DRESSES AND DISEASE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4259, 19 January 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

DRESSES AND DISEASE

Attention, lias already been, called, by a leader in the “Times/’ to the most unpleasant but very important subject or I the dissemination of tuberculosis, in all j its fatal forms, by the trailing skirts which are worn by many women. In the leader of 22nd October the writer rails against the tyranny of fashion in many of its aspects and at all times, * satirising with unsparing pen the fellies I that accompany its reign, but at the , samo.time unconsciously showing the in'ftnenCe of this tyranny upon himself by j advocating in his own leader what lie" I terms the common sense shown in “the i retention of the topper,'' and asking the 1 question as to whether President Kruger would have attained his ascendancy, I if, instead of a chimney pot, he haa worn a colonial hat. With regard to the vagaries of female fashions, the writer (says the “Queen"; regards them as too inscrutable for discussion; neivertheles, he /Immediately proceeds to discuss them, and inquires whether the rapid changes are due to the proverbial fickleness of the sex or to | the exigencies of the millinery and dress- j making trades, admitting that the chan- j ges are endless, and often opposed to common sense, as instanced in the costly skirts which trailed in the tnud and ( dust. The discussion thus begun was followed by a letter obviously from a well-informed medical man. who, after alluding to the abortive attempts whicn have been made from time to time to reintroduce the odious, offensive and indecent fashion of the crinoline, recounted at length the dangers of tne trailing skirt. The writer calls attention to the reports which so often appear in the columns of the daily papers on the ravages of consumption, and on the efforts to combat the disorder, and states that “sensible _ women ought to recognise the connection between street expectoration, trailing '.skirts and the spread of this fatal disease.” He .goes on to state, truly, thfifc the mud-stained and dusty skirt tail, laden with disease germs must be brushed by a maid servant, that is to say, by persons predisposed to infection by an indoor life, which tends to develop the condition in which this disease may be readily contracted. He saya t hat doubtless the filthy skirt is often brushed in the neighbourhood of food, and that it is necessary that some ladies of influence and position should be induced to take up the matter and obtain information and support from medical authorities. Looked at abstractly and without any reference to custom or fashion, no practice in the world could be regarded as more dirty and offensive than that which dictates that a woman shall walk about with a skirt trailing in the nameless abominations of the streets. It is difficult for a man who thinks of the matter to conceive how it is possible that any cleanly and decently-minded woman could possibly do so, but it has become the custom, and the votaries of fashion will continue to obey tuo absurd and loathsome dictates as long as the fathionvexists. It is useless to attempt to i-eiison'against if, because fashion and

reason have not the remotest connection with one another. It is now perfectly well known that tubercular disease arises from the dissemination of minute living organisms or bacilli. These are readily diffused, and if inhaled, even by healthy persons, are able to produce the disease, and are almost certain to do so in those that are predisposed to consumption or tuberculosis in any form. No more ready mode could possibly be devised than the collection of these bacilli from the street pavements and their dissemination in the atmosphere of a house into which the clothes are taken. So thoroughly recognised l is the dissemination of tuberculosis from this cause, that in the lifts of our electric railways and in our tramcars and omnibuses, especially those run by the London County Council, notices are placed requesting that tho filthy habit of spitting should not be indulged in. This, is obviously ' not merely dictated by a desire for decent cleanliness, but to prevent the dissemination of the disease, the value of the recently introduced practice of treating consumption in the open air is due to tho inhaling of an atmosphere free from bacilli. It is l, as difficult to account for the prevalence of the trailing skirt as for any other fashionable folly. It is sometimes _ asserted to ho maintained by the vanity of a woman, who wishes to show that expense is to her no object, and that she can afford to drag costly silks and laces in tho gutter, and the argument that if is more graceful than a short skirt is generally advanced in its favour. But it is obvious that ninetenths of the women who wear these trailing dresses -do so from no other motive than that it is tho fashion, which thov are bound to follow.