Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1891 — Singular Hygienic Contest. [ARTICLE]

Singular Hygienic Contest.

At the North London Collegiate School for Girls an athletic contestlately took place to test the value or otherwise of corset-wearing. With a. view to obtaining some actual scientific data on disputed points, sixteen pupilswearing corsets were arrayed againstas many abstainers, the trial includinga high leap, a long leap, “tug of war,” and running competition. In leapingneither side gained any signal advantage over the other. In the tug, for which the girls had beon well drilled, the abstainers had far the best of it, twice dragging their opponents over the line. For “endurance running” the object aimed at was to test the evidence of disturbance, as shown in an increased respiration and diminished breathing capacity. The resultsshowed a small advantage to the corset party in the matter of respiration rate and a considerable advantage to the opposite side in pulse rate. Butrthe most striking result was that while the effort of running diminished the breathing capacity of the corset-wear-ers by .8 cubic inches that of the nonCorsets was increased by 4.4.