TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 370, 13 September 1930, Page 20 (Supplement)

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

COBSET WEARING FOLLIES.

It is worse than criminal, it is stupid, to put a whalebone contraption round the body of a. strong young animal; the human body is built to stand by itself; the muscles, the ligaments, the bones, are all arranged most beautifully to give full and ample support to the internal organs. It is harmful and unnecessary to put corsets on a well-made body. You might as well put corsets on the winner of the Derby (the horse, I mean, not the owner). You would make the horse roar with laughter at the mere suggestion; he would reply that his own muscles were quite strong enough, thank you, and required no support. You may smile at me for being so violent in my opinions, but I can remember the time when a young girl going to her first ball would be told to raise her hands above her head while darling mother and lady’s maid combined their efforts to pull tight the strings of the corsets. Those were the days when the impress of the ribs was found on the liver after death, and the horrible deformity of the liver would be pointed out to the medical students watching the post-mortem. Abdominal Weakness. The two things that weaken the abdominal wall are child-bearing and obesity. The abdominal walls are stretched and, unless due care is taken, they never regain their elasticity. Husbands of poor women are utterly without regard for their comfort and wellbeing; husbands are a nuisance. The wretched mother has nine children in as rapid succession as the husband can manage. A few days after the baby is born the husband expects his wife to get up and do the washing, and he will not help even in lifting and carrying the heavy basket. How can the poor fellow offer to help? He has to attend meetings when he is not busy standing at the corner of the street. Well, the unfortunate abdominal muscles go on strike; they give way like the sides of an old portmanteau; when the walls give way the insides tend to fall. When Support is Necessary. Now it is of no uso waxing sarcastic about the poor women with muscles that have fallen away to nothing. The mother of ten children who happens also to be the wife of a hulking, selfish husband cannot be expected to have the splendid muscles of a racehorse or a pugilist or a gymnasium mistress. She need a belt for general support, and it ought to be to fit her. I do no laugh at her for wearing corsets, poor thing. If she does not wear some support she will get more uncomfortable as time goes on. To sum the matter up, keep your figure right by the unaided efforts of your own muscles as long as you can; if, from no fault of your own, the muscles fail, use an artificial support. And mind you go to a good firm. Don’t Get Fat.

Obesity may lead to the wearing of a belt, but obesity is against my principles. If I had my way I would tax fat men a pound a year for every stone over the right amount. What right has a fat man to come and smother me in the tram or the ’bus? Look at me. You know how old I am, and I have the figure of an officer in the Guards. I should not be ashamed of reeling down the High-street because I had had a glass of beer too much, but I should never be able to look any of you in the face if I walked down the High-street with a disgustingly protuberant waistcoat that proved I had eaten too much. Eating too much is a shocking vice; obesity is a crime. I have learnt my anatomy and physiology; I know the use of the heart, the liver, the lungs, and all the rest of the organs, but what on earth is the us© of a mass of suet beneath the waistcoat? You know those bladders of lard they sell at the grocer’s? Why, good gracious, if you opened me up on the operating table and put half a dozen bladders of lard in my tummy and sewed me up again I should then have the appearance cf some of you. Laugh by all means; I like you to laugh, but don’t grow fat. The Pillar Ttat. When I was in Cairo I was taken to the ruins of an ancient Mosque where two pillars had been erected close to each other. These pillars had been bewitched by a powerful magician, and they retained their mysterious influence down to the present day. They formed a test of character. If a man had a good character and a elean conscience he could always squeeze between the pillars, however fat he was; if, on the other hand, his soul was black with evil deeds, he would never get between the pillars, however thin he may be. You may judge with what confidence I approached the pillars in spite of the entreaties of my friends, who were persuading me not to give myself away. Did I get through all right? Ah, that’s telling tales out of school. But I had my photograph taken, and the picture certainly looks as though I were just emerging from between the magic pillars, and a camera cannot lie.' I will not discuss the subject further except to say that I am arranging to have two somewhat similar pillars erected in your market-place, and all those who cannot get through will be taxed for the benefit of the local hospial. Tend to the Young. Do you suppose I am going to remain silent when you go to the flower show to receive first prize for delphiniums, and you send your anaemic daughter up to the Lady Mayoress to receive the cup. If you gave one-tenth of the thought to your family that you give to your plant you would realise a lot of things. Your daughter sleeps iu a small room with three other human beings, and the air in the morning is anything but fresh. You successfully knock the fresh air idea on the head in your own home. You will get first prize for the stuffiest bedroom in the whole town. You will get dishonourable mention for headaches. I wish you would christen your daughters after flowers. Call them Daisy, end Rose, and Lily; or, if that is too oldfashioned for you, call them Delphinium (Delphie for short), Celandine, and Calceolaria. Anything to remind you that girls, like flowers, must hav© abundance of fresh air. Be a gardener by all means, but let the little growing plants in your nursery be your first care.