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# An 1860 Ladies' Guide to Beauty offered Englishwomen a curious recipe for reducing the size of the bust
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-damskom-putevoditele-po-krasote-1860-goda-angliiskim-zhenshchinam-rekomendovalsia-liubopytnyi-retsept-dlia-umensheniia-razmera-grudi/
- Published: 2017-10-29T13:11:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:45:05.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, London, Observations, Mores, Humour

An 1860 Ladies' Guide to Beauty offered Englishwomen a curious recipe for reducing the size of the bust. Ladies who were not troubled by any general plumpness of constitution, yet suffered from an excessive development of the bosom, might resolve the difficulty by means of a surgical operation. The danger of such an operation in the hands of an insufficiently qualified physician, however, led to the devising of a more acceptable alternative: an ointment of zinc iodide and pig's lard. The mixture was to be rubbed daily into each breast, and a compress applied, leaving the nipple uncovered. In our own day zinc iodide is used as a photographic reagent, a dye and a base for battery electrolytes: how many people ruined their health through such counsel remains a mystery. But the idea of reducing the bust by smearing oneself with chemicals is highly original. I have read comments to the effect that such a mixture could, under certain conditions, indeed stimulate the metabolic processes and consequently lead to weight loss, but I am not sure that anyone would venture to test it on herself