The Physical Development of Women.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 896, 3 May 1889, Page 4

The Physical Development of Women.

Scribner’s Magazine. The principal characteristics of general form that distinguish women from men are smaller muscles, sloping shoulders, broader hips, and • shorter legs. Of these characteristics the smaller muscle : aud shorter legs may be said to be embryonic, while the superior breadth of hips indicates a greater evolutionary advancement in this part of the body than fcas taken place in man. The eonstricted waist we must regard as a deformity artificially produced, and it may be likened to the cramped feet of the Chinese and the flattened heads of the Peruvians. In women of the primitive ages there could have been no waist, and in some of the Indian tribes of the present time there is no evidence of the slightest bodily constriction in this region. What, then, is the primary cause of the narrow contracted waist as seen in woman throughout the civilised world today ? At the time of the worship of the beautiful by the Greeks, women quickly discerned the harmonious curves and symmetrical lines that received the approval of the men of that age, and they fashioned themselves accordingly. The ideals predominating at that time have been transmitted to us in marble and bronze, and illustrate the highest ideals of feminine beauty and loveliness of figure. As soon as the moral fibre of the Greeks grew lax the courtesans set the fashion, and in order to make the hips more prominent the graceful curve ot the pelvis was gradually increased by constricting tho waist with a manylayered girdle. This custom was then carried to such an extent that, according to Cerviotte, Hippocrates ‘ vigorously reproached the ladies of Cos for too tightly compressing their ribs and thus interfering with their breathing powers.’ The custom was imitated by the Romans, aad the works of Martial and Galen frequently allude to the unnaturally small waist of the women of their times. In fact, stays and breast-bands were regarded by Galen as the cause of many of the evils attribut: d to them at the present day. This art of constricting the waist has 'flourished at different periods in different ages for the past three thousand years. From an anatomical point of view, the tissues of a woman do not differ materially from the tissues of a man. The bones, museles, arteries, and nerves are similarly constituted, and are governed by the same laws in their development. So, also, are the heart, lungs, stomach, and brain. Any. thing that will impair the function of an organ in one sex will certainly interfere with its action in the other. If you put a tight bandage around the waist of a man, the pbysiological functions of the abdominal and thoracic organs are for the time impaired, and the man is unable to make more than two-thirds of the mental and physical exertion of which he is capable. When we reflect that woman has constricted her body for oenturies, we believe that to this fashion alone is due much of her failure to realise her best opportunities for development, and through natural heritage to advance the mental and physical progress of the race. We are the more firmly convinced of this fact from the rapid advancement that women make in health, strength and physical improvement under favourable circumstances. This would seem to indicate that tbeir bodies had been held in arrears and wera pining for freedom of movement and exercise.

In order to ascertain the influence of tight clothing upon the action of the heart during exercise a dozen young women consented this Bummer to run 540 yards in their loose gymnasium garments, and then to run the same distance with corsets on. The running time was two minutes and thirty seconds for each person at each trial, and in order that there should be no cardiao excitement or depression following the first test, the second trial was made the following day, Before beginning the running the average heart impulse was 84 beats to the minute; after running the above-named distance the heart impulse was 152 beats to the minute ; the average natural waist girth being 25 inches. The next day corsets were worn during the exercise, and the average girth of waist was reduced to 24 inches. The same distance was run in the same time ty all, and immediately afterward the average heart impulse was found to be 168 beats per minute. When I state that I should feel myself justified in advising an athlete not to enter a running or rowing race whose heart impulse was 160 beats per xninnte after a little exercise, even though there were not the slightest evidence of disease, one can form some idea of the wear and tear on this important organ, and the physiological loss entailed upon the system in women who force it to labour for over half their lives undergsuch a disadvantage as the tight corset imposes. Iu order to ascertain the effect of tight clothing upon respiration, the spirometer was tried. The average natural girth of the chest over the ninth rib was 28 inches, and with corsets 26 inches. The average lung capacity when corsets were worn was 134 cubic inches; when the corsets were removed the test showed an average lung capacity of 167 cubic inches—a gain of 33 cubic inches. Who can estimate its value to the entire system ? Why preach the gospel of fresh air to women who deliberately throw away 20 per cent, of it by the use of tight stays and corsets ? Why waste so much time and energy in talking about the physical development of women ? Do they not already outnumber the men in the civilised world ; and are they expected to engage in occupations requiring great muscular strength or exertion ? My first answer would be that, for their own sakes, they ought to have an equal chance with ■men for realising the full perfection of their being. If physical training is necessary to secure the best types of men, it is equally important as an agent toward securing the fullest development of women.