Breathing sometimes thus becomes quicker and shorter on account of the
elongated or debilitated condition of the assisting organs. Consumption
not unfrequently results from this cause.
The _heart_ also feels the evil. "Palpitations," "flutterings,"
"sinking feelings," all show that, in the language of Scripture, "the
heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place."
But the _lower intestines_ are the greatest sufferers from this
dreadful abuse of nature. Having the weight of all the unsupported
organs above pressing them into unnatural and distorted positions, the
passage of the food is interrupted, and inflammations, indurations,
and constipation, are the frequent result. Dreadful ulcers and cancers
may be traced in some instances to this cause.
Although these internal displacements are most common among women,
some foolish members of the other sex are adopting customs of dress,
in girding the central portion of the body, that tend to similar
results.
But this distortion brings upon woman peculiar distresses. The pressure
of the whole superincumbent mass on the pelvic or lower organs induces
sufferings proportioned in acuteness to the extreme delicacy and
sensitiveness of the parts thus crushed.
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