Which will You Have, Hoops or Health?
THE reader will find in the following, a candid answer to an important question. It comes from good authority; and many can testify to its truthfulness from their own experience. We copy from the "Laws of Life," by J. C. Jackson, M. D.: "Question. Are hoopskirts, on the whole, beneficial to the health, or not? "Answer. The hoopskirt is the most injurious article of clothing which woman ever put on to the lower portion of her body. She suffers in health more from it, than from the old petticoat, or close, heavy skirt, which used to be the fashion, for the reason that by means of it, the lower portion of the body, and the lower limbs, are constantly bathed in a stratum, or body of air, which lowers the temperature of the surface of the body, and thus checks the circulation in the lower extremities. Habituated, as by this style of dress women are, to a deficient circulation in the lower portions of the body, abnormal conditions of those portions take place, chilliness becomes constant, the blood recedes from the surface of the limbs, is driven into the upper portions of the body, inducing congestion, and, as a consequence, diseases of the respiratory organs are much more frequent than they otherwise would be. "No woman having any care for her health, should ever wear hoopskirts under any circumstances except when sitting in a warm room, or reclining upon a couch, or bed."