323. Have you any directions to give respecting the shoes and the stockings?
The shoes for winter should be moderately thick and waterproof. If boys and girls be delicate, they ought to have double soles to their shoes, with a piece of bladder between each sole, or the inner sole may be made of cork; either of the above plans will make the soles of boots and shoes completely water-proof. In wet or dirty weather India-rubber over-shoes are useful, as they keep the upper as well as the under leathers perfectly dry.
The socks, or stockings, for winter, ought to be either lambs-wool or worsted; it is absurd to wear cotton socks or stockings all the year round. I should advise a boy to wear socks not stockings, as he will then be able to dispense with garters. Garters, as I have remarked in a previous Conversation, are injurious—they not only interfere with the circulation of the blood, but also, by pressure, injure the bones, and thus the shape of the legs.
Boys and girls cannot be too particular in keeping their feet warm and dry, as cold wet feet are one of the most frequent exciting causes of bronchitis, of sore throats, and of consumption.
324. When should a girl begin to wear stays?
She ought never to wear them.
325. Do not stays strengthen the body?
No; on the contrary, they weaken it (1.) They, weaken the muscles. The pressure upon them causes them to waste; so that, in the end, a girl cannot do without them, as the stays are then obliged to perform the duty of the wasted muscles. (2.) They weaken the lungs by interfering with their functions. Every inspiration is accompanied by a movement of the ribs. If this movement be impeded, the functions of the lungs are impeded likewise, and, consequently, disease is likely to follow, and either difficulty of breathing, or cough, or consumption, may ensue. (3) They weaken the heart's action, and thus frequently produce palpitation, and, perhaps, eventually, organic or incurable disease of the heart (4) They weaken the digestion, by pushing down the stomach and the liver, and by compressing the latter, and thus induce indigestion, flatulence, and liver-disease. [Footnote: Several years ago, while prosecuting my anatomical studies in London University College Dissecting rooms, on opening a young women, I discovered an immense indentation of the liver large enough to admit a rolling pin, produced by tight lacing!] (5) They weaken the bowels, by impeding their proper peristaltic (spiral) motion, and thus might produce either constipation or a rupture. Is it not presumptuous to imagine that man can improve upon God's works, and that if more support had been required, the Almighty would not have given it?—
"God never made his work for man to mend"—Dryden.
326. Have you any remarks to make on female dress?