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CHAP. X.] to ears rendered deaf by long custom. As I have already hinted, those who have almost from infancy worn stays cannot suddenly renounce their use without serious discomfort. My friend, Professor Sayce, speaking of spelling reform, once observed, All new things are sure to be objected to by those who have to unlearn the old;" and this is true not only in mental, but also in physical life. Old customs cannot be ousted with impunity. In matters affecting the body, as in those affecting the mind, reform, to be effectual, must be gradual.

More than fifty years ago a Dr. Reidel, urging the total abolition of the corset, suggested that all female delinquents in the houses of correction and in prisons, and women under sentence of death, should be forced to wear stays as a part of their punishment, thinking thus to disgust ladies with an article of dress that formed part of a felon's attire. The suggestion was never put into execution, and if it had been it is doubtful whether any good would have accrued from it, for to many ladies the wearing of corsets is not only not injurious, but absolutely beneficial; but in these cases the corsets must be well made to fit the natural shape of the figure, and must not be tightly laced.

I contend that corsets should not, as most dress-reformers ardently desire, "be improved off the face of the earth;" but they ought to be "improved," and their use ought to be limited to those who require them, of whom I shall speak hereafter.

It is desirable, however, to decrease the number of those who require the support of stays, and