A probationary essay on the causes and treatment of lateral curvature of the human spine : submitted by authority of the President and his Council, to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission to their boby / by Robert Knox.

  • Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary essay on the causes and treatment of lateral curvature of the human spine : submitted by authority of the President and his Council, to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission to their boby / by Robert Knox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    can compression by means of corsets be applied to the frame, without more or less injuring the general health. * A question which is of some moment to be here discussed, is, Whether or not the moderate use of corsets could be discontinued without an in- crease in the number of cases of distorted spine ? For however paradoxical it may seem, and contrary to the received notions of the profession, and of others, I am well convinced, that, until the education of fe- males be thoroughly altered,—until a greater lati- tude of exercise and amusement be permitted them, —until they are allowed the unrestrained exercise of the muscles of the whole body, and be no longer com- pelled to sit erect six, eight, or even ten hours daily, we can never hope for a diminution in number of cases of distortion, nor can the discontinuance of cor- sets be recommended. They give a degree of support to the body during the tedious sedentary hours to which females in civilized life are condemned. But if, instead of resorting to them in early years, the parent, when he perceives that his child can no lon- ger retain the body erect during ten or twelve suc- cessive hours daily, (passed either at school, or in equally sedentary employments at home), will put an immediate stop to so erroneous a system of education, * Every anatomist must have seen some of the effects of tight corsets on the.ribs, and even on the surface of the liver.