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The Science of Dress.
[CHAP. i.

sanitarians, and that the Hebrews compiled the finest code of sanitary laws which has ever been made; but during the Middle Ages all this valuable knowledge was allowed to lie shut up in books.

Had the Bible been properly studied, those terrible epidemics which decimated Europe could never have happened; yet, so great was the populor ignorance on the subject, that the Jews, whose obedience to the biblical laws saved them from many diseases then common, were, on account of this very immunity, accused of causing the diseases by witchcraft and by poisoning the wells. The present century, however, has witnessed a revival of the science of health. Health knowledge was never so widely distributed among the people as at the present time, when sanitarians are making every effort to increase it and to render it popular. In Shakespeare's time the unhealthiness of certain articles of dress was not understood, so that it is not surprising that there was no revolt against them. At present, however, Fashion's sins against Health are well understood by sanitarians, who are using their best endeavours to make the devotees of fashion understand them also, so that there is every hope that "the higher intellect" will gradually succeed in making dress truly beautiful, which it cannot be without at the same time being thoroughly healthy, for health and beauty go hand in hand.

This phrase that health and beauty go hand in hand is more than a mere alliteration, it contains a deep truth which is not sufficiently acknowledged. There is a hazy belief abroad in the beauty of