I have been surprised by the discussion of corsetry and tight lacing, as
three reasons came to mind for my belief that tight lacing was not as
infrequent as is being suggested.  Before I address them I would have
hastened to agree that overly-tight lacing seems contrary to reason, but so
does the foot-binding that was fashionable in...was it just China?  That
certainly seemed as unreasonable as tight corsetry, but it seems to have
been quite pervasive nonetheless.
   The first thought that came to mind when this thread started was a memory
of my (rather slight) grandfather complaining very bitterly -- and
humorously -- about all having to lace my (not-so-slight) grandmother into
her corset.  He vividly described how he hated that daily chore of stuffing
her into the corset and lacing her as tightly as he could..  My related
memory of my grandmother is of hugging her and feeling her tightly-compacted
mid-section and of her ramrod-straight posture.  I can't remember ever even
seeing her bend over, because of her corset.
   The second thought that occured to me is that I frequently mount pieces
of my vintage clothing collection on mannequins at home and at our small
historical society museum and I long ago gave up on buying normal-sized
figures on which to display them.  I only use "junior" size because so few
pieces have a "normal" waistline and I am unable to completely close most of
them, at the waist, on a medium-sized mannequin.  In fact, I measured the
waist of one astonishing ca. 1870 wedding gown and it was thirteen inches.
   The last memory I had was of an item that I read in the book "Corsets and
Crinolines" by Norah Waugh.  On page 141 is an excerpt only noted as being
from some (regrettably unattributed) 1867 "Correspondence":

"I was placed at the age of fifteen at a fashionable school in London, and
there it was the custom for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one inch
per month until they were what the lady principal considered small enough.
When I left school at seventeen, my waist measured only thirteen inches, it
having been formerly twenty-three inches in circumference.  Every morning
one of the maids used to come to assist us to dress, and a governess
superintended, to see that our corsets were drawn as tight as possible.
After the first few minutes every morning I felt no pain, and the only ill
effects apparently were occasional headaches and loss of appetite.  I should
be glad if you will inform me if it is possible for girls to have a waist of
fashionable size and yet preserve their health.  Very few of my fellow
pupils appeared to suffer, except the pain caused by the extreme tightness
of the stays.  In one case where the girl was stout and largely built, two
strong maids were obliged to use their utmost force to make her waist the
size ordered by the lady principal -- viz., seventeen inches; and though she
fainted twice while the stays were being made to meet, she wore them without
seeming injury to her health, and before she left school she had a waist
measuring only fourteen inches, yet she never suffered a day's illness.
Generally all the blame is laid by parents in the principal of the school,
but it is often a subject of the greatest rivalry among the girls to see
which can get the smallest waist, and often while the servant was drawing in
the waist of my firend to the utmost of her strength, the young lady, though
being tightened till she had hardly breath to speak, would urge the maid to
pull the stays yet closer, and tell her not to let the lace slip in the
least.  I think this is a subject which is not sufficiently understood.
Though I always heard tight-lacing condemned, I have never suffered any ill
effects myself, and, as a rule, our school was singularly free from
illness."
Lynne

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