more than 20 parts of oxygen, and a littleless than 80 of nitrogen. Breathing this air, as I have alreadyshown, consumes the oxygen, which is so necessary to life andhealth, and leaves in its place an increase of nitrogen andcarbonic acid gas, which are not necessary to health, and thelatter of which is even positively injurious. But when the oxygen,instead of forming 20 or more parts in 100 of the atmosphere of thenursery, is reduced to 15 or 18 parts only, and the carbonic acidgas is increased from 1or 2 parts in 100, to 5, 6, 8 or 10--when tothis is added the othernoxious exhalations from the body, and fromthe lamp or candle, fire-place, feather bed, stagnant fluids in theroom, &c., &c.--is it any wonder that children, in the end,become sickly?What else could be expected but that the seeds ofdisease, thus early sown, should in due time spring up, and producetheir appropriate fruits?

It is sometimes said that fire in a room purifies it. Itundoubtedly does so, to a certain extent, if fresh airbe oftenadmitted; but not otherwise.

I have classed feather beds among the common causes of impurity.Dr. Dewees also condemns them, most decidedly; and givessubstantial reasons for "driving them out of the nursery."

In speaking of the structure of theroom used for a nursery, Ihave adverted to the importance of having a large or double room,with sliding doors between, in order that the occupants may go intoone of them, while the other is being ventilated. But whatever maybe the structure of the room, the circumstances of the occupants,or the state of the weather, every nursery ought to be mostthoroughly ventilated, once a day, at least; and when the weatheris tolerable, twice a day. If there is but one apartment, and fearis entertained of the dampness of the fresh air introduced, or ofcurrents, and if the mother and babe cannot retire, there is a lastresort, which is for them to get into bed, and cover themselves ashort time with the clothing. For though I have prohibited thecovering of the face with the bed-clothes for any considerablelength of time together, yet to do so for some fifteen or twentyminutes is an evil of far less magnitude than to suffer anapartment to remain without being ventilated, for twenty-four hourstogether--a very common occurrence.

When a lamp is kept burning in a nursery during the night, itshould always be placed at the door of the stove, or in the chimneyplace, that its smoke, and the bad airs or gases which are formed,may escape. But it is better, in general,to avoid burning lamps orcandles during the night. By means of common matches, a light maybe produced, when necessary, almost instantly; especially if youhave a spirit lamp in the nursery, or what is still better, one ofspirit gas--that is, a mixture of alcohol and turpentine.

It is highly desirable that all washing, ironing, and cookingshould be avoided in the nursery. They load the air with noxiouseffluvia or vapor, or with particles of dust; none of which oughtever to enter the delicate lungs of an infant.

Fumigations with camphor, vinegar, and other similar substances,have long been in reputation as a means of purifying the air insick-rooms and nurseries; but they are of very little consequence.Fresh air, if it can be had, is always better.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHILD'S DRESS

General principles. SEC. 1. Swathing the body--its numerousevils.--SEC. 2. Form of the dress. Fashion. Tight lacing--itsdangers. Structure and motion of the chest. Diseases from tightlacing.--SEC. 3. Material of dress. Flannel--its uses. Cleanliness.Cotton--silk--linen.--SEC. 4. Quantity of dress. Power of habit.Anecdote. Begin right. Change. Dampness.--SEC. 5. Caps--theirevils. Going bare-headed.--SEC. 6. Hats and bonnets.--SEC. 7.Covering for the feet. Stockings. Garters. Shoes--thicksoles.--SEC. 8. Pins--their danger. Shocking anecdote.--SEC. 9.Remaining wet.--SEC. 10. Dress of boys. Tight jackets. Stocks andcravats. Boots.--SEC. 11. Dress of girls--should be loose.Temperature. Exposure to the night air.

Dress servesthree important purposes:--1. To cover us; 2. Todefend us against cold; 3. To defend our bodies and limbs frominjury. There is one more purpose of dress; in case of deformity,it seems to improve the appearance.

In all our arrangements in regard to dress, whether of childrenor of adults, we should ever keep in mind the above principles. Theform, fashion, material, application, and quantity of all clothing,especially for infants, ought to be regulated by these three orfour rules.

The subject of this chapter is one of so much importance, andembraces such a variety of items, that it will be more convenient,both to the reader and myself, to consider it under several minorheads.

SEC. 1.Swathing the Body.

Buffon, in his "Natural History," says that in France, an infanthas hardly enjoyed the liberty of moving and stretching its limbs,before it is put into confinement. "It is swathed," says he, "itshead is fixed, its legs are stretched out at full length, and itsarms placed straight down by the side ofits body. In this manner itis bound tight with cloths and bandages, so that it cannot stir alimb; indeed it is fortunate that the poor thing is not muffled upso as to be unable to breathe."

All swathing, except with a single bandage around the abdomen,isdecidedly unreasonable, injurious and cruel. I do not pretend thatthe remarks of M. Buffon are fully applicable to the condition ofinfants in the United States. The good sense of the communitynowhere permits us to transform a beautiful babe quite into anEgyptian mummy. Still there are many considerable errors on thesubject of infantile dress, which, in the progress of my remarks, Ishall find it necessary to expose.

The use of a simple band cannot be objected to. It affords ageneral support to theabdomen, and a particular one totheumbilicus. The last point is one of great importance, wherethere is any tendency to a rupture at this part of the body--atendency which very often exists in feeble children. And withoutsome support of this kind, crying, coughing, sneezing, andstraining in any way, might greatly aggravate the evil, if notproduce serious consequences.

But, in order to afford a support to the abdomen in the bestmanner, it is by no means necessary that the bandage should bedrawn verytight. Two thirds of the nurses in thiscountry greatlyerr in this respect, and suppose that the more tightly a bandage isdrawn, the better. It should be firm, but yet gently yielding; andtherefore a piece of flannel cut "bias," as it is termed, or,obliquely with respect to the threads of which it is composed, isthe most appropriate material.

If the attention of the mother were necessary nowhere else, itwould be indispensable in the application of this article. If shedo not take special pains to prevent it, the erring though wellmeaning nurse may so compress the body with the bandage as toproduce pain and uneasiness, and sometimes severe colic. Nay, worseevils than even this have been known to arise. When a childsneezes, or coughs, or cries, theabdomen should naturally yieldgently; but if it is so confined that it cannot yield where theband is applied, it will yield in an unnatural proportion below, tothe great danger of producing a species of rupture, no lesstroublesome than the one which such tight swathing is designed toprevent.

But besides the bandage already mentioned, no other restraint ofthe body and limbs of a child is at all admissible. The Creator haskindly ordained that the human body and limbs, and especially itsmuscles, or moving powers, shall be developed by exercise. Confinean arm or a leg, even in a child of ten years of age, and the limbwill not increase either in strength or size as it otherwise would,because its muscles are not exercised; and the fact is still moreobvious in infancy.

There is a still deeper evil. On all the limbs are fixed twosets of muscles; one to extend, the other to draw up or bend thelimb. If you keep a limb extended for a considerable time, youweaken the one set of muscles; if you keep it bent, you weaken theother. This weakness may become so great that the limb will berendered useless. There are cases on record--wellauthenticated--where children, by being obliged to sit in one placeon a hard floor, have been made cripples for life. Hundreds ofothers are injured, though they may not become absolutelycrippled.

I repeat it, therefore, their dress should be so free and loosethat they may use their little limbs, their neck and their bodies,as much as they please; and in every desired direction. Thepractices of confining their arms while they lie down, for fearthey should scratch themselves with their nails, and of pinning theclothes round their feet, are therefore highly reprehensible.Better that they should even occasionally scratch themselves withtheir nails, than that they should be made the victims of injuriousrestraint. Who would think of tying up or muffling the young lambor kid? And even the young plant--what think you would be theeffect, if its leaves and branches could not move gently with thesoft breezes? Would the fluids circulate, and health be promoted:or would they stagnate, and a morbid, sickly and dwarfish state bethe consequence?

Those whose object is to make infancy, as well as any otherperiod of existence, a season of happiness, will not fail to findan additional motive for giving the little stranger entire freedomin the land whither he has so recently arrived, especially when heseems to enjoyit so much. Who can be so hardened as to confine him,unless compelled by the most pressing necessity?

SEC. 2.Form of the Dress.

On this subject a writer in the London Literary Gazette of someeight or ten years ago, lays down the following general directions,to which, in cold weather, there can be but one possible objection,which is, they are notalamode, and are not, therefore, likely to befollowed.

"All that a child requires, so far as regards clothing, in thefirst month of its existence, is a simple covering for the trunkand extremities of the body, made of a material soft and agreeableto the skin, and which can retain, in an equable degree, the animaltemperature. These qualities are to be found in perfection in fineflannel; and I recommend that the only clothing, for the firstmonth or six weeks, be a square piece of flannel, large enough toinvolve fully and overlap the whole of the babe, with the exceptionof the head, which should be left totally uncovered. This wrappershould be fixed by a button near the breast, and left so loose asto permit the arms and legs to be freely stretched, and moved inevery direction. It should be succeeded by a loose flannel gownwith sleeves, which should be worn till the end of the secondmonth; after which it may be changed to the common clothing used bychildren of this age."

The advantages of such a dress are, that the movements of theinfant will be, as we have already seen, free and unrestrained, andwe shall escape the misery of hearing the screams which now sofrequently accompany the dressing and undressing of almost everychild. No chafings from friction, moreover, can occur; and as theinsensible perspiration is in this way promoted over the wholesurface of the body, the sympathy between the stomach and skin ishappily maintained. A healthy sympathy of this kind, dulykept up,does much towards preserving the stomach in a good state, and theskin from eruptions and sores.

But as I apprehend that christianity is not yet very deeplyrooted in the minds and hearts of parents, I have already expressedmy doubts whether theyare prepared to receive and profit by adviceat once rational and physiological. Still I cannot help hoping thatI shall succeed in persuading mothers to have every part of achild's dress perfectly loose, except the band already referred to;and that should be but moderately tight.

Common humanity ought to teach us better than to put the body ofa helpless infant into avise, and press it to death, as the firstmark of our attention. Who has not been struck with a strangeinconsistency in the conduct of mothers and nurses, who, while theyare so exceedingly tender towards the infant in some points as toinjure it by their kindness, are yet almost insensible to its criesof distress while dressing it? So far, indeed, are they fromfeeling emotions of pity,that they often make light of its cries,regarding them as signs of health and vigor.

There can be no doubt, I confess, that the first cries of aninfant, if strong, both indicate and promote a healthy state of thelungs, to a certain extent; but there will always beunavoidableoccasions enough for crying to promote health, even after we havedone all we can in the way of avoiding pain. They who only draw thechild's dress the tighter, the more it cries, are guilty of a crimeof little less enormity than murder.

"Think," says Dr. Buchan, "of the immense number of childrenthat die of convulsions soon after birth; and be assured that these(its cries) are much oftener owing to galling pressure, or someexternal injury, than to any inward cause." This same writer adds,that he has known a child which was "seized with convulsion fits"soon after being "swaddled," immediately relieved by taking off therollers and bandages; and he says that a loose dress prevented thereturn of the disease.

I think it is obviousthat the utmost extent to which we ought togo, in yielding to the fashion, as it regards form, is to use threepieces of clothing--the shirt, the petticoat and the frock; all ofwhich must be as loose as possible; and before the infant begins tocrawl about much, the latter should be long, for the salve ofcovering the feet and legs. At four or five years of age, loosetrowsers, with boys, may be substituted for the petticoat; but itis a question whether something like the frock might not, withevery individual, be usefully retained through life.

I wish it were unnecessary, in a book like this, to join in thegeneral complaint against tight lacing any part of the body, butespecially the chest. But as this work of torture is sometimesbegun almost from the cradle, and as prevention is better thancure, the hope of preventing that for which no cure appears yet tohave been found, leads me to make a few remarks on the subject.

As it has long been my opinion that one reason why motherscontinue to overlook the subject is, that they do not understandthe structure and motion of the chest, I have attempted thefollowing explanation and illustration.

I have already said, that if we bandage tightly, for aconsiderable time, any part of the human frame, it is apt to becomeweaker. The more a portion of the frame which is furnished withmuscles, those curious instruments of motion, is used, provided itis notover-exerted, the more vigorous it is. Bind up an arm, or ahand, or a foot, and keep it bound for twelve hours of the day formany years, and think you it will be as strong as it otherwisewould have been? Facts prove the contrary. The Chinese swathe thefeet of their infant females; and they are not only small, butweak.

I have said their feet are smaller for being bandaged. So is ahand or an arm. Action--healthy, constant action--is indispensableto the perfect development of the body and limbs. Why it is so, isanother thing. But so it is; and it is a principle or law of thegreat Creator which cannot be evaded. More than this; if you bindsome parts of the body tightly, so as to compress them as much asyou can without producing actual pain, you will find that the partnot only ceases to grow, but actually dwindles away. I have seenthis tried again and again. Even the solid parts perish underpressure. When a person first wears a false head of hair, the claspwhich rests upon the head, at the upper part of the forehead,beingnew and elastic, and pressing rather closely, will, in a fewmonths, often make quite an indentation in the cranium or bone ofthe head.

Now is it probable--nay, is it possible--that the lungs,especially those of young persons, can expand and come to theirfull and natural size under pressure, even though the pressureshould be slight? Must they not be weakened? And if the pressure bestrong, as it sometimes is, must they not dwindle away?

We know, too, from the nature and structure of the lungsthemselves, that tight lacing must injure them. Many mothers havevery imperfect notions of what physicians mean, when they say thatcorsets impede the circulation, by preventing the full andundisturbed action of the lungs. They get no higher ideas ofthemotionof thechest, than what is connected with bending the bodyforward and backward, fromright to left, &c. They know that, ifdressed too tightly,thismotion is not so free as it otherwise wouldbe; but if they are not so closely laced as to prevent that freebending of the body of which I have been speaking, they think therecan be no danger; or at least, none of consequence.

Now it happens that this sort of motion is not that to whichphysicians refer, when they complain of corsets. Strictly speaking,this bending of the whole body is performed by the muscles of theback, and not those of the chest. The latter have very little to dowith it. It is true, that eventhismotion ought not to be hindered;but if it is, the evil is one of little comparative magnitude.

Every time we breathe naturally, all the ribs, together with thebreast bone,have motion. The ribs rise, and spread a littleoutward, especially towards the fore part. The breast bone not onlyrises, but swings forward a little, like a pendulum. But the momentthe chest is swathed or bandaged, this motion must be hindered; andthemore, in proportion to the tightness.

On this point, those persons make a sad mistake, who say that "abusk not too wide nor too rigid seems to correspond to thesupporting spine, and to assist, rather than impede the efforts ofnature, to keep the body erect."

Can we seriously compare the offices of the spine with those ofthe ribs, and suppose that because the former is fixed like a post,at the back part of the lungs, therefore an artificial post infront would be useful? Why, we might just as well arguein favor ofhanging weights to a door, or a clog to a pendulum, in order tomake it swing backwards and forwards more easily. We might almostas well say that the elbow ought to be made firm, to correspondwith the shoulders, and thus become advocates forletting the staysor bandages enclose the arm above the elbow, and fasten it firmlyto the side. Indeed, the consequences in the latter case, asidefrom a little inconvenience, would not be half so destructive tohealth as in the former. The ribs, where they join to the backbone, form hinges; and hinges are made for motion. But if youfasten them to a post in front, of what value are the hinges?

If mothers ask, of what use this motion of the lungs is, it isonly necessary to refer them to the chapter on Ventilation, inwhich I trust the subject is made intelligible, and a satisfactoryanswer afforded.

But I might appeal to facts. Let us look at females around usgenerally. Do their countenances indicate that they enjoy as goodhealth as they did when dresswas worn more loosely? Have they notoftener a leaden hue, as if the blood in them was darker? Are theynot oftener short-breathed than formerly? As they advance in life,have they not more chronic diseases? Are not their chests smallerand weaker? And asthe doctrine that if one member suffers, all theother members suffer with it, is not less true in physiology thanin morals, do we not find other organs besides the lungs weakened?Surgeons and physicians, who, like faithful sentinels, have watchedat their post half a century, tell us, moreover, that if thesefoolish and injurious practices to which I refer are tolerated twocenturies longer, every female will be deformed, and the whole racegreatly degenerated, physically and morally.

Those with whom noarguments will avail, are recommended to readthe following remarks from the first volume of the Library ofHealth, p. 119:

"It is related, on the authority of Macgill, that in Tunis,after a girl is engaged, or betrothed, she is thenfattened. Forthis purpose, she is cooped up in a small room, and shackles ofgold and silver are placed upon her ancles and wrists, as [...]