If you will examine the leg of some fowl, you can see the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones at the joints, and the strong white ligaments that bind the joints together. The health of the bones depends on the proper nourishment and exercise of the body as much as that of any other part. When a child is feeble and unhealthy, or when it grows up without exercise, the bones do not become firm and hard as they are when the body is healthfully developed by exercise. The size as well as the strength of the bones, to a certain extent, also depend upon exercise and good health. So also they depend on the food, for fine flour is deprived of the materials that form bone, and growing children often have weak bones from having this for common food. The chief supporter of the body is the spine, which consists of twenty-four small bones, interlocked or hooked into each other, while between them are elastic cushions of cartilage which aid in preserving the upright, natural position. Fig. 59 shows three of the spinal bones, hooked into each other, the dark spaces showing the disks or flat circular plates of cartilage between them. [Illustration: Fig. 59.] The spine is held in its proper position, partly by the ribs, partly by muscles, partly by aid of the elastic disks, and partly by the close packing of the intestines in front of it. The upper part of the spine is often thrown out of its proper position by constant stooping of the head over books or work. This affects the elastic disks so that they grow thick at the back side and thinner at the front side by such constant pressure. The result is the awkward projection of the head forward which is often seen in schools and colleges. Another distortion of the spine is produced by tight dress around the waist. The liver occupies the right side of the body and is a solid mass, while on the other side is the larger part of the stomach, which is often empty. The consequence of tight dress around the waist is a constant pressure of the spine toward the unsupported part where the stomach lies. Thus the elastic disks again are compressed, till they become thinner on one side than the other, and harden into that condition. This produces what is called the _lateral curvature of the spine_, making one shoulder higher than the other. The evils consequent on modes of dress can never be remedied until the process of _breathing_ is understood and its influence in preserving the position and healthful action of the pelvic organs in both sexes, but especially those of woman. And this has never been explained in any of our popular works on physiology.