Caplin - Health and Beauty (1864)/Appendix D
APPENDIX D.
WOMAN AND HER WANTS;
FOUR LECTURES TO LADIES.
BY MADAME ROXEY ANN CAPLIN.
Kent and Co. Price 1s.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"A new dress and bonnet per month, with an opera-box during the season at the very least. That is the answer which nine men out of ten would give. But this woman in a thousand directs our attention not to the clothing of her sex, but to the bones, muscles, and tissues. Her remarks are unquestionably in earnest, and very probably quite sound."—Press.
"The object of these lectures is to illustrate the effects of clothing on the health and figure of the female sex. All the deformities of after-life are due, says the authoress, to nursing and clothing. The latter of these she endeavours to set right in this very useful little book, which ably exposes the mischief of tight-lacing and the other abuses to which ladies subject nature. Madame Caplin has had great experience, and her book has considerable literary merit to boot.—Morning Chronicle, Dec. 1st, 1860.
"On the subjects treated of in this little work we have no claim to be considered authorities; but of their importance there can be no doubt. Nor can anyone who reads the brochure doubt the ability with which they are treated by Madame Caplin. Her principal views are illustrated by engravings. The writer evidently has, what few ladies can profess to have, an intimate acquaintance with the anatomical structure of the human body; and therefore her opinions are entitled to all the greater respect."—Morning Advertiser, Nov. 4th, 1860.
"These lectures take the reader into the very heart of those mysteries which attend the functions of motherhood. There is no indication of squeamishness in them; at the same time they do not descend to vulgarity. The lecturer appears to be well informed, and has the advantage of being able to free her subject from all incomprehensible technicalities."—Sunday Times, Nov. 4th, 1860.
"This title is what the French would call désespérant! What are woman's wants? Who will undertake to give the catalogue? To count them up would require advanced powers of numeration. The 'Four lectures' in question are on so much Physiology as every woman ought imperatively to know for the benefit of herself and family. These 'Lectures' are of the most simple and elementary kind—no woman ought to be ignorant of the information they contain."—Athenæum, Dec. 15th, 1860.
"The lectures are four in number:—1st on Motherhood:—2nd, Life:—3rd, Growth:—4th, Womanhood:-and each contains so much valuable information that we feel justified in recommending the book to the notice of our fair countrywomen."—The Era, Nov. 25th, 1860.
The lecturer aims at utility alone, and aims with unerring precision, treating recondite subjects with which every woman ought to be familiar, in the simplest and most graceful manner. ... For ourselves we really look upon Madame Caplin as a great benefactress of womankind."—West Surrey Times, March 9th, 1861.
THE END.