Roxey Ann Caplin

“ Food, dress, tastes, and habits, have all no doubt an influence upon the general health; but it is a fact that must be clear to everyone who has studied human nature, that he who was the protector in early life, is the object of solicitude at a later period, and is often grateful for an able nurse in an affectionate wife. It is not necessary that we should descend to particulars in this matter; what we wish to im­press upon the reader is, that in the decline of life, when age lays its hand upon the constitution, nature deals less gently with the male than the female. ”

“ We may even pursue the simile further; for, as the tree has exhausted its internal force to bring forth its leaves, its blossom, and then mature the mellow fruit, and requires the hand of the gardener to prop up the bending branches that are ready to break with their own profusion—­even so is it when the summer of life fades into the autumn ”

“ During the early part of life there was little or no difference in the strength of constitution afforded to the two sexes; but if the health of the female has been properly cared for, after the age of forty-five years she has a decided advantage over the man. It is really surprising what toil some women will en­dure, and how superior they often are to their married partners in middle age. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then is the time to aid Nature by the judicious application of another layer of muscles, which shall support the former in the performance of their functions. It is not mere pressure that is demanded, for this will too frequently increase the evil, and it often happens that middle age is burdened with infirmities in conse­quence of the compression to which the waist has been subject in youth; and hence that enormous distension of the abdomen with which some females are troubled. ”

“ The extreme disfigurement to which the human body is liable may be seen by a reference to certain nations and races, in whom the deformity is great; and although the picture is rather calculated to inspire disgust than any other feeling, still it is well to exhibit it as an advertisement of how far the frame may be mutilated through ignorance or misconception. ”

“ We are often asked why it is that ladies are not so strong and healthy now as they were in former times. Our reply is, our grandmothers did not cut the waist with an unyielding ligature, and by dividing the abdomen induce those diseases which always accompany premature old age. Let those who value life and dread a premature death be careful how they dress. ”

“ Having stated the fact that women need support at particular periods of life, and given the reason why it is so, we may attribute to this cause the common practice of seeking, by the use of the stays, to sustain the figure. Before the introduction of cloth amongst them, the American Indians used the fine bark of the white birch-tree for the purpose of enveloping the body in it. Now they use narrow bands of calico, which being wound round and round the body, in imitation of the manner in which a bandage is applied by surgeons to a swollen limb, they in this way compress and sustain the abdomen. ”

“ If we have been earnest in our condemnation of dressing in an unnatural manner in the earlier periods of life, we would, if possible, lay a stronger emphasis upon our warning in middle age. At this time nature will have lost much of the vigour with which she repaired and renovated the system. ”

“ If it be asked why those poor mothers of the wild woodsmen have adopted this custom, it will be found in the want of Nature, which has spoken through their organization, and demanded support. And where this aid is not rendered, wo­men become proverbially ugly in middle life, as is the case with many of the African and Asiatic races, whose breasts hang down to an inordinate length, and whose bodies become deformed and decrepit at forty, and in many cases at a much earlier period. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We have already spoken of the aid which can be given to the corpulent lady in the decline of life. Let not those, however, who suffer from the opposite evil suppose that there is no aid for them. The stooping of the body, or the straight, inelegant appearance which characterizes the lady who is what is generally termed "thin," may be as easily corrected. ”

“ The only difference is, that our women are living under more favourable circum­stances, and hence the deformity, which is almost universal amongst the Africans, is rare with us. The tendency, however, may be discovered every­where, and should always be anticipated in providing for the elegance and comfort of middle life. ”

“ We forbear saying much upon this subject; but those who know precisely how the bones should be clothed can easily supply the appearance of what nature has denied, and if they cannot give the freshness of youth, they can at least impart the external proportions of mature life ”

“ Hence her flesh is naturally yielding, is easily com­pressed, and when the muscular fibre is weakened by child-bearing, the weight of the bones, or the advance of age, the softer portions of the body be­come flaccid, and the whole assume another form. In early life, when the circulation is brisk and the nervous system energetic, one can appreciate the exclamation of Gray—
"No stubborn stays her yielding waist embrace." ”

“ The waist can no longer bear the cutting with strings and violent compression to which it is too often subject in the heyday of fashion. It is natural that ladies should desire to retain as long as possible the charm of beauty and the appear­ance of youth ”

“ At this period, in all well constituted women, the fat being absorbed with less activity, is accumulated in the cellular tissues under the skin and elsewhere; and this effaces any wrinkles which might have begun to furrow the skin, rounds the outlines anew, and again restores an air of youth and freshness. ”

“ Art may, and often does aid her, but nothing can ever compensate for the native vigour of the system when unimpaired by disease, and free from the oppression of fashion and habit.
At this period, no lady who values her health, comfort, and appearance, will be without an abdo­minal supporter.
It is well known to physiologists that the loss which females sustain at what is called the turn of life, is amply compensated for in another direction. The reason why the constitution assumes a new cha­racter is because there is an increase of blood thrown into the system ”

“ IN speaking of the middle age of woman there are a few things which must be taken into consideration in reference to her anatomical construction, which influence the whole that we have to say in relation to the peculiar support which she will require in that particular period called "middle life;" ”

“ Naturally, there is a deposition of fat in the cellular tissues, which gives the particular appearance which the French call embonpoint, which simply means that the nutrition which has hitherto gone to the development of the figure is now em­ployed in the accumulation of adipose matter beneath the cuticle. When, however, the overtaxed membrane gives way, the tissues relax, and the muscular fibres losing their tenacity, fail to maintain their normal position. ”

“ Half an hour spent in our anatomical gallery will convince any lady or medical man, not only that all this can be, but that it is done by us every day, and that numbers treading the down-hill of life are grateful to us for the ease and comfort which we have been enabled to give them. ”

“ It is true that Englishwomen are not subject to the same extent as those females are, to this falling of the breasts; still there is in all women a tendency in those parts to give way, and in many cases, if sup­port be not applied, the bosom becomes unsightly. ”

“ This is the time, too, more than any other, when woman can and ought to enjoy the comforts of life. The changes, however, that take place in the constitution are of the greatest impor­tance, involving the complete revolution of the whole of the vital forces. ”

“ But here we imagine an intelligent friend inquiring how this is to be attained; for many call upon us in a state of utter incredulity, and tell us that they have merely looked in to satisfy the de­sire of some friend. ”

“ From what has been already said, the reader may perceive the wonderful influence which cultivation has upon the human body. Properly speaking, there is no difference in the organization of the Englishwoman and the Hottentot ”