Midwifery and the diseases of women

by Joel Shew

It is to be hoped that the times will, ere long, change; that it will become as fashionable for females to vie with each other as much in possessing a full, plump waist, as it has hitherto been to possess a small one. Why may it not be, and may we not imagine that cotton wadding, etc., may be yet brought into requisition to remedy the forms of nature about the waist, as now in other parts of the body? At any rate, fashion can do any thing; and since it is the order of fashion to change, we may, in time, expect a different state of things.

It is well remarked by Dr. Andrew Combe, that “already sounder views of the nature of the human frame, added to the lamentable lesson of experience, have convinced many mothers that the surest way to deform the figure, and to prevent gracefulness of carriage, is to abolish exercise, and enforce the use of stiff and tight stays; and that the most effectual way to improve both, is to obey the dictates of nature in preference to the inspiration of ignorance. It was not by the use of tight bands and stays that the classic forms of Greece and Rome were fashioned; and if we wish to see these reproduced, we must secure freedom of action for both body and mind, as an indispensable preliminary. If the bodily organization be allowed fair play, the spine will grow up straight and firm, but at the same time graceful and pliant to the will, and the rest of the figure will develop itself with a freedom and elegance unattainable by any artificial means; while the additional advantage will be gained, of the highest degree of health and figure compatible with the nature of the original constitution.”

Let us look at this matter a little more in detail.

1. It is a law of the living body, that in order for easy, healthful, and natural motion to be put forth, no unnatural or artificial pressure must exist.

If we wear a shoe that is too tight, we know how much walking is impeded, that, perhaps, best of all exercises; and that if this pressure be continued for a considerable time, nature revolts at our waywardness, and produces for us a corn. The parts are made to grow out of proportion; the toes crooked, bent, and ugly in appearance.

So, too, if a person wears a tight cravat, we see how soon circulation is impeded, and headache follows.

Compare, too, the breathing of an individual with a full, healthy, and well-expanded chest, that has not been exposed to artificial pressure, with that of a man or a woman which has been for years contracted to the smallest span; the one can scarce mount a flight of stairs for want of breath, while the other can climb the mountain-side, and be but the more invigorated thereby.

2. Pressure upon any part of the system impoverishes that part.

It is said of the Chinese women, that many of them wear shoes so tight that their feet remain as small as in childhood. If a person is in the habit of stooping forward too much, or of leaning against a desk a considerable length of time in the counting-house or at school, we see the chest becomes enfeebled and sunken. The general law is, artificial pressure impoverishes any part of the system to which it is applied.

3. Look at the skin. It is naturally a breathing organ.