doctors who knew nothing whatever about the matter, no one ever wrote on the subject of Female Clothing, except it were to ridicule its extravagances: nor did it ever occur to medical authors that in order to answer its proper purpose, the clothing should be adapted to the body which it was intended to protect and adorn.
Our purpose was simple and our object definite. It originated in a conviction that, to clothe the body properly, its structure and functions must be thoroughly understood—not pathologically, in relation to its diseases and infirmities, but physiologically—in relation to its growth, health, and full development. But after mastering this problem ourselves, the question was-How shall those facts be impressed upon the women of England? To this there was only one reply—Speak and write about them! This we have done, earnestly and constantly, from that time to the present; and every book and pamphlet which we have sent forth into the world, and every lecture we have delivered in our Gallery, has had this one object constantly in view, namely—to inform the Wives and Mothers of our own age how they may preserve their own and their children's health; avoid those deformities which too often mar the beauty of youth and increase the infirmities of age; and that dress should be constructed to display the natural grace and beauty of the human figure. With this object in view we have worked incessantly, and our success has exceeded our most sanguine expectations.
