of the structure and functions of the body than an unlettered philosophical instrument maker knows of the structure of the starry heavens. Hence the requirements of the internal organs were unknown, and the line of beauty on the external figure unperceived. The old assemblage of straight lines and angular shapes, which were brought together to make up one pair of stays, was no more adapted to the preservation of the health and the display of the beauty of the body, than they were to cover a round ball without creases. And hence the just condemnation which has been bestowed on them by the medical faculty.
One reason why we succeeded where all others had failed was, perhaps, because we not only took a scientific view of the body, but a geometrical measurement of it. It would be of no interest to the general reader to give the method by which we proceeded; it is enough for us to say, that by an elaborate calculation we succeeded in meeting all the requirements of the case, and hence the perfection of our inventions. Corset making with us becomes an art which requires a scientific education to pursue it.
The result of all this care and study was the formation of a figure, in some measure ideal, but still true to life, on which our corsets might be tried, and to which they might be adapted. The figure which we give in another part of this work is one of our first designs. It is a copy from nature, but such a copy as enables one to form a conception of the beauty of the human race when the end of nature has been attained, in giving the proper development to the body. This was our first triumph: we had succeeded in inventing a muscular envelope; which, whilst it gave freedom to the motions, afforded ample support to the yielding parts. All the rest of our adaptations are only modifications of this, rendered necessary by the various physical conformations presented to us.
