We hear of
embroidered girdles in Homer. Even in Rome, however, the fasciae
were not in general use, and were chiefly employed either to
support the breasts or to compress their excessive development,
and then called _mamillare_. The _zona_ was a girdle, worn
usually round the hips, especially by young girls. The modern
corset is a combination of the _fascia_ and the _zona_. It was at
the end of the fourteenth century that Isabeau of Bavaria
introduced the custom of showing the breasts uncovered, and the
word "corset" was then used for the first time.
Stratz, in his _Frauenkleidung_ (pp. 366 et seq.), and in his
_Schoenheit des Weiblichen Koerpers_, Chapters VIII, X, and XVI,
also deals with the corset, and illustrates the results of
compression on the body. For a summary of the evidence concerning
the difference of respiration in man and woman, its causes and
results, see Havelock Ellis, _Man and Woman_, fourth edition,
1904, pp. 228-244. With reference to the probable influence of
the corset and unsuitable clothing generally during early life in
impeding the development of the mammary glands, causing inability
to suckle properly, and thus increasing infant mortality, see
especially a paper by Professor Bollinger (_Correspondenz-blatt
Deutsch.
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