cessary, in a book like this, to join in the general
complaint against tight lacing any part of the body, but especially the
chest. But as this work of torture is sometimes begun almost from the
cradle, and as prevention is better than cure, the hope of preventing
that for which no cure appears yet to have been found, leads me to make
a few remarks on the subject.

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

I have already said, that if we bandage tightly, for a considerable
time, any part of the human frame, it is apt to become weaker. The more
a portion of the frame which is furnished with muscles, those curious
instruments of motion, is used, provided it is not _over_-exerted, the
more vigorous it is. Bind up an arm, or a hand, or a foot, and keep it
bound for twelve hours of the day for many years, and think you it will
be as strong as it otherwise would have been? Facts prove the contrary.
The Chinese swathe the feet of their infant females; and they are not
only small, but weak.

I have said their feet are smaller for being bandaged. So is a hand or
an arm. Action--healthy, constant action--is indispensable to the
perfect development of the body and limbs. Why it is so, is another
thing. But so it is; and it is a principle or law of the great Creator
which cannot be evaded. More than this; if you bind some parts of the
body tightly, so as to compress them as much as you can without
producing actual pain, you will find that the part not only ceases to
grow, but actually dwindles away. I have seen this tried again and
again. Even the solid parts perish under pressure. When a person first
wears a false head of hair, the clasp which rests upon the head, at the
upper part of the forehead, being new and elastic, and pressing rather
closely, will, in a few months, often make quite an indentation in the
cranium or bone of the head.

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

We know, too, from the nature and structure of the lungs themselves,
that tight lacing must injure them.