of the inventor was to find a point of support for the superincumbent weight of the head, the superior limbs, and the organs of lactation and respiration, on that part of the body which, in consequence of the elements of strength that nature has accumulated around it, in adapting so perfectly the pelvis for the functions it is destined to perform, cannot suffer any irksome influence from pressure. Corsets may be considered as made of three contiguous parts, which we are about to describe separately, beginning from the bottom to the top.
"The first one, or the inferior part, surrounds the summit of the hips, and affords the point of support previously mentioned.
"The second part, or middle one, extends from the hip to the thorax, and is destined to confine the region of the abdomen, which contains those moveable organs that, from their nature, may be compressed without much inconvenience, for the purpose of producing the slender waist so much sought for fashion's sake, and which so many ladies will obtain at any price.
"The third, or superior part, is intended to envelope and support the thoracic region, and must produce but a very slight pressure, or else it would cause disastrous consequences, by impeding the respiration, and preventing the development of the organs to which Nature has confided the care of preparing the aliments intended for supplying the first food of man.
"The corset invented by Madame Caplin does not leave any apprehension of the danger we have alluded to in the above remarks; not only is the shape calculated so as not to permit any real pressure, but the inventor has found the means of providing for a particular flexibility, in replacing, in different parts in the width of the corset, the hard, unyielding material they are made of, by a very elastic tissue, disposed longitudinally, and maintained by bones of various lengths; by so doing she has obtained the following results—that the upper part of the corsets are dilatable under such a slight power as to allow a perfect freedom for the movements of inspiration and expiration, without, nevertheless, doing away with the principal end of this article of apparel, viz.—to sustain the weight of the thoracic organs, and to maintain the uprightness of the superior regions of the body.
"In addition to this improvement which characterizes the invention of Madame Caplin, we must notice another, which, although perhaps
