ought always to be proportioned to the constitution and
habits. A person of strong constitution, who takes much exercise, needs
less clothing than one of delicate and sedentary habits. According to
this rule, women need much thicker and warmer clothing, when they go
out, than men. But how different are our customs, from what sound wisdom
dictates! Women go out with thin stockings, thin shoes, and open necks,
when men are protected by thick woollen hose and boots, and their whole
body encased in many folds of flannel and broadcloth.

Flannel, worn next the skin, is useful, for several reasons. It is a bad
conductor of heat, so that it protects the body from _sudden_ chills
when in a state of perspiration. It also produces a kind of friction on
the skin, which aids it in its functions, while its texture, being
loose, enables it to receive and retain much matter, thrown off from the
body, which would otherwise accumulate on its surface. This is the
reason, why medical men direct, that young children wear flannel next
the body, and woollen hose, the first two years of life. They are thus
protected from sudden exposures. For the same reason, laboring men
should thus wear flannels, which are also considered as preservatives
from infection, in unhealthy atmospheres. They give a healthy action to
the skin, and thus enable it to resist the operation of unhealthy
miasms. On this account, persons residing in a new country should wear
such clothing next the skin, to guard them from the noxious miasms
caused by extensive vegetable decompositions. It is stated, that the
fatal influence of the malaria, or noxious exhalations around Rome, has
been much diminished by this practice. But those who thus wear flannel,
through the day, ought to take it off, at night, when it is not needed.
It should be hung so that it can be well aired, during the night.

But the practice, by which females probably suffer most, is, the use of
_tight dresses_. Much has been said against the use of corsets by
ladies. But these may be worn with perfect safety, and be left off, and
still injury, such as they often produce, be equally felt. It is the
_constriction_ of dress, that is to be feared, and not any particular
article that produces it. A frock, or a belt, may be so tight, as to be
even worse than a corset, which would more equally divide the
compression.

So long as it is the fashion to admire, as models of elegance, the
wasp-like figures which are pr