backs, crooked knees, or stiff joints, nor indeed right-handed and left-handed people; for as each limb receives an equal share of exercise, all will be alike under the command of the will; for this is indeed what is accomplished in physical education. No organ is created, but all are brought under the dominion of mind.
Amongst the causes, however, which produce spinal deviations in young ladies, there is none that is more general than improper clothing. Fashion has superseded utility to such an extent amongst the rich, that the limbs of the young are contracted by their dress; and amongst the poor a want of skill in the adaptation of the materials to the form of the body is so common, that it is a rare thing indeed to see anyone who can be said to be properly clothed. We boast much, and we have reason to do so, of the superiority of the West over the East; but in the proper art of dressing, that is, in the adaptation of the materials worn to display the form and beauty of the body, we are far behind many of the rude nations of antiquity, and also of the partially civilized Asiatic races. Look at the figure on the preceding page, and then say if any dress can be more unnatural than the present costume?
