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CHAP. VII.]
Boys' Suits.
99

up his legs." And then I cite the case of his little sister, who being a delicate child had always had her limbs well protected, and is now about the best grown child of her age that I know. Yet I cannot make that lady understand the influence which to my mind has determined the development of these two children. She cannot or will not believe that the saving of heat in the one assisted her growth, while the other's constant loss of heat hindered his. And yet all the other conditions affecting the two children are so identical that I positively cannot assign any other cause for the difference between them.

It is no less instructive than interesting to observe what a marked increase takes place in the growth, and improvement in the health, of boys, when from the ordinary improper clothing of young children they are promoted to the trousers or knickerbockers and stockings, with the jacket and waistcoat of schoolboy life. The body is now properly covered, and a quantity of food material formerly used up to develop heat is now appropriated to the purpose of growth. The trousers are supported by fitting closely over the hips and by braces, which help to distribute their weight; the cut of the jacket and waistcoat permit the arms to move freely, and the chest is not compressed in any way; whereas formerly, the dress cut low in the neck (see Plate 5, line C, D), slipped down on the shoulders, binding, as it were, the arms to the sides, and preventing the full expansion of the lungs. The boy can now stand erect, and his arms,