FOR THE LADIES.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 329, 8 February 1884, Page 2

FOR THE LADIES.

Since the high heel made its appearance medical men* have ; < : hi6re than once borne witness to its bad effects. Of late years public opinion has done away with certain of the long established extravagances of dress, and has given rise" to methods more agreeable to the symmetrical develQpmentv-of. the? body-.T ' kbpV'thWin; l tfie process U reform, the f eetj^^whicji too often vanity pays a pjrice'whicnis dangerously expensive, will not -escape notice. The evils4>£ the r high r -heele/l r boot or Tshofiuare due tow f «&hhafr s it 4#4n H^ntl&iy badly fitting article. — It is made in defiance, of the relation which it ought to bear to tfce^atbnby* of the'fobt^aWS|> the directional ' which ithe pres'sufc of me body, weight.falls upon the,laj&er. ,^enge the peculiarly, cramped wait of ladies, of the pieesenrdaV. '*Mfike%&? lU&?6 the conse(£uencer6f the' '* advanced'fßtt?--tion," nearly sunder- ,'ithe instep,: andqt&s increased height oji_heel, in the substitution, of a. forward, inclination of body, 'and a trip suggestive in af measurV offle stumbling gait, for the upright carriage and the.frge and graceful swinging more* ment natural to the leg in walking. These matters as far as they are merely relative cern us, but there— are attendant cirqumstance^ i .^hich-r de^rv« i ,-, .comment. The boot or shoe, in order tkat if may not shift on the foot, which has lost tauca of its usual purchase of direct downward P^ressu^e,rmxi»frv hold- it <-firmly-Tand'-eTe|i tigmiynißu ih^a'rticulairiiri^-nebessa'rHy constructed so. Lfis^itqi) h]>ld with undue firmness just above the back of the heel. With some persons -perhaps no inconvenience results, with others who hare iine ; skins chafing" is J f rea3ily ; This is in itself a trifle, and is presumably altogether too inconsiderable to affeetthp will of fashion, but it ;may nevertheless be the slight beginning of .graver ; tr6 y ubles. Probably there is no practitioher ; iaiwly long acquainted with town practice who cannot recall a case or cases iii w,hich.ettensive inflammation of theleg' with^aiA scess formation has followed even such a slight abrasion, and the exciting cause when loolced f or was diseovWecl ' in* the patient's shoe. There have been i»* stances, fortunately rare, but .still ,oc^ •casibhal, where abscesses arising round some neglected trifle of this kind have ended: fatally: cyTJbese are^acte $whach cannot" be ftehie'd, and sliould J riot oe'overlooked; but even if; they could, is there any woman with a mind of her own who will say that the dainty step so much desired by "spme, v bought $as it' jLs^ptjpSß cost of , healthy muscular exercise, is not" overvalued ? We Either"' hope that the honest feeling and sound judgment which have guided that sex ia-inanyrbetterjTOr-poses, will ultimately overcome the false sentiment which now leads certain of its members to support an unbeodming fajfd iniurious custom. • . : : i;/i Afi.