the nature of the human frame, added to the lamentable lesson of
experience, have convinced many mothers that the surest way to deform
the figure, and to prevent gracefulness of carriage, is to abolish
exercise, and enforce the use of stiff and tight stays; and that the
most effectual way to improve both, is to obey the dictates of nature in
preference to the inspiration of ignorance. It was not by the use of
tight bands and stays that the classic forms of Greece and Rome were
fashioned; and if we wish to see these reproduced, we must secure
freedom of action for both body and mind, as an indispensable
preliminary. If the bodily organization be allowed fair play, the spine
will grow up straight and firm, but at the same time graceful and pliant
to the will, and the rest of the figure will develop itself with a
freedom and elegance unattainable by any artificial means; while the
additional advantage will be gained, of the highest degree of health and
figure compatible with the nature of the original constitution.”
Let us look at this matter a little more in detail.
1. It is a law of the living body, that in order for easy, healthful,
and natural motion to be put forth, no unnatural or artificial pressure
must exist.
If we wear a shoe that is too tight, we know how much walking is
impeded, that, perhaps, best of all exercises; and that if this pressure
be continued for a considerable time, nature revolts at our waywardness,
and produces for us a corn. The parts are made to grow out of
proportion; the toes crooked, bent, and ugly in appearance.
So, too, if a person wears a tight cravat, we see how soon circulation
is impeded, and headache follows.
Compare, too, the breathing of an individual with a full, healthy, and
well-expanded chest, that has not been exposed to artificial pressure,
with that of a man or a woman which has been for years contracted to the
smallest span; the one can scarce mount a flight of stairs for want of
breath, while the other can climb the mountain-side, and be but the more
invigorated thereby.
2. Pressure upon any part of the system _impoverishes_ that part.
It is said of the Chinese women, that many of them wear shoes so tight
that their feet remain as small as in childhood. If a person is in the
habit of stooping forward too much, or of leaning against a desk a
considerable length of time in the counting-house or at school, we see
the chest becomes enfeebled and sunken. The general law is, artificial
pressure impoverishes any part of the system to which it is applied.
3. Look at the skin. It is naturally a breathing organ.
If you keep the air from the skin, your system feels smothered. Does not
every one know how refreshing it is, on a hot, sultry day, to allow the
atmosphere to circulate freely about the surface?
Every lady, however genteel, however _pinched up_ in her fashionableness
she may choose to be when she goes out before the world, takes off her
clothing from instinct as soon as she is alone by herself again.
Even in cold weather, smothering the skin is productive of uncomfortable
sensations; and all persons may observe, that in lying down to sleep by
day, with the usual amount of clothing on, they become feverished,
unrefreshed, and awake with at least a general lassitude, and very
likely with a severe headache, or other uncomfortable feelings of the
head. On the other hand, if there is necessity for deep during the day,
and the individual lies down with suitable clothing, and yet
sufficiently covered to remain comfortable, a refreshing sleep is
obtained.
Ladies especially who, from pregnancy or other reasons, have need of
their forenoon “naps,” will do well to remember this advice. So also
infants should always be undressed when they are allowed to go to sleep.
Thus much for the skin as a _breathing_ organ.
4. But perhaps the worst of all physical injuries produced by clothing,
is that exerted upon the chest. We read that _in the blood of the animal
is the life thereof_. In the stomach the digestible portions of the
crude materials of food are formed into chyme. The chymous mass passes
then onward through the pylorus into the duodenum, or second stomach.
Here the chyle is formed, which is a step nearer blood than chyme. The
lacteals suck up this milk-like fluid called chyle, and carry it into
the portal circulation, to commingle with the blood. The blood, in this
crude state, is sent to the liver, where a still further purifying
process goes on. After this the venous blood passes to the heart, from
whence it is sent to the lungs, there to become arterialized, or
rendered in its purest state. Thence it passes back again to the left
side of the heart, from which it is sent to all parts of the system, to
afford life, growth, energy, and strength.
You will now perceive that this blood-restoring process, which, by the
wonderful mechanism of nature, goes on in the lungs, is a very important
one to the health. Here, in myriads of air-cells contained in the lungs,
the surface of which amounts to at least as many superficial inches as
the entire external skin, it is purified, and rendered fit for the
purposes of life.
We see, too, that when the system is left free to perform its own normal
functions, the chest expands freely at every inspiration of air we
breathe; and in proportion as this expansion of the chest is full and
free, will be the amount of air inspired, and, as a consequence, the
amount of oxygen, or the blood-purifying principle, will be
proportionately augmented. On the other hand, if, by compression of the
chest, the full, free inspiration of air is hindered, less oxygen will
be received into the system, and, consequently, the blood will become
less pure.
A woman who laces herself tightly about the waist cannot be supposed to
breathe hardly more than one half the amount of air she should do. How,
then, in the name of common sense, can she expect to enjoy health? Every
organ of the human system must be allowed its free exercise, or a
deterioration of the general health must be the inevitable result. We
might as well expect to have good health with only half the amount of
food we should have, as with half the amount of the air we should
breathe.
Thus, you perceive, if any unnatural pressure is made upon a part of the
system, motion is impeded, and without free motion, health cannot exist;
that with such pressure, parts upon which it is made are impoverished;
that if clothing is worn too tightly about the body, the breathing
function of the skin is hindered, and that debility is the result; that
in particular, if the chest is compressed, as is often done by the use
of stays and corsets, tight dresses, and the like, that important
function of respiration is impeded, and that thus the health must
inevitably sink. These principles cannot be too much studied, or too
much carried out in practice, in order to secure the firmest and most
enduring health.
There are also other ill effects than those we have glanced at that are
caused by tight clothing. Thus, in compressing the chest, the abdominal
organs are also made to suffer. The functions of the stomach cannot go
on properly; the food is not digested as it should be; the liver cannot
act freely; the bowels become torpid and constipated; the uterus is
pressed out of its place, causing prolapsus uteri, or falling of the
womb, as it is called; neither the blood-making, the blood-purifying,
nor the blood-distributing processes can go on healthfully. Thus the
entire system is made to suffer merely from the pressure made upon the
external parts of the body.
Do you ask me, how does all this bear upon the subject of pregnancy? I
answer, that if in ordinary states of health, clothing should be of such
a character as at all times to allow of the most free and unrestrained
movement of every part of the system, how much more important and
imperative is this consideration with those in pregnancy. And,
accordingly, as is well remarked by Dr. Eberle, “The custom of wearing
tightly-laced corsets during gestation, cannot be too severely censured.
It must be evident to the plainest understanding, that serious injury to
the health of both mother and child must often result from a continued
and forcible compression of the abdomen, while nature is at work in
gradually enlarging it for the accommodation and development of the
fetus. By this unnatural practice, the circulation of the blood
throughout the abdomen is impeded: a circumstance which, together with
the mechanical compression of the abdominal organs, is peculiarly
calculated to give rise to functional disorder of the stomach and liver,
as well as the hemorrhoids, uterine hemorrhage, and abortion. The
regular nourishment of the fetus, also, is generally impeded in this
way: a fact which is frequently verified in the remarkably delicate and
emaciated condition of infants born of mothers who have practiced this
fashionable folly during gestation. It may be observed, that since the
custom of wearing tight-laced corsets has become general among females,
certain forms of uterine disease are much more frequent than they were
sixteen or eighteen years ago.” Hence, as has been judiciously remarked,
“it ought to be the first duty of the young wife, who has reason to
believe pregnancy to have commenced, to take special care so to arrange
her dress as to admit of the utmost freedom of respiration, and to
prevent even the slightest compression of the chest or abdomen.”
If I could write as impressively as I feel earnestly on this subject,
how would I warn you, my friends, against the evils of too tight and
illy-adapted clothing in pregnancy. How often have I pitied the
newly-married woman, who seems really to be under an unavoidable
necessity of conforming to fashion—so much are we all of us under the
world’s influence—that her health and bodily comfort have been
deteriorated and greatly interfered with. How often, too, have I wished
that the day might hasten in which there would be a wide and general
dissemination of light on this subject, so that people might not only
_know_ the truth, but be able to _practice_ it. That such a day is not
far distant, I do most confidently hope.
LETTER X.
MANAGEMENT IN PREGNANCY.
Of Solar light—Its Effects on Life and Health—Air and Exercise—Rules of
Management.
Among the life agents, solar light is one of the most important.
Anciently the sun was considered as a deity. In most countries it was
called the “Supreme Being,” the “Father of Light,” “Jupiter,” “Jehovah,”
the “Creator of all living matter,” the “residence of the Most High.”
All nations, in all periods of time, have been impressed with the
magnificence and power of the great center of the solar system.
That the sun’s light has a powerful influence on the living body, every
one will readily admit. Knowing the reviving influence of a moderate
degree of solar heat, the ancients had terraces on their house-tops,
called solaria, in which, to use their own expression, they took a solar
air-bath.
According to physiological experiments, it has been shown, that if
tadpoles be nourished with proper food, and at the same time exposed to
the constantly renewed contact of air, so that their respiration may be
fully carried on while they remain in their fish-like condition, and, at
the same time, be entirely deprived of light, their growth continues,
but their metamorphosis into the condition of air-breathing animals is
arrested, and they remain in the condition of a large tadpole.
The rapidity with which water-flies, insects, etc., of pools, undergo
their transformation, is found to be much influenced by the amount of
light to which they are exposed.
If equal numbers of the eggs of the silk-worm be preserved in a dark
room, and exposed to common daylight, a much larger portion of the larva
are hatched from the latter than the former.
A great variety of facts might be given in proof, that light exercises
an important influence over the processes of development in animal life.
“Those who live in mines, or dark caves,” says Dr. Andrew Combe, “and
who are rarely exposed to the light of day, present a pale, relaxed,
sallowness of skin, which contrasts with the ruddy freshness of country
people and others living much in the open air.”
Every one knows how much paler and more delicate those are who remain
mostly, or entirely, within doors. The inhabitants of villages, towns,
and cities, may often be known by the lighter color and delicacy of
skin, which arises from their occupation being more in the shade than
that of the country people.
The extreme paleness and depression of the poor population resident in
the dark lanes of crowded cities, medical observers have often noticed,
as a striking exemplification of the effects of a want of light.
Light is also well known to have a great influence in preventing
deformity.
Those who are confined much within doors, or that are brought up in
cellars, mines, and the dark places of cities, where the sun can never
come, have much oftener deformity of body than such as have free access
to the light.
Among those nations that wear but little or no clothing, thus leaving
the system more to the influence of light, it is well known that there
is a remarkable freedom from this form of disease.
Rickets is much more common in the dark, dirty parts of cities, than
elsewhere.
There is, however, of course, in all these instances, other agencies
concerned, than mere light. The effects are more or less modified by a
variety of causes, as, for instance, the want of a due circulation of
pure air in dark and confined places produces debility of the body,
which always tends to deformity and disease. But it is demonstrably
true, that the want of light is one of the most prominent among the many
causes of bodily deformity.
In curing diseases, and the general management of the sick, light, too,
is an important agency.
It is said by Sir A. Wilie, who was long at the head of the medical
staff in the Russian army, that the cures of disease on the dark side of
an extensive barrack at St. Petersburg, have been uniformly, for many
years, in the proportion of three to one, to those on the side exposed
to strong light.
In one of the London hospitals, with long range of frontage, looking
nearly due north and south, it has been said by observers, that a
residence in the south wards is much more conducive to the welfare of
the patients, than in those on the north side of the building.
Light is a very important matter as regards the health of the eyes.
We find nowhere so much disease of these important organs, as among the
poor people who inhabit the dark, filthy, and illy-ventilated portions
of large cities.
This is true of infants, who are, more than others, kept within doors.
It is, indeed, said, that in a certain dark alley of the city of Boston,
infants are not unfrequently born blind.
Fish that live in the pools of the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, we are
told, have no sight.
Thus, my friends, I have spoken at length on the subject of light;
almost more than was necessary, perhaps, you will say. But it is a
matter which has not been much spoken of; and this, if there is need, is
my excuse.
What _practical_ lessons are we to gather from facts like these?
Shall ladies darken their parlors and sitting-rooms, thus making them
more like dungeons than pleasant apartments for use?
Shall they practice reading, sewing, and the like exercises in rooms so
poorly lighted that a person coming from the open air can scarcely
discern one object from another?
Shall they remain in-doors as much of the time as is possible, lest the
light should render their skin of a somewhat less delicate hue?
Shall they, when they must needs come out for a walk, wear a thick,
heavy, and perhaps three-double vail, in order to preserve that
delicacy, of which women too often appear to be so fond?
Shall they go on thus keeping up this so-called beauty and delicateness,
even if it be at the expense of ennui, debility, nervousness, and
general ill health?
Or, on the other hand, shall they go often and freely into the open air,
walking miles every day; or what is perhaps better, engage in active,
and, if possible, out-door pursuits, a part of each day?
In the one case, health is, as a general thing, easy to obtain; in the
other, impossible.
As children know by instinct, and physiologists by scientific facts,
human beings must go often into the open light of day, in order to
insure firm and enduring bodily health.
Nor are the good effects of light less important on the feelings,
habits, and mental manifestations of the individual.
AIR AND EXERCISE.
Would that I could now impress upon your minds, in some good degree, the
importance of AIR and EXERCISE in pregnancy.
See how well the Indian women get along with child-bearing; and you know
they are active in their habits, and go a great deal in the open air.
How well, too, the poor, laboring people, the Irish and the Germans, get
along in having children; and are not they _obliged_ to work? Labor!
verily thou art a blessing which we poor mortals do but poorly prize!
I must say to you, then, in my humble way, to all of you who are
pregnant, DO NOT FAIL TO WORK. Work regularly—not too much at a time,
but little and often, avoiding all extremes. Go out, too, EVERY DAY, and
get the fresh air and light of heaven. So will you be rewarded for every
thing you do.
LETTER XI.
MANAGEMENT IN PREGNANCY.
Of the Diet Proper in this Period—Animal and Vegetable Food—Superiority
of the latter—The Drink.
I have in different places, in these letters, made some remarks on the
subject of food and drink. I thought it necessary, however, to be a
little more explicit on so important a matter.
I have in another letter said some things on the subject of those
strange and peculiar _longings_ which women sometimes experience in
pregnancy, and have given you some advice on that point, which I wish
you also to bear in mind in this place.
Have you not often heard women remark, that when they are pregnant they
ought to eat more food than at other times, _because they have two to
support_!
It is my duty to tell you in all frankness, as also earnestness, that if
any one makes such a plea an excuse for dietetic indulgence; or if any
one, from ignorance on the subject, sets to eating more freely in
pregnancy than she would do at ordinary times, she will be very liable
to harm herself seriously; and more than that, she may thus actually
destroy her child, and have an abortion. If she should be so fortunate
as to run clear of this sad evil, she would yet be liable to
indigestion, costiveness, diarrhea, and all the long list of troubles
that grow out of a disordered state of the stomach and alimentary canal
at this period of her life.
Let us make a little calculation in regard to this matter of “having two
to support” in pregnancy.
The growth of the fetus, as depending upon the mother, is in proportion
to the length of time it is destined to remain in the womb.
In the first place, let us endeavor to ascertain the average weight of
infants at birth. I do not know that we have any tables in this country
that throw light upon the subject. We can, however, go to France, where
the industry of physicians has reduced almost every thing connected with
the medical art to figures and rules.
At the _L’Hospice de la Maternité_, in the city of Paris, the following
results were ascertained in regard to 7077 cases of births:
34 weighed from 1 to 1½ pounds.
69 „ 2 „ 2½ „
164 „ 3 „ 3½ „
396 „ 4 „ 4½ „
1317 „ 5 „ 5½ „
2799 „ 6 „ 6½ „
1750 „ 7 „ 7½ „
463 „ 8 „ 8½ „
82 „ 9 „ 9½ „
3 „ 10 „ 10½ „
The average weight of children, then, at birth, would appear to be only
between six and seven pounds. To make our calculation a safe one, we
will suppose the average to be seven pounds.
There is also to be taken into the account the placenta, the membranes,
and the _liquor amnii_, with which the child is surrounded. We may,
then, make the following calculation:
Weight of the fetus, 7 pounds, or 112 ounces.
„ placenta and membranes 16 „
„ liquor amnii 16 „
———
In all 144 „
The number of days in a normal pregnancy is about two hundred and
eighty. Reckoning three meals to a day—and some average more than this
number—we have eight hundred and forty meals in the period. Now,
according to the rule of three, if eight hundred and forty meals are to
produce one hundred and forty-four ounces, how much must one meal
produce? The answer, in decimals, is one hundred and seventy-one
thousandths of an ounce, and a fraction over, or only a little more than
_one and one half tenths_ of an ounce at each meal.
You will then at once perceive how absurd it is for a woman to think
that she must _cram_ herself with food when she is pregnant, because of
the notion that she has _two_ to eat for instead of but one as at other
times.
An intelligent and well-meaning lady of this city, Mrs. Pendleton, once
put forth a work entitled, “Childbirth Made Easy.” The theory of the
book was given on the authority of some English writers; and the purport
of it was, that in order to bear and bring forth a child as easily as
possible, the mother should live principally on fruit, more particularly
toward the close of the period of gestation. The more substantial forms
of food, it was contended, went to make too much bone in the fetus, and
hence, that if these were avoided, the bones would be smaller and
softer, in which case the birth would be the more easy. The work also
recommended the water-treatment, and all other good rules of health.
I have no doubt that such a course of dieting in pregnancy would do a
good deal toward mitigating not only the pains, but the dangers of the
puerperal state.
The greatest of all dietetic enemies the world over is _excess in
quantity_. You see, then, how admirably this theory would work in
practice, although it might be false in real fact.
At any rate, you cannot be too careful of your diet when you are
pregnant. There is no period of your lives in which it is more necessary
to guard against all error than in this; and excessive alimentation, as
I before remarked, is the greatest of all dietetic mistakes. It was one
of Jefferson’s great canons of life, that we never repent of having
eaten too little. So I will say after him, that I never knew a pregnant
woman to suffer from taking too small an amount of nutriment, but I have
known many to suffer from eating too much.
I have elsewhere remarked, that the period of pregnancy is necessarily
attended by a greater liability to febrile and inflammatory disease than
is ordinarily the case. Every one knows—that is, every one who knows any
thing at all about the subject—that flesh-meat is more heating and
feverish in its tendency than the farinacea and fruits. Mark, then, the
evidence of the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, in taking away,
for the most part, your appetite for animal food when you are pregnant.
You are more liable to disease at this time than you are at others; and
when disease does lay hold, it is more apt to go hard with you. God in
His mercy then says, “I will take away the woman’s appetite for flesh
when she is pregnant; yea, I will give her nausea, and loathing, and
vomiting, for her heart is prone to lead her to excess.”
Do not then, I warn you, eat animal food at this time, even if you
should have some appetite for it, as is sometimes the case.
Observe, also, how very sumptuously you _may_ live in the vegetarian
way. Indian mush; rye mush; rye and Indian bread; rye bread; corn bread,
or Johnny-cake, as it is called in many parts; hominy; cracked wheat;
wheaten mush; peas; beans; pumpkins; squashes; melons; apples, green,
dried, or otherwise, with a little of milk and eggs, if need be, a
little sweet; and a great many other things, which I need not now
mention, which you can have according to the season. How well we could
live, all of us, if we but would, without causing the farmers to wring
the chickens’ necks off, to beat out the brains of the faithful ox and
the affectionate cow with an axe, or to cut off the head of the innocent
lamb. Do you ever think of these things when you eat _meat_?