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MEDICAL INTELLIGENCER.

JOHN G. COFFIN, EDITOR.

THE BEST PART OF THE MEDICAL ART, IS THE Art of avOIDING PAIN.

VOL. 5.

TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1827.

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Unwillingly to school." Shakspeare.

IT has been truly said, by a great writer,* that "our bodies grow up under the care of nature, and depend so little on our own management, that something more than negligence is necessary to discompose their structure, or impede their vigor." What this something is, so far as regards in fancy, I have already attempted to explain; and in pursuance of the object of these Essays, I am now further to demonstrate it by its effects-as connected with clothing, diet, exercise, and educa tion,-in the stage of life betwixt infancy and manhood.

In treating of infancy, the reasoning which I have employed is applicable to both of the sexes alike; but as these are no longer confounded, either in dress or in education, so soon as they pass the limits of the infantile period the remarks now to be brought forward must be modified in their application to the one or the other sex. In the present Essay, therefore, I shall first treat of the influence of dress on health, in boy hood; and, afterwards, consider the still more important power

Johnson.

1

No. 6.

which it exerts on the physical
constitution of girls, at the same
period of life.
I am fully aware,
that as my subject advances, the
obstacles raised by the over-
whelming tyranny of fashion,
against any innovation in her re-
gulations, will necessarily in-
crease; but, as he who is desi-
not easily be daunted by opposi-
rous of instructing the public must
tion, I will not shrink from the
task which I have undertaken;
and shall feel satisfied if these
Essays produce materials for con-
the subject is likely to introduce
versation only; for a discussion of
measures which may open a path
to improvement and reformation.

1. Dress in Boyhood, as connected with Health. The circulation of the blood between the interior and the surface of the body, in the equilibrium which is requisite for the preservation of health, is readily maintained in boyhood by the restless activity which springs from the ardor of mind, buoyancy of spirits, and determination of enterprise, peculiar to this period of life. The extrication of animal heat also being in proportion to the vigor of the circulation, and the frequency of this, as indicated by the pulse in the natural state, being in the boy and the adult nearly as 9 is to 8 in the erect posture, and 8 is to 74 in the horizontal-the clothing of a healthy boy is less requisite for preserving

the due warmth of the body, than at any other period of life; and, if the climate of Great Britain were less variable in its temperature, little care would be required in boyhood to preserve health by dress. The everchanging sky, however, connected with our insular situation-besides the natural delicacy of constitution which many men receive at birth, and the artificial state of society in which we live, render an attention to dress essential, even in that stage of our existence in which the greatest portion of bodily vigor may naturally be expected.

The most important object of dress, in both sexes, in a rude state of society, is to defend the body against the inclemency of the weather. As men advance in civilization, that which was at first a mere covering of the person, becomes also a medium for the display of taste; and the form and fashion of our clothes in boyhood are determined by our parents, often more with a view to the gratification of their ideas of elegance and grace, than for utility. In early life, the exuberance of our animal spirits, and the carelessness of our nature, would naturally make us perfectly indifferent either to the quality or the condition of our attire-but, as we rapidly catch the infection of folly, it is not uncommon to see boys of ten and twelve years of age consummate coxcombs in dress, resembling, in miniature, the most fashionable of those whose lives are spent in exhibiting themselves as paripatetic blocks to display the productions of tailors, hatters, and bootmakers. Could this gratification be always effected without calling

into action that something which, more than negligence, discomposes the structure and impedes the vigor of the youthful frame, it would be of little moment whether good taste, caprice, or fashion, directed the choice; but health is too often sacrificed to taste and fashion; and it is therefore necessary to point out those circumstances connected with dress which ought to be considered in the clothing of boys.

Whatever has a tendency to check the growth of the body, or to impede the free exercise of the limbs, is injurious in boyhood. Independent, therefore, of the bad moral influence of too studied an attention to dress on the youthful mind, nothing can be more injurious to health than the tight jackets buttoned up to the throat, the wellfitted boots, and the stiff stocks, which characterize many of the little, beardless fops of the present day. The poor boys walk as if they were trussed for the spit, unable to look down, or to turn their heads, and capable of using their arms only to dangle a little cane, or to draw a handkerchief from a side pocket. The consequence of this preposterous mode of dressing boys, is diminutive manhood, deformity of person, and a constitution either already imbued with disease, or highly susceptible of its impression. Let us see the effect of an opposite plan. If the clothes of a boy be sufficiently loose to admit the unrestrained action of the muscles and the joints, the growth of the body is not impeded; the chest, therefore, expands, the limbs are filled up, the shoulders increase in breadth, the stature rises, and the entire frame, acquiring symmetry and strength in

all its parts, is rendered capable, sily torn or destroyed; but, as my remarks are intended to refer only to the connexion of dress with health, I have merely to mention this general principle as necessary in guiding the selection of the material for the dress of boys, that it should be of a light and spongy nature. The object of this is to preserve, as much as possible, the equable temperature of the surface; and, on the same principle, loose clothing, which I have already stated to be necessary for facility of movement, is preferable to tight clothing, owing to the air which is involved in it, and interposed betwixt it and the skin, being a bad conductor of heat, and, consequently, carrying off less of the animal heat from the surface than is conveyed away when the clothes are applied close to the body. The greater vascularity and irritability of the skin in boyhood than in adult age render perspiration easily excited and very copious in boys; and much care, therefore, is requisite to make the clothing of such materials as will readily absorb the fluid exudations of the skin, and prevent the perspiration from being suddenly checked. Some may think that these fears of the dangerous effects of checked perspiration are visionary as relating to boyhood; and, besides many instances of boys, who, while perspiring freely, have thrown off their clothes, and taken other means of checking troublesome perspiration, with impunity, those who advocate the hardening system may cite the old story of the Roman youths, who, whilst covered with sweat and dust, and hot from the violent exercises of the Campus Martius, plunged into the Tiber. Expe

not only of every manly function, but of the most powerful exertion, both scorning labor and remaining unsubdued by fatigue. It requires little judgment to determine, which of these modes of dressing a boy is best adapted to secure that true beauty of person and gracefulness of gesture, in adult age, which constitute, as far as relates to form, the perfection of the male species. No part of the modern dress of boys is more absurd, than the stiff stock or neckcloth; it is not only injurious, by pressing on the jugular veins, and impeding the free egress of the blood from the head; but at this period of life, by constantly pressing on the numerous and complex muscles of the neck, it prevents their growth, even produces a waste of them, and, consequently unfits them for those varied actions which nature undoubtedly intended them to perform. Indeed it would be a great improvement were this part of dress altogether discarded; for, even in manhood, nothing is less tasteful than the envelopement of the neck-a very handsome feature in the human bust-in several folds of muslin, or in the armature of three or four inches of a black stock, stiffened with hogs' bristles, leather, or buckram. As cramping the body, also, and pressing on the pectoral muscles, the great levers, of the arms, I must condemn the use of braces for boys; the whole dress should hang from the shoulders; but it should not press on any part of the body. With regard to the material for dressing boys, if we regarded utility only, it should be such as should admit of friction and stretching, without being ea

rience has, however, explained these circumstances, without setting aside the propriety of caution, when the body is perspiring freely, even at this period of life. Perhaps the best materials for shirts and underclothing for boys are calico in summer and flannel in winter, because both these substances are well adapted for absorbing perspiration. I have remarked, in a former Essay, the impropriety of covering the head in infancy; and I am also inclined to think, that the hat, as used in this country, is both too heavy and too warm. Nature has provided a natural covering for the head in the hair, and, therefore, any additional protection may be regarded rather as ornamental than essential; an intention which the modern hat certainly does not fulfil. To shade the face from the sun is scarcely requisite in our climate, except in the very height of summer; and though it may be necessary to guard the hair from damp and rain, yet caps of much lighter materials, and of a more elegant and becoming form, might be advantageously substituted for the hat. Were I required to give an example of the healthfulness of keeping the head uncovered in the open air in youth, I need only to point to the boys of Christ's Church Hospital as affording the most satisfactory proof. On the whole, so far as concerns dress, the health of boys is best preserved,

1. By the clothing being loose, ample in all its parts, free from pressure, and as devoid of ligatures or bindings as possible.

2. By the material of which the clothes are made being of a light, spongy texture, fitted to

retain air in its substance, and absorb perspiration; and,

3. By the covering of the head being light, and adapted to permit the perspiration of the head to be freely exhaled.

II. Dress in young Girls, as connected with health.-The same general principles which should regulate the dress of boys are applicable to that of girls; but there are, besides, circumstances peculiar to the sex which require a distinct management. The greater delicacy of the female frame would lead to the rational inference that the surface of the body requires to be more protected from atmospherical alternations and kept warmer in girls than in boys. The opposite custom, however, prevails; and while boys are clad in warm woollen vestments, which cover every part of the trunk,-the shoulders, chest, and arms of girls are left exposed, and even the part of the body which is covered can scarcely be said to be kept warm, from the very nature of the apparel which fashion dictates to be proper for females. But as one of the felicities of life arises from the contemplation of beauty, and as the perfection of this is to be found in the female form, it would be absurd to think of covering our fair countrywomen like the inmates of the Zenana, who are carefully shrouded by their vestments when travelling, lest they should happen to fall under any other eye than that of a husband or a father. It is owing to this contrariety to the demands of nature, that so many of this loveliest part of creation fall victims to consumption in the morning of life. If the pleasure, therefore, which we enjoy from the beauty

displayed in the female form requires that parts of it be left exposed to the eye, let us at least secure it in health and vigor, till it attains that perfection which is its attractive essence, and by which only it can fascinate. The propriety of elegance in the fashion of female attire, and of delicacy and lightness in the texture of the material of which it is composed, I am willing to admit; but while the outer garments are gauze or lace, the surface of the body should be cased in flannel or in calico, according to the severity of the season, and the dresses be so constructed as to cover the chest completely. But it is the form of the modern female attire, rather than its texture, which proves so injurious to the growing girl; for, as the irritability of the frame is great at this period, everything which can impede its functions produces a tendency to disease; and, in conjunction with exposure of the surface to cold and atmospherical variations, symptoms of glandular obstructions too often make their appearance, the assimilation of the food is incomplete, and enlargements of the joints occur, which generally, as the girl advances in growth, terminate in distortion of the spine. To prevent this evil, which is generally regarded as the consequence rather of natural delicacy of constitution than of mismanagement, various contrivances have been produced at different periods: of these, the most ancient is the stays, or stiff boddice, which is, nevertheless, a most frequent cause of distortion among girls. I am aware that it is almost hopeless to preach this doctrine to those mothers who attend more to model the figure

than to develope the intellectual faculties of their daughters, and in whose eyes the hourglass shape, or some other equally preposterous, the transitory cre ation of fashion, is the perfection of the female form. To those, however, who more rationally regard beauty of face and symmetrical elegance of person, desirable only when heightened by the glow and vigor of health, I need only mention, that the present fashion of stays, by pressing on the liver, the stomach, and other organs of digestion, obstructs their natural functions from being properly executed; and, though the chest appears to be expanded and free, yet the pressure below, by impeding the due descent of the diaphragm, interferes greatly with the function of respiration, on the proper performance of which the preservation of health almost wholly depends. If, for example, the blood, which is the nutritious principle for building up the fabric and supplying the natural waste of the frame, be not properly revivified by exposure to the action of the air in the lungs, the heart soon loses its power for propelling it with sufficient force through the bloodvessels; these are enfeebled, become incapable of maintaining duly the vital fluid in its current, till it reaches the extreme capillaries and the secreting organs, which being improperly supplied with the pabulum of their productions, the assimilation must be defeated, and even if diseases do not supervene, the body falls into a state of direct debility. It is a very frequent remark, that whilst we find one crooked boy, there are twenty deformed girls. I will not deny that this is partly to be attri

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