Save the Women and Children WITH THE [FRONT VIEW. HEALTH COKSKT Patented Sept. 8, 1868— Ante-Dated Sept. i. 1868. Mothers' Corset Pat'd Feb. 2, 1869. MANUFACTURED BY THOS. W. LOVE & CO, 243 & 245 Hudson Street, znt:ej"vv -yopiii oii^-. lEx ICtfartH SEYMOUR DURST r — ■ • • AVETO oufter he Wealth Pof^set Is made for healthy women and for sickly women — For the rich and poor— For the stout and for the thin— For the tall and for the short — For the young and for the old ! Ladies wearing the Health Corset can endure ten times the amount of fatigue ; can walk ten times as far ; and work ten times as long ! Let them support their clothing but one day in this way. and they could not be induced to go without them. A single day or a single walk is sufficient test. THE HEALTH CORSET Is the invention of an American lady in Paris, who has it pat- ented and brought out in the United States at the solicitations of numerous physicians in New York and throughout the country. The Health Corset consists of, and combines — 1st. An Elegant Corset— of the newest and most artistic Parisian styles. 2d. Shoulder Braces— which do not force but grad- ually tend to keep the form erect and in a healthy position. 3d. A Skirt Supporter— which supports all the weight of clothing a lady wears, from the shoulders. We propose to make women BETTER ! We intend to make them HAPPIER ! We are sure of making them more BEAU- TIFUL ! We are certain of making them more AMI- ABLE, sweeter tempered and AFFECTION- ATE! Because we are determined to make them HEALTHIER! ! Corsets have always been worn— will be worn —and should be worn. The Health Corsets Are manufactured of different material, to suit the wearer and the season. The suspenders of the Health Corset, which form the shoulder braces, crossing over the shoulder blades and keeping them in a flat and proper position, traverse the shoulders so high that the articulation of the shoulder and the movement of every muscle of the back, sides and arms are entirely free, and descending in such a manner under the arm that the breast is not compressed or interfered with. The Suspenders are so hung upon lacets % and being inside and entirely independent of the corset, every movement of the body is free and natural. The clothing is attached to the corset by means of button-holeB or loops of braid or tape from the bands of the skirts and but- toned on to the corset, the lower buttons for the bands of drawers and under skirts, the upper for the outside skirts. In an hour or two a lady can adapt all her clothing to the skirt supporter. Loops of braid sewed strongly to the inside of the skirt band will be most easily adjusted, and can be made in a few minutes. The suspenders can be lengthened or shortened without remov- ing the corset or dress, thereby carrying the clothing well upon the shoulders, or be lowered to wear with a low-neck dress. Suspenders accompany each corset, which can be easily washed and replaced as often as desired. We recommend particulary the latest Paris cors££ of scarlet cloth being soft, flexible and most artistic. This will be found to be the greatest comfort to ladies of a delicate constitution or not of robust health, and we especially commend them to young ladies and misses. 4 We have a specialty in school-girls' corsets. Every principal of young ladies' schools should see that the young and tender girls entrusted to their care should not fall victims to the common health-destroying corset. Corsets have always heen worn, will always be worn, and should be worn— to support the clothing, keeping it from cutting in over the hips and dragging upon the back and abdomen and to support the breast. They are a necessity as well as are shoes, but no one is so foolish as to advocate a cramping, pinching shoe. A corset, like a well-fitting shoe, should give shapeliness and grace to the form without compressing or being stiffened like a board. It is not the size, but the faultless form, the mntchless shape of the Venus de Medici and of Canova's Venus, that make them the models of beauty for all artists of all lands, and even modern artists would shrink horrified from taking the most beautiful woman in the world for his model whose body is one-half severed: certainly no poet will take such a one for his ideal. Remember, then, it is shape, not size, that makes a beautiful form ; and remember it is the free movement of the whole body that gives grace to the carriage of the body. The woman of antiquity, the Egyptian, Grecian and Roman, wore their clothing suspended from tbe shoulders, and only the heathen and barbarous wore it dragging from the hips and middle. EVERY MAX TO THE RESCUE!! Have you a cross wife ? cut her corset strings and buy Tier a HEALTH CORSET! Have you a sickly wile ? cut Jier corset strings and buy her a HEALTH CORSET! Have you a nervous, dyspeptic wife ? cut her corset strings and buy her a health corset ! 5 Have you a melancholy wife ? cut her corset strings and buy her a health corset ! Have you a hysterical wife ? cut her corset strings and buy her a HEALTH CORSET! Have you a healthy and a good wife ? surely she deserves a HEALTH CORSET ! Have you daughters ? see that they wear the health corset before their health is broken or lost. Young men have as much right to know if the ladies they wish to marry are unfit to become their wives by tight lacing, as young iadies have to know if young men are unfit to become their husbands by the use of drink ! Y OUNG LADIES : if you would be beautiful — if you would be of graceful form and manner— of clear complexion, with bright eyes and happy smiling faces— if you hope to win a good, sensi- ble, noble-minded husband, and make him a good and happy wife — wear no more of those ungraceful and cruel corsets, but be ye transformed by wearing the elegant, the comfortable, the beautiful the graceful HEALTH CORSET, and be sure to have your dresses fitted over it. MOTHERS, who nurse and bend over your little ones, if you would be strengthened and comforted wear the HEALTH CORSET, It is hailed by all physicians as the long-desired remedy, for they know too well the fearful result to women of dragging from 5 to 20 pounds weight from the hips. ^ Read the testimony of Mrs. Lozier.* founder of the New York See her life in the recently published illustrated Lives of Eminent Women. Medical College for Women, whose testimony is second to no other physician or woman, and her long years of close study of anatomy and surgery, as well as medicine, and her immense prac- tice and success make her testimony indisputable ! 361 West 34th Street. New York, Oct. 1868. " The sufferings of women by weakness, peculiar to their sex, are increasing at the present day with such alarming fatality, that I hail with joy, any means that may tend to cure, alleviate, or prevent them. I am convinced that the greater part of her ailments whether betrayed in the head, back or limbs, arises from uterine diseases, of one kind or other ; and these are usually superinduced, and always aggravated by pressure, or weight of dress, upon the spine, loins, and abdomen — causing obstruction of the venous circulation and displacement of the Pelvic viscera. The only way to avoid this is to suspend all the clothing from the shoulders ! By im- proper dressing alone how many women drag not only them- selves but their offspring to imbecility and untimely graves. During 25 years of practice I have seen constantly these sad results, and have never ceased to enjoin the necessity of proper dressing upon my patients. I have carefully examined and tested the recently invented health corsex, and am convinced of its merits, and believe it to be all it claims — a comfort and blessing — relieving and prevent- ing female weaknesses ; and. as I count the invention of any means of relief to this universal and continual necessity among old and young a most benevolent and laudable work, I very heartily commend it to the public. Mits. Clemexce S. Lozier, M. D.. Bean of the N. Y. Med. Coll. for Women,.' 1 '' 7 Madam Hahnemann, the wife of the illustrious founder of the system of Homoeopathy, herself a physician in Paris, said to the inventor of the health corset : • • I most heartily approve of your system — it meets the great necessity. I could not support my clothing for a single day unless it were properly supended from my shoulders." One of the most learned and eminent writers of the day, says — "Each century is characterized by its great malady * * * * the nineteenth is stricken at the two extremities of nervous life— the intellect and the affection — as shown in the man by the ener- vated, vacillating, paralytic brain — in the woman, by diseases peculiar to her sex. The punishment is this : the suffering woman will bring forth but a sickly infant, who, if he lives, will always seek to counteract his natural enervation by a fatal relief in alco- holic and narcotic stimulants." This profound writer suggests u Death for the remedy and radical cure ! We propose another and less disagreeable remedy, namely : the Health Corset ! Bead this in your families, and in your schools, and preach its principles from your pulpits ! and if there is a woman in the world that you love, give her a copy or buy her a Health Corset. Of far greater importance is the question of woman's health than of her right to vote ! Men may legislate for the future generation, but women must Bret produce the children that must make up the generation; then we should look well to it in all seriousness, in all wisdom, in all righteousness, that they give not to our country and our race pigmies, drawfs, consumptives and imbeciles ! and that too by their own unkind, cruel, barbarous, wicked treatment of them- selves and their offspring ! It is a natural law that whenever their exists a necessity, there also exists the means of meeting it, though unhappily it may be hidden or undiscovered for a time. 8 And there is not among people of the highest civilization— wherein America ranks foremost— a more serious or grave neces- sity than the relief of women under the weaknesses and diseases peculiar to their sex — peculiar to the nineteenth century — and in a great degree peculiar to America — and also peculiar alike to the maiden and matron. J ames Parton, says in his recent great work, "Let all women for the next century but wear such restraining clothes as are now usual, and it is doubtful if the race could ever recover from the effects." What sufferings — physical, mental, social, moral and religious arise from the weakly mother and her sickly children ! What a lamentable fact that the happiness of many a family is disturbed and often destroyed by the improper and unhealthy dressing of the wife or mother ! Headaches, nervousness, dyspepsia, palpitations of the heart, sideaehes, backaches, cold feet, dizziness, depression of spirits, "blues," and insanity itself are often but the result of corset strings, whalebone and petticoats ! Many a good woman goes sorrowing and wearily about her domestic duties, dragging out her miserable cheerless days, ar.d tired of life itself, vainly seeking help from above— simply be- cause her circulation upon which depends the free action of the heart — which carries strength to the limbs, clearness to the eye and light to the brain, is so impeded by ligatures around her body and weight upon her back and abdomen that she is really insensi- ble except to suffering ! No wonder she looks upon the prospects of children with dread and horror, knowing well her incapability of fulfiling that most beautiful and glorious woman's mission, motherhood ! SUSPEND YOUR CLOTHING — AND — SUSPEND YOUR DOCTOR! See to it, husbands, who have suffering wives, that your doctor understands their case. 9 Alas! how many are doctored into their graves — when all that they need is relief from the superabundant weight of clothing suspended from their waists ! out upon IGNORANT doctors: They should be put in straight-jackets, every one of them ! It is impossible for the mind to remain long in a healtby, cheerful condition, when the body is in a morbid state. In vain does the physician prescribe except to force into action for a short time the sadly weakened functions, or to stimulate the inert and sluggish powers into an activity that is impossible to last! Not only headaches and backacheo, but how many heartaches arise solely from a want of proper circulation. . Death by strangulation wDl take place by compressing the waist as well as at the neck, and although it is slower it is more deliberate suicide. Free circulation of the blood is the primary principle of life ! The larger veins in the human body lie very near the surface, and any undue pressure upon them immediately forces the blood into the smaller and interior veins where, being gorged, congestion and inflammation ensue, and aggravate numerous and fatal results. Serious dissases and even death have resulted from wearing tight garters ! and every lady knows how uncomfortable a tight sleeve-holder is, and that, if very tight, it will render the arm swollen, black and insensible. Pressure upon the abdomen is equally pernicious as tight lacing. The intestines are forced from their natural position, and. as in the human body there can be no vacuum, the diaphragm is dragged down, and then, as the chest organs must follow, the lung's sink, and consumption begins. And remember that though there is less sensibility, there is greater susceptibility in the interior organs. 10 Think then of the great and fatal injury done by binding a human being about the middle, and checking the entire circula- tion of the body. Whenever a woman, with that abomination of beauty, a snakey waist, tells you she is well — do not believe it ! for it cannot be ! True, she may be entirely insensible to the fact, or she may be a fool, or not intelligent enough to know whether she is sick or well — but well, slie cannot be. Missionaries portray, and ministers preach against the barbar- ous cruelty of the benighted heathen who strap and bind their limbs or extremities until they become withered, misshapen and useless; while, at least, one-half the women — mothers, wives and daughters, born and bred under the light and influence of education, reform and religion, here in America are so begirt and weighed down about the tenderest part of their bodies that their limbs are paralyzed, the functions of the internal organs impeded, the brain inactive, and too often the poor victim to folly, sinks pining and languishing into the grave ! And are not the hea- then, who do these things for conscience sake, less culpable than the educated, enlightened, intelligent woman, who does this to gratify the most perverted, unnatural, ungraceful, ugiy and repulsive taste that ever a foolish fashion or a vain senseless woman con- ceived ! We challenge all heathendom to equal this sin of Christ- endom ! And where is the missionary or minister who dare tell the women of his congregation that the joy of a sweet temper is lost — the clearness of Faith obscured, and the presence of Hope hidden by ligatures about their waists ! Let them speak out and save the next generation, save the nation and save the world ! Let husbands and fathers, at least, look well to this evil in their homes. In no country as in America is this barbarous practice carried to such an extent. The fine and elegant shape of the Parisian lady is the result of well made and gracefully fitting corsets and dress — not of a wall of whalebone, iron clamps and hempen cords. 11 A lady writer who has travelled throughout Europe and America, visiting educational, benevolent, and reformatory in- stitutions, says : " One of the saddest sights that I have seen in America, whether in hospital or prison, has been to see in many of the first schools for young ladies, young and tender girls, so laced and stiffened up with corsets that they could neither think clearly nor act naturally, and I could scarcely forbear telling the learned professors who were trying to beat into their dull and aching heads, and stupid brains some occult problem, that he had far better let science alone and turn his attention to the art of dressing his pupils healthfully — or at least give them some practical lessons in physiology, begiuning by clipping their corset strings, and putting straps to their petticoats. " Happily now the' Fashion permits the waist to be in the right and natural place, neither crowded down below the hips nor carried up to the arm-pits. Fashion should not be disregarded by any means, but should always be made subservient to common sense, nature, com- fort and beauty ! The physician to the Empress Eugenie, in conversing with the inventor of the Hkai»th Corset upon its merits and the ne- cessity of some means of relief for woman, remarked, that upon several occasions, when he had been forced to dress in great haste, he had omitted his suspenders, but that even the slight weight of pantaloons, and the necessary tightening of the waist- band, soon became insupportable, and made him, though a strong man, feel worn out and quite sick, and for a fragile, delicate wo- man with her natural weakness, to carry all her clothes unsup- ported from the shoulders, was suicidal to herself and murder- ous to her offspring ! " And, apropos — would it not be well for wives and mothers who have nervous, ill-tempered, head-aching husbUhds or sons, to look well to it that they wear suspenders ; or, perhaps, boots are too light : remembering that impeded circulation, like a deranged stomach, not only causes cold feet, but it causes cold heart, also! 12 Then let each bind the other with all that is strong in love and gentle in care, but beware of ligatures of hemp or silk ! It may be perchance that where chronic ill-nature reigns, the only cause is a tightening of— purse strings! Now, for shame, this should not be— until, at least, you have purchased the HEALTH CORSET. We have a special corset adapted to married ladies in a delicate condition, giving the greatest comfort and relief. They have only to ask for Mothers' Corsets. Suspend your clothing, ladies, or you will soon suspend all claim to health, beauty and happiness, and may suspend life itself. And the only way possible is, by wearing the HEALTH CORSET. Address for Circulars and Orders, HEALTH GORSET CO., (Care Thos. W. Love & Co.) JVos. 243 & 245 Hudson Street. New York City. Health Corset.