Caplin - Health and Beauty (1864)/Introduction
INTRODUCTION.
IN an introduction to a work of the kind which we here present to the public, the reader will expect to find some clear definition of our purpose and a general outline of the principles which are to guide us throughout the whole of our labours; and this we may promise at the very outset. Our object is clear and definite, and we hope to make it plain to every one who will bestow a very limited attention to what we have written.
Clothing is not only a want of mankind, but it is one of those wants upon which people are disposed to bestow the greatest amount of consideration. In two ways the clothing is supposed to represent the wearer. The coarse Jersey frock and fustian jacket advertise the labourer, whilst the superfine cloth and elegant fit indicate the taste and habits of the gentleman; but it is not simply in these things that clothes are symbolical. The extreme of fashion generally indicates the fop, and however fine the materials and faultless the fit there is something stamped upon the individual that indicates a want of brain, and leads us to expect to find that frivolity of character which is generally associated with it. Now every one wishes to dress well, not simply that the clothing should be of good quality and the fashion unquestioned, but as they prefer pleasure to pain, so far they desire that the articles worn should be adapted to the body, and afford all the protection and comfort that is derived from well-made articles of clothing.
There is one distinction between ours and all other books on dress that have come under our observation, and that is, that we are dealing with the necessary and not the ornamental part of clothing. Most authors who have written upon this subject have confined their attention to the history of costume, or the absurdity or elegance of some particular fashion, or of the harmony of the colours and relation of the dress to the figure of the individual, and hence have dealt only with the exterior. We, on the contrary, have commenced from within, have analysed the wants and noted the structure of all the internal organs, and then adapted the clothing that envelopes them in such a manner as not only to preserve the health, but to impart the greatest benefit to the wearer.
Many will suppose that we have given far too prominent a place to the Corset in the following pages; but we have two reasons for the special advocacy bestowed upon this much abused but still indispensable article of female attire. In the first place, whilst ladies wear petticoats it is absolutely necessary to have some basis of support upon which they may rest without compressing the body with strings, which must necessarily act as ligatures wherever they are tied. A foundation was therefore necessary upon which the whole superstructure of the clothing could be reared, and by which the weight might be distributed equally upon every part of the frame; and in the second place we have often to hide defects, and not unfrequently to give support in cases of spinal deformities—stooping of the body or twist of the shoulders when debility or habit have impaired the natural erect and graceful attitude which the perfectly-developed frame should always assume. We have therefore bestowed special attention on this article, since we are fully convinced that no lady can be properly dressed without it, unless indeed she should adopt the Oriental costume.
The principal writers upon the subject of Corsets have been medical men, who, great as is their knowledge of their part of the question, certainly know nothing of ours; and hence what they have written has been almost entirely without practical utility. If a corset-maker wrote an essay upon any medical contrivance—say, for instance, the use of the lancet or blister—we expect that she would meet with the derision of the whole faculty; and the medical practitioner must not be angry if he also should excite a smile when he speaks of things with which he also is unacquainted. That our readers may perfectly comprehend what we mean we insert here an extract from a medical work of the very highest authority, which contains at one view all the merits and demerits of this class of writers. The evils are all portrayed by a master hand, but there is not one hint that can be of the least service to the world by way of remedying it.
"In connexion with the use of stays the usual mode of their construction requires some notice. Whilst they are so made as to press downwards and together the lower ribs; to reduce the cavity of the chest, especially at its base; to press injuriously upon the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, and colon, and even partially to displace those vital organs; they leave the upper region of the chest exposed—those very regions where tubercular consumption, bronchial and inflammatory diseases generally commence, or are most prone to attack—to the vicissitudes of season, weather, temperature, humidity, and external injury. These noxious and unnecessary articles of clothing—these mischievous appliances to the female form, useful only to conceal defects and make up deficiencies in appearance—are rendered still more injurious by the number of unyielding, or only partially yielding, supports with which they are constructed on every side. These are the whalebones in the back and sides, and steel in front, extending from nearly the top of the sternum almost to the pubes. The motions of the trunk and spine are thereby restrained, and the nutrition of the compressed parts impaired; but, irrespective of the displacement of vital and assimilative viscera that follows the amount of pressure, the metal support in front has an injurious effect which has been universally overlooked. However well it may be protected from contact with the surface, it acts as a conductor of animal warmth and of the electromotive agency passing through the frame; it carries off by its polarization into the surrounding air, especially during humid states of the atmosphere, the electricity of the body, this agent being necessary to the due discharge of the nervous functions either in its electro-galvanic or magneto-electric state of manifestation. The injurious influence of stays on the female economy, as respects not only diseases of the spinal column but also the disorders of the uterine organs, is manifest to all who consider the subject."—Dr. Copeland's Medical Dictionary, p. 855.
We have selected the above extract from Dr. Copeland, because he is one of the most able, learned, and judicious medical writers of this day, and one, too, whose work will be read for a long time to come, as his "Dictionary of Practical Medicine" is an elaborate digest of the whole circle of medical literature. But let everyone adhere to their own profession; for it is evident to us that the Doctor knows no more about stay-making than we do of Sanscrit.
We are quite agreed upon the point, that "the use of stays and their present mode of construction require some consideration;" but our consideration should be how to improve them. Improve them? the Doctor seems to say; why, do away with them altogether. Pray do not hasten to your conclusion too rapidly, Sir. Supposing we adopted the same reasoning in reference to physic? We would say, and say truly, that it is nauseous to the palate, and upon the highest medical authority we might affirm that it is uncertain in its operation; but more than this, whatever Dr. A. prescribes, Dr. B. will condemn, and Drs. C. and D. will differ from both of them. Shall we then "throw physic to the dogs," knowing well, at the same time, that they will not take it? Nay, we know the profession too well; know that their skill, science, and experience will ever be invaluable to mankind; and know also that their only hope of maintaining their present honourable position before the public is by adapting their system to the wants of humanity. We cheerfully concede all this to the faculty, and only ask in return to be measured by the same standard.
It never seems to have occurred to the Doctor that ladies must and will wear stays, in spite of all the medical men in the world. The strong and perfect feel the benefit of using them, and to the weak and delicate, or imperfect, they are absolutely indispensable; but when we say this, we mean corsets properly constructed; for if the construction be faulty, the mistake will be equally as bad as the administration of a cathartic instead of a diaphoretic. Yes, says the practitioner, but then none but a quack would do such a thing. Precisely so; and no one who knew how to adapt a pair of corsets to the human figure would ever injure the body by trying to improve it. Only suppose that corset-making has fallen into the hands of quacks—that is, of people who do not understand their profession—and the whole question is answered.
But, says the Doctor again, they are "useful only to conceal defects and make up deficiencies in appearance." Well, that is something, at all events, considering how many defective people there are in the world. But, pardon us, Doctor; that is not the only use they are of. Corsets, properly constructed, not only hide the deficiencies of Nature, but, by giving proper support where it is needed, enable her to correct them, and hence call back the figure to its normal position. This, we take it, is no little thing when so many people are imperfect.
What is said about the unyielding substance, and the whalebone and steel busk, is perfectly correct; such corsets should never be worn by those who value either their health or comfort.
Whilst upon this matter of objections, it may not be amiss to notice one more, originating, however, from another quarter. In the Exhibition of 1851, the staymakers said, "Oh, she was never brought up to the trade, and what should Madame Caplin know about it?" Now, it is perfectly true that we never served an apprenticeship to the trade; and if we had, the probability is, that we should have done as the trade does—make corsets for the body to be fitted to, and not fitted the corset to the body. What we have brought to the trade is simply intelligence; the stitching was quite as good before we begun as it is now.
It may appear strange, that after so long a period since the ordinary corset had been condemned, no substantial improvement had been made in its construction. But the reason of this evidently is, that the whole affair had been left entirely in the hands of working people—generally females of little or no education—who knew no more of the structure and functions of the body than an unlettered philosophical-instrument maker knows of the structure of the starry heavens. Hence the requirements of the internal organs were unknown, and the line of beauty on the external figure unperceived. The old assemblage of straight lines and angular shapes, which were brought together to make up one pair of stays, was no more adapted to the preservation of the health and the display of the beauty of the body, than a straight piece to cover a round ball without creases. And hence the just condemnation which has been bestowed on them by the medical faculty.
One reason why we succeeded in improving the corset where all others had failed was, perhaps, because we not only took a scientific view of the body, but a geometrical measurement of it. It would be of no interest to the general reader to give the method by which we proceeded; it is enough for us to say, that by an elaborate calculation we succeeded in meeting all the requirements of the case, and hence the perfection of our inventions. Corset-making with us becomes an art which requires a scientific education to pursue it.
The result of all this care and study was the formation of a figure, in some measure ideal, but still true to life, on which our corsets might be tried, and to which they might be adapted. The figure which we give in another part of this work is one of our first designs. It is a copy from nature, but such a copy as enables one to form a conception of the beauty of the human race when the end of nature has been attained, in giving the proper development to the body. This was our first triumph: we had succeeded in inventing an artificial envelope, which, whilst it gave freedom to the motions, afforded ample support to the yielding parts. All the rest of our adaptations are only modifications of this, rendered necessary by the various physical conformations presented to us.
In the first edition of this work we made it a special point to defend the corset, and the numerous calls upon our time and attention made it impossible to do more at that time than to point out its relation to the body, and its general utility as a basis of support for the whole of the superincumbent clothing. In the present edition we have given prominence to many things which are of infinite importance to health and beauty, which were there omitted. It is not that our faith in the utility of the corset has abated, but in giving a new edition of our book our desire has been to make it a companion to the toilet, and a work of general utility to every family in which ladies and children have to be clothed and cared for.