Noyxmbxr 5, 1859.] DRESS AND ITS VICTIMS. 389
vessels, and its importance os connecting the
whole body with the brain, is now subject to so
little pressure that we have only to hope that the
relaxation will go on till there is none at alL
Twenty years ago, people said, you might know a
philanthropist in America by his turn-down collar,
os an evangelical lady was supposed to be known
in England by a poke-bonnet; but the turn-down
collars, with a mere block ribbon or light scrap of
coloured silk, long ago won their way far beyond
the ranks of the professional friends of mankind.
Those who have the sense and courage to wear
the natural “comforter, ” which gives warmth
without pressure — the beard — improve their
chances for a sound throat, a clear head, and o-
long life. The hat is now, apparently, the only
irrational part of the Englishman’s dress; and so
many strange devices ore upon trial as a substi-
tute for it, that we may safely leave it to the
wearers to select some head-covering which shall
defend the eyes and brain, be light and easy to
carry, and admit air freely.
A new danger, however, has arisen with the invention of waterproof clothing. My readers may have found themselves tortured, or have seen some friend in agony, with an unaccountable tooth-ache or face-ache, coming on at the counting-house or office, day after day, and may have traced it to wearing goloshes, which people wear now as if they were meant to serve instead of shoes, whereas they ore fit only for passing from place to place in wet weather. Take off the goloshes or (winch is nearly the same thing) the patent-leather shoes of the children in a school or a family, and you will find their stockings all damp. Keep on your waterproof cloak at a lecture, and you will find everything you wear moist and steaming before you go out into the air again. This wear of impervious clothing, otherwise than in walking in the rain, is the cause of much ailment in these early times of the use of gutta-percha. Men who wear pervious clothing at all times, except when in the rain, have really little to do in the way of dress reform.
It is much otherwise with women. Their clothing does not protect them from cold, heat, damp, or glare. Some few uncover the chest and arms under trying circumstances of heat and draught: but they are few; and they must have heard all that can be said to them in the way of warning. The great body of Englishwomen — those of the middle and lower classes — have usually some sort of covering from the throat to the hands and feet, but it is too seldom judicious in degree or* quality. The modern linsey petti- coats are excellent as for as they go; but it is certain that the working- women of our country ore too thoroughly weaned from the woollen clothing of their ancestors. At present, too, no woman who adopts the fashion of the hoop in any form is properly guarded against the climate. Any medical man in good practice can tell of the spread of rheumatism since women ceased to wear their clothing about their limbs, and stuck it off with frames and hoops, admitting damp and draught, with as little rationality os if they tried to make an umbrella serve the purpose of a bonnet.
Then, observe the head and the feet. The eyes are unsheltered from sun and wind, and the most important region of the head is exposed by the bonnets which Englishwomen are so weak as to wear in imitation of the French. Again, the doctors have their painful tale to tell of neuralgic pains in the face and head, which abound beyond all prior experience, of complaints in the eyes, and all the consequences that might be anticipated from the practice of lodging the bonnet on the nape of the neck, and leaving all the fore part of the skull exposed. Why the bonnet is worn at all is the mystery. A veil, white or black, would be considered on absurdity os a substitute for the bonnet in a climate like ours; but it would be actually more serviceable than the handful of flimsy decorations now usurping the place of the useful, cheap, and pretty straw bonnet, which suits all ages in its large variety. There are the hats, to be sure, winch young ladies wear so becomingly. They are hardly simple enough in form for a permanence, but they are substantially unexceptionable for youthful wearers. Their advantages unfortunately tempt elderly ladies to put them on; but the class of mistaken wearers of hats is not a very large one, and we may let them pass. In praising the hat, however, I am thinking of the Bort that has a brim. The new and brimless invention is nearly as bad as the bonnet for use, while more fantastic. A chimney- pot hat with a toll upright plume may possibly suit a volunteer rifle corps or a regiment of Amazons rehearsing for the opera, but it is not very English in taste.
The fearful spread of throat and chest diseases is ascribed, by those who should know best, mainly to the modem notion of muffling up the throat in furs and other heating substances. Before the boa came in, we heard little of any one of the tribe of throat diseases which we now meet at every turn. Some ladies carry a boa all through the summer, and many tie up their throats with a silk handkerchief whenever they go abroad, in all seasons; suffering their retribution in hoarsenesses, bronchitis, sorethroat, and other ailments never endured by those who cultivate more hardy habits, and reserve such wraps for very special occasions. People who use cold water in some form of bath every day of the year, and who give their faces and throats to the bracing air, under the safeguard of vigo- rous personal exercise, forget what colds and coughs ore.
As for the other "point — the feet — it is to be feared that some are still sent to the grave by thin shoes. The danger of gutta-percha and patent-leather shoes has been referred to. The Balmoral boots of the day would be admirable but for the military heels. Those heels throw the foot into an unnatural posture, by which a great strain is produced. If my readers happen to be acquainted with a respectable chiropodist, let them inquire the recent news of bunions — that severest of small maladies. They will learn that there has been an unheard-of increase and aggra- vation of bunions since the high-heeled boots came in. The danger of falls is also considerable: and
those who have a dread of a long tumble down the