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164 this can only be done by proper attention to the children of to-day, who will be the women of the next generation.

Nearly a century ago the Emperor Joseph II., well known for his philanthropy, had evidently convinced himself of the truth of this principle, and his effort to suppress tight-lacing was the most practical and best deserving of success that has ever been made. He repeatedly prohibited the wearing of stays in all convents, orphan asylums, schools, and other public institutions for the education of the young, and he obliged all schoolmasters to refuse to take as pupils any girls who wore corsets. To do this is to strike at the root of the evil, which is precisely what all reformers ought to endeavour to do.

After having read the foregoing, no one will be surprised when I say that I would entirely do away with the use of stays or corsets of any kind for girls until they have attained their full growth, unless in case of disease or malformation, when a surgeon's advice should be followed in this respect. And here I would caution every mother on no account to go to an instrument maker, have surgical stays made for her girl, and allow her to wear them without the advice of a competent surgeon; for very frequently under these circumstances instruments will be worn for months, and even years, for which there is not only no necessity, but which are actually increasing the evil they are supposed to cure. In most cases incipient deformity can be remedied by well-advised postures, and active and