To sum up the evils of such corsets as those shown as incorrect in the preceding photographic reproductions: The prevailing defect is the high tight line midway between waist and bust. Those that are large in proportion at the waist and very tight in lateral lines around the hips mount upward on the body when the wearer moves and press tightly against the lower ribs. All of them exert greater pressure upon stomach and diaphragm than on the abdomen and there is no upward oblique traction from the lower part of the abdomen to give actual abdominal support. In the attempt to follow fashion requirements many of them are cut with insufficient anatomical width from hip to hip, so that the pressure upon hip bones in some instances is almost unbearable. The downward pressure of the flesh of the hips causes the thigh muscles to enlarge abnormally, and many women who have been fashionably corseted the past two years assume the attitude of bending at the knees when standing or walking, as though about to sit down.
A variety of incorrect postures, all more or less harmful to health, are induced by incorrect corsets. The almost universal deformity among women caused mainly by wrong corsets is the protruding abdomen. This occurs in the slender type of woman with faulty posture as well as in the woman who is over-fat.
The diagrams which follow record the actual outlines of the subjects without corsets, with incorrect corsets and with the corrective corsets. These outlines are made at the time of fitting, before any exercise or training by the wearing of the correct corset has improved the development of the body. The variety of conditions, the too thin and the over-fat, and the range of ages, from thirteen to fifty-six, give a fair idea of the possibilities of corseting for physiological results when the types of corsets used are fundamentally correct.
