from within, have analysed the wants and noted the structure of all the internal organs, and then adapted the clothing that envelopes them in such a manner as not only to preserve the health, but to impart the greatest benefit to the wearer.
Many will suppose that we have given far too prominent a place to the Corset in the following pages; but we have two reasons for the special advocacy bestowed upon this much abused but still indispensable article of female attire. In the first place, whilst ladies wear petticoats it is absolutely necessary to have some basis of support upon which they may rest without compressing the body with strings, which must necessarily act as ligatures wherever they are tied. A foundation was therefore necessary upon which the whole superstructure of the clothing could be reared, and by which the weight might be distributed equally upon every part of the frame; and in the second place we have often to hide defects, and not unfrequently to give support in cases of spinal deformities—stooping of the body or twist of the shoulders when debility or habit have impaired the natural erect and graceful attitude which the perfectly-developed frame
