THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

661

Harmonious development of all the parts of the body seems one of nature’s great laws, if we would have health and beauty. And so imperative are nature’s demands for harmony that when one organ is raised to the proper pitch, the other organs are often brought up to the same key; or, when one organ is dragged down from its place, all the other parts of the body suffer. To illustrate: We all know that a well-poised head and full chest and flattened back are desirable from the standpoint of beauty. To acquire a full chest the lungs must be developed by exercise, and increased lung power means of course more oxygen in the blood, and better blood means everything better—better appetite, increased vitality and the consciousness of ability to attempt great things. Upon the other hand, when one part suffers from being thrown out of nature’s harmony, all the other parts are sympathetically affected. For instance: A woman who wears high-heeled shoes which are too small for her feet, will experience many aches and pains, besides the comparatively insignificant ones of corns and bunions. The muscles of the feet being rendered useless, the calves of the leg are not developed, and the springy motion in the gait,-so characteristic of health and happiness, is con­spicuous by its absence. The effort to maintain an equilibrium, caused by the high heels, throws many of the vital organs out of place and gives rise to an infinite variety of ills. Flven injury to the eyes is said to be one of the results of wearing tight shoes. When we reflect that few, if any, see our feet, and that everyone sees and notes our walk, it seems strange that we would ever be willing to sacrifice the great beauty of a grace­ful carriage to the far lesser charm of a trim foot, even if no consideration of health and comfort induced us to respect jthe natural requirements of our feet, instead of treating them as pegs for balancing the body. There can be no one exercise more beneficial to the body—the whole body—than a brisk, animated walk, with all the muscles of the body participating more or less in the movement; but such a walk is absolutely impossible when the various parts are impeded by the clothing, and when to the tight shoes and corset is added the incubus of a muff to restrict the move­ment of the arms, or long, heavy skirts to be held up, the lack of free harmonious action is well nigh complete. The object of my paper is to emphasize the value of exercise as a means to harmonious readjustment. There is always a tendency to the normal in all diseased or abnormal bodies, and if the hindrances are removed, nature herself will do much toward readjustment. At a recent medical congress, an eminent physician made the statement that “very few, if any, drugs cure; that educated physi­cians hesitate before asserting that they have cured their patients; that at best they but guide their recovery.” Doctors recognize more and more the immense power of self-cure by readjustment to nature’s laws, and instead of loading the system with powerful drugs which may do more harm in certain directions than they do good in others, it is sometimes the part of wisdom to stand aside and let nature act. And nature acts through motion. All her forces are but modified forms of motion. At any rate, all organic bodies require motion as a means of life. I will not speak of the ceaseless motion of inorganic nature, but if a human being wishes to live he must keep moving. It is motion that gives value to exercise, and not the straining of the mus­cles by gymnastic appliances of heavy dumb-bells and Indian clubs, etc. The less apparatus one uses in exercise the better. Thus there will be very little danger of straining the muscles and organs, and the muscular development will be more sym­metrical, and grace and suppleness will be secured more easily than when weight is added to motion as a means of development.

A perfectly normal body, like that of a healthy young child, needs only the amount of exercise which his animal spirits secure for him. Such a one does God’s will, and knows it not. But when unhealthy habits of dress or unhygienic habits of living have cramped the body and rendered useless certain organs, special exercise of those organs will aid them to regain their normal power in the quickest and best way. Since health depends upon motion, the clothing should be adapted to that need, and should conform to the shape of the body rather than that the body should be fitted to the shape of the dress, as our present fashion is. But while women are