Posy

“ Cettia cantans,—the Japanese nightingale.
[74] Such, at least, is the posture prescribed by the old etiquette for men. But the rules were very complicated, and varied somewhat according to rank as well as to sex. Women usually turn the fingers inward instead of outward when assuming this posture.
[75] Blue jewels, blue eyes, blue flowers delight us; but in these the color accompanies either transparency or visible softness. It is perhaps because of the incongruity between hard opacity and blue that the sight of a book in sky-blue binding is unendurable. I can imagine nothing more atrocious. ”

“ To prove the prevalence of faulty posture, analyze the figures of women you see from day to day. See if their shoulders are round, if their chests are sunken, if their abdomens protrude, or if they have acquired the exaggerated posture known as "sway back". Do this, and you will find only one woman in ten is really correct in posture.
A Garment
You Will Delight in Wearing
and Be Proud to Own EACH BARCLEY FIGURE SUPPORT, when completed, is an individual creation that gently moulds the natural beauty of one's figure into an entrancing vision of smartness and rare loveliness! ”

“ Place an indifferent corset upon a poorly developed subject whose body is out of poise chest hollowed, abdomen forward, and there will be no improvement in the conditions, even though such a corset may not be tight in the waist and may even fit the outlines of the body. Apply the bad corset and the evil conditions are com­plicated and increased, while the good corset first of all lifts the body into the correct poise by the bracing up and in of the ab­dominal walls, restores normal proportions, induces deep breath­ing and puts the subject into a position for the attainment of better health. ”

“ One and the same mode does not become every woman. You are especially attractive of face; then lie on your back.” (Art of Love, III., 771-773.)
This posture is by no means limited to one mode. The woman lying on her back, the rider may clasp her between his legs, or she may receive him between hers. Yet another position may be adopted, according as the woman lie back with legs stretched wide apart or with the knees raised. ”

“ The reclining posture is a perfectly natural one, the limbs and feet being slightly drawn up. The figure appears as if a person had fallen there and died. There seem to be evidences of considerable physical anguish in the position of the limbs, of the body, and in the tension of the nerves as well as the contraction of the muscles (which are fully developed.) The right hand rests upon the lower abdomen, and the left is pressed against the back directly opposite. The left foot is thrown partially over the right one, the leg resting partly upon its fellow, but not crossing it. ”

“ SUMMARY OF ORDINARY OFFICE TESTS, AND DIRECTIONS TO PATIENTS. Posture.—The patient stands on a mark on the floor, sideways to a paper on the wall, and shoulder-blade and buttock are in­dicated on the paper. The difference in these two points, with the corset and without, shows in a moment whether the corset affects the posture favorably or unfavorably and correction is required. Pressure.—The hand passed within the corset, together with a note of the distance between the steels as they spring open, give the location of pressure—whether down-thrusting or lifting—and its degree. ”

“ His new posture also imposed anatomical penalties, the effects of which have not yet passed away. The abdominal cavity, for instance, is ill-suited to carry the viscera in an upright posture. But the liberation of the arms in locomotion; man’s ability to travel erect on two hind limbs; and the transfer of the anthropoid function of the big-toe of the fore-foot to that of an opposable thumb of the human hand, were an enormous recompense for the ills suffered through the change. From the ability to suffer as a man came his faculty to enjoy as a god. ”

“ A glance at our illustration will show that the waist is put in the natural position—that is, across the abdomen, below the floating ribs, and just over the hips; by doing this we avoid all injurious effects, which are laid—and that truly—at the door of the ordinary corset, and by placing the waist in its natural position give not only a more beautiful but a more slender appearance. ”

“ The line of the back from the shoulder to the bent knee of the resting young body is of a unique softness; the transition from the thigh to hip is like velvet in the softness of the body; the feet and toes are of classic beauty. ”

“ And so those of the Feet, notwithstanding the compression of the skin by the weight of the whole Body.
These Pores being thus made and secur'd, are a very convenient and open passage for the discharge of the more noxous and perspirable parts of the Blood. Which by the continual use of the Hands and Feet, are plentifully brought into them. Whence it is, that the sweat of the Feet, in many people, is much more offensive than that of any other part of the Body. ”

“ ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE CORSET TO THE BODY.
THE reader will have already observed that the reason why our corset differs from every other that has been offered to the public is, that we have taken a totally different view of the whole matter from any of our predecessors. Staymakers have studied fashion, and imagined that beauty consisted in following the Magazine des Modes as it came from Paris, and hence have carried the waist up to the breasts, or depressed it down on the hips, according to the whim of the time. ”

“ In each case the wrong corset is opposed to the physiologically correct corset of the same size and general type, all being stand­ard or stock models of each make, selected by the different cor­set salespeople to suit those serving as subjects for the tests. An observation of these illustrations will show why many women are not more comfortable in their corsets and why the treatment of physician or surgeon often fails of good results because of the patient's erroneous method of dress. ”

“ Never has the designer of fashionable corsets taken into con­sideration the physiological fact that constriction of the flesh of the body around one portion will result in an increase at the points where pressure ceases; hence the bulging shoulder flesh and the protruding abdomen of the waist constricting corset, and the widening thigh muscles of the flat hip corset of the present mode. ”

“ In none of them, it may be observed, are the hands formed for swimming, or the nails constructed for digging the earth; and in none of them is the naked callous portion, which corresponds to the sole or the palm, capable of being applied, like the feet of man or of the bear, to the flat surfaces on which they may occasionally tread. Even in those which have the greatest propensity to assume an upright posture, the body is, under such circumstances, wholly supported by the outer margins of the posterior hands. ”

“ Again, when in a recumbent posture on the back, the breast of the man will be the highest part, but the pubes in the woman. The female loins are also the broadest, and the hollow of her back the greatest, in order that the due inclination may be given to the pelvis. ”

“ A variety of incorrect postures, all more or less harmful to health, are induced by incorrect corsets. The almost universal deformity among women caused mainly by wrong corsets is the protruding abdomen. This occurs in the slender type of woman with faulty posture as well as in the woman who is over-fat. ”

“ Anatomy recognizes the fact, that in the number and character of the bones, joints, and muscles of the foot and leg, and the connection of the femur or thigh-bone at the pelvis, there is a strict similarity or correspondence with those of the hand and arm, and the connection of the latter at the shoulder-blade. ”

“ To sit beside a pregnant woman or a patient under medical treatment with clasped hands, says the grave Pliny, is to cast a malignant spell over the person, and it is worse still if you nurse your leg or legs with your clasped hands, or lay one leg over the other. Such postures were regarded by the old Romans as a let and hindrance to business of every sort, and at a council of war or a meeting of magistrates, at prayers and sacrifices, no man was suffered to cross his legs or clasp his hands. ”

“ It is quite easy for a woman to insert and remove these rubber pessaries for herself as occasion requires, provided that whilst inserting and removing the pessary she has placed her body in a suitable posture—say, lying on the back with knees drawn up, sitting on bidet, or standing with one foot on a chair, or whatever other position she finds suitable. A doctor's help is needed only when first selecting the right size of pessary. ”

“ Each drowsy pupil, in order to avoid the consequences of being too late, huddles on her clothes as rapidly as possible, and as for the corset, or bodice, which is supposed to be for the purpose of keeping its wearer erect, it is either not laced at all, or is laced in such an uneven manner that it had better not be worn at all. ”

“ The posture of his body, though, was most unfriendly to the scheme I had prepared. His head was jammed in the top corner against one door post, whilst his heels resided in the bottom corner of the other. The misfortune was that his ribs were in such a situation that they covered up the keyhole. Now unless I could obtain a fair access to that, my labours were in vain. But when engaged on a dangerous escapade, ’tis a sterile mind that lacks for an expedient. ”

“ And upon these three divers positions in Man, wherein the Spine can only be at right lines with the Thigh, arise those remarkable postures, prone, supine and erect; which are but differenced in situation, or in angular postures upon the Back, the Belly and the Feet. ”

“ We propose therefore, in this chapter, to give some general idea of the structure and functions of the spine, as well as a brief description of some of the curvatures to which it is subject.
The distinctive character of man is the erect posture. No other animal enjoys a physical conformation which will enable him to perma­nently assume this majestic attitude, although there are several in whom it may be maintained for a short time. ”

“ Bodies are never interred in a sitting posture, though that manner is sometimes observed when deposited in the lodge above ground and the posture preserved by stakes driven in around the body with forks on the end supporting the different members and equilibrium. ”

“ The suppleness of body which distinguished the female fellah212 is marvellous. She rarely sits down. When she requires rest she crouches with her knees in the air in an attitude which we should find singularly fatiguing. So too with the men. Their habitual posture corresponds to that shown on the steles: the knees drawn up in front of the face to the height of the nose, or on each side of the head and level with the ears. ”

“ Many young women to-day, yielding to the spell of fashion, place the corset next to their flesh, while a still greater number have merely the thinnest possible undershirt between the flesh and the corset, after which they tightly draw the dress waist until it meets. This seems incredible, but it is vouched for by several ladies of my acquaintance, among whom are physicians whose large practice among their sisters gives them peculiar facilities for knowing the absolute facts. ”

“ The body ought, on no account, to be placed in a crooked posture; as it impedes the circulation of the blood, and pre-disposes the system to swoonings, or apoplectic fits. Lying on the back is equally improper ”

“ In order that the corset should become an inoffensive garment it must be well adapted to the figure, so that it shall not embarrass the action of the diaphragm or the vital organs or the movements of the body. ”

“ He walks rather quick in the erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run down if, whilst pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by climbing.... When he walks in the erect posture, he turns the leg and foot outwards, which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem bow-legged. ”

“ Dressing and undressing in a sitting posture requires dexterity, which comes with practice. And nothing is more amusing than looking down the length of the car—to see the mysterious heaving and bulging of the curtains, and the protruding arms and legs. ”

“ As the feet and lower limbs are the foundation, we shall begin by giving their different positions. The student should be careful to keep the body erect.
A good voice depends upon the position, and the practice of Position and Gesture will prove a valuable aid in physical culture, and in acquiring a graceful address. There are two primary positions of the feet in speaking:
First.—The body rests on the left foot, right a little advanced, right knee bent. ”

“ When he sinks to the ground, with his head hung, his arms resting passively, and his chest drawn in—as follows naturally from the position—all this is reversed, and the one posture as strongly expresses submission, or, at least, a peaceable intent, as the other does war and defiance. ”

“ Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem necessary to balance or ease of posture.
“The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inwards, and cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into thick folds on the back, shewing that the full expansion of the foot, as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. ”