ON CLOTHING.
It appears, by calculations made from bills of mortality, that one
quarter of the human race perishes in infancy. This is a fact not in
accordance with the analogy of Nature. No such mortality prevails among
the young of animals; it does not appear to be the design of the
Creator; and it must be owing to causes which can be removed. Medical
men agree in the opinion, that a great portion of this mortality, is
owing to mismanagement, in reference to fresh air, food, and clothing.
At birth, the circulation is chiefly in the vessels of the skin; for the
liver and stomach, being feeble in action, demand less blood, and it
resorts to the surface. If, therefore, an infant be exposed to cold, the
blood is driven inward, by the contracting of the blood-vessels in the
skin: and, the internal organs being thus over-stimulated, bowel
complaints, croup, convulsions, or some other evil, ensues. This shows
the sad mistake of parents, who plunge infants in cold water to
strengthen their constitution; and teaches, that infants should be
washed in warm water, and in a warm room. Some have constitutions strong
enough to bear mismanagement in these respects; but many fail in
consequence of it.
Hence we see the importance of dressing infants warmly, and protecting
them from exposure to a cold temperature. It is for this purpose, that
mothers, now, very generally, cover the arms and necks of infants,
especially in Winter. Fathers and mothers, if they were obliged to go
with bare arms and necks, even in moderate weather, would often shiver
with cold; and yet they have a power of constitution which would subject
them to far less hazard and discomfort, than a delicate infant must
experience from a similar exposure. This mode of dressing infants, with
bare necks and arms, has arisen from the common impression, that they
have a power of resisting cold superior to older persons. This is a
mistake; for the experiments of medical men have established the fact,
that the power of producing heat is least in the period of infancy.
Extensive investigations have been made in France, in reference to this
point. It is there required, in some districts, that every infant, at
birth, be carried to the office of the _maire_, [_mayor_,] to be
registered. It is found, in these districts, that the deaths of
newly-born infants, are much more numerous in the cold, than in the
warm, months; and that a much greater proportion of such deaths occurs
among those who reside at a distance from the office of the _maire_,
than among those in its vicinity. This proves, that exposure to cold has
much to do with the continuance of infant life.
But it is as dangerous to go to the other extreme, and keep the body too
warm. The skin, when kept at too high a temperature, is relaxed and
weakened by too profuse perspiration, and becomes more sensitive, and
more readily affected by every change of temperature. This increases the
liabilities to sudden colds; and it frequently happens, that the
children, who are most carefully guarded from cold, are the ones most
liable to take sudden and dangerous chills. The reason is, that, by the
too great accumulation of clothing, the skin is too much excited, and
the blood is withdrawn from the internal organs, thus weakening them,
while the skin itself is debilitated by the same process.
The rule of safety, is, so to cover the body, as to keep it entirely
warm, but not so as to induce perspiration in any part. The perspiration
induced by exercise is healthful, because it increases the appetite; but
the perspiration produced by excess of clothing is debilitating. This
shows the importance of adjusting beds and their covering to the season.
Featherbeds are unhealthful in warm weather, because they induce
perspiration; and in all cases, those, who have the care of children,
should proportion their covering by night to the season of the year.
Infants and children should never be so clothed, as either to feel
chilly, or to induce perspiration.
The greatest trouble, in this respect, to those who have the care of
children, is owing to their throwing off their covering in the night.
The best guard, against such exposures, is a nightgown, of the warmest
and thickest flannel, made like pantaloons at the lower part, and the
legs long, so that they can be tied over the feet. This makes less
covering needful, and saves the child from excessive cold when it is
thrown off.
The clothing ought always to be proportioned to the constitution and
habits. A person of strong constitution, who takes much exercise, needs
less clothing than one of delicate and sedentary habits. According to
this rule, women need much thicker and warmer clothing, when they go
out, than men. But how different are our customs, from what sound wisdom
dictates! Women go out with thin stockings, thin shoes, and open necks,
when men are protected by thick woollen hose and boots, and their whole
body encased in many folds of flannel and broadcloth.
Flannel, worn next the skin, is useful, for several reasons. It is a bad
conductor of heat, so that it protects the body from _sudden_ chills
when in a state of perspiration. It also produces a kind of friction on
the skin, which aids it in its functions, while its texture, being
loose, enables it to receive and retain much matter, thrown off from the
body, which would otherwise accumulate on its surface. This is the
reason, why medical men direct, that young children wear flannel next
the body, and woollen hose, the first two years of life. They are thus
protected from sudden exposures. For the same reason, laboring men
should thus wear flannels, which are also considered as preservatives
from infection, in unhealthy atmospheres. They give a healthy action to
the skin, and thus enable it to resist the operation of unhealthy
miasms. On this account, persons residing in a new country should wear
such clothing next the skin, to guard them from the noxious miasms
caused by extensive vegetable decompositions. It is stated, that the
fatal influence of the malaria, or noxious exhalations around Rome, has
been much diminished by this practice. But those who thus wear flannel,
through the day, ought to take it off, at night, when it is not needed.
It should be hung so that it can be well aired, during the night.
But the practice, by which females probably suffer most, is, the use of
_tight dresses_. Much has been said against the use of corsets by
ladies. But these may be worn with perfect safety, and be left off, and
still injury, such as they often produce, be equally felt. It is the
_constriction_ of dress, that is to be feared, and not any particular
article that produces it. A frock, or a belt, may be so tight, as to be
even worse than a corset, which would more equally divide the
compression.
So long as it is the fashion to admire, as models of elegance, the
wasp-like figures which are presented at the rooms of mantuamakers and
milliners, there will be hundreds of foolish women, who will risk their
lives and health to secure some resemblance to these deformities of the
human frame. But it is believed, that all sensible women, when they
fairly understand the evils which result from tight dressing, and learn
the _real_ model of taste and beauty for a perfect female form, will
never risk their own health, or the health of their daughters, in
efforts to secure one which is as much at variance with good taste, as
it is with good health.
Such female figures as our print-shops present, are made, not by the
hand of the Author of all grace and beauty, but by the murderous
contrivances of the corset-shop; and the more a woman learns the true
rules of grace and beauty for the female form, the more her taste will
revolt from such ridiculous distortions. The folly of the Chinese belle,
who totters on two useless deformities, is nothing, compared to that of
the American belle, who impedes all the internal organs in the discharge
of their functions, that she may have a slender waist.
It was shown, in the article on the bones and muscles, that exercise was
indispensable to their growth and strength. If any muscles are left
unemployed, they diminish in size and strength. The girding of tight
dresses operates thus on the muscles of the body. If an article, like
corsets, is made to hold up the body, then those muscles, which are
designed for this purpose, are released from duty, and grow weak; so
that, after this has been continued for some time, leaving off the
unnatural support produces a feeling of weakness. Thus a person will
complain of feeling so weak and unsupported, without corsets, as to be
uncomfortable. This is entirely owing to the disuse of those muscles,
which corsets throw out of employ.
Another effect of tight dress, is, to stop or impede the office of the
lungs. Unless the chest can expand, fully, and with perfect ease, a
portion of the lungs is not filled with air, and thus the full
purification of the blood is prevented. This movement of the lungs, when
they are fully inflated, increases the peristaltic movement of the
stomach and bowels, and promotes digestion; any constriction of the
waist tends to impede this important operation, and indigestion, with
all its attendant evils, is often the result.
The rule of safety, in regard to the tightness of dress, is this. Every
person should be dressed so loosely, that, _when sitting in the posture
used in sewing, reading, or study_ THE LUNGS _can be as fully
and as easily inflated, as they are without clothing_. Many a woman
thinks she dresses loosely, because, when she stands up, her clothing
does not confine her chest. This is not a fair test. It is in the
position most used when engaged in common employments, that we are to
judge of the constriction of dress. Let every woman, then, bear in mind,
that, just so long as her dress and position oppose any resistance to
the motion of her chest, in just such proportion her blood is
unpurified, and her vital organs are debilitated.
The English ladies set our countrywomen a good example, in accommodating
their dress to times and seasons. The richest and noblest among them
wear warm cotton hose and thick shoes, when they walk for exercise; and
would deem it vulgar to appear, as many of our ladies do, with thin hose
and shoes, in damp or cold weather. Any mode of dress, not suited to the
employment, the age, the season, or the means of the wearer, is in bad
taste.