requirements of the body, all the efforts have been in vain.
The principles on which our corsets for middle age are constructed are precisely the same as those which have been laid down in a previous chapter. Due attention is paid to the particular figure presented to us, and the state and requirement of every organ having been perceived, our adaptations are made to the physiological and pathological conditions of that particular individual. Without this, all proper fitting of the corset is ridiculous; for, to pretend to fit a form that has neither been seen nor described, is simply to trifle with the common sense of mankind. The human body is a wonderful congeries of organs, each of which requires due care in its development and preservation, in order that the whole may work harmoniously together. And the corset-maker who cannot perceive the requirements of those organs in their growth, maturity, and decline, has not yet learnt the first lesson upon which all success in her art must be based. At the particular period treated of in this chapter, the common sense of everyone will suggest that it is the weak and yielding parts that require support, and that this must be done in such a manner
