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98 credit of the invention to the parties to whom it is due.

We cannot better conclude this chapter than in the words of Mrs. Walker. In her admirable work on "Female Beauty," she says, "Every young woman knows that one of the most conspicuous dif­ferences between the young and the old consists in the less or the greater dimensions of the waist. Is it, then, unaccountable or unnatural that she should prefer seeming young to seeming old? Every young woman knows that one of the most conspicuous differences between the maiden and the matron consists in the same less or greater dimen­sions of the waist. Is it unnatural, then, that she should prefer seeming maidenly to seeming ma­tronly? Men who write so ignorantly or injudi­ciously, as many medical authors do, do not promote the interest of truth. It is the use of force and excessive compression that are alone blameable."