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 is 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 apparel, viz.—to sustain the weight of the lacteal organs, and to maintain the uprightness of the superior regions of the body.
To this improvement which characterizes the invention of Madame Caplin, we must notice another, which although perhaps less important in appearance, is deserving of attention; it is relative to the mode of lacing. Madame Caplin, instead of lacing the Corset all at once in one direction, and beginning from one extremity, commences the operation from the middle of the waist, upward and downward; this method allows the means of regulating the pressure according as it may be requisite to the different parts of the body on which the Corset is applied, whilst by the ordinary process it must, as a matter of course, exert the same power in every part.
The modifications we have related in the construction of an article so generally worn, and which has been much abused, have appeared important enough to the members of the Commission you have named, to submit them to your notice as improvements deserving your approbation; we therefore propose, as conclusions of this report,—
