There is a mode of dressing boys which is calculated to perpetuate the stooping position contracted in infancy; but it is now, fortunately, falling into disuse. We mean the wearing of a little waistcoat, to which the trousers button in lieu of braces. Of course, by this, the trousers must be drawn up tightly in the front, and the pressure fall upon the back of the neck, thereby dragging the head and arms forward. Some years ago I ordered a dress of this description for my own son, and when it was tried on found that he stooped very much. I accordingly unbuttoned the front buttons which attached the trousers to the waistcoat, and told him to stand upright, which he did, and I then perceived that a space was left of more than three inches between the garments, which had been taken at the expense of the thorax. I at once threw aside the waistcoat and adopted braces of my own invention,
do, and was shocked to find them so blue and cold that he actually had no sensation there whatever. He wore a little bear-skin coat which kept the upper portions of the body at a temperature of 68° Fahrenheit, but upon applying the thermometer to his dear little legs, it only indicated a heat of 42°. He looked ill, and had been taken to several medical men, who pronounced his liver out of order; but I thought that warm stockings might be useful, and accordingly recommended them, and in a few weeks had the satisfaction of hearing that the child's health was restored.
