possibly a precautionary measure against strain, but it does not refer
to the race as a whole, and one would take it that when it is said that
Elijah girt his loins in order to run before the chariot of Ahab, it
simply means that he fastened up his flowing garments. To the second
question as to history showing that extraneous support is beneficial,
Mr. Heather Bigg says that the answer is simple even if Darwinian. He
may claim that the "if" saves him, though unintentionally, for in his
argument he seems to ignore the main principles of evolution. He says,
first of all, that it might just as well be asked why any clothing
whatsoever should be found requisite by civilized mankind. He claims
rightly, and so far he is in keeping with Darwinism, that man, according
to his obvious mechanism and morphology, is a creature built on the
quadruped pattern. The word is spelt "quadrupled," though presumably
this is a printer's error; but he goes on to say that this building
was done with the intent that his body should be horizontal instead of
vertical. Of course, the body of the original quadruped was horizontal;
but in the course of evolution such changes were made as enabled man
to occupy an upright position. Mr. Heather Bigg talks as if it was an
intentional act on the part of man when he says that he "managed to
rear himself in a permanently erect position, and as he has chosen the
upright position, so he has to experience some of the penalties attached
to it."
The state of affairs is this: man became perfectly well fitted for an
upright position, and his internal organs were arranged quite properly
for progress on two legs instead of four, although Mr. Heather Bigg
claims to the contrary. What may be the case is, that natural selection
no longer acts to keep man as perfectly constructed as he was, or to
improve him, and some human beings may need support, owing to weakness
or the undue development of their bust, just as those of us who suffer
from short sight and bad teeth take advantage of eye-glasses and the
skill of the dentist. We think it hardly time yet to say that all women
need stays, any more than that we all need eye-glasses or should be
provided with false teeth at a certain age.
Summing up the matter, when human beings take up work for which their
bodies were not specially evolved, or when they wish to do things which
at one time all human beings could do, but which, through the cessation
of the action of natural selection, they are not now able to do, then
they want help. This would explain why our soldiers when marching in
South Africa found puttees so useful, as Mr. Heather Bigg maintains.
The case of dress brought forward by Mr. Heather Bigg is exactly a case
in point. We have seen in the opening chapters of this book that man has
lost his hairy covering, and, so far as cold climates are concerned, we
must agree with Mr. Heather Bigg that it has been found by experience
that clothing is necessary for healthful warmth. All the same, we should
like to see some experiments tried to show whether even now it might not
be quite possible to exist in this climate with little or no artificial
covering. We do not agree at all with the statement that as man "has
reared himself from four legs on to two, so he has found by similar
experience that some sort of bandaged support is required in order to
assist an abdominal mechanism that is inadequate for biped progression."
In order to prove that the gymnastic practitioner is wrong when he says
that corsets are injurious to health, Mr. Heather Bigg brings forward
the results of experiments made by Professors Roy and Adami, which he
says scientifically prove stays to be distinctly beneficial. These
experiments were described at the British Association Meeting in 1888,
under the title of "The Physiological Bearing of Waist-belts and Stays,"
and the effects of these contrivances were tried not only upon men, but
upon animals. It was shown that a gentle compression of the abdomen
caused a greater flow of blood to other parts of the body, and conduced
in consequence to an increase of mental and muscular activity. The
experimenters do not seem to have waited to see whether in the course
of time these effects were or were not obtained at the expense of the
digestive organs, but they concluded that they had directly explained
"the beneficial and extensive use of some form or other of waist-belt by
all nations that had passed beyond the stage of absolute barbarity."
The theory has been advanced that stays are derived from swaddling
clothes, and that the custom has survived in the case of women alone,
for we may neglect the occasional use of such garments by men in the
past at the present time, for, judging from advertisements in the
papers, their use is not confined to the fair sex. There seems, however,
little evidence in support of this theory, and inquiry from a lady who
has lived a long time in Palestine has elicited the information that
while swaddling clothes are still in use in the Holy Land, stays do not
form a part of native dress.
The other part of the body which nowadays appears to be deformed to
the greatest extent is the foot. It seems to be considered absolutely
necessary, if one is to appear elegant, for one's toes to be pointed
in such a way that the apex of the angle is in the middle of the foot
instead of on the inner side; and although the two points are probably
unconnected, we might here mention the idea that in a perfect foot the
second toe ought to be longer than the great toe. This would make the
extreme end of the foot a little nearer the middle line, and in Art
the second toe is represented as being the longest in accordance with
the Greek canon. These proportions were copied from the Egyptian
representations, and the original is probably to be found in the
negroes, according to Sir William Flower. The latter points out that
the longer our big toe is, the further we are removed from apes; and he
found, too, that amongst hundreds of bare and therefore undeformed feet
of children in Perthshire, which he examined, he was not able to find
one in which the second toe was the longest. These children would, of
course, belong to the lower classes, and it would be interesting to know
whether the same thing holds good in higher social circles when the
foot remains normal. It may be well to remember that Sir William Flower
was a surgeon, for Mr. Heather Bigg, who tilts with the gymnastic
practitioner once more on the subject of boots and stockings, expresses
somewhat different ideas upon the question. He alludes to the two
classes of people in the British Isles who habitually discard boots and
stockings--the fisher-folk and factory girls in some of the large Scotch
cities. He says that he scarcely likes to be ungallant about the latter,
but commends the adult feet of both of these classes to the inspection
of those who would draft their children into the "bare-footed brigade."
He continues as follows: The truth is that the feet of those who have
been unbooted till they have reached adult life are splayed and spread,
large-jointed, and very generally deformed from all approach to the
ideal foot as it is depicted by the greatest painters, or modelled by
the greatest sculptors.
We have seen that the ideal foot of the sculptors is probably not a true
ideal from an evolutionary point of view, and there is no doubt but that
the ideal foot would be the one produced under natural conditions in
which we cannot include boots and stockings. We should take it, however,
that the stones of the seashore and the floor of a factory are not the
ideal surfaces on which to habitually tread.
There is no doubt but that the deformities caused by shoes are often
very great, and Sir William Flower sums up the matter in the following
sentences:--"The English mother or nurse who thrusts the tender feet
of a young child into stiff, unyielding, pointed shoes or boots, often
regardless of the essential difference in form of right and left at
a time when freedom is especially needed for their proper growth and
development, is the exact counterpart of the Chinook Indian woman,
applying her bandages and boards to the opposite end of her baby's body,
only with considerably less excuse; for a distorted head apparently less
affects health and comfort than cramped and misshapen feet, and was also
esteemed of more vital importance to preferment in Chinook society.
Any one who recollects the boots of the late Lord Palmerston will be
reminded that a wide expanse of shoe leather is in this country, even
during the prevalence of an opposite fashion, quite compatible with the
attainment of the highest political and social eminence."[58]
After all, it is generally what our eyes are accustomed to that we
consider to be right and fitting. The broad-toed shoes that were adopted
in the reign of Henry VIII look clumsy to us; but so did the pneumatic
tyres of bicycles after we had got used to the look of the narrow solid
ones. It is not so much the wearing of boots of course, but the kind of
boots that has to be considered.
The high heels of shoes add to the evil effects of the pointed toes, and
a copy of a drawing from an advertisement figured by Sir William Flower
recalls strongly the stunted foot of a Chinese woman which the wearer of
the shoe would be one of the first probably to anathematize. This brings
us to the malformation which has been caused through many centuries in
a country that can claim a good deal of civilization, and is produced by
special bandages after a long and very painful course of treatment.
There is very little evidence of alteration in the form of the head
having been practised in this country, though one or two skulls have
been found, and there is a tradition that the custom prevailed not very
long ago in Norfolk. In France, however, it was well known until recent
years, and even it may not have now become extinct. There are plenty of
records in the works of early writers with regard to the practice, and
some of the North-American Indians still follow the fashion of their
fathers. The Chinook Indians flatten the skull between boards so that
they get the name of Flat-heads, and other tribes produce an elongated
skull by constructing bandages of deer hide. Deformation of the head
seems to have little effect on the free-living American Indians, but
the same statement does not hold good among Europeans. According to the
reports of French physicians, they have traced all kinds of troubles to
the practice.
If we have little evidence of head-deforming in this country by means
of compression, we meet occasionally with prehistoric skulls which
have been trepanned, and have had inserted into them a small piece of
extraneous bone. It is curious that such an operation could have been
successfully made when there were probably no instruments of metal
with which it could be done, and one might well ask what object could
possibly have been in view, especially as the individual so treated had
met with no accident that could have rendered the operation necessary.
It appears, however, that the piece of bone was probably that of some
dead relative, the idea being that the incorporation of it in the head
of the young man would give him the qualities of the chief who had
departed. It is this notion which probably led to cannibalism. When a
brave warrior was slain, his conqueror thought that by eating a small
piece of him he might add his adversary's prowess to his own, and no
doubt when a respected relative died it was thought that his good
qualities would pass to those who ate a portion of him.
Besides the alterations that have been permanently made in the shape of
the body, there are many curious instances where clothes themselves have
been utilized for the purpose of apparently altering its shape. We have
seen that Punch's curious figure is due to a costume, while the stuffed
breeches adopted in the reign of James I, the great farthingale of
Elizabeth's reign, the hooped petticoat of Queen Anne's, and the
crinoline of the nineteenth century are instances of fashions that
originated with or without apparent reasons.
Just as Mrs. Aria discovered what she terms the ancestress of the
straight-fronted specialité corset on a bas-relief of a female figure
from one of the mysterious forest cities in South America, so Mr. Rhead
has reminded us of the festal dress of Otaheite which Captain Cook
figured in his "Geography."
Our grandmothers in their crinoline may have looked like walking
hay-cocks; but the young women of Otaheite who carry presents from one
person of rank to another look as if they were issuing from an immense
drum. It is nothing new to make up deficiencies with padding that is
intended to deceive, and while at one time our countrywomen may have
made themselves flat-chested with the help of leaden weights, some,
judging from articles which we now see displayed in the shops, are
willing to call to their aid artificial contrivances which give the
appearance of plumpness to their bust.
When speaking of padding, one might recall the fact that the most usual
place in which it is to be found--in civilians' clothes at least--is on
the shoulder. This reminds us of the way in which sleeves were sometimes
puffed up above the shoulder. The protuberance thus formed, Dr. Meyer
tells us, was originally intended to prevent weapons from slipping
off when they were carried over the shoulder. The fashion has since,
however, been adopted in civilian costume both by men and by women.
XXXVI
FURTHER EFFECTS OF CLOTHES ON THE INDIVIDUAL
MENTAL EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CLOTHES--PREFERENCES OF GIRLS FOR
CERTAIN ARTICLES OF DRESS--MOVEMENTS THAT DEPEND UPON THE
PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF CLOTHES
Putting on one side the special points of detriment which clothes bring
about with regard to the body, we may turn to more general effects. Our
language is full of proverbial sayings as to the way in which clothes
may give beauty, and also as to how much we owe to fine feathers and to
our tailors. Quite apart from the results which clothes have upon other
people, there are the mental effects which are produced on ourselves.
That it is not, perhaps, comfort or discomfort altogether which
causes our body to react on the mind, is shown by the results of some
investigations made by Dr. Louis W. Flaccus among the schoolgirls of New
York.[59]
Feelings of lightheartedness are the result of filmy clothes, and
one girl of eighteen said that whenever she had on a garment of this
consistency she always wanted to dance. The pleasant mental effects of
gauzy stuffs and laces are said by the investigator to be due not only
to their lightness, but to the mental associations with which they are
connected. Such dresses as those which we have mentioned suggest some
gay social function. Again, just as the putting on of a smoking jacket
suggests relaxation to a man, so does the assuming of evening dress
impart the idea that correct behaviour is necessary. Heavy clothes bring
about mental depression.
"In a large, heavy hat my spirits are low," says one of the girls who
were interrogated, and Dr. Flaccus claims that the mood may change with
the hat, while that he has evidence to go upon will be seen from the
following answers: "A broad hat makes me feel jolly"; "If my hat is flat
on my forehead, I feel depressed"; "If I have a fancy hat on, I am in a
coquettish mood"; or again, "I feel brighter in a hat that rolls away
from my face." Then the effect which certain surfaces have upon various
persons has to be taken into consideration when dealing with this aspect
of the subject, for clothes are made of very different materials.
To touch a blanket will set some individuals' teeth on edge, and an
irritable mood may result when rough material rubs against the skin.
Again, while one person feels chills running down her back when she
touches velvet, another will delight to feel a velvety surface. Another
remarkable thing which Dr. Flaccus has brought before us is the striking
difference between the preferences which girls have for certain articles
of clothing.
Most of the girls to whom the questions were addressed put shoes first;
gloves came very close, then neckwear, hats, underwear, jewellery, and
ribbons; and though this may not fit in with the ideas of the humorists
on the subject, the weakness for hats was shown to be less than
one-third that for gloves.
Speaking of the effect that clothes may have upon the action of
people, we may recall the way in which skirts and trousers may give
rise to different habits. If one drops anything into a boy's lap he
instinctively brings his knees together to prevent the object thrown
from falling between them; whereas a girl would throw her thighs apart
in order to make a receptacle with her frock. Advantage has been taken
of this fact by those who wished to discover whether a person with whom
they were dealing was a woman, or a man masquerading in female attire.
More than one novelist has enlarged on this theme, and Mark Twain
has used it effectively in the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The
occasion is when the hero visits Mrs. Judith Loftus at St. Petersburg,
in order to find out what is going on with regard to the murder. Mrs.
Loftus, whose suspicions were aroused, got the boy who was dressed up as
a girl, to thread a needle, to throw a bit of lead at a rat, and having
gained some evidence from these two experiments, she tried a third.
She says, "Keep your eye on the rats; you had better have the lead in
your lap handy." Huckleberry's story continues: "So she dropped the lump
into my lap just at that moment. I clapped my legs together on it, and
she went on talking, but only about a minute. Then she took off the hank
(he was holding some yarn), and looked me straight in the face, but very
pleasant, and said:
"Come, now--what's your real name?"
"Wh-what, mum?"
"What's your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob, or what is it?"
XXXVII
THE RISE AND FALL OF FASHIONS
REASONS WHY FASHIONS ARE FOLLOWED--GAY CLOTHES SEEN WHEN PERIODS
OF DEPRESSION ARE OVER--CONDEMNATION OF FASHIONS BY THE
CLERGY--QUAKERS--SUMPTUARY LAWS--THE KILLING OF FASHIONS
The rise and fall of fashions is a matter that affects every nation and
practically every individual, for savages are quite as much harassed and
tortured by them as any civilized people are. Fashions are perpetuated,
as Herbert Spencer has pointed out, by imitation, and from two motives
which are widely divergent. It may be prompted by reverence for the one
imitated, on the one hand, or by a desire to assert equality with him.
In the beginning, no doubt fashions arose with an idea to improve upon
nature, though notions as to ideals of beauty must have been hazy in
many cases.
Fashions have been advanced as evidence in support of the proverb
that there is nothing new under the sun, and the way in which some of
them come round again goes a very long way to prove it in the case of
clothes. Luckily some enormities seem to have died out, but in the light
of past history we can never feel quite safe, and we never know, on the
other hand, where some slight change which in itself seems novel may not
lead us to ridiculous extremes. Of course, many garments and styles are
importations from other countries. The pelisse came from Persia at the
time of the Crusaders, just as the kimono was brought in recent times
from Japan. Fads and peculiarities and even deformities of Royalty,
as we saw in the case of the peruke, have introduced fashions. The
crinoline, according to all accounts, was first devised to hide the
shape of a princess. Perhaps no other contrivance has brought more
nuisance in its train or had more ridicule poured upon it; but it is
only one instance of many fashions that have been carried to excess. It
is true, as we shall have occasion to mention, that in earlier times
laws were enacted to restrict the size of ruffs and the length of the
toes of shoes, but often with little effect, and when shape and size did
not occupy attention, the costliness of the garment caused restrictions
to be made, while the clergy seem never to have ceased from inveighing
against the follies of fashions.
In the twelfth century the devil was represented by an old illustrator
in the costume of a fine lady with the long hanging sleeves and tightly
laced bodice of the time. A hundred years later English preachers took
exception to laced openings through which ladies showed their costly
under-linen, and dignified them with the name of "gates of hell." In the
twentieth century ministers in the United States have wasted their time
in scolding the lady members of their congregations for wearing fancy
stockings. Sometimes, on the other hand, the clergy themselves have laid
themselves open to criticism with regard to the gorgeousness of their
apparel.
[Illustration: FIG. 168.--A Merveilleuse (after A. Robida).]
Periods of depression have been followed by fashions of the gayest. We
may recall the times of Charles II, when England breathed again after
the civil wars. After the French Revolution, when the reign of terror
was over, the Merveilleuses went back to the dresses of antiquity, such
as the Athenian costume and that of the Lacedemonian girls, whose tunics
were slit down the sides from the hips. When this was not done the
skirts were looped up on the left side above the knee with a cameo
brooch. (See Figure 168.) One writer records a wager in which a lady
betted that her dress, including trinkets, did not weigh two pounds. She
afterwards retired and took off the dress, which was weighed, and the
whole costume turned the scales at a little over a pound. One of these
dresses went by the name of the "female savage," and consisted of a
gauze chemise over pink fleshings, with golden garters. It is not
surprising that such costumes, like others before, brought down upon
them the condemnation of the Church, and the following "bull," dated at
Rome on the 16th October, 1800, is reprinted from _The Times_ of January
28th, 1801:--
"The Pope, so long engaged in reducing the Gallican Church within the
Catholic pale, has not been negligent of the duty of recalling the
female form within the petticoat and the handkerchief. After speaking
in appropriate terms of the present scarcity of clothing, and of the
sensations it may excite even in the withered bosom of a monk, and
quoting the authority of St. Clement of Alexandria, His Holiness
strictly enjoins his officers, civil and ecclesiastical, to repress, by
fine or corporal punishment, according to the circumstances of the case,
these crying enormities. He directs, too, that their punishment should
be extended to such damsels as though at first sight they appear
properly attired, are nevertheless decked in transparent robes, and with
a voluptuous and magnificent attire display themselves in very seductive
and tempting attitudes. Moreover, fathers, husbands, heads of families,
who weakly or negligently permit their wives, daughters, servants, etc.,
to trespass against these rules, shall not escape with impunity. Also,
all taylors, haberdashers, milliners and men-milliners, hairdressers,
and others who contribute to these enormities of dress shall in no
wise pass unpunished." The bull goes on to state that "all priests,
confessors, overseers, churchwardens, and others shall in no wise admit
such delinquents to the Holy Supper; that they shall not allow women
improperly dressed to enter the church, and if they come they shall be
driven out, and if they resist, the higher powers shall be required to
lend their aid."
It is said that a Russian nobleman who was used to judge the position of
ladies by the amount of furs and clothes that they wore, on seeing an
English lady in a costume of the merveilleuse style offered her money in
the belief that she was a beggar.
Fashions may have a special significance, as in the case of bell-bottom
trousers of the costermonger, for it is said that by the cut of these
garments the progress of the wearer's courtship can be traced. When he
first "walks out," the bottoms of his trousers are of such an ample size
that only the toes of his boots can be seen. As matters proceed and the
wedding comes into view, the trousers assume more moderate dimensions
below the knee, and when at last the man is married he is content with a
bell of quite modest proportions, with what a writer in one of our comic
papers describes as an almost total absence of "sauciness" in the cut of
the garment.
The lengths to which women will go in their desire to appear in the
fashion, even if they are not, is shown by the business which a lady in
New York is said to have founded. According to all accounts, she deals
in nothing but discarded Paris waistbands--that is to say, those which
bear the names of well-known dressmakers. Women in plenty in New York
will buy these little strips of silk in order to have them stitched
into their own dresses, to give their friends the impression that their
garments were made in the French capital.