CRAZE FOR THINNESS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 90, 9 January 1908, Page 3

CRAZE FOR THINNESS.

Generally speaking '(says.a writer in' the ''Queen' 1 ) most of "us eat too much, many members' of the rich a.nd 'leisured' classes' "digging '.their graves with ' their teeth" ; nevertheless, thero is - a certain' danger of going to'the'other extreme.' ' ; '

' Fashion makers-arid novelists are, wo' believo/ mainly responsible for establishing the* long, thin, willowy figure as' the ideal for,; women. Artists, whatever their sex, have certainly done little or.riothirig to fjßr'&'to'.'bK support this svelte idealrather, must., we. look "to the fashion plates or; the pages of, ,novelists (chiefly, we.fear, women • no.velists)' for tho idea that women, to look, "ladylike,", must be tall; and fragile. The highest human ideal and expression of human' beauty that the world,has'.eyer known—the Venus de Milo— is not.thin 'nor, lanky,.neither, lias she. a small waist ;-.she .is/simply perfectly' proportioned,', arid'that. is th(\. secret of her beauty. Rubens', we' admit,'erred on' the side of'stoutness. Also,, we as' .freely admit' '.the; -fleshy .women of .the. Georgian painters' ideals were too fat arid decidedly vulgar ;ibut- the penduluin has swung too far the other way, arid now even : Mr. Gilbert's "plumn and' pleasing: person." would "be generally 'rotcd''.ungraceful, and', verging 'on' the vulgar. Stout must,- of 'course, -dress with more care -than' tnose' of medium figures,- : but thin persons'it.-'is impossible to dreis with any pietenco\of affording, pleasure to tho beholder.' ' : '. ' , ■ '

Thinness, .moreover, ~i3 not only ungraceful, it-is a possiblo source of danger'. The-ma-jority: of healthy children aro fat; animals in "good condition", are generally plump. Fat itself is Nature's provision either against cold or fattiine.". When from scarcity of food, lack of appetite, or sickness, the'individual is deprived of food, ,tho body is nourished by the' hitherto superfluous tissue; fat is a. protective'to the muscles and organs lying underneath—one never knew a fat consumptive person 1: Of course- wo know that rich or well-to-do people;in England need never fear the cold or.famine: Nevertheless tho principlo'is'the same, and a proper fatness is not only -' beautiful, . but' a natural protection against various dangers. Fat'is an aid to beauty, for without it the human body would lose much of its grace. Without it- there would be no fulness, 110 flowing, lines, 110 pleasing contour, no -soft undulations, no beauty, but only utility. Let but the framework of bone and piusclo be clothed-with a natural.proportion of fat, and perfect beauty is the result. ~

But, if thinness be bad, the means employed to procuro, it are generally worse; in some cases they nro positively harmful. Many patent medicines and potions are distinctly deleterious, while most "systems' l indulged in ( without proper medical advico do, far moro , harm ■ than good, quite apart from thoir attaining tho undesirable' end iof slimncss. Thus we read of factory girls'in a northern town eating six lemons' a day, rind and all, in order to appear emaciated and look "interesting." Worse than lemons, vinegar is sometimes drunk by persons who wish to reduce thoir figures, whilo gin was Ion" supposed to. have the power, and was nsed, to. make people thin. Wo have oven heard of jtounded eggshells.being eaten with thefood-for the same pernicious purpose. But bad as these things aro in themselves, theyoften ' lead to more, dangerous. habits. For the body, weakened and vitiated by such agents, demands and receives' stimulation—too genorally satisfied with alcoholic' beverages or narcotics. In this connection it is of interest to note that a taste for "liquor sweets" is being developed. These contain, in a sugar or cocoa casing, a drop or two of rum, gin, or liqueur, and that they are oaten largely is shown by the case quoted of a poor factory girl who confessed to spending 18d. a week on them. Higher in the social scale lozenges containing drugs, either of a stimulating or sedative nature, aro eaten. Sir James Crichton-Browne believes that such sweets are largely consumed for their intoxicating properties by women, shop-girls,-and errand boys, and oven by school children. Tho drug habit, once acquired, is most difficult to gjvo up, and 110 words aro needed to emphasise the fact that it is_a most subtle ono and most pernicious in' its offoct-s. One of tho least of theso is that when seriously ill 'the drugs prescribed by the physician fail of thoir intended effect, bocause the system is so used to them they do not cause the dosired reaction, and tho doctor has to increase the dose or substitute a more powerful re-agent. Sooner or later—and sometimes'even "unto the third and fourth generation,"—man has to pay the penalty of transgression, whether in food and drink or clothing. But, fortunately for those who properly - desire to look their best —even as d<\ the birds and flowers—it ir. not- nccessary to suffer to ho beautiful. On the contrary, true beauty is the concomitant and result of health, of perfect harmony of function and surroundings, of pcrfcct balance of body and mind.