Breastplate

“ This breastplate was secured by two plaited or twisted chains of gold, fastened at the one end to the bezils of the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at the other to rings of gold in the upper corners of the breastplate, and by two blue cords secured to rings of gold in the lower corners of the breastplate and in the sides of the ephod above the {10} embroidered girdle. Josephus asserts that there was an aperture in the ephod immediately under the breastplate. ”

“ The neck is protected by a gorget of plate; and instead of the globular breastplate and skirt of mail worn under the gay jupon of the fourteenth century, the body is cased in two pairs of plates, which open with hinges at the sides, the lower plates coming to a point at the back and breast. In this illustration the whole suit of armour presents an unrelieved surface of burnished steel, the outlines of the various pieces of armour being marked by a narrow line of gold. ”

“ GATHERED BREAST.—A healthy woman with a well-developed breast and a good nipple, scarcely, if ever, has a gathered bosom; it is the delicate, the ill-developed breasted and worse-developed nippled lady who usually suffers from this painful complaint. And why? The evil can generally be traced to girlhood. If she be brought up luxuriously, her health and her breasts are sure to be weakened, and thus to suffer, more especially if the development of the bosoms and nipples has been arrested and interfered with by tight stays and corsets. ”

“ When the child requires the mother’s breast, you will often see it reaching its head round to the front, and catching hold of the breast with both hands, to support itself while sucking, the mother continuing her pace unaltered, with perhaps a hundred-weight of yams and fruit on her head, during a journey of twelve or fifteen miles. The women’s breasts are generally much larger and looser than those of an European, and frequently hang down as low as the waist, which is very convenient for the infant when seated in its saddle. ”

“ Nearly all nurses carry the child on the left arm, rarely, if ever, changing to the right; and with the affectionate feeling inherent in every woman's breast, the nurse hugs the baby closely to her, thus keeping its right arm close to its chest, which is by this means pressed inward, thus diminishing its capacity, and at the same time throwing its body out of the centre of gravity. Add to this, that the child's head naturally sinks on the left shoulder, the muscles of the right side of the neck are elongated, those of the left side contracted, and an incipient distortion is the result. ”

“ Breast and Nipples.—The nipples should be cleansed after each nursing with warm boric solution. If they are cracked and sore a lubricating ointment should be applied and a nipple shield should be used. If the breasts become distended they should be massaged gently every two or three hours, and they may be pumped if necessary. In this state the patient must not have regular liquid diet, and the bowels must be kept freely open with saline laxatives. A compressed binder is comforting and beneficial. ”

“ The glittering projection on the breast was the jewelled haft of a dagger, the blade of which was thrust quite through the sternum or breastbone, showing that a most powerful blow had given the poor man, whoever he was, his quietus. ”

“ When a child is to be nursed the mother merely pulls out one of her arms from the roomy sleeve of her parka and pushes it down until the breast is exposed. The breasts are pendulous and cylindrical, like those of the Tlingits. ”

“ Only second to the pelvis and its integuments as a secondary sexual character in woman we must place the breasts. [148] Among barbarous and civilized peoples the beauty of the breast is usually highly esteemed. Among Europeans, indeed, the importance of this region is so highly esteemed that the general rule against the exposure of the body is in its favor abrogated, and the breasts are the only portion of the body, in the narrow sense, which a European lady in full dress is allowed more or less to uncover. ”

“ The hinder part is a fringe of ten slats gradually increasing in width and spreading outwards, not unlike the teeth of a comb. The breast is covered by a shirt-front formed of symmetrical plates and pierced with six neatly-rounded holes, through which the brown legs emerge, quite naked and unconstrained. ”

“ We know in practice that suppression at one part causes fulness at another, and if that suppression is done in the form of a fish, it throws fulness both above and below, and as the breasts are usually much more prominent than the stomach, it follows as a natural consequence that there is too much material below the waist in front. There are two ways of avoiding this difficulty. The first is illustrated on diagram 35, and is the one mostly used in the country, and consists of coming back from the straight breast line 1⁄2 an inch at the waist, and drawing it through to bottom. ”

“ At the centre of breast-line, beyond D, put one-half of breast, and curve the front line from 23 to waist at S, where it comes back to the straight line, and thence to the bottom at 30, where it is one-half inch outside of it. For a double-breasted jacket make the lap 21⁄2 inches [29] at breast, 2 at waist, and 21⁄4 at bottom. Whatever the size of the draft at waist, from points S to 11⁄2 on back, exceeds the actual measure must be taken out in darts. ”

“ The habit of throwing the breast over the shoulder, in order to enable infants to nurse while swinging at their backs, contributes not a little to increase their deformity. Yet [Pg 288] some of the women, when very young, are said to be perfect models of beauty in the female form. Every joint and limb is well turned and proportioned, and the hands and feet are remarkably small and delicate, though they never wear shoes, or sandals. ”

“ But it is wisely provided by nature, that when the child reposes upon its mother's arm it has its mouth directly applied to the nipple, which is turned outwards to receive it, whilst the lower part of the breast forms a cushion, upon which the cheek of the infant tranquilly reposes. ”

“ The skirt-section B ex­tends around the body from the waist-line downward, covering the hips and the lower part of the abdomen, and is suitably shaped to such portions of the body of the person, while the upper or body section A of the de­vice is shaped to that portion of the wearer above the waist-line and is carried entirely around the body, extending from said waist-line to about a point just below the breast in front and to about an equal height at the back. ”

“ In female figures the breasts are fully developed, the nipples being formed like a rosette; a closely fitting gown reaches from the broad neck-ornament, common with both sexes, to the ankles, but, being represented without reference to the material and without the most necessary folds, appears so elastic that its existence is only surely to be perceived at the borders. ”

“ In this case, as when the clothes are supported entirely from the shoulders, the weight of the clothing drags the shoulders forward, and inclines to curvature of the spine. Moreover, the friction of the braces would hinder the development of the breasts in young girls, and chafe those delicate organs in adults. Men would stoop less, and have better-developed chests if they managed without braces; why then should women be urged to adopt these injurious articles of dress? ”

“ Every one will at once agree upon the wide difference there may be in the form of ladies' figures of the same size chest. One lady of say 34 breast will have a well developed chest, and prominent bust; the other will have no figure at all; hence it is evident that to cut the same shape garment for both must end in failure. When this has been done, to remedy is a somewhat difficult matter; indeed, it would require either new foreparts or a vest inserted down the fronts, unless very large inlays had been left all over. ”

“ If through a surgical operation the breast from a male infant could be grafted in the proper place on a female infant, and the breast from a female infant on a male infant, the two individuals, as they became adult, would develop physically along the lines of his or her own sex except the grafted breast. That of the girl would remain flat, that of the boy would develop a mammary gland and become elevated into a mons. They each have on them a patch of the tissue of the opposite sex. In the passive invert there may exist one or more such patches from birth. ”

“ The breast and haunches of the male and female are in inverse proportion—the chest being broad and the hips narrow in the former, the reverse in the latter; or, in other words, if a plumb-line be let fall from the points of the shoulders of both, the hips of the woman would project beyond the line, while those of the man would fall considerably within it. ”

“ Not so with sickness arising from disease, or disordered condition of the stomach.
Shooting pains through—enlargement of—and other changes of the breast. When two months of pregnancy have been completed, an uneasy sensation of throbbing and stretching fulness is experienced, accompanied with tingling about the middle of the breasts, centring in the nipple. A sensible alteration in their appearance soon follows: they grow larger and more firm. The nipple becomes more prominent, and the circle around its base altered in color and structure, constituting what is called “the areola.” ”

“ They have no right breast; for while still of a tender age their mothers heat strongly a copper instrument constructed for this very purpose, and apply it to the right breast, which is burnt up, and its development being arrested, all the strength and fullness are determined to the right shoulder and arm. ”

“ The breast sometimes becomes so inflamed, so hard, so obstinate—all, perhaps, in spite of the best that we can do—that it is found impossible to extract any milk whatever from the lactiferous tubes. Under such circumstances the frequent sucking of the nipple by the child, or, what is worse, by the use of the miserable instruments which have been contrived for drawing the breast, it is often made very sore. ”

“ The Indian woman has a conical breast, firm and well supported, the point being turned so far sideways that the breast 531seems to arise under the arm-pit, the nipple being actually projected on the arm in a full-faced view of the chest. In the negress the breast is more cylindrical, looser, and more flaccid, the nipple being turned forward and downward, so that in a front view it is projected on the chest. In the Indian the inguinal region is broad and distinctly set off from the prominence of the abdomen, while in the Negro it is a mere fold. ”

“ Even in cases in which the loss of substance of the breasts is apparently small, the glandular tissue of the organs has really disappeared, and has been replaced by fat. In advanced age, the breasts become quite small, wrinkled, flaccid, and dependent, and sometimes atrophied to become mere cutaneous folds. The nipples project more prominently, they are darker in colour, and their surface is wrinkled. In the genital organs, the fat disappears from the mons veneris, which becomes flattened, whilst the pubic hair ceases to be curly, and much or all of it is ultimately shed. ”

“ They are of no importance in the male, in whom they are usually rudimentary, but they are of great importance in the female. They manufacture milk, which is necessary for the proper nutrition of the infant, and they add a great deal to the beauty and attractiveness of the woman. They are thus a help to the woman in getting a mate or a husband. The projecting elevation of the breast, which the child takes in his mouth when nursing, is called the nipple; the darker colored area surrounding the nipple is called the areola.
[45]
The Pelvis of the Male. ”

“ By detestable vanity ladies of rank now cause their robes to be made so low in the breast, and so open on the shoulders, that we may see nearly the whole bosom, and much of their shoulders and necks, and much below down their backs, and so tight in the waist that they can scarcely respire in them, and often suffer great pain by it. ”

“ In older women, the breasts at times assume extraordinarily large dimensions, especially when the individual is inclined to be on the well-nourished side. In very old gins, who have born and reared a number of children, the shape disappears entirely, the [20] breasts becoming mere flaps of skin. A full dry breast is the exception rather than the rule; only in youthful cases, who have not become mothers, do we meet with firm and standing breasts. ”

“ Pelvis is broad and limbs loosely hung, as in a woman, and fingers and hands rather feminine in their general fineness of texture, comparative absence of hair, absence of prominent bones and veins, and the softness and pleasing tint of skin. Features are small like a woman's, but nose, lips, and ears large in proportion, indicating sensuality. I possess mammary glands and sacral dimples. While my breasts are as large as in some women, the nipples are small, even for a man. I am small-boned, of delicate build, and my muscular system is soft. ”

“ A piece of the roller should be cut off every day, so that its loss being gradual, it shall not be missed. Here, as elsewhere, it is of the greatest importance to remember that all sudden change is dangerous.
Too tight clothing may press upon and irritate the breasts of young infants and produce enlargement of the mammary glands, which may even go on to abscess. This is often caused by a binder which is too broad, or slips up, or by a string of the dress tied too tightly across the chest. ”

“ On the shoulder-strap is a star; on the breast a lion's face, on a red ground; below this is a mæander band across the body, which is traversed obliquely by a crimson band, apparently a lace or stirng, knotted on the breast, and terminating at the side in an ornament like a thunderbolt. ”

“ A broad stripe is drawn from the back of the neck along the shoulders, and across the breasts, meeting in an acute angle in the hollow of the chest. The flesh is raised at least two lines from the level of the skin. Other stripes are drawn in curves along the back, and from the breast down on the abdomen. The legs and arms are tattooed all over, and their faces are literally cut to pieces. ”