THE " PINCH " OF FASHION.

Tbo evil consequences of tight lacing are universally admitted. Ladies, however, generally refuse to acknowledge that tight lacing is at all common. Bach possessor of a small waist claims tbat it is a gift of JSaturc, n>t a work of art, and wesrs a corset, not for the purpose of compressing hers-hape into a narrow circumference, but merely as a comfortable, if not necessary, support. The joint in dispute is interesting, BDd as a contribution to its discussion we Eubmit the subjoined figurts, taken fiom the Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal, which appears to have gone to some trouble in investigating the matter The statistics, we may observe, are supplied by a large city firm, with whom corsets are a speciality. The top line gives the size of the corset in inches, and the figur<s beneath the actual number sold of each size : — Women's Corsets— Per 100, Town and

. Country. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 10 15 16 16 14 10 8 4 3 2

Our readers must draw their own conclusions from these figures, bat they g > a long way in support of the inference that tight lacing ;s more common than ladies are willing to admit, indeed, one of two conclusions ia inevitable. Either the race is deterioratißg by the tendency to an abnormal contraction of the waist, and the consequent limitation of the space necessary for the healthy action of the vital organs, or there is a widespread habit of artificially producing the same result. In either case, the sooner the mischief is recognised the better.

A similar habit of unnatural compression is decreed by fashion in the wear of gloves, as will be seen by the followins figures, obtained from an eminent wholesale and manufacturing firm in the glove trade :—: —

GLOVIS — PEB 100 DOZENS.

Sizes 5£ 5f 6 6* 6£ 6f 77*7* 7| 8 2 buttons 2 616 20 18 14 12 8 4 4 buttons 1 416 20 26 18 8 6 1 6 buttons 4 820 25 20 16 8 1 To such an extent is the practice carried of buying gloves too small lor the hand that the firm have found it necessary to issue circularr, calling attention to the babit as being destructive to the gloves, and detrimental to the reputation of the manufacturers. The mischief to the wearer is perhaps less obvious, but it is none the lees real, as the circulation thereby is senßibly impeded. This is bo well known that n the endeavor to revive a person from a fainting fit, it is a common precauti >n to remove tht gloves.