" (Mary Wollstonecraft, _The Rights of Woman_, 1792,
pp. 277, 289.)
At the present time a knowledge of the physiology of plants is
not usually considered inconsistent with modesty, but a knowledge
of animal physiology is still so considered by many. Dr. H.R.
Hopkins, of New York, wrote in 1895, regarding the teaching of
physiology: "How can we teach growing girls the functions of the
various parts of the human body, and still leave them their
modesty? That is the practical question that has puzzled me for
years."
In England, the use of drawers was almost unknown among women
half a century ago, and was considered immodest and unfeminine.
Tilt, a distinguished gynecologist of that period, advocated such
garments, made of fine calico, and not to descend below the knee,
on hygienic grounds. "Thus understood," he added, "the adoption
of drawers will doubtless become more general in this country,
as, being worn without the knowledge of the general observer,
they will be robbed of the prejudice usually attached to an
appendage deemed masculine." (Tilt, _Elements of Health_, 1852,
p. 193.) Drawers came into general use among women during the
third quarter of the nineteenth century.
Drawers are an Oriental garment, and seem to have reached Europe
through Venice, the great channel of communication with the East.
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