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ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE CORSET TO THE BODY.
47

No. 18. Gestation Belt,

combining support and elasticity, keeping up the centre of gravity, and making loco­motion easy; it permits the wearer to take exercise to the last period of gestation.

No. 19. Contracting Belt,

superseding the bandages commonly used during confinement. Smooth, cool, regu­lated at pleasure by the wearer, affording constantly a gentle equal pressure, and susceptible of being worn without incon­venience until the figure is perfectly restored.

No. 20. Dropsical Belt,

to support the weight of the abdomen and prevent the filtration of the serous liquid into the cellulary tissues.

No. 21. Medical Belt,

for prevention and cure of bearing down and prolapsus uteri.

No. 22. Dorso-Abdominal Supporter,

to maintain the centre of gravity, thereby allowing locomotion and bodily exercise; adapted to all ages.

No. 23. Invisible Scapula Contractor.

Light, elastic, and worn underneath the clothes. This article expands and deve­lopes the capacity of the chest, prevents and corrects the stooping of the body, and the malposition of the shoulders.

In the construction of corsets we lay claim to several things as espe­cially ours.

First. The invention of the hook in front, for the purpose of keeping the under clothing in its proper place. This was very soon pirated by others; and although the exact pattern could not be taken, in conse­quence of our patent, still a rough imitation sewed on to the front of the corset came into very general use.

Secondly. The insertion of elastic into the bodice, by which the corset was rendered flexible and yielding to those parts of the body where pressure would have been injurious. This also was imitated; but what rendered the imitation at once ridiculous and injurious, was the insertion of the elastic in the back instead of the front and side. The result, as a matter of course, was, that in attempting to imitate mine they spoiled their own corset—if, indeed, theirs could ever be said to have possessed any value.

Thirdly. No one that we are aware of except ourselves ever studied the human body for the purpose of adapting the corset to its require­ments. Clever staymakers there have been in great abundance, so far as the stitching and padding are concerned; but they left the knowledge of anatomy and physiology where they found it, in the hands of the medical practitioners, and worked on without any consideration of the structure and functions of the organs which they were about to com­press; and in this we stand perfectly alone. Those who copy every­thing else that we do let us alone in this, and make their corsets now