and twenty years to an editorial comment published in the London Times, March, 1793: "The fashion of dressing, at present, is to appear prominent, and the stays are made accordingly; without any regard to law or reason. The idea was first sent forward by a few dropsical Ladies. The Wapping Land-ladies are all at the very pinnacle of the fashion. Nature has given them prominences which far out-picture the false mountains at the West end of the town."
With this just before us can women of today boast of much progress toward the attainment of reasonable judgment, broader scientific education or higher standards of art than our English-great-grandmothers?
The productions of the corset making art in this present year of grace, 1913, show plainly that the majority of corsets are not right. Scientific tests show why and where they are not right. To assure better conditions for the women who need the correction of the right corset and insure the growing generation against the need of future correction for their bodies, corset making must be put upon a different basis.
The physiologically correct corset gives a truly beautiful figure, over which gowns may be made in the prevailing modes, but the corset which changes its design according to the fashion, without regard to the scientific principles of physiology, is sure to fail of its purpose as an example of hygienic corseting. Physicians recognize what is right, a few corset makers know how to produce what is right, and such women as have been correctly corseted realize the advantages of the right corset. Shall appeal be made to the producers of the popular brands of corsets with which the majority of women are supplied?
A few years ago the manufacturer of a certain corset was shown where his product was physiologically wrong and the reply was, "What do we care? It sells, doesn't it?" That same manufacturer is now advertising the corset he produces as "hygienically correct," but has not changed the principle upon which it is cut. It still "sells" through spurious advertising claims, which seem to be the present day test of merit in merchandising. Shall we appeal to the women who wear the corsets to demand the right thing and accept nothing else? This would go a long way toward the needed reform, because the manufacturers are mainly concerned with selling their goods-if the buyers demand something different they will make haste to provide it in so far as they are capable. But the manufacturer who rises to the plane of scientific corset making must not allow fashion to dictate the proportions and outlines of the corsets produced. The woman's body normally and healthfully developed must be the standard of perfection, the proportion thereof preserved and the normal lines followed, and once fitted correctly should be fitted
43>
