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PERSONAL APPEARANCE 
 
 AND 
 
 The Culture of Beauty, 
 
 WITH 
 
 HINTS AS TO CHARACTER. 
 
 BY 
 
 V 
 
 T. S. SOZINSKEY, M. D., Ph.D. 
 
 'The proper study of mankind is man." — Pope. 
 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, 233 SOUTH FIFTH STREET. 
 1877. 
 
^ 
 
 Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 
 
 T. S. SOZINSKEY, M. D., Ph.D., 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, 
 
 233 South Fifth Street, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, '• . . . . . 5 
 
 What is Beauty? . . .11 
 
 A Type of Female Beauty, 23 
 
 A Type of Male Beauty, .31 
 
 Beauty and the Sex, 37 
 
 The Basis of Beauty, 43 
 
 Beauty an Improvable Heritage, 50 
 
 The Head, 64 
 
 The Neck and Ears, 70 
 
 The Face as a whole, . ' . . . . . . -75 
 
 The Forehead, 80 
 
 The Eyebrows, 84 
 
 The Eyes, 88 
 
 The Nose, 97 
 
 The Cheeks, . . . 101 
 
 The Chin, 106 
 
 The Lips, . 108 
 
 The Teeth, . 1 [4 
 
 Lines and Wrinkles, 122 
 
 The Complexion, 129 
 
 The Hairs, 138 
 
 Special Flaws of the Person, 153 
 
 Dress and Beauty, 161 
 
 Conclusion, iSS 
 
 (3) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Thro' Nature's boundless reign 
 No charm is lost, no beauty blooms in vain." — Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 In the appearance of things, what is the great source 
 of attractiveness ? What is it in forms and colors that 
 awakens our sensibilities and thrills us with pleasure ? 
 It is beauty. Beauty ! There is no charm so potent to 
 captivate; no power sways such delightful influence. 
 It is the aim of creation. If you doubt it, cast your eyes 
 towards heaven, or look out over the face of nature. 
 From the infinitely great to the infinitely small, it is all- 
 pervading. How beautiful are the stars ! How beautiful 
 the minute crystals of the dust beneath our feet ! And 
 what of the rainbow or the flowers ? 
 
 " O thou Goddess, 
 Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st ! " — Shakspeare. 
 
 It is the soul of art, — its portrayal the aim and end of 
 artists. Painters, sculptors, architects, poets — everybody 
 who has any harmony in himself pays homage and court 
 to this divine principle in nature. It is possessed of a 
 subtle fascination. Having seen it, we crave communion 
 with it. As by instinct we kneel before it, and the more 
 we know of it the more faithful and joyous the spirit of 
 our devotion. 
 
 (5) 
 
Now, if everything were perfect everything were beau- 
 tiful, and the pleasure of existence would be complete 
 and unbroken. There would be no jarring notes ; 
 heavenly harmony would embrace creation. Would 
 that it were so ! Alas ! imperfections are plentiful, and 
 especially in our race — in man. While this is so, or 
 rather in proportion as it is so, the beauty of all else is 
 lost to him. Like a shattered mirror, the imperfect mind 
 distorts the images of the most perfect things. It is as 
 an unstrung harp, which, struck even by a master's hand, 
 yields naught but discord. Our sensibility and taste 
 must be attuned before we can receive the full measure 
 of enjoyment from the beauties of the world. As the 
 noted English art critic, Ruskin, writes, " The sensation 
 of beauty is dependent on a pure, right, and open state of 
 the heart both for its truth and its intensity." On this 
 principle, that it is what is perfect in us that is alive to 
 perfection, the same author again remarks : — " Beauty 
 has been appointed by the Deity to be one of the ele- 
 ments by which the human soul is continually sustained." 
 
 There are certainly plenty of inducements to cultivate 
 our feelings for the beautiful — our aesthetic sensibilities. 
 In this way we open up to ourselves unlimited sources 
 of joy and happiness. Nature's myriad works and all 
 the productions of art will minister to our delights and 
 enable us to banquet continually on pleasures. Springs 
 of enchantment will surround us on every hand. Every 
 bud and blossom, every lawn and landscape, every pic- 
 ture and statue — whatever comes within the range of our 
 senses, will invite pur attention and proffer charms which 
 will give zest and sweetness to our lives. Thus can we 
 
make all things pay us tribute, and in a manner claim 
 them as our own. 
 
 But even without cultivation nearly everybody is, in 
 some fashion, a devotee of beauty. Let it be present in 
 an object, and we believe there is scarcely anyone who 
 shall fail to recognize and relish it. He must be the 
 veriest barbarian — nay, a creature not completely human 
 in nature, who is entirely insensible to the beautiful. 
 When asked why people like to spend much time with 
 beautiful things, Aristotle replied : — " That is a question 
 fit for a blind man to ask." 
 
 We are devoted to the beautiful in minerals, in plants, 
 in animals, in our dress, in a word, in everything, and 
 no expense or pains are spared in gratifying the taste. 
 Everybody will acknowledge that this is so and nobody 
 has any fault to find. But notwithstanding this and all 
 that we have said about beauty being a universal aim in 
 creation and the cultivation of it the end and aim of the 
 fine arts, and about the most beautiful things being the 
 most perfect, there still lingers in the minds of many the 
 foolish idea that it is wrong to prize and cultivate per- 
 sonal beauty. They seem to think that it is pious to 
 denounce it, or at least to profess to disregard it. These 
 people must be insincere in what they say, because they 
 cannot but understand that what nature strives for is not a 
 vanity or an unworthy object of human ambition. No- 
 body is silly enough to advocate ugliness as sacred and 
 desirable. Yet, as a matter of fact, the man who denounces 
 personal beauty is precisely in that position. His senti- 
 ment is false ; he misrepresents himself. St. Paul^was 
 very emphatic in recommending people to duly regard 
 
perfect the rose by cultivation and the landscape by- 
 direct interference, so we can make ourselves perfect, 
 beautiful. It is customary to go to some trouble and 
 expense to improve the mind, while only in exceptional 
 cases are any systematic efforts made to better the con- 
 dition of the body. It is virtually allowed to take care 
 of itself, its well-being is left to chance. What marvel 
 that it should become unshapely and diseased ? What 
 marvel that it should run to ruin and become an ugly 
 waste ? This laissez faire practice is the direful source 
 of unspeakable evils. The mind being dependent on the 
 body — as all intelligent people will grant — the improve- 
 ment of the latter should be desirable and be accorded 
 precedence, even if there were no other reasons, for if it 
 is bad, the former is generally of small consequence. 
 " Wisdom," says Socrates, " is the mind's health, and 
 this depends on the health of the body." Men of splen- 
 did physiques are the mental lights of the world. All 
 Bacons, Shakspeares, and Websters are strong and 
 healthy. We esteem mind and fully appreciate cultiva- 
 tion of it, but the temple is not to be despised and neg- 
 lected on account of the nobility of its tenant ; rather the 
 reverse. We should do all in our power to make both 
 grand and beautiful ; we should try to make the face and 
 soul correspond. Nor is it only a little that can be done ; 
 on the contrary, much, very much. We can, in the words 
 of Longfellow — 
 
 " Fashion with a cunning art 
 The human face, 
 As we can clothe the soul with light 
 And make the glorious spirit bright 
 With heavenly grace." 
 
IO 
 
 In this work personal appearance is the theme; the end, 
 the attainment of beauty. We propose to tell what 
 beauty is ; to present ideals to serve as examples for 
 imitation, and to lay down principles and give instruc- 
 tions which will guide people in striving after perfection. 
 It is not surface-work, toilette-work, that we are going 
 to treat of exclusively, but the complete development of 
 the entire person, the enoblement and beautification of 
 the race. Are we presuming to do what is impossible ? 
 We hope not, we think not. Mark what the illustrious 
 Bacon said, over two hundred years ago : — " Observation 
 well weighed may teach a means to make the persons of 
 men and women in many kinds more comely and better- 
 featured than otherwise they would be." 
 
 As part and parcel of our subject we will give some 
 observations on the import of features. In the observer 
 ability to read the meaning of the figure and face should 
 be cultivated hand in hand with sensibility to the out- 
 ward appearance. The former appeals to the intellect, 
 the latter to the feeling. Insight into character is not 
 only a source of refined pleasure, but also of immediate 
 value. Our daily intercourse with society brings such 
 knowledge constantly into profitable play. In connection, 
 therefore, with the artistic study of parts, we will give 
 such inferences as to character as will serve to guide and 
 enable every one to measure pretty exactly the heart and 
 mind of acquaintances, friends, and lovers. 
 
WHAT IS BEAUTY? 
 
 " Who hath not proved how feebly words essay 
 To fix one spark of beauty's heavenly ray ?" — Byron. 
 
 Various are the definitions of beauty. Socrates 
 speaks of it as " a short-lived tyranny ; " Plato as " the 
 privilege of nature;" Theophrastus as " a silent deceit;" 
 Aristotle as " the gift of a fair appearance ; " and Shakes- 
 peare as " a shining gloss." Having more or less refer- 
 ence to the human face, these conceptions of beauty are 
 good enough in their way, but not entirely satisfactory 
 to matter-of-fact people. Indeed, it is hard to express in 
 terms the tout ensemble of delicacy, grace of outlines, and 
 harmony of proportions and of colors which constitutes 
 beauty. Really, the canons of aesthetics — the science of 
 the beautiful — have not yet been written. Whatever is 
 most pleasing to any person is put down by that person 
 as beautiful, and as the beau ideal of each is not exactly 
 the same as that of any other, much of what is written 
 on the subject is extremely confusing. But we have no 
 right to infer from this that beauty cannot be reduced to 
 definite principles and elements. It is easier to suppose 
 that the tastes of people vary in consequence of some 
 bias or prejudice than that there are no universal and 
 permanent laws of beauty. There can be no doubt that 
 just as there are odors, tastes, and sounds which in the 
 
12 
 
 nature of things are more or less pleasing to all, so there 
 are certain forms and colors and combinations of these 
 which are in themselves pleasing. Beauty is not arbi- 
 trary or conventional, its principles are unchanging. 
 The artistic productions of the ancients are still beautiful 
 and ever will be. Now what is the criterion or rule of 
 beauty ? Says Ruskin, " If a thing is the result of the 
 complete fulfillment of a natural law it will be beautiful ; 
 if of the violation of a natural law it will be ugly." 
 This is the deductive way of getting at the thing, and 
 although the result is only an abstract idea it gives us 
 a correct conception of perfect beauty. 
 
 Another way of arriving at a tangible and almost, if 
 not entirely, perfect idea of what beauty is, is by com- 
 paring the beaux ideal of a large number of persons of 
 culture, persons who have made a critical study of 
 nature, and then picking out the one that corresponds 
 with the ideals of most. Pursuing this method we can 
 obtain the beautiful of an unlimited number of things ; 
 but still it does not discover to us any principles or 
 system of laws. Knowledge of these is to be gained by 
 wide observation and critical study, by scientific research. 
 Progress in this direction has been slow, yet enough to 
 encourage continued efforts. The most important of 
 the results we will now proceed to discuss. 
 
 As to beauty of form, the philosophical Father of 
 American Medicine, Dr. Rush, says : — " There is a certain 
 figure which is calculated to give pleasure to the eye. 
 Hogarth places it in the curved line which he calls the 
 line of beauty. This line occurs oftener in the human 
 figure than in that of any other animal, for which reason 
 
13 
 
 man is considered the most beautiful creature on the 
 face of the earth. It is in viewing a beautiful human 
 figure, whether male or female, that ' the eye is never 
 satisfied,' even the images of it upon canvas and in 
 marble are delightful." In drawing a curved line some- 
 what like the letter /"on the palette beneath his picture 
 of himself and dog, and writing under it ' The line of 
 beauty and grace" Hcfgarth did not mean to convey the 
 impression that every other line is entirely void of 
 beauty. In his celebrated Analysis of Beauty ', written 
 with a View of fixing the Fluctuating Idea of Taste (1753), 
 he does not come to that conclusion, as some writers 
 would seem to think. Such a conclusion would exclude 
 from the sphere of the beautiful a long list of things 
 deserving of that title; among them all crystalline forms, 
 the whole mineral world in fact Still, in all forms 
 throughout the vegetable and animal kingdoms, or, in 
 other words, in all living things, the curved line seems 
 to be the great aim of nature and par excellence the line 
 of beauty. Everything that is rounded and smooth is 
 pleasing to the eye. As the author just quoted states, 
 this test makes the human form the most beautiful object 
 in nature. We can go a step farther without incur- 
 ring the accusation of flattery. It is very well known 
 that woman is far more delicately rounded than man, so 
 we accord to her the palm for beauty. The chivalrous 
 Burns sings truly: — 
 
 " Auld nature swears the lovely dears 
 Her noblest work she classes O ! 
 
 Her prentice han' she tried on man 
 An' then she made the lasses O ! " 
 
H 
 
 We now pass to compound forms, — to forms made up 
 of two or more elements. Now there is a certain rela- 
 tion of the size of parts to each other and to the whole 
 which is an essential portion of beauty, and it consti- 
 tutes what is known as proportion. We will not go into 
 a lengthy development of the subject, but simply state 
 at once that in any particular object the standard of pro- 
 portion is the proportions of the type, or rather the 
 beau ideal of its kind or species. For example, the best 
 proportions — those which are most beautiful — of man 
 are those of the best type of his race. " It is from a 
 reiterated experience," says Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his 
 admirable Discourses (1790), "and a close comparison of 
 the objects in nature, that an artist becomes possessed of 
 the idea of that central form, if I may so express it, from 
 which every deviation is deformity.' , 
 
 Granting this as true, the important question arises 
 whether or not there is a definite aesthetic law of pro- 
 portions common to natural objects universally and to 
 the subdivisions of each. This subject was discussed 
 by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient philoso- 
 phers, and by many in modern times, but to little pur- 
 pose. In his famous work, The Sublime and Beautiful 
 (1756), Burke says: — "Beauty hath usually been said to 
 consist in certain proportions of parts. On considering 
 the matter I have great reason to doubt whether beauty 
 be at all an idea belonging to proportion. Proportion 
 relates almost wholly to convenience, as every idea of 
 order seems to do; and it must therefore be considered 
 as a creature of the understanding rather than a primary 
 cause, acting on the senses and imagination. " A nega- 
 
i5 
 
 tive result of this kind has been until recently almost the 
 only reward of all investigation and discussion. Mr. 
 Hay, a very industrious and enthusiastic author, as the 
 result of his studies, proclaimed to the world, some thirty 
 years ago, that "the science of proportion is based upon 
 the Platonic triangles." He states his theory as fol- 
 lows: — "The basis of the present theory is that a figure 
 is pleasing to the eye in the same degree as its funda- 
 mental angles bear to each other the same proportions 
 that the vibrations bear to one another in the same 
 chord of music." This harmonic theory, although 
 possibly right in principle, has never been accepted as 
 conclusive; indeed, to tell the truth, very few have gone 
 to the trouble of mastering its meaning, for it requires 
 an effort of the mind to understand it. 
 
 The German scientists have of late become the lead- 
 ers in aesthetic studies. A distinguished savant, A. 
 Zeising, in his work, ALsthetische Forschungen, published 
 in 1855, lays down what he believes to be the funda- 
 mental rule of proportion in accordance with which 
 nature operates. It is extremely simple and merits 
 general attention. Should all that is claimed for it be 
 borne out, it would deserve to rank with the greatest 
 discoveries of the age. The rule is the same in prin- 
 ciple as the elementary geometrical procedure, called 
 by Plato the "golden cut/' and which consists in 
 dividing a line into two unequal parts, in such a manner 
 that the large one forms the mean proportional between 
 the entire line and the smaller part; or, to put it as 
 does the author, the whole is to the greater part as the 
 latter is to the lesser {die Maasse des ga?tzen zu denen des 
 
i6 
 
 grossen Theiles wie dessen Maasse zu denen kleineren 
 Theiles). Thus, let A be a line, which is divided into 
 two unequal parts, the larger B and the smaller C; if 
 the divisions are in the proportion of beauty, the ratio 
 of A to B is equal to the ratio between B and C: or, in 
 technical form, A: B:: B: C. Here B is the mean pro- 
 portional to the extremes C and A, and equal to the 
 square root of fheir product. Professor G. T. Fechner 
 records, in his memoir, Zur Experimentalen JEsthetik 
 (1865), a series of experiments on a large number of 
 persons, from which he maintains that the rule is 
 abundantly shown to hold good in the human form in 
 all its subdivisions. Thus the waist should divide the 
 person so that the portion below is the mean propor- 
 tional between the part above and the entire height ; and 
 so the distance from the waist to the crown of the head 
 should be similarly divided by a line at the smallest point 
 of the neck. Again, in a proportionately-featured face 
 the nose should be the mean proportional between the 
 conjoined length of itself and the forehead and that of 
 the latter; and so the distance from the nose to the chin 
 should be similarly divided by the line of the mouth. 
 The rule applies to divisions in the breadth and depth 
 as well as in the length. When the eye becomes familiar 
 with this proportion it is readily detected everywhere, — 
 in the crystals, plants, and animals, in statues and cathe- 
 drals, and in fact in everything that is beautiful. So 
 much being claimed for this rule, and so general is its 
 acceptance, — as witness the prominence given to it in 
 the edition of 1876 of Harless' great work on Plastic 
 Anatomy [Lehrbuch du Plastischen A?tatomie) ) — that we 
 
17 
 
 will here give the method of dividing a given line into 
 two parts, so that the greater will be the mean propor- 
 tional between the lesser and the whole. 
 
 C 
 
 Let A B be the given line. At its extremity B erect a 
 perpendicular equal in length to one-half of the line A 
 B, and from C draw a straight line to A. Now with C 
 as centre and C B as radius, describe a circle ; which cuts 
 A C at the point D. By cutting from our line a portion 
 equal to A D we have it divided at the point E, as 
 desired. 
 
 Several artists have given us detailed measurements 
 of ideal humanity. The great Albrecht Diirer elabo- 
 rated a code of proportions which still excels all others 
 in minuteness. In spite, however, of all modern investi- 
 gation, it is generally thought that the best artistic 
 realization of the proportions of the human form — male 
 and female — are found in the Greek statues of Apollo 
 and Venus, which will be treated of elsewhere. 
 
 Although matters of outline and proportion, we may 
 say a few words separately about grace and symmetry. 
 
i8 
 
 The idea of action is almost always associated with grace; 
 it is a quality of motion and attitude. With correct out- 
 line and proportion all natural attitudes and motions are 
 graceful. Ease and freedom from restraint are essential 
 elements of grace. 
 
 Symmetry is the term used to express similarity of 
 the parts on both sides of every living thing — say man. 
 Thus, the two eyes, the two cheeks, both sides of the 
 head, both arms, and so on, must be exactly alike or there 
 is want of symmetry, and, consequently, want of beauty. 
 The effect of want of symmetry in dress is striking, but 
 never harmonious. 
 
 We will now turn our attention to color, the other 
 element of beauty. " It is meant," says Ruskin, " for 
 the perpetual comfort and delight of the human heart; 
 it is richly bestowed on the highest works of creation, 
 and the eminent sign and seal of perfection in them/' It 
 is now the accepted belief that there is no such thing as 
 color in nature. Objects only seem to have color. All 
 colors are but modifications of the white light of the sun. 
 By letting a pencil of rays pass through a prism, — a 
 three-cornered piece of clear glass, — and fall on a screen, 
 seven colors — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, 
 and violet are readily detected, but the shades are num- 
 berless. This is a spectrum or rainbow scale of colors. 
 Now some surfaces reflect light completely, and they 
 appear white. Others do not reflect at all, and they appear 
 black. Others reflect only the red rays, and they appear 
 red, and so on. This power of reflecting certain rays is 
 what is referred to when we speak of anything as pos- 
 sessing a certain color. Peculiarity of structure is the 
 
19 
 
 cause of peculiarity of color. A few flowers and the 
 plumage of some birds have the property of reflecting 
 the complete spectrum. The rose and the golden pheas- 
 ant furnish examples. 
 
 From the three colors — blue, red, and yellow — we can 
 readily obtain all the others. These are called the pri- 
 maries. By mixing blue and red in equal proportion, 
 we get violet ; red and yellow give orange, and blue and 
 yellow give green. These three are the secondaries. By 
 adding to each of the secondaries the primary that is 
 absent, we get the so-called tertiary colors, — citron, rus- 
 set, and olive. Various proportions of these give all the 
 other colors in all their shades. In his Farbenlehre 
 (1810), the best work on the principles of beauty in 
 colors, the great philosophical poet Goethe says : — " The 
 whole ingredients of the chromatic scale, seen in juxta- 
 position, produce an harmonious impression on the eye." 
 This is the essential principle of the pleasurable in con- 
 joined colors. Individual colors are contemplated with 
 more or less pleasure ; but when arranged side by side so 
 that the eye rests on them one after another, the consti- 
 tution of the visual organ requires that certain colors 
 must succeed each other in order to have a strictly 
 pleasurable effect. These subjects will be fully treated 
 of elsewhere. 
 
 In delicacy and beauty, the colors of the face are not 
 outrivaled anywhere. This subject will also be treated 
 of at length elsewhere. 
 
 Now, a few words as to why the sight of particular 
 forms and colors is pleasurable. Aristotle, Hogarth, 
 Reynolds, Burke, and others have traced it to the direct 
 
20 
 
 sensation excited. Plato, St. Augustine, and Ruskin 
 are of those who have thought that it arises from the 
 conception of associated excellency or divine attributes 
 communicated to all perfect things by the Deity. Ali- 
 son, Jeffrey, and their school, refer it to the flow of ideas 
 suggested, and the modern scientific school of thinkers, 
 headed by Herbert Spencer, attribute it to the direct 
 sensation, together with activity of perception and mul- 
 titudinous associations of ideas and feelings from, past 
 experience, or any one or two of these sources. Simple 
 sensation, as of tone, color, &c, which are partly 
 organic and partly the result of association, is the source 
 of the commonest class of pleasures ; pleasures arising 
 from the perception, as employed in the recognition of 
 color, &c, come next, and the highest order of pleas- 
 ures are those of the aesthetic sentiments proper, consist- 
 ing of numerous emotions ideally excited by natural and 
 artistic objects of beauty. When sensation, perception 
 and emotion are all at once in full pleasurable activity, 
 the most perfect form of gratification from contemplating 
 the beautiful is realized. Most persons, probably, are 
 transported by direct sensation, like Virgil's Camilla, 
 who was carried away by the embroidered tunic, pur- 
 ple mantle, and golden coat of armor of the Trojan, 
 and are votaries of beauty, in the appearance of things. 
 It is an error, engendered by the civilized custom of 
 wearing clothing, to associate beauty of the human figure 
 with the face alone. When Lady Montague was in 
 Turkey, she had excellent opportunities for forming a 
 correct opinion in regard to this matter ; and in her let- 
 ters, we are told, " I perceived that the ladies of the 
 
21 
 
 most delicate skins and finest shapes had the greatest 
 share of my admiration, though their faces were some- 
 times less beautiful than those of their companions.' , 
 We might quote any amount of testimony to this effect, 
 but it will be enough to know what Fou and Knox have 
 to say on the subject in their excellent work on Artistic 
 Anatomy (Anatomy of the External Forms, 184.9). ^ n 
 it we find this statement : — " The posterior surface of 
 the torso in woman is unquestionably the chef (Toeuvre 
 of nature." This is going too far, perhaps. The sweep- 
 ing curves of the trunk and limbs are extremely beauti- 
 ful, but we believe that even in form, apart from color 
 and expression, the face is more beautiful than any other 
 part of the person. We may draw a distinction. The 
 beauty of the former is plain — impressive, or, to put it 
 in a word, sublime in nature; whereas the beauty of the 
 latter is detailed, interesting. " Nature has," says Addi- 
 son, in The Spectator, "laid out all her art in beautifying 
 the face. She has touched it with vermillion, planted in 
 it a double row of ivory, made it the seat of smiles and 
 blushes, lighted it up and enlivened it with the bright- 
 ness of the eye, hung it on each side with curious 
 organs of sense, given it airs and graces which cannot be 
 described, and surrounded it with such a flowing shade 
 of hair as sets its beauties in the most agreeable light." 
 The beauty of the face, both of form and hue, is liable 
 to great and almost constant change in being the seat of 
 expression. There the feelings, emotions, and thoughts 
 of the mind within are constantly flashing, moulding, 
 and coloring. This gives great variation to the beauty 
 of the face. 
 
22 
 
 We may conclude this chapter with a few remarks as 
 to what is beautiful. This whole matter may be summed 
 up in the statement that everything that is perfect is 
 beautiful, and everything that is imperfect is ugly. 
 Absolute beauty is an ideal, and in all things there is 
 only more or less of an approach toward it. Strictly 
 speaking, then, we should regard things as only relatively 
 beautiful. Plato joins the True and the Good in his idea 
 of the beautiful, and all the Greeks, to whom beauty was 
 the breath of life, regarded it as only another name for 
 excellence of every kind. The Christian Fathers waged 
 an interesting controversy on this question. Saints Jus- 
 tin, Clement, Basil, and Cyril maintained that Christ 
 should not be beautiful. Celsus, the author of Rome's 
 legacy to Medicine, De Medicind, who was an able 
 dialectician, retorted, " Jesus was not beautiful ? then he 
 was not God!" Saints Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose, 
 Augustine, and Chrysostom sustained the contrary opin- 
 ion, but to no purpose. The church has never pronounced 
 its opinion. Raphael, Angelo, and other artists of genius 
 have represented him as extremely beautiful. 
 
 The view of Celsus is precisely the same as that of 
 many leading minds of modern times. We may take 
 the instance of Victor Cousin, the eclectic philosopher. 
 In his work on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good 
 (Le Vrai y le Beau, et le Bon, i8jj), he sums up his con- 
 clusions as follows: — "The realized ideal of all beauty is 
 God, in whom there is combined absolute unity with 
 infinite variety." 
 
A TYPE OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 " O fairest of creation ! last and best 
 Of all God's works ! " — Milton. 
 
 The Greeks were great admirers of personal beauty, 
 and the same may be said, but in a lesser degree, of the 
 Romans. Indeed, their admiration of it developed into 
 a form of worship — a religion. Their divinities — their 
 Joves and Minervas — were only human ideals, whose 
 qualities were equally esteemed when discovered in 
 themselves. If a sculptor wished to form a divine per- 
 sonage, he copied the most admirable features of his 
 fellow-creatures, who came freely to him as models. 
 Herein lies the secret of their love of beauty, and the 
 ascendancy of their art productions. 
 
 Now, to the people of these two nations, and to all the 
 world before their time, the most beautiful object in na- 
 ture was a woman, one 
 
 " In body perfect and complete in mind," 
 
 as Homer sings of the faithful Penelope. Nor has this 
 high estimate of woman's beauty lessened in modern 
 times. In one of the best works on artistic anatomy 
 (Fou & Knox's) it is said, " In her alone beauty resides ; 
 she is, in fact, the only perfect and beautiful object in 
 nature." By the Greeks the goddess of beauty was 
 
 («3) 
 
24 
 
 named Aphrodite, and by the Romans Venus, she hav- 
 ing been awarded the prize of beauty, the golden apple, 
 by Paris, in preference to Minerva and Juno. This was 
 the favorite goddess. She was realized ideally in marble 
 by the best artists, and placed in all the temples to re- 
 ceive the homage of the people. Statues of her were 
 very numerous, many of them the works of master- 
 hands, the greatest triumphs of genius. 
 
 The deplorable vandalism, inspired by uncouth fanati- 
 cism, which prevailed for many centuries after the de- 
 cline of these refined nations of antiquity, had no respect 
 even for these charming embodiments of glorious wo- 
 manhood. They were smashed to pieces. In modern 
 time, however, the fragments of a number of them have 
 been unearthed, and by patience and skill one at least 
 has been almost completely restored. It is, in the ex- 
 pressive words of Thomson, 
 
 " The statue that enchants the world." 
 
 The famous Venus de' Medici (so called because 
 possessed, for a long time, by the noted family of that 
 name), — the most precious relic of ancient art, — was dis- 
 covered in the ruins of the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli, 
 in 1680. It was found in eleven pieces, and was the 
 creation of the Athenian sculptor Cleomanes, who flour- 
 ished about two centuries before the beginning of our era. 
 The right arm and the lower portion of the left have not 
 been discovered, but these portions of the bewitching 
 figure have been admirably supplied by Bardinelli, a 
 celebrated Italian artist. It is now in the Tribune of the 
 
25 
 
 Uffizi Gallery, at Florence, an object of world-wide re- 
 nown and interest. 
 
 Now, in this statue, which is life-sized, we have an 
 ideal woman, — the best model of beauty to be found, 
 
 " The mingled beauties of exulting Greece." — Thomson. 
 
 We take it as our type of female beauty. 
 
 We will now try to give a description of our goddess. 
 Not such an one as we might give if our imagination 
 w T ere unbridled ; not a glowing word-picture, — that has 
 been already well done by others. The tape-line will 
 supply our ideas ; we propose to limit ourselves to facts. 
 We will give the measurements in such a way that every 
 fair lady in the land, no difference what her absolute size 
 may be, can, by comparison, determine whether or not 
 her proportions are all that could be hoped for. 
 
 What impresses one most on first casting the eye on 
 this figure is its grace of outline. Look where you may, 
 every part is full, free, undulating. You can detect no 
 angularities ; it is rounded everywhere ; there is not a 
 single indication of the framework, not a trace of a mus- 
 cle to be seen. The height is five feet, and the circum- 
 ference of the waist, which is four inches in length, is 
 thirty inches. It will be noticed, from these statements, 
 that the thickness is precisely equal to half the stature. 
 This is surely an astonishing revelation to many of our 
 modern belles, who seem to think that the smaller the 
 waist the nearer it approaches to the beautiful. The 
 height is a little less than the average of American 
 ladies, but the waist is certainly much greater. This 
 
26 
 
 should be remembered, especially by those misguided 
 damsels who are, perhaps, already disproportionately 
 thin, but who, from a false taste, will persist in sacrificing 
 comfort and health by squeezing themselves purposely 
 with corsets, which raises a foolish cry of condemnation 
 against this most sanatory and almost necessary part of 
 female apparel. The average waist of young ladies is 
 about twenty-four inches, about seven less than it should 
 be. .The ladies of Austria boast, it is said, that the 
 empress of the realm has a waist of only fourteen 
 inches. Their art-knowledge must be dangerously de- 
 ficient. But to return to our subject. The difference 
 between the breadth of the waist and the breadth at the 
 hips is equal to the difference between the latter and the 
 breadth at the hip-joints. Comparing the breadth at 
 the hip-joints with the breadth at the shoulders, we 
 notice that the former is a little the greater. 
 
 The breadth at the hips is precisely equal to the breadth 
 of the chest below the arms. The width of the arms, if 
 extended horizontally and in a straight line, is equal to 
 the height, and the length of the lower extremities is 
 equal to the length of the trunk and head together. 
 These proportions are just as given in the best modern 
 statuary. Powers^ Greek Slave and Gibson's Psyche are 
 examples. 
 
 We now turn to the face. It is oval, the breadth 
 being two-thirds the length. Its length is divisible into 
 three equal parts, of which the nose is one, and its 
 breadth is divisible into five equal parts, of which the* 
 eyes are the second and fourth. The forehead is smooth 
 and moderately full ; the eyes are of medium size and 
 
27 
 
 prominence ; there is a wide, hairless space between the 
 eyebrows, which are slightly arched and somewhat lower 
 at the outer than at the inner ends ; the nose is straight 
 in type, and thin; the lips are full, and the chin is 
 rounded. From the forehead there is a gradual rise to 
 the crown, so that the latter is higher — on a higher plane — 
 than the former by its height; but if the head were 
 thrown a little further back, it would be less, — say one- 
 fifth the entire length to the chin, the proportion ob- 
 served by Michael Angelo and most of the best modern 
 artists. The cast of the features, as a whole, is expres- 
 sive of love, while that of Diana's is of strength, and of 
 Minerva's of wisdom. 
 
 As a supplement to this rough sketch we will now 
 give some detailed measurements which we take for the 
 most part from the celebrated work of Audran, The Pro- 
 portions of the Human Figure (1683). Doubtless they 
 will prove interesting to many. 
 
 As already stated, the face is divisible into three parts 
 of equal length, and it is another from the top of the fore- 
 head to a level with the crown of the head. The four 
 parts form the length of the head. 
 
 Now we will take one of these parts as our measure 
 and reckon every twelfth of it a minute. The height is 
 seven heads and three parts ; the breadth at the shoulders 
 is seven parts nine minutes ; at the waist, four parts 
 eight minutes ; at the hips, six parts three minutes ; at 
 the middle of the thigh, two parts seven minutes; at 
 the calf of the leg, two parts one minute ; above the 
 ankle, one part one minute ; across the instep, one part 
 four minutes ; at the middle of the arm, one part nine 
 
 v 
 
28 
 
 minutes ; at the middle of the fore-arm, one part nine 
 minutes ; and at the wrist, one part. The depth of the 
 chest from the nipple back is four parts four minutes ; 
 at the waist, three parts seven minutes ; at the middle of 
 the thigh, three parts six minutes; at the calf of the leg, 
 two parts one minute ; above the ankle, one part four 
 and a half minutes ; at the middle of the arm, one part 
 nine minutes ; at the middle of the fore-arm, one part 
 seven minutes ; and at the wrist, eleven minutes. From 
 the lobe of the ear to the fossa at the head of the breast- 
 bone is two parts eight minutes. The antero-posterior 
 diameter of the neck is one part eleven minutes. The 
 width of the mouth is seven and one-quarter minutes ; 
 and of the nose, at the wings, six and one-half minutes. 
 The length of the upper lip is two minutes and of the 
 lower three minutes. The thickness of the lower lip is 
 one and one half minutes, and the depth of the nose at 
 the tip is six minutes. The length of the foot is equal 
 to one-sixth the stature, and the length of the hand is 
 about one-tenth. 
 
 Such is Venus, the goddess of Beauty, the mother of 
 Love, and the mistress of the Graces. 
 
 " The goddess loves in stone, and fills 
 The air around with beauty ; we inhale 
 The ambrosial aspect, which, beheld, instils 
 Part of its immortality; the vail 
 Of heaven is half withdrawn ; within the pale 
 We stand, and in that form and face behold 
 What mind can make, when Nature's self would fail ; 
 And to the fond idolaters of old 
 Envy the innate flash which such a soul could mould : 
 
2 9 
 
 " We gaze and turn away, and know not where, 
 Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart 
 Reels with its fullness ; there — forever there — 
 Chained to the chariot of triumphal art, 
 We stand as captives and would not depart." — Byron. 
 
 We may here state that the average height of women 
 of the Anglo-Saxon race is five feet two inches, and the 
 average weight, one hundred and seventeen pounds. 
 The weight is greatest when about fifty years of age. 
 When the size is much above the average, even that the 
 proportions are correct, we are not inclined to regard the 
 person as beautiful, or at any rate the other sex is not 
 affected as with beauty. Burke lays great emphasis on 
 this point. " Beautiful objects," he declares, " are compar- 
 atively small," and again, " the beauty of women is con- 
 siderably owing to their weakness or delicacy and is 
 even enhanced by their timidity, a quality of mind 
 analogous to it." Indeed, this distinguished authority 
 defines beauty to be " those qualities in bodies by which 
 they cause love or some passion similar to it." Without 
 wishing to argue in favor of this definition, we must 
 allow that it finds strong proof in the fact that female 
 loveliness has been the main inspiration of many, if not 
 all the great poets, for if each had not like Petrarch a 
 particular Laura, we can suppose their inspiration many- 
 sided ; at any rate, the great bard of Briton says : — 
 
 " Never durst poet touch a pen to write 
 Until his ink were tempered with love's sighs." 
 
 The Hindoos have had throughout their long history 
 a remarkable taste and veneration for female beauty. 
 
3o 
 
 Over three thousand years ago every art was practiced 
 to beautify the ladies, and no side of their nature was 
 missed. The name, even, was considered an important 
 matter. Thus in the ancient code, The Institutes of Menu y 
 it is declared, " The names of women should be agree- 
 able, clear, captivating the fancy, soft, auspicious, ending 
 in long vowels resembling words of benediction. ,, This 
 is almost the same as what Burke says in support of 
 his doctrine that whatever is beautiful is relatively 
 small. " In most languages," says he, " the objects of 
 love are spoken of under diminutive epithets." Thus 
 an intuitive sense of the beautiful, a sense of congruity, 
 may be the reason why female names are so generally 
 made to terminate, a la Scotch, in the letters ie. 
 
A TYPE OF MALE BEAUTY. 
 
 " A combination and a form indeed, 
 Where every god did seem to set his seal." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 Adonis was regarded by the ancients as the most 
 beautiful example of his sex. He was the beloved of 
 Venus, his charms drew her down from the heights of 
 Olympus — from the court of Heaven. To gods and men 
 his beauty was matchless. He stood alone, without an 
 equal, a miracle of ineffable attractiveness and delight. 
 His praise was on every tongue. It was thought, as 
 our Poet expressed it — 
 
 " True, sweet beauty lived and died with him." 
 
 The artists of both Greece and Rome vied with one 
 another in their efforts to fitly mould his pure, ethereal 
 form. Statues of him were to be found on every hand. 
 A few of these superb works, more or less mutilated, 
 are yet in existence ; but the form of Adonis is that of 
 a lovely youth, of adolescence and not of ripe manhood, 
 so we turn elsewhere for a type of manly beauty. 
 
 Quite as much pains really were given to the repre- 
 sentation in marble of Apollo, the god of the fine arts, 
 medicine, music, poetry, and eloquence, as of Adonis, 
 and in the magnificent Apollo Belvidere we have the 
 
 (3i) 
 
32 
 
 antique and still the best realization of man in his best 
 estate. This wonderfully perfect statue was executed 
 by a Grecian sculptor, but by whom we are unable to 
 say. It was discovered in the year 1503, among the 
 ruins of Antium, now Porto 'Anzo, a village near the 
 mouth of the Tiber, about thirty miles below Rome. 
 Pope Julius II. purchased it, and it has still been owned 
 by his successors in the chair of St. Peter. Napoleon 
 caused it, among other precious treasures of art, to be 
 brought to Paris, where it remained from 1797 to 18 1 5. 
 When restored to Rome it was replaced in the Vatican, 
 the splendid pontificial palace and museum of the fine 
 arts. It stands in the Belvidere pavilion, hence the 
 name Apollo Belvidere. The name of Pythian Apollo 
 is sometimes applied to it, because the god is represented 
 as an archer in the act of discharging an arrow at Py- 
 thon, the fabulous dragon, the destruction of which is 
 recorded as one of his principal feats. When found, 
 both hands were wanting, but these have been admirably 
 restored by Angelo da Montorsoli, a pupil of Michael 
 Angelo. 
 
 In entering upon a description of our statue, we may 
 state that its being slightly heroic in size, being seven 
 feet in height, has nothing to do with the proportions ; 
 they would remain the same if it were ever so much 
 reduced, or enlarged either. We may also say, that the 
 mantle which is thrown around the shoulders, the san- 
 dals, and other accessories, are of no interest to us, 
 being students of the figure merely. Now, representing 
 the god as he appeared immediately after discharging 
 the fatal arrow, the most striking characteristic of this 
 
33 
 
 majestic work is its expression. It is covered with an 
 air of triumphant power ; vitality is apparent in every 
 part of it. Says Winckelmann, the great art critic, in his 
 History of Ancient Art [Geschichte der Kunst des Alter- 
 thums, 1764), " In view of this marvel of art I forget 
 earth, I am elevated above the senses and my soul takes 
 easily a supernatural nature proper to judge of it 
 worthily. My bosom fills with respect as of the 
 prophets. I feel transported to Delos and into the woods 
 of Lycia which Apollo honored with his presence ; for 
 this statue seems to animate us as the beauty of Pygma- 
 lion and to take life and motion in proportion as we 
 intently contemplate it." 
 
 Some of the proportions, according to the method of 
 reckoning of Audran, are as follows : — The height is 
 seven heads and three and a half parts ; the anteropos- 
 terior diameter of the neck, two parts ; the distance from 
 the root of the lobe of the ear to the sternal fossa, 
 three parts ; the breadth from nipple to nipple, four parts 
 seven minutes; the breadth at the waist, five parts nine 
 minutes; at the hips, six parts two minutes; at the. hip- 
 joints, six parts seven minutes ; at the middle of the arm, 
 one part seven minutes ; at the middle of the fore-arm, 
 one part six minutes ; at the wrist, one part one minute ; 
 at the middle of the thigh, two parts eight and a half min- 
 utes; and at the calf of the leg, two parts four minutes. 
 
 In comparing Apollo with Venus we notice that, though 
 in the main similar as to outline and proportions, there 
 are some important differences, some of which we may 
 point out. 
 
 He is not so rounded and his limbs are not as straight ; 
 
34 
 
 neither are his joints as delicate, the articulations being 
 more apparent. His shoulders do not droop as much as 
 hers and he is wider at the shoulders than at the hip- 
 joints, while she is slightly narrower at the former than at 
 the latter. His chest is longer and consequently his 
 waist is shorter and thicker than hers. His hands are 
 larger and so is his head, and the features of his face are 
 more sharply cut. 
 
 In Cldlde Harold's Pilgrimage, Byron gives us a grand 
 description of our ideal. As he stood in its presence 
 the noble poet was filled with enthusiasm, his soul 
 was warmed with the true Promethean fire, and he pro- 
 nounced a eulogy on it which for eloquence is hardly 
 paralleled in the English language save by his own trib- 
 ute to the Medician Venus : — 
 
 i 
 
 " View the lord of the unerring bow, 
 The god of life, and poesy, and light — 
 The sun in human limbs arrayed, and brow 
 All radiant from his triumph in the fight ; 
 The shaft hath just been shot — the arrow bright 
 With an immortal's vengeance ; in his eye 
 And nostril beautiful disdain, and might 
 And majesty, flash their full lightnings by, 
 Developing in that one glance the Deity. 
 
 " But in his delicate form — a dream of love, 
 
 Shaped by some solitary nymph, whose breast 
 
 Longed for a deathless lover from above, 
 
 And madden'd in that vision — are exprest 
 
 All that ideal beauty ever bless'd 
 
 The mind within its most unearthly mood, 
 
 When each conception was a heavenly guest — 
 
 A ray of immortality — and stood 
 
 Starlike, around, until they gather'd to a god!" 
 
35 
 
 The average height of men of our race is five feet six 
 inches, and the average weight one hundred and forty 
 pounds. When about forty years of age men are at 
 their heaviest stage. The average circumference of the 
 chest is about thirty-five inches, and it should be the 
 same at the hips. The difference between the circum- 
 ference of the chest when it is inflated to the fullest ex- 
 tent possible, and when the air is expelled as completely 
 as possible, should be at least three inches. Dr. Ham- 
 mond, who was surgeon-general during our civil war, 
 says [Military Hygiene, i86j) y that when this difference is 
 less than three inches it is a question whether the man 
 is fit for military duty. A person can, we believe, be 
 healthy and strong with even less, and one with more 
 may be deficient in those qualities. It can be increased 
 by exercise and by tight lacing, which prevents the ungs 
 from expanding downward. We have reason to think 
 that this latter is one of the causes of its being more in 
 women than in men. To prove a good vocalist it is 
 necessary that the lungs shall be large and strong, with 
 more than average mobility of the chest-walls. The 
 character of the voice is to a great extent due to the 
 form of the chest. In men the breathing is mainly ab- 
 dominal, and in women pectoral, and for this reason his 
 voice is naturally of a low pitch, while hers is of a high 
 one. When markedly abdominal in him his voice is 
 basso, and when markedly pectoral in her it is soprano ; 
 while if it inclines to be pectoral in him his voice is alto, 
 and if it inclines to be abdominal in her it is contralto. 
 The deep-breathing people have most vitality. 
 
 With regard to the face it may be said that well-marked, 
 
36 
 
 expressive features are the most desirable in a man. In 
 him power takes the place which beauty does in woman; 
 but beauty of the manly type is eminently compatible 
 with a manly character. We may here remark of a 
 typical man that his mind should be strong and disci- 
 plined, and his knowledge extensive. In speaking of 
 Cicero, Plutarch gives us a good idea of what a man's 
 mental cast should be. " He had," says he, " that turn 
 of genius and disposition which Plato would have a 
 scholar and philosopher to possess. He had both capac- 
 ity and inclination to learn all the arts, neither was there 
 any branch of science that he despised." 
 
BEAUTY AND THE SEX. 
 
 " The sky we look up to, though glorious and fair, 
 
 Is looked up to more because heaven is there." — Moore. 
 
 In this chapter we propose to supplement with some 
 general remarks what we have already said in regard to 
 beauty of the sexes, and also to throw out some hints as 
 to the traits which are most desirable in woman and 
 which she should especially cultivate. 
 
 In treating of types we have spoken of form almost 
 exclusively; but we do not desire any one to gain the 
 impression that the beauty of mankind is a matter of 
 physical form only, The most lowly plants and animals 
 have something more ; all of them are possessed of 
 color, and show some evidences of life. Now, color is 
 an important factor of human beauty, particularly of the 
 face, and expression also plays here a significant role. A 
 face of statuesque beauty, still and colorless, is admirable, 
 to be sure, and if it is richly embellished with Nature's 
 skillful pencil it will be much more so ; but if it lacks 
 expression it is, like a flower void of fragrance, wanting 
 in a great source of magnetism. When the power of 
 mind or the charm of heart or both beam in features of 
 perfect form and tints then is it indeed overpowering. 
 Bacon had reason in saying that "the best part of beauty 
 
 (37) 
 
38 
 
 is that which a picture cannot express." It is true, ex- 
 pression does not always improve the appearance of the 
 face ; Hut it is only when there is nothing good or pleasant 
 to express, when the mind and heart are not what they 
 should be, or the person is racked with pain or oppressed 
 with care or disease. The cultivated mind and loving 
 heart and pleasurable feelings will always have a gracious 
 expression, beaming forth in strong rays of nobility, 
 sweetness, and joy. Many have gone so far as to regard 
 beauty as merely the index animi — the outward shadow of 
 the soul, as did Socrates. We may or may not take that 
 view of the matter as correct, but there is certainly the 
 strongest possible inducements, so far as beauty is con- 
 cerned, held out for improvement of both heart and head. 
 Says Ecclesiasticus, "The heart of a man changeth his 
 countenance, whether it be for evil or good," and Solo- 
 mon declares, "The countenance of the wise showeth 
 wisdom." Indeed, in a face bright with health and re- 
 splendent of heart and mind the mere form may be 
 overlooked, so powerful is animation, so engrossing the 
 expression of the vital spark within. Here let us say 
 sotto voce to the ill-favored sisterhood, if there is not 
 much to please the eye, the more should be done to 
 tickle the fancy and the intelligence. Every one can be in 
 some way pleasing and should be, for as Dr. Holmes says 
 in the Philosopher at the Breakfast Table, " The woman 
 who does not please is a false note in the harmonies of 
 nature." To stimulate those who have been " cheated of 
 feature by dissembling Nature," and who remain ugly in 
 in spite of science and art, but who have the commendable 
 ambition to attract and please, we will say a few more 
 
 1 
 
39 
 
 words by way of encouragement. Every one has noticed 
 that they are not all beauties who have become brides, 
 and some are at a loss to know how they led their hus- 
 bands captive. There is no mystery about it ; they did 
 it by being agreeable, kind, and affectionate. In the 
 gorgeous description of Eve which the divine Milton 
 presents in his Paradise Lost as having been given by 
 Adam to the Angel, the greatest emphasis is placed, not 
 on her bare physical features, but on lustrous qualities 
 of these, so to speak. It is said : — 
 
 " Grace was in her steps, Heav'n in her eye, 
 In all her gestures dignity and love." 
 
 The most renowned of Grecian women, the gray-eyed 
 brunette Aspasia, who, as Plutarch tells us, " captured the 
 most illustrious statesmen and brought even philosophers 
 to speak of her so much to her advantage/' was not as 
 beautiful as many others; "some, indeed," continues the 
 author just quoted, " affirm that Pericles made his court 
 to her only on account of her wisdom and political abili- 
 ties." Again, what was it that enabled Cleopatra to 
 bring even the great Caesar to her feet? Not graces of 
 feature alone. Plutarch says:— " Her beauty, it is said, 
 was neither astonishing nor inimitable, but it derived force 
 from her wit and the fascination of her manner, which 
 was absolutely irresistible." She was finely educated, 
 her linguistic acquirements were such that she could 
 converse with the ambassadors from all parts of the 
 world without an interpreter, and she had extraordinary 
 command of all her faculties. Our author remarks, " Her 
 
40 
 
 voice was delightfully melodious and had the same 
 variety of modulation as an instrument of many strings." 
 
 Now it is not to be inferred that we believe it possible 
 to be beautiful or in the highest degree attractive, even 
 though the features are defective. No, a fine form is an 
 essential element of real beauty, and however generously 
 endowed in other respects, Helen, Aspasia, Lucretia, 
 Judith, and Cleopatra may have been, they could not 
 have made such indelible impressions on the world's 
 progress had it not been for the seductive spell of lovely 
 forms. 
 
 As to the traits most admirable in " this goodly and 
 angelic creature," as Chaucer characterizes woman, we 
 will present our views in the language of the philosopher, 
 Herbert Spencer, in his work, Education: Intellectual, 
 Moral, and Physical (1861). " Men," says he, "care com- 
 paratively little for erudition in women, but very much 
 for physical beauty and good nature and good sense. 
 How many conquests are made by the blue-stocking 
 through her extensive knowledge of history? What 
 man ever fell in love with a woman because she under- 
 stood Italian ? Where is the Edwin who was brought 
 to his Angelina's feet by her German ? But rosy cheeks 
 and laughing eyes are great attractions. A finely- 
 rounded figure draws admiring glances. The loveliness 
 and good humor that overflowing health produces go a 
 great way toward establishing attachments. Every one 
 knows cases where bodily perfections, in the absence of 
 all other recommendations, have excited a passion that 
 carries all before it. But scarcely any one can point to 
 a case where intellectual acquirements, apart from moral 
 
4i 
 
 or physical attributes, have raised such a feeling. The 
 truth is that out of many elements uniting in various 
 proportions to produce in a man's breast that complex 
 emotion which we call love, the strongest are those 
 produced by physical attractions ; the next in order of 
 strength are those produced by moral attractions ; the 
 weakest are those produced by intellectual attractions, 
 and even these are dependent much less upon acquired 
 knowledge than on natural faculty, quickness, wit, 
 insight." Longfellow favors this view of what is attract- 
 ive in woman's inner nature. Says he : — 
 
 "What I most prize in woman 
 Is her affections, not her intellect ; 
 The intellect is finite; but the affections are infinite 
 and cannot be exhausted." 
 
 Let us recapitulate. Personal beauty, a hopeful, affec- 
 tionate nature, and good common sense and insight, are 
 the traits men prize most in women. Not great learning, 
 argumentative ability, and the like. Such is man's taste, 
 and, as tersely put in one of George Eliot's works, 
 " man's taste is woman's test." These statements should 
 be duly weighed and remembered by parents and educa- 
 tors. The cry of similar higher education for the sexes, 
 and in union too, which is fashionable just now, is con- 
 trary to common sense and still more so to reason. 
 Man and woman are very unlike, physically and mentally; 
 but their unlikeness is calculated to subserve their very 
 different ends in creation. United, they supplement each 
 other and are not like twin kernels in an almond-shell. 
 What is wanting in the one should be supplied by the 
 
42 
 
 other and the result should be a unity. Does it not lie 
 to sense then that the system of education of each 
 should be of a nature that will promote in the highest 
 degree possible the development of each in the proper 
 direction? On this subject we find the ideas of St. 
 Pierre so interesting that we cannot refrain from quoting 
 a few lines from him (Etudes de la Nature y 1784), " Man," 
 says he, " without woman and woman without man are 
 imperfect beings in the order of nature. But the greater 
 the contrast in their characters the more complete union 
 there is in their harmonies. It is from their opposition 
 in talents, tastes, and fortunes that the most intense and 
 durable affection is produced." Again, he says, " Why 
 are there so few happy marriages among us [the French]? 
 I answer, because with us the sexes have divested them- 
 selves each of its proper nature and assumed that of 
 the other; because the women with us adopt the manners 
 (inceurs) of men from education, and men the manners of 
 women from habit." Plato noted down a great truth 
 when he wrote: — "The unlike longs for and loves the 
 unlike." It may be well to distinctly state that we do 
 not wish to convey in the foregoing remarks the idea 
 that it is improper to let children under twelve years of 
 age say, associate together and receive the same instruc- 
 tion, for we are in favor of that practice. We know of 
 no sensible reason why they should not be educated 
 similarly and together up to that time. Their mutual 
 influence is advantageous to both, and the average girl 
 can very easily learn as much as it is possible to get the 
 average boy to do, without injuring herself in the least. 
 
THE BASIS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 In her charm'd cup health's Goddess 
 The winning spell of beauty brings. 
 
 It is not so easy, as on first thought it might seem, to 
 say what is the foundation of beauty. Youth and beauty 
 are sometimes associated together in our minds ; and 
 although the brow of age may be richly endowed with 
 the comely possession, yet it must be confessed that 
 beauty of the real bewitching type is found only among 
 those in the flush of youth. The beauty of age appeals 
 to our moral perceptions and intelligence, and grows on 
 us gradually; the beauty of youth speaks to our feeling, 
 our entire sensibilities, and wins us at once, or, as 
 Chaucer aptly puts it : — 
 
 " Fresshe beautee sleth me sodenly." 
 
 However, youth may be present without beauty, and 
 beauty is not incompatible with years. Helen was over 
 forty when Paris fell in love with her; Aspasia was 
 thirty-six when wedded by Pericles ; Cleopatra was over 
 thirty when she fascinated Marc Antony ; Diana de 
 Poitiers was thirty-six when Henry II., although only 
 half as old, was carried off by her; Madame de Main- 
 tenon was forty-three when she won Louis XIV. ; 
 
 (43) 
 
44 
 
 Ninon de L'Enclos was seventy-two when Abbe de 
 Verais was charmed by her ; and at forty years of age 
 Madame Recamier was universally regarded as the 
 prettiest woman in Europe. The truth is, there are 
 types of beauty which correspond for the most part with 
 periods in our existence. The outline may be the same, 
 but as a whole there is much difference between a beauty 
 at twenty-five and at forty. This should be remembered 
 always, for many even far advanced in the noon of life 
 ridiculously disfigure themselves by aping Hebe's ap- 
 pearance. They try to do what is against nature. 
 Racine finely expresses the idea when he makes Athalie, 
 when relating her vision of her vain mother, Jezabel, 
 say :• — 
 
 " Elle eut soin de peindre et d'orner son visage 
 Pour reparer des ans V irreparable outrage." 
 
 Still, the changes of years should only cover the beauty 
 of youth with the mellow sweetness of riper age. Now, 
 taking everything into consideration, one thing always 
 accompanies beauty, upon which it very largely depends, 
 and that is health. Who ever saw a beautiful unhealthy 
 child ? Who ever saw a lovely sickly maiden ? Who 
 ever saw a pleasing-faced dyspeptic ? But some one 
 may ask, what is health ? Well, it is easier to conceive 
 than to express what it is ; but Broussais, the celebrated 
 French physician, in his work on Principles of Physiologi- 
 cal Medicine (1828), tells us what it is in clear enough 
 -phrase. " Health," says he, " is the result of regular 
 activity of the functions ; disease of their irregularity ; 
 and death of their cessation/' Structure and function 
 are closely related ; whatever affects the one affects the 
 
45 
 
 other. For example, any injury to the brain affects the 
 mind, and any mental disturbance reacts on the brain. 
 In the development of the organism function precedes 
 structure, which would lead us to believe, in accordance 
 with the above definition, that if the functional action is 
 perfect, the structure will be perfeet also. Pain is a cer- 
 tain indication of disease ; it is the eloquent voice of 
 health in distress. We should never be conscious of 
 the possession of any organ of the body ; for if we are, 
 something is wrong. Life actions vary within wide 
 limits; sometimes they are active and sometimes inactive 
 even in the same individual. Nor is this variation in 
 intensity incompatible with health of structure at least. 
 In hibernating animals — those which lapse into a state of 
 torpor during the winter, bats, for example — we see life 
 so far reduced that we are at a loss to know whether it is 
 not entirely extinct at times ; yet they wake up sound as 
 ever. Again, the sum of the actions of life varies greatly. 
 All the functions may be regular, but their volume is 
 inconstant. Thus the heart may beat regularly seventy 
 times per minute, but the force of the beat is not neces- 
 sarily always the same. The strength of individuals is 
 not alike ; one man can lift only one hundred pounds, 
 while another can lift as readily five hundred. Pre- 
 suming that the nature of health is now sufficiently well 
 understood, we may declare that if we are in search of 
 the beautiful we need not expect to find it but among 
 those in whom there is an average degree of healthy 
 functional activity. To mark how essential health is to 
 beauty, in our estimation, we will recite a little histoire. 
 When Saturnia (Juno), pitying the Grecians, who were 
 
4 6 
 
 being overpowered by the Trojans, whom all-powerful 
 Jove was aiding, resolved to come to their assistance, 
 Homer tells us that as a ruse de guerre she decided on 
 
 " The old, yet still successful, cheat of love." 
 
 And how did she go about it ? She withdrew to her 
 apartment, 
 
 " Sacred to dress and beauty's pleasing care," 
 
 and decked herself in the most becoming fashion; but in 
 order to be sure of overcoming, she called on Venus for 
 a gift — her girdle, for 
 
 " In this was every art and every charm 
 To win the wisest, and the coldest warm." 
 
 The amiable goddess having granted the request, she 
 then matched her beauty against her husband's wisdom, 
 and the result was that she 
 
 " Lulled the Lord of Thunder in her arms ; " 
 
 and in keeping him away from the Trojan camp, the 
 Grecians were successful in the fight that ensued, which 
 led to final victory. What was this witching gift of 
 Venus ? What was this ambrosial possession ? Was it 
 not the badge of ideal health ? Let us take it as that. 
 Now, although the principle, void of health void of 
 beauty, holds good in the abstract, many passably 
 healthy people are by no means beautiful, but they are 
 nearly in every instance attractive, at least. In her Let- 
 ters to Young Ladies, Mrs. Sigourney is right in saying, 
 " Men prize more than we are aware the health-beaming 
 countenance," No better advice can be given to those 
 
47 
 
 who are ambitious to be pleasing to the eye, and every 
 other way than that they should endeavor to get into a 
 state of health, for therein lies the true secret and art of 
 promoting and preserving beauty. Get on intimate 
 terms with Hygiea, and learn her ways and follow them. 
 We believe it wise to consult a physician about ugliness, 
 as well as the diseases that completely disable us. 
 Beauty pays, and it is a duty to resort to the most skill- 
 ful to obtain it. It is very often the case that people 
 might easily be more healthy than they are, and conse- 
 quently far more beautiful and pleasing. According to 
 custom, it is only when the scales turn against them, 
 and very often when there is no room for hope, that 
 people search for improvement of health. This is en- 
 tirely wrong. As Galen says, " The object of medicine 
 is health," but its most important office is to preserve, to 
 foster it, not to search fpr it when it is completely gone, 
 or almost so. Laying aside all consideration of the ad- 
 vantages to self, there are reasons for holding it as a 
 solemn duty to make and preserve ourselves as God-like, 
 as free from unsoundness, as possible. Every one has a 
 powerful enough incentive — the single, the desire to be 
 attractive to others ; and the married, the additional im- 
 mediate desire to transmit to their prospective offspring 
 the priceless heritage of good constitutions, on which so 
 much of life's pleasures and successes depend. 
 
 Heraclides, a Grecian philosopher, said he " would 
 marry a handsome woman for the sake of his children ;" 
 but it is extremely probable that, like Childe Harold, 
 
 " To the beauteous form he ^vas not blind j " 
 
4 8 
 
 but, waiving that point, we think he knew that, being 
 handsome, she could scarely be otherwise than healthy 
 and cheerful. And here let us remark that no dowry 
 can compensate for want of health and its attendant 
 cheerlessness in a wife. As Mrs. Sigourney truly says, 
 " The perpetual influence of a sickly and mournful wife 
 is as a blight upon those prospects which allure men to 
 matrimony." On the other hand, the best dowry a wife 
 can bring is health and good nature. Such a woman is 
 bright and happy, and, in being so, is a prize of inesti- 
 mable value. 
 
 " Those smiles and glances let me see 
 That make the miser's treasure poor." — Burns. 
 
 The people of Sparta — 
 
 " Sparta still with female beauty gay," 
 
 as Homer sang — were renowned for their physical perfec- 
 tion and prowess, and these qualities were brought about, 
 in a great degree, by their own "efforts to be healthy and 
 strong — by their physical culture. They were the glo- 
 rious results of their strict regimen and systematic exer- 
 cises, of their Olympian and other national athletic 
 games and sports. From among them Phidias selected 
 models for his grand works, and the other great sculptors 
 took from them the ideas of their Venuses and Apollos. 
 Their beauty, copied in marble, still exists to elicit our 
 admiration and to serve as aesthetic types of our race at 
 its best. Art owes an everlasting debt of gratitude to 
 their great law-giver, Lycurgus, whose highest ambition 
 was to make his people a race of perfect men and women, 
 
49 
 
 and whose teachings greatly contributed towards the 
 production of that enviable result. 
 
 Let us try to be healthy, and beauty such as graced 
 the Spartans will follow; the intrinsic excellence of our 
 nature will be mirrored in our appearance. This is the 
 only way to lay the foundation, the only way to raise up 
 beauty of the genuine sort. Beauty born of health is 
 natural, real, and without affectation ; it is free and 
 graceful. Any attempt to repress emotions gives an air 
 of conceit ; nor is apathy desirable, so we should try to 
 be sound and serene within, and let the sweetness of our 
 nature brim over without thought. Happy emotions are 
 always happily expressed ; looks as well as language 
 rarely fail to divulge the real state of the feelings and 
 thoughts. Affectation and deceit are at best but thinly 
 veiled. The hallowed soul is always circled with a halo 
 of glory. 
 
BEAUTY AN IMPROVABLE HERITAGE. 
 
 "By viewing Nature, Nature's handmaid, Art, 
 
 Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow." — De.yden. 
 
 There is nothing more certain, whether the doctrine of 
 evolution be true in its entirety or not, that the physique 
 of every one of us is more or less like that of ancestors 
 for many generation back ; and as stated by Mr. Galton 
 in his remarkable work Hereditary Genius (1869)/' A 
 man's natural abilities are derived from inheritance under 
 exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical 
 features." The grand outlines of our frames and char- 
 acters — moral and intellectual — were settled before we 
 were born. We may go farther and say that some of 
 our traits — physical and mental — were foreshadowed 
 thousands of years before our birth. This is true of 
 racial peculiarities. Now, this principle of inheritance 
 should be clearly understood by everybody, and it should 
 be kept in mind, most especially by the young with 
 marriageable intentions. Very many whose miserable 
 constitutions entirely unfit them for parentage rush rashly 
 into the matrimonial state and, unlike Samson's father, 
 do not pause for a moment to devote a thought " to the 
 child that shall be born." They sorely regret it ; their 
 imprudence bears sorrowful fruit. Persons afflicted with 
 
 (50) 
 
Si 
 
 any serious constitutional disease or condition which 
 may be transmitted should not in justice to humanity 
 become parents ; for if they do, they almost inevitably 
 bequeath to their offspring a woful inheritance and have 
 to bear the pain of seeing their innocent children suffer 
 and die prematurely. These matters should be of still 
 greater concern when the question of the propriety of 
 blood relatives getting married comes up, for in them 
 any taint is transmitted with great certainty and severity. 
 Some people hold that under no circumstances should 
 cousins intermarry, but we are not of that opinion. If 
 both parties are strong and free from morbid troubles of 
 any kind, physical or mental, and particularly if they 
 are of contrasting temperaments, there is no sufficient 
 reason why they should not marry if they are so disposed. 
 We speak positively on this subject, because we have 
 given it full consideration. If evidence is required in 
 support of our position, it can be readily found in the 
 history of many peoples, for example the Jews, among 
 whom close marriages have nearly always been the rule, 
 yet they are a remarkably healthy race and their average 
 longevity is considerably higher than that of the rest of 
 the community where they may be found. This subject 
 of unfit people getting married is one of most serious im- 
 port, view it from whatever standpoint we may. We 
 have no desire to exaggerate the evil ; indeed, its enormity 
 cannot be overestimated. We compile the following fig- 
 ures from the United States Census Reports of 1870: — 
 22.4 per cent, of all deaths are of children within one 
 year ; 42 per cent, of all are of children under five years ; 
 and 45.4 per cent, of all are children under ten years. 
 
52 
 
 We gather from the statistics given in the Reports of the 
 Board of Health, that in Philadelphia, on an average, 25.16 
 per cent, of the whole mortality is of children within one 
 year; 40.49 per cent, of the whole of children under five 
 years; and nearly 50 per cent, of the whole of children 
 under ten years. The people are so defective in vital 
 force that one-fourth of the whole is cut off within their 
 first year ! over two-fifths under five ! and nearly one-half 
 under ten ! Alas ! the poor innocents ! And how sad 
 to think of the amount of parental strength and care spent 
 for naught ! We grant that epidemic diseases swell up 
 the mortality among children, but, making every allow- 
 ance for them, it is still appalling. Maturity and strength 
 should be essential conditions in those about to enter 
 wedlock; and we might add beauty, for ugliness is 
 mainly a sign of defectiveness. It is not right to marry 
 very early and it is not wise to marry very late in life. 
 Nor should there be a great deal of difference between, 
 the ages of the couple; but it is well as a rule for the 
 husband to be a few years the senior, because a woman 
 matures a little earlier than a man ; and also because it 
 is hard for him to exercise complete moral control over 
 her if he is not the elder. The exceptions obtain when 
 the pair are not very young or are markedly contrasting 
 in nature. We are lapsing into a digression, but we may 
 remark that when a man advanced in life chooses a bride 
 he may expect his children to be nearly all boys ; and a 
 delicate man of any age who chooses a robust bride of 
 active temperament may entertain a like expectation. 
 The average proportion of the sexes at birth, as shown by 
 the fullest statistics, is twenty-one males to twenty females; 
 
 1 
 
53 
 
 but before the end of the first year they are equal in 
 number. From what precedes, there is certainly one 
 lesson which it is proper to draw, and that is, in all 
 cases people should become as perfect as it is in their 
 power to be before entering the marital portals. All 
 taints, however slight, should be cleared from the system, 
 for let it be known that if degeneracy once begins to 
 creep into a family very few generations will follow until 
 it becomes extinct; its knell will soon be knolled. Those, 
 therefore, who look forward to immortality through the 
 perpetuation of their line should beware of the slightest 
 deterioration in themselves. Regeneration should be 
 aimed at, if there is any evidence of any deviation from 
 health ; and how ? In her excellent Letters to Mothers, 
 Mrs. Sigourney writes : — " I would say to every mother, 
 study the constitution of your babe ; if it have any mor- 
 bid tendencies, either hereditary or acquired, bear steadily 
 upon them with the regimen best adapted to their cure." 
 This is the right method to pursue at any age, and if it is 
 properly done by us adults, it will not be so hard to care 
 for the babies should we have such blessings in store for 
 us. It is not a little merely that can be done in this way; 
 more we believe than can be done with drugs and almost 
 everything that can be done with them even in the hands 
 of one as skillful in their use as yEsculapius himself. 
 
 As bearing on beauty, of course the regimen or proper 
 method of life is of paramount importance, so we will 
 lay down some rules on the subject, taking it in its 
 widest sense. Now in this regard the maxim of maxims 
 runs in this wise : — Live in accordance with the laws of 
 health, — physical and moral, — and labor diligently to 
 
54 
 
 development, both body and mind. Thus can we make 
 ourselves sound and strong and honorable and success- 
 ful in life; thus can we have rounded forms and rosy 
 cheeks and sparkling eyes. To be more explicit we 
 will roughly sketch a programme. 
 
 Take the advice of Socrates, "Avoid excess in every- 
 thing;" and remember what Plato says, "A temperate 
 man is one who has moderate desires." 
 
 Do not lapse into indolence, for as Byron well ex- 
 presses it: — 
 
 " Many of the ills o'er which man grieves, 
 
 And still more woman, spring from not employing 
 
 Some hours to make the remnant worth enjoying." 
 
 Shun luxury and dissipation of every kind, and do not 
 be the slave of any bad habit. What evils people inflict 
 on themselves by the excessive indulgence of proper 
 appetites and the encouragement of improper ones ! 
 The use of unnecessary and injurious agents, such as 
 alcoholic liquors, tobacco, and condiments, is sapping 
 the vitality of the race. These things should be touched 
 with caution as articles that sooner or later destroy 
 health, happiness, and life. 
 
 Eat regularly of simple, wholesome fare. No injunc- 
 tion is more worthy of attention than this one. Eating 
 is a matter of profound importance. He who does not 
 know how to eat properly does not know how to live prop- 
 erly, which we are afraid must be said of a great many. 
 Most people seem to hang up reason with their hats 
 before sitting down at the table. Do we not every day 
 see people esteemed wise use dishes of the most extreme 
 
55 
 
 qualities, digestible and indigestible, sweet and sour, 
 warm and cold, at the same meal? Morbid tastes have 
 vitiated cookery; and, moreover, this art, which is of 
 far more importance than the art of medicine, is in the 
 hands of the most ignorant of the people. The health 
 of the community is more in charge of the cooks than 
 the physicians. Cookery should not only be simplified, 
 but be placed in the hands of persons of intelligence. It 
 is high time for reform in these matters. 
 
 Retire to sleep at a fixed hour and for a fixed length 
 of time, and keep in mind that heated, badly-ventilated 
 bedrooms, are hotbeds of imbecility. We are not in- 
 clined to lay down any length of time as proper to devote 
 to sleep, for it is largely a matter of habit; but we may 
 state that six or seven hours is sufficient for any one. It 
 is very easy to let the system lapse into a condition of 
 langour, which will call for almost continuous sleep. In- 
 dulging such sluggishness is ruinous to health. It is 
 not the people who labor much mentally or physically 
 who desire most sleep; it is the people who do little or 
 nothing. We cannot sufficiently condemn the fashion- 
 able practice (among ladies) of taking a nap of two or 
 three hours' duration in the afternoon. There is no 
 more fertile source of debility and misery than this, — it 
 does not bring the wished-for refreshment and buoyancy 
 of spirits ; 
 
 " The languid eye, the cheek 
 Deserted of its bloom, the flaccid, shrunk, 
 And wither'd muscle, and the vapid soul 
 Reproach their owner with that love of rest 
 To which he forfeits e'en that rest he loves." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
56 
 
 Life is most pleasurable to those who are active all 
 day long and every day, to those who rise with the sun. 
 Get up early, then. In the morning all is fresh and 
 sweet; the air is balmy and the face of nature more 
 luring than at any other time. Poets have vied with one 
 another in their attempts to describe the beauties of a 
 summer morning; but its chief charm is its healing 
 breath, its life-nourishing virtues. 
 
 Be cleanly. A plunge, or, what is quite as good, a 
 sponge bath, daily, will be of benefit; wear easy-fitting, 
 comfortable, seasonable clothing; breathe pure air, and 
 take plenty of exercise. One of Bacon's health precepts 
 was, " Never keep the body in the same position above 
 half an hour at a time." 
 
 Discipline the mind by thought and store it with 
 knowldge; cultivate a taste for society and indulge 
 reasonably in amusements, for, as Solomon tells us, "A 
 merry heart doth good like a medicine." Reverence 
 truth, respect justice, try to do as much good as possible, 
 and be happy by having something important to do, some- 
 thing dear to love, and something worthy to hope for. 
 
 These are some of the duties we owe to ourselves and 
 our descendants, and if we are already parents we should 
 see that our children are trained in accordance with 
 them. Thus can we contribute our quota towards the 
 verification of the declaration in the celebrated Vestiges 
 of Creation, "we may safely pronounce that the human 
 type is likely yet to experience considerable improve- 
 ment." 
 
 Bacon was keenly alive to the importance of the 
 substance of the preceding notes. In his flattering Dis- 
 course in the Praise of His Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, 
 
57 
 
 he uses the following words : — " Now to pass to the 
 excellencies of her person, the view of them wholly 
 and not severally do make so sweet a wonder as I fear 
 to divide them. Again, nobility extracted out of the 
 royal and victorious line of the kings of England ; yea> 
 both roses red and white do as well flourish in her 
 nobility as in her beauty, as health, such as was like she 
 should have that was brought forth by two of the most 
 goodly princes of the world, in the strength of their 
 years, in the heat of their love ; that hath been injured 
 neither with an over-liberal nor over-curious diet ; that 
 hath not been sustained by an umbratile life still under 
 the roof, but strengthened by the use of the pure and 
 open air, that still retaineth flower and vigor of youth. 
 For the beauty and many graces of her presence what 
 colors are fine enough for such a portraiture ! " He goes 
 on to tell other secrets of her attractiveness, and con- 
 tinues, "what life, what edge is there in those words and 
 glances wherewith at pleasure she can give a man long 
 to think, be it that she mean to daunt him, to encourage 
 him, or to amaze him ! How admirable is her discourse, 
 whether it be in learning; state, or love ! what variety of 
 knowledge, what rareness of conceit, what choice of 
 words, what grace of utterance." Our author clothes 
 his heroine with all that is desirable in man and woman 
 combined. He conceived her a Judith, of whom it was 
 said, " There is not such a woman from one end of the 
 earth to the other both for beauty of person and wisdom 
 of words." — Ecclesiasticus. 
 
 We will now say a few words as to methods of 
 directly improving the figure in general or in part 
 
58 
 
 To add to one's size and strength is, in a measure, a 
 matter of exercise and diet. Bringing the muscles and 
 all other parts of the body into greater healthy activity 
 leads to their growth. Everbody has a vague idea that 
 this is so, but there is no need for vagueness. Nearly 
 any one, by using a couple of two to ten pound dumb- 
 bells three times a day and ten or fifteen minutes each 
 time, can within a month add two or three inches to the 
 circumference of the chest and ten per cent, to the 
 strength. 
 
 In cases of fracture of the extremities, in the treatment 
 of which it is necessary to keep the limb as still as 
 possible, its thickness and power soon diminish. Under 
 the circumstances we have seen the circumference of the 
 leg at the calf lose three inches in eight weeks. A re- 
 duction of the entire system is induced by a sedentary 
 mode of life. If we do not move we soon lose the 
 power of motion. Every one who does not walk several 
 miles daily cannot expect to be strong. And here we 
 would remark that no other exercise can take the place 
 of walking, for no other so gently calls into activity so 
 many muscles of the body. Either directly for progression 
 or indirectly to balance the trunk and head, it brings every 
 voluntary muscle into play. For the development of 
 special sets of muscles, special exercises are in order, as 
 in the instance of the dumb-bells to invigorate the arms 
 and chest. We might cite unlimited illustrations of 
 those naturally delicate who acquired strength by their 
 own exertions, but we need not do more than note the 
 cases of Cicero, the celebrated Roman councilor and 
 orator, and Dr. Winship. Early in life Cicero repaired 
 
59 
 
 to the gymnasia of Athens and laid in a store of vital 
 force which he husbanded throughout his career, for the 
 advantages of it he well understood. Says Plutarch, 
 " He was so exact, indeed, in all respects, in the care of 
 his health, that he had his stated hours for frictions and 
 for the exercise of walking. By this management of his 
 constitution he gained a sufficient stock of health and 
 strength for the labors and fatigues which he underwent." 
 The case of the late Dr. Winship of Boston is a most 
 striking one. At twenty years of age he was an invalid, 
 so weak and sickly that none of his friends had any hope 
 of his living for more than a few years, but, as everybody 
 has heard, he turned out to be the strongest man in 
 America. One thousand pounds seemed little in his 
 hands. He frequently lifted fourteen hundred pounds — 
 an almost incredible feat. Now his strength was the 
 result of strict compliance with the rules of health and 
 the intelligent practice of gymnastic exercises. Nor did 
 he run completely to muscle, for he was a distinguished 
 professsor of literature. This whole matter is finely 
 summed up in Thomson's couplet — 
 
 " Health is the vital principal of bliss 
 And exercise of health.'' 
 
 Keeping the figure erect should be encouraged, enjoined, 
 in fact, from early childhood, for it is necessary to health 
 and beauty. Walking early gives rise to bow-legs if the 
 system is not well nourished, and a great many children 
 are ruined in the schools, which, instead of assisting 
 their mental and bodily development and growth, actually 
 
6o 
 
 dwarf them in both. Sitting in a bent posture, in badly- 
 ventilated rooms, for four or five hours daily, cannot miss 
 to do harm in any case. When will people learn that 
 correct physical conditions are essential to mental im- 
 provement ? When will educators learn that a system 
 of education which tends to ruin the health of the pupils 
 is radically wrong ? It is not strange that there is a pop- 
 ular idea that it is not right to send children to school, 
 or in other words, to begin to teach them before they are 
 seven or eight years of age. It is believed that no dif- 
 ference how healthy a child may be, learning will blanch 
 and weaken it. What nonsense ! Most children learn 
 more within their first seven years than they do during 
 the next fourteen, aye, during the remainder of their 
 lives. If teaching were done in accordance with the dic- 
 tates of nature it would have no injurious effects, and it 
 might be begun in infancy. But to return to our im- 
 mediate subject. Crookedness can be corrected, and as 
 a means the daily use of dumb-bells, or carrying some 
 rather heavy object, — a little bag of beans for instance, — 
 on the head, fifteen or twenty minutes, morning and even- 
 ing, will tend greatly towards producing the desired re- 
 sult. In parts of Spain, Italy, Egypt, India, and other 
 oriental countries, where young girls especially are in the 
 habit of carrying water-urns on their heads, their beau- 
 tiful figures and graceful movements are the admiration 
 of all intelligent travelers,. Shoulder-braces, like braces 
 for the limbs, are useful, and where there is serious spinal 
 disease threatening, timely support of some kind may 
 avert it, or at least prevent great deformity. 
 
 It may not be out of place to state that if the figure is 
 
 
6i 
 
 what it should be, the line of the spine is straight, or in 
 other words, there is no lateral curvature. A deformity 
 of this kind is very ugly ; uglier if possible than a bend 
 forward. Alexander the Great was not as beautiful as 
 Richard the Third. In the adult a straight spine, antero- 
 posteriorly, with the head balanced on it at right angles, 
 is extremely unattractive. As remarked by Fau and 
 Knox, " In the infant the spine is straight, and when a 
 person grows up with this form, as many do, it presents 
 the oddest sight in the world." Viewed in profile, the 
 back ought to have four gentle curves, but the nape of 
 the neck, the spine at the waist, and the heels should be 
 in a perpendicular line. 
 
 To make the body lithe and graceful in movement, 
 calisthenic and gymnastic and also less systematic 
 exercises, and particularly dancing — motion's poetry, 
 should be practiced. Children should be taught to 
 dance early, so that the great advantages of proper per- 
 sonal bearing may be secured in growing up. The frame 
 and habits in children are pliable, and if they get twisted 
 into the right bent, it will be maintained throughout 
 life. Treating on education, Locke writes : — " Dancing 
 being that which gives graceful motion to all our lives, 
 and, above all, manliness and a becoming confidence to 
 young persons, I think cannot be learned too early." 
 Free, sweeping, unconscious movements are always 
 graceful. Mere strength has little to do with grace, and 
 any system of physical culture which does not include 
 the freest movements of all the joints and muscles too, 
 contributes little to grace of carriage. To move grace- 
 fully requires persistent effort for a time; just as we 
 
62 
 
 commit to memory a piece of poetry by repeatedly read- 
 ing it, so we acquire grace in motion by repetition until 
 it can be carried on without thinking. 
 
 The art of moving properly, as also the art of think- 
 ing properly, is largely an acquirement. In his cele- 
 brated work, The Conduct of the Understanding \ the 
 author quoted above says : — " As it is in the body, so 
 it is in the mind ; practice makes it what it is. And 
 most even of those excellencies which are looked on 
 as natural endowments will be found, when examined 
 into more narrowly, to be the product of exercise, and 
 to be raised to that pitch only by repeated actions." 
 This is an extreme view. The modern scientific school 
 lays much emphasis on inherited instincts, or, rather, 
 latent propensities. Having the hereditary proclivity, it 
 is easy to adopt the actions of body or mind in that 
 particular line. This doctrine affords us a powerful 
 motive for self-improvement that the other does not, 
 as we have already shown. 
 
 There is another subject we must not overlook, and 
 that is the one of fatness. In a balanced condition of the 
 system the person is of medium stoutness, which is most 
 compatible with beauty. 
 
 Any tendency to extreme leanness or fatness should 
 because for inquiry in regard to it, for both conditions 
 are inimical to comfort as well as beauty. Thinness is 
 the worse disfiguring evil ; Prince Henry is uglier than 
 Falstaff. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, says, 
 " Persons who are naturally very fat are apt to die earlier 
 than those who are slender." This knowledge may be 
 a source of satisfaction to those of " a lean and hungry 
 
63 
 
 aspect," like Cassius. Although fatness generally makes 
 the person more amiable, and brings many friends, it 
 may be desirable to reduce it. To accomplish this pur- 
 pose, the regimen we have laid down should be followed, 
 to begin with, and it may not be necessary to do more ; 
 but if it is, we recommend extra exercise of body and 
 mind, short allowance of time for sleep, scanty diet, and 
 abstinence from starchy and sugary articles of food. If 
 these directions are observed, medicines, strictly so 
 called, will rarely be necessary ; and if they are [not ob- 
 served, medicines will, in the end, do more harm than 
 good. Vinegar is popularly believed to be an excellent 
 agent for removing obesity, and the belief is not entirely 
 without foundation, but the continued use of large 
 amounts of it will injure the system. A more reliable 
 remedy, but one quite as injurious, is the Solution of 
 potash {Liquor potassce), of which the dose is ten to 
 sixty drops in a glass of water or milk. It should be 
 taken an hour or so before meals, and the same may be 
 said of vinegar. 
 
 To grow fat, do not exercise much, keep the mind tran- 
 quil, take plenty of sleep, and use plenty of starchy and 
 sugary articles of food, as well as all others in abundance. 
 All the medicine required is something to sharpen the 
 appetite, and any bitter tea will answer that purpose. 
 
THE HEAD. 
 
 " The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.' 1 — Byron. 
 
 The head is the masterpiece of nature. It is the seat 
 of mind ; and its superior development and perfection 
 in man over all other creatures give him power to sway 
 throughout creation the sceptre of sovereignty. Beauty 
 and use are united in it in a pre-eminent degree. We are 
 at once struck by the simplicity of its design as a whole, 
 and its adaptation to the ends in view, which are very 
 numerous. Besides affording almost complete protec- 
 tion against injuries from blows and the like, the 
 delicate brain, made up of a multitude of parts, is admira- 
 bly accommodated, and so are all the organs of special 
 sense with their accessories. 
 
 In treating of the head we will, following the example 
 of the phrenologist, exclude the face, and begin by giving 
 some idea of the nature of its contents and their connec- 
 tions. Within the skull or bony casement rests, as we 
 have already hinted, the grand central mass of the nervous 
 system — the brain, and from it run a thick cord which 
 traverses the spine and a dozen pairs of large nerves which 
 are distributed to the organs of the special senses — see- 
 ing, hearing, smelling, and tasting — and to the heart, 
 lungs, and digestive apparatus. The spinal cord in 
 
 (64) 
 
65 
 
 passing down gives off at intervals of half an inch or 
 more thirty-two pairs of nerves, which are distributed to 
 all the muscles and the skin. Each nerve is composed 
 of an immense number of threads, and these are of two 
 kinds, one of which carries in and the other carries out 
 impressions. 
 
 The nerves remind us of the wires which are spread 
 throughout the country for telegraphic purposes, and the 
 working agent is perhaps similar. And if we can fancy 
 the upper part of the brain to be the office of the presi- 
 dent, with branch offices and officers along its base and 
 the line of the spinal cord, we can recognize in the 
 operations of the nervous system a resemblance to the 
 telegraph company in this : that in the performance of 
 its functions rarely do matters save of general or other- 
 wise great importance come to the notice of the presid- 
 ing genius — intellect — no direction being required in the 
 performance of ordinary, habitual actions. 
 
 Now, mind is the manifestation or result of the func- 
 tional action of the brain ; indeed, of the whole nervous 
 system. Herein lies the clue to the only successful 
 method of mental improvement as regards capacity and 
 strength. The nervous system, especially the brain, 
 must be the medium of our efforts ; and the pregnant 
 statement of Celsus : " Indolence enervates the body, 
 while labor strengthens it," is just as true here as of the 
 muscles of the arm. In either case exercise promotes 
 growth and power. Knowing this, we experience no 
 difficulty in explaining a circumstance often observed, 
 viz., that persons of little mental power to begin with 
 by perseverance frequently surpass in the end those 
 
66 
 
 born with what the world is pleased to call genius. 
 Activity of mind brings the needed strength. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds well says : — " If you have great talents, industry 
 will improve them ; if you have but moderate abilities, 
 industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied 
 to well-directed labor, nothing is to be obtained without 
 it." Thinking is an exhausting exercise.* Times ago it 
 was believed even by intelligent people that mental 
 activity did not demand material nourishment ; but we 
 now know that if the mind is actively engaged a very large 
 amount of blood is consumed. In the general way the 
 large proportion of one-fifth of all the blood goes to the 
 brain. , 
 
 A brief statement of the nature of the mind will be 
 in place here. Now in its simplest form the nervous 
 system consists of a little bulb of gray, jelly-like matter, 
 with two nerve-fibres, one of which conveys impulses to 
 the centre and is called sensory , and the other conveys 
 impulses from the centre and is called motory. An 
 impression on the extremity of the sensory nerve is 
 carried to the central bulb, which is thereby excited into 
 action, and a force being produced is conveyed along 
 the motory nerve which causes the part, the muscle to 
 which this nerve is distributed, to contract, to move. 
 This is what is known as reflex-action. Elementary units 
 such as this compose the most complicate nervous 
 system, and many, indeed, the greater portion, of the 
 actions of man even are reflex, automatic. In the higher 
 animals and man, an impression conveyed to the central 
 mass or brain gives rise to consciousness, and from it 
 results feeling, which is either pleasurable or painful ; 
 
6; 
 
 or intellect (understanding, intelligence); or will (voli- 
 tion, the controlling power). On analyzing the intellect 
 it is found to consist of memory (retention), or registered 
 sensations and judgments which form knowledge ; com- 
 parison (discernment, reason), of which the result is an 
 inference or judgment; and agreement, or sense of simi- 
 larity. Emotions arise from objective, axid passions from 
 subjective, sensations ; an idea is a perception or item of 
 consciousness ; imagination is the power of bringing to 
 consciousness of memories, and is dependent on memory 
 and volition ; and fancy is the same as imagination, 
 with this difference, that there is a contrast in the pre- 
 sentation. Of the three mental elements — feeling, in- 
 tellect, and will — the proper object of the first is beauty, 
 of the second truth, and of the third good. 
 
 We now pass to the study of the exterior of the head. 
 The size and shape of the skull are held by many to be 
 correct indexes of the size of the brain and the develop- 
 ment of particular parts of it. This is perhaps true, 
 but in any given case the appearance may mislead us, 
 for the thickness of the scalp and skull is subject to 
 great variations in different persons. It is also held that 
 different parts of the brain are the seats of particular 
 faculties, and that the size of the brain, as a whole, and 
 of its parts, give us an idea of the capacity of the mind 
 and of its various faculties. All this we grant as in the 
 main correct. The most respectable psychologists as 
 well as the phrenologists do so. 
 
 According to rules long in vogue and which are ac- 
 ceptable still to many artists, the perpendicular depth of 
 the head should be one-eighth the statue; its length 
 
68 
 
 should be the same, and its breadth should be three- 
 fourths its length. From an extensive series of experi- 
 ments, it would seem that if the length of the head be 
 taken as one hundred, the average breadth in the Euro- 
 pean race is seventy-eight. But in any race — our own, 
 say — the fullness of particular parts of it differs greatly in 
 different persons. It may be full in front, the seat of per- 
 ception and reflection ; or on the top, the seat of the moral 
 qualities, such as benevolence and veneration ; or on the 
 side towards the forehead, the seat of the intellectual sen- 
 timents, such as hope, mirth, wonder, and ideality ; or 
 around the ear, the seat of the animal propensities, such as 
 gluttony ; or above and behind, the seat of the moral sen- 
 timents, such as firmness and self-esteem; or down towards 
 the neck, the seat of the domestic propensities, such as the 
 love of children and home. These are the main lines of 
 development, and knowing what they are in any head 
 we can closely estimate the outline traits of the person's 
 mental nature. In a woman it is very desirable that the 
 regions of perception, of the moral qualities, of the intel- 
 lectual sentiments, and of the domestic propensities 
 should be well developed. When these are defective 
 and the other regions full, we advise lovers to look out, 
 for there is danger ahead. If Socrates had been ac- 
 quainted with these facts he might have escaped the 
 infliction of his Xanthippe. 
 
 The following are the average measurements of the 
 heads of adult males (in women they are less) : — From 
 the little bump at the lowest point of the skull behind, 
 to the point of greatest prominence of the middle and 
 lower part of the forehead (from the occipital spine to indi- 
 viduality), seven and one-half inches ; from the occipital 
 
6 9 
 
 spine to the hole of the ear, four and three-eighths 
 inches; from the hole of the ear to the bump of indi- 
 viduality, five inches; from the hole of the ear to the high- 
 est point of the middle of the head, six inches ; from side to 
 side just above the ears, five and three-fifths inches; from 
 the most prominent point of the side of the head towards 
 the back portion (cautiousness) to the corresponding 
 point on the other side, five and three-fourths inches; and 
 between the most prominent points (those of ideality) at 
 the upper and outer parts of the forehead, five and one- 
 sixth inches. The horizontal circumference taken just 
 above the eyebrows is twenty-two inches, and a line 
 from the root of the nose up over the crown and down 
 to the occipital spine is a little over thirteen inches. 
 
 The following extract from the System of Phrenology 
 {184.2) of Combe, who ranks with Gall and Spurtzheim 
 as a phrenological investigator, will be read with interest 
 by the small-pated fraternity: — "To stamp the impress 
 of a single mind upon a nation, to infuse strength into 
 thoughts and depth into feeling which shall command 
 the homage of enlightened men in every age, — in short, 
 to be a Bruce, Bonaparte, Luther, Knox, Demosthenes, 
 Shakspeare, Milton, or Cromwell, — a large brain is 
 indispensably requisite • but to display skill, enterprise, 
 and fidelity in the various professions of civil life, to cul- 
 tivate with success the less arduous branches of philoso- 
 phy, to excel in acuteness, taste, and felicity of expression, 
 to acquire extensive erudition and refined manners, a 
 brain of a moderate size is perhaps more suitable than 
 one that is very large, for whenever the energy is intense 
 it is rare that delicacy, refinement, and taste are present 
 in an equal degree." 
 
THE NECK AND EARS. 
 
 " Fair as the neck of Paphia's boy." — Moore. 
 " There's music in all things if men had ears." — Byron. 
 
 "The neck," says Solomon, "is as a tower of ivory." 
 It gives support to the head — bears it up as a column 
 does its capital. It should be slightly inclined forward. 
 In men the larynx is disposed to project, and when it is 
 very noticeable it is disfiguring. This is Adam's apple, 
 and it should not be seen in any of his consort's daugh- 
 ters. A man's neck is more or less flat behind; a 
 woman's should be rounded. If well formed, a long 
 neck maybe compatible with beauty; but one of medium 
 length is most desirable. Artists reckon the neck as a 
 quarter of a head in length and half a head in breadth 
 at its widest part, which is at its posterior third. The 
 average circumference of the neck of men is thirteen 
 and a half inches, and of women twelve. As an inter- 
 esting fact we may state that the thickness of the neck 
 is, as a rule, the same as that of the leg at the calf, and 
 half that of the waist. Woman's neck appears longer 
 than it is on account of her shoulders drooping much 
 more than they do in man. 
 
 The expression of the head is determined to a great 
 extent by the shape and length of the neck. If short and 
 
 (7°) 
 
7i 
 
 thick it adds seeming fullness and power to it; but if long 
 and thin it detracts from its size and enfeebles its effect. 
 If it curves forward it gives the person what is called, in 
 common parlance, a down look and an air of diffidence; 
 whereas, if it curves backward the person gains thereby 
 a bold, haughty air. The shorter and thicker the neck 
 the stronger the character and the greater the prospect 
 of health and happiness, and, we may add, long life. 
 Sudden deaths occur mostly in short-necked people. 
 
 The ear is, perhaps, the most invaluable of our organs 
 of special sense, and it is the avenue of much of our 
 pleasures. Says Dr. Rush, in his essay already quoted 
 from {On the Pleasures of the Senses, i8ii)\ — "We are 
 besieged, as it were, with pleasure through the medium 
 of this sense. Soon after we come into the world the 
 sweet and tender voice of a mother insinuates pleasure 
 into our ears. The human voice continues to afford us 
 pleasure in every period of life, by means of conversa- 
 tion and music. But it is not from the human voice, nor 
 from vocal or instrumental music alone that we inhale 
 pleasure by our ears. The feathered tribes, at certain 
 seasons of the year, meet us in our morning and evening 
 walks, and charm the sense of hearing with their tribu- 
 tary notes. Nor is this all. Certain quadrupeds and 
 insects, nay, even the winds, rain, and streams of water, 
 all do homage to the ears of man." 
 
 The delicate mechanism of hearing is within — the 
 outer ear serving merely to collect the waves of sound. 
 The latter, or the ear, as the term is commonly under- 
 stood, should be situated between a horizontal line 
 from the eye and one from the juncture of the nose 
 
72 
 
 with the lip; and its breadth should be one-half its length. 
 A point immediately in front of the ear should divide into 
 two equal parts the antero-posterior diameter of the head. 
 
 An ear of medium size, well cut and intricate, in its 
 foldings, and not inclined to project a great deal, is 
 the best and prettiest. A small, lobeless, projecting 
 ear is apish, and when large and flat it is quite as ugly, 
 but being an indication of a warm disposition, it has 
 something to recommend it. What shall we do with an 
 ugly ear? If possible, do not show it to anybody. It 
 is often caused to project by turning it forward and rest- 
 ing on it at night. By keeping it bandaged in the de- 
 sired position nightly, it will soon retain it in most cases; 
 but if it does not, recourse may be had to another expe- 
 dient, and that is contracting the skin and scalp behind, 
 which can be done by the skillful use of blisters. Its 
 shape, in detail, may be modified in the same way. 
 
 According to Mr. Darwin, man formerly had the fac- 
 ulty of moving his ears; and that distinguished natural- 
 ist says: — " I have seen one man who could draw his ears 
 forward and another who could draw them backward, 
 and from what one of these persons told me, it is pos- 
 sible that most of us, by often touching our ears and thus 
 directing the attention towards them, could, by repeated 
 trials, recover some power of movement." The specu- 
 lations of this gentleman have vested the little inward 
 projection of the outer fold of the ear with great meaning* 
 He thinks it is only a mere rudiment of what it was. 
 
 The lobe of the ear was once regarded in a strange 
 light. Pliny, in his Natural History, which was written 
 about the middle of the first century of our era, says: — 
 "The seat of memory lies in the lower lobe of the ear." 
 
73 
 
 The curious custom of wearing ear-rings began — 
 well, how early nobody knows. The Egyptians and 
 Hebrews wore them, as did the Greek and Roman ladies. 
 Some magnificent specimens of those worn by the latter 
 were to be seen in the Centennial Exhibition, in the 
 Castellani collection of antiquities. The ears of the 
 statue Venus de' Medici are pierced, and probably at one 
 time were ornamented with rings. In Oriental countries 
 it is not unusual for men to wear ear-rings, but with us it 
 is rarely done, save by sailors. The effect is not pleasing. 
 
 In the choice of ear-rings there is plenty of room 
 for taste and skill. It is not enough that an ear-ring 
 is beautiful in itself, nor that it is suitable for the oc- 
 casion; it is more important that it is such as will 
 improve, or at least not mar, the wearer's appearance, 
 particularly that of the ear. Let us here throw out a few 
 hints on this last point. Ladies with large, ugly ears — 
 for there are some — should choose ear-rings proportion- 
 ate in size and of corresponding regularity or irregu- 
 larity in the design. If the ear is long and thin the 
 ring should be similar in shape; and if it is short and 
 thick the ring should be of a like make. Diamonds or 
 other stones which attract particular attention should be 
 eschewed, if the ears will not bear examination. Indeed, 
 on the principle that it is every lady's duty, as Dryden 
 states it to be every painter's — 
 
 " To hide from sight 
 And cast in shade what seen would not delight," 
 
 we think it is sometimes proper not to wear any of any 
 sort. 
 
74 
 
 Piercing the ears for rings is a simple and innocent 
 operation. It may be done at any age, but we do not 
 favor having it done in childhood, because ear-rings dis- 
 figure a child by giving her something of the air of a 
 dwarfed adult. The procedure is very easy. Having 
 decided on the proper point, which should be determined 
 from the size and shape of the ear, rub the lobe or apply 
 cold — through ice or ether-spray — until it becomes 
 numb, and then pass a medium-sized needle, armed with 
 a silk thread, through it, letting the latter remain. A 
 little irritation and perhaps some inflammation may 
 result, but no serious consequences need be apprehended. 
 
THE FACE AS A WHOLE. 
 
 " 'Tis not a lip or eye we beauty call, 
 
 But the joint force and full result of all." — Pope. 
 
 The face at its best is, as we have already stated, the 
 most beautiful part of the person, and also the most in- 
 teresting, being the chief seat of mental expression ; but 
 aside from these considerations, the fact that it is almost 
 the only part which it is customary to expose to general 
 observation, is sufficient to make it the part of all others 
 of most concern. However, it is through the face that 
 we recognize people ; it is principally by it that we are 
 attracted or repelled by them, and it is largely from a 
 study of it that we can form an estimate of their charac- 
 ters. In treating of it, then, we are fully imbued with 
 its importance, and we will endeavor to do it justice. In 
 this chapter we will merely make some remarks on it as 
 a whole, reserving what we have to say about the 
 features individually for a chapter on each which will 
 follow. It may not be amiss to say that the features of 
 both sexes will be treated conjointly. In the arrange- 
 ment of their coiffure ladies have the advantage of the 
 gentlemen, in being able to conceal badly-shaped heads ; 
 but here the advantage is to the latter, for, by a skillful 
 arrangement of their beard, they can considerably 
 change the appearance of their face, and even conceal 
 
 (75) 
 
7 6 
 
 the greater portion of it, as did Hadrian, the ambitious 
 but cruel Roman emperor, to hide his unsightly scars. 
 For this and other reasons, our remarks in this and suc- 
 ceeding chapters will be addressed especially to the 
 female physiognomy, but they will in the main be 
 equally applicable to that of the other sex. 
 
 All faces may be roughly divided into two classes, 
 according to their shade of color — the blonde or fair, and 
 the brunette or dark. On comparing fair and dark people 
 we notice that as a rule the former are physically less 
 tenacious, but more rounded and of more delicate com- 
 plexion, and mentally less firm, but more gentle and 
 affectionate than the latter. Venus and her attendants, 
 the three Graces (and the Madonna), are represented by 
 artists as having been blondes. We may also state that 
 angels and other heavenly beings are usually pictured 
 as fair; whereas sa majeste diabolique and everything 
 Mephistophelean are given of a dark hue. 
 
 From their shape faces are divisible into the ovate, the 
 round, the oblong, and the pyriform or pear-shaped. 
 This division of faces into four classes partly corresponds 
 with the division of temperaments into the sanguino- 
 phlegmatic, the vital or nutritive, the bilious or muscular, 
 and the mental or nervous. 
 
 It must not be supposed that everybody must neces- 
 sarily come under the head of one or other of these 
 classes, for between them are no definite lines of de- 
 markation. Persons of no particular temperament and 
 with faces of no particular shape are generally well- 
 balanced, both physically and mentally, and are the best 
 off, perhaps. 
 
77 
 
 Anticipating in a measure what we shall have occasion 
 to speak of in the succeeding chapter, we may say that 
 doubtless the shape of a great many faces is spoiled in 
 infancy, by incidental pressure of one kind or another, 
 the bony frame-work being incomplete and pliable. 
 Merely letting the child lie habitually in one position 
 may modify considerably the shape of the whole head, 
 including the face. Again, the training in childhood 
 may spoil the shape of the face by failing to regulate the 
 relative proportions of the head. In children whose 
 nervous systems are developed to a disproportionate ex- 
 tent, as indicated by the fullness of the head when com- 
 pared with the rest of the person, efforts should be made 
 to bring about an equilibrium as soon as possible, be- 
 cause it is easier the earlier done, and also because if the 
 trouble is not counteracted it tends to become worse. 
 Where the brain is inclined to be excessive in size it has 
 been suggested that a small amount of pressure should 
 be used, and we believe it can be done to advantage. It 
 is criminal to let a child, with an open, spreading head 
 be without some support. Mental activity of such 
 children should not be early encouraged, but general 
 physical development and growth should be favored in 
 every way. Precocious intelligence, or rather smartness, 
 is undesirable. Children whose nervous systems are not 
 proportionately strong and active should be encouraged 
 to exercise their minds as early as possible. In every 
 instance the aim is to balance the whole system. 
 
 In adults the apparent shape of many faces is spoiled by 
 thinness, and of nearly as many by stoutness. In both 
 conditions not only the shape but the size and general 
 
78 
 
 aspect are objectionable. We have spoken elsewhere of 
 the general remedies for each. The London Spectator 
 recently said that "scragginess is more common in 
 England among women than stoutness," — a statement 
 which should silence those among us who, judging from 
 the large percentage of lean people, are inclined to bewail 
 the degeneracy of the Anglo-Saxon race on this side of 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Now there is a connection between the shape of the 
 face and the character which enables us in a large 
 majority of cases to infer pretty correctly the latter. A 
 person of ovate face is likely to be genial and fairly 
 balanced in tendencies ; one of oblong face is likely to 
 be independent and physically active; one of round face 
 is likely to be good-natured and fond of the pleasures of 
 life ; and one of pyriform face is likely to be unsteady, 
 with intellectual proclivities. 
 
 The profile or side view of the face should be especi- 
 ally studied in attempting to form an opinion as to the 
 intellectual capacity, for in that way we get the best idea 
 of the relative proportions of the head and face, and we 
 prevent ourselves from being misled by the expression. 
 If a straight line be drawn from the middle of the fore- 
 head to the point of juncture of the nose and lip, and it 
 be met by another crossing from the opening of the ear, 
 an angle will be formed to which the Dutch anatomist 
 and art connoisseur, Camper, applied the name of the 
 facial angle. In some of the Grecian statues it is as 
 high as a hundred degrees, but the Romans rarely repre- 
 sented it over ninety-five. In our race it is of an average 
 of about eighty degrees. As a rule it is greatest in the 
 most intellectual and refined people. 
 
79 
 
 e will close with a few observations on the question 
 e possibility of reading the nature of the mind from 
 ppearance of the face. Those who have examined 
 nastered the Works of Lavater, a man wonderfully 
 1 as an observer, can scarcely doubt that it can be 
 one in a sufficiently large percentage of cases to 
 :itute it a legitimate science and art. Nobody claims 
 as a science it is exact, any more than that geology 
 lysiology are. " At the corner of the street," says 
 cute observer and profound thinker, Emerson, " you 
 the possibility of each passenger in the facial angle, 
 e complexion, in the depth of the eye ;" and again, 
 n take each other's measure when they meet for the 
 time and as often as they meet." Why, this belief 
 ilways prevailed. Over two thousand years ago 
 >siasticus wrote, " A man may be known by his 
 and one that hath understanding when thou meetest 
 We can in many cases even tell the business or, 
 ist, the line of business, if it has been followed for 
 time, from the cut and expression of the features. 
 : the blandness of the preacher's face, the boldness 
 * lawyer's, and the thoughtfulness of the physician's, 
 ever, to obtain a reasonable knowledge of the nature 
 talents of any one a coup d'ceil is not enough even 
 jh it takes in the whole person in all its details. A 
 nged study, under varying conditions, is necessary. 
 
THE FOREHEAD. 
 
 The radiant glories of the mind 
 
 In the bright, smooth brow appear. 
 
 The forehead or brow is the most noble feature of the 
 face. There we contemplate the throne of reason, the 
 power which Cicero beautifully characterizes as u the 
 light and the eye of life." There we look for intellect — 
 the subtle endowment which enables man to triumph 
 over everything that exists and transform at will the 
 appearance of creation. 
 
 We will not attempt to give any classification of fore- 
 heads farther than to say that they are high or low, 
 round or square, and flat or convex. A smooth, rounded, 
 slighty convex forehead, one-fourth the head in height, 
 is the most beautiful ; but the higher, broader, and fuller 
 it is, all other things being equal, the greater the capacity 
 and strength of the mind. In some people the hair en- 
 croaches on the forehead and in others the reverse, so 
 these facts must be taken into consideration in making an 
 estimate of the intellect. 
 
 As we have just hinted, the forehead is the seat of the 
 intellectual faculties, and the degree of development of 
 particular parts of it indicates a corresponding strength 
 of particular faculties. Prominence in the region of the 
 
 (80) 
 
8i 
 
 eyebrows indicates strength of the perceptive or observing 
 faculties; prominence of the middle and upper part indi- 
 cates strength of the reflective or thinking faculties; and 
 prominence of the upper and outer portions indicates 
 strength of the imaginative faculties. Persons in whom 
 the forehead rises slantingly are sharp and daring ; those 
 in whom it is fullest in the middle and upper regions are 
 shrewd and guarded in their conduct, and those in whom 
 it is fullest at the outer angles have plenty of ideas, but 
 are prone to be erratic in their behavior. Of course, in 
 a well-balanced mind there is a proportionate develop- 
 ment of all the faculties, and such is on the whole the 
 most consistent with beauty of character as well as beauty 
 of the forehead. 
 
 It must be remembered that the character of the 
 intellect is modified by the temperament. Generally 
 speaking, the minds of sanguino-phlegmatic people are 
 moderately active ; those of the bilious are less so ; those 
 of the vital still less so ; and those of the nervous are 
 the most active. But the mind may be active without 
 much strength, and strong without much activity. Many 
 very loquacious persons are extremely shallow and weak- 
 minded, and, on the other hand, many profound persons 
 are very silent. Versatile people are rarely deep. In 
 this connection we may quote the declaration of Dr. 
 Rush : " The enlargement and activity of our intellects 
 'are as much within our power as the health and move- 
 ments of our bodies/' 
 
 In infancy it is possible to mould the forehead into 
 almost any shape that we may desire. This fact is well 
 known to the Flathead Indians ; who are yet in the habit 
 
82 
 
 of applying pressure to the foreheads of their children 
 in order to obtain the desired slant. And not a great 
 deal of pressure is required, as any one may readily 
 verify for himself. In an infant a pressure of half an 
 ounce, if allowed to continue, will soon cause a depres- 
 sion. Bacon writes : — " This is certain and noted long 
 since, that the pressure of forming parts of creatures when 
 they are very young, doth alter the shape not a little, as 
 the stroking of the heads of infants between the hands 
 was noted of old to make macrocephali, w 7 hich shape of 
 the head at that time was esteemed. And the raising 
 gently of the bridge of the nose doth prevent the de- 
 formity of a saddle-nose." He then suggests the feasi- 
 bility of improving the appearance of people " by the 
 forming and the shaping of them in infancy, as by 
 stroking up the calves of the legs to keep them from 
 falling down too low, and by stroking up the forehead 
 to keep them from being low-foreheaded. And it is a 
 common practice to swathe infants that they may grow 
 more straight and better shaped, as we see young 
 women, by wearing straight bodice, keep themselves 
 from being gross and corpulent." 
 
 An interesting and most important question is here 
 suggested, and that is whether or not in modifying the 
 shape of the skull we also modify the mind. Now from 
 the fact that the brain, like every other part of the body, 
 grows most in the line of least resistance, and least in 
 the line of most resistance, and also on the principle 
 that the size of the brain determines the amount of mind, 
 we have not the slightest doubt that the question may 
 be answered in the affirmative. We may go a step 
 
83 
 
 farther and affirm that by modifying the size of particular 
 parts of the skull we modify particular faculties of the 
 mind. In those Flathead Indians, the reasoning and 
 moral faculties are very defective, as the „ preceding 
 principles would lead us to expect. We have no doubt 
 that if the brain is prevented from rising in the middle 
 and upper portion the person will be lacking in moral 
 instinct, and unless the reason is strong or the circum- 
 stances such as to keep him in the path of right, the 
 record of his life will be unsavory. This matter merits 
 the rfiost careful attention of every one, and of mothers 
 especially. 
 
 We have stated that the brain tends to develop most 
 in the line of least resistance and vice versa. To this we 
 would add that cultivating the mind, or, in other words, 
 promoting functional activity of the brain, tends to 
 increase the size of the latter, and this principle holds 
 good in the case of any particular faculty, and the 
 part of the brain in which it is located. These facts 
 are so far beyond doubt that we deem it unnecessary to 
 enter into any argument in support of them. 
 
 Here, then, we have two methods of changing the 
 shape of the brow, and both may and should be made 
 use of, either separately or conjointly, for the purpose of 
 beautifying the appearance and also the character. 
 
. THE EYEBROWS. 
 
 " Sae flaxen were her ringlets, 
 Her eyebrows of a darker hue 
 
 Bewitchingly o'erarching 
 Twa laughing een o' bonnie blue." 
 
 Burns. 
 
 There is no feature does more to better or spoil the 
 tout ensemble of the face than the eyebrow ; and it is also 
 very expressive of disposition. Let it be well marked, 
 but proportionate in size and gracefully arched, and it is 
 as the rainbow in the sky, — a beautiful as well as a beau- 
 tifying thing, and a sign of hope; but let it be shaggy, 
 unshapely, and hanging, and we can liken it to nothing 
 but a jetty cliff, ugly, disfiguring, threatening. 
 
 From their shape we may divide eyebrows into four 
 classes, as follows : — The [straight, the upivardly-arched, 
 the downwardly-arched, and the crescentic. When mark- 
 edly typical the straight are ungraceful and accompany 
 a gloomy masculine disposition ; the upwardly-arched 
 are more striking than beautiful, and denote an active, 
 egotistic disposition ; the downwardly-arched are more 
 beautiful than expressive, and indicate a kind, thought- 
 ful disposition ; and the crescentic are graceful, and be^ 
 speak a cheerful, amiable disposition. 
 
 1*4) 
 
85 
 
 The most attractive eyebrows are the crescentic when 
 they are merging into the upwardly-arched. Anacreon 
 tells his taste through Moore : — 
 
 s Let her eyebrows sweetly rise 
 In jetty arches o'er her eyes s 
 Gently in a crescent gliding, 
 Just commingling, just dividing." 
 
 Apart from the shape, the eyebrow may be thick or 
 thin, fine or coarse, smooth or brushy, and fair or dark. 
 Very much hair is but slightly less objectionable than 
 very little. Either blemish can generally be remedied. 
 When it is too profuse we can remove it directly, and 
 when it is too scanty the measures recommended else- 
 where for promoting the growth of the hair in general 
 may be resorted to here with hopes of success. 
 
 The color of the eyebrows should be of the same tint 
 and almost, if not quite, as distinct as that of the hair of 
 the head. This fact, and the other that there is a natural 
 correspondence between the hue of the hair and that of 
 the complexion and, to some extent, of the eyes, should 
 be more generally known, for we frequently see evidence 
 of ignorance of it in the faces of our friends. The de- 
 fect in the color of the eyebrows in the great majority of 
 cases is in the direction of lightness. 
 
 An excellent stain for light eyebrows and also for 
 the eyelashes is made by boiling walnut bark in water 
 and then adding a little alum to set the color, or by 
 merely steeping it for a few days in eau de cologne. 
 This gives a rich brown. It should be applied with 
 
86 
 
 a brush or sponge and repeated from day to day as 
 may seem fit. 
 
 Cosmetic pastilles, the essential ingredients of which 
 are wax and olive oil, and when black charred cork, are 
 used a good deal, not only for the eyebrows but also for 
 the eyelashes and beard, but especially the moustache. 
 Made of such materials, of course they are entirely 
 innocent of any injurious effect on the hair and skin, 
 and they promote the growth of the former. If skillfully 
 used they may do much by way of improvement to the 
 appearance. 
 
 There should be more or less of an interspace between 
 the eyebrows free from hair, and the larger the space the 
 larger the mind, other things being equal. 
 
 Much space and bagginess between the eyebrows and 
 the eyes are ugly, and are generally met with in shallow 
 persons of dissolute tastes. 
 
 A moderately mobile eyebrow is the best, but if it is 
 excessively mobile it does not portend a steady mind. 
 
 The eyebrows are thrown up in amazement, fear, and 
 adoration ; in thought and anger they are drawn down ; 
 and in grief they are broken, the inner third being 
 thrown up. The ancients properly thought the eye- 
 brows especially expressive of earnestness and pride. 
 
 Healthy, happy, refined people have the prettiest eye- 
 brows, and those of the unhealthy, unhappy, and vulgar, 
 are the opposite ; so whatever promotes the former tends 
 to beautify and whatever favors the latter has the reverse 
 effect. The life one leads does much to determine 
 whether the eyebrows shall be attractive or not, and this 
 is true of all the features of the face. It is in our power 
 
87 
 
 to momentarily affect them. One of Shakspeare's char- 
 acters says to another : — 
 
 " Unknit that threatening, unkind brow, 
 It blots thy beauty." 
 
 And every one can and should follow the advice. 
 Those whose eyebrows are inclined to run up towards 
 the back of the head should give up habits and restrain 
 emotions which increase this inclination and cultivate 
 those which have a contrary effect. The use of the in- 
 tellectual faculties tends to bring them down. 
 
THE EYES. 
 
 " As the bright sun glorifies the sky, 
 So is her face illumined with her eye." — Shakspeare. 
 
 The eye at its best is the most beautiful feature of the 
 face and, perhaps, the most beautiful object in nature. 
 Indeed, its beauty as a whole and the marvelous intri- 
 cacy of its parts, which so admirably subserve its benefi- 
 cent purpose, entitle it to be regarded as one of the 
 greatest wonders of creation. 
 
 It would be useless for our purpose to give minute 
 details of the anatomy and physiology of this organ — 
 the window of the soul. Suffice it to say that it is 
 composed of many separate parts and balanced in posi- 
 tion in the bony socket by half a dozen little muscles ; 
 that the only parts visible are the clear convex disc in 
 front (the corned), diverging from which runs a mem- 
 brane (the conjunctiva) " the white of the eye," and the 
 black circular spot (the pupil), " the apple of the eye," 
 which varies momentarily in size, and around which is a 
 band or radiating muscular curtain (the iris) which 
 dilates and contracts and in which is deposited pigmen- 
 tary matter upon which "the color" of the eye depends. 
 To these we may add the eyelid and lash. 
 
 The eye should be of a size proportionate with the 
 
 .(88) 
 
8 9 
 
 rest of the face, and sunk relatively to the forehead, but 
 not in reference to the cheek. Sculptors very well under- 
 stand the artistic effect of placing the eye so that it rests 
 within the shadow of the brow ; and it is no less desir- 
 able that it should be so as indicating development of the 
 anterior lobes of the brain. When the eye is sunk rela- 
 tively to the cheek the expression is mean. Eyes 
 which are prominent relatively to both cheek and brow, 
 and which are known as " saucer eyes," are not only 
 ugly but tell of weakness generally. We are sorry to 
 say there are far too many such. 
 
 Artists regard the following as the ideal proportions 
 of the eye : — The width should be one-fifth the breadth 
 of the head; the cornea should be one-third the w r idth 
 of the eye; and the width of the lids apart should be 
 equal to the diameter of the cornea. 
 
 A rather wide opening is admired by many, but often 
 when it is so the lids are inclined to open too freely and 
 allow a white circle to be visible around the cornea, 
 the appearance of which is very ugly. When, however, 
 the opening is wide and the lids are not inclined to open 
 too freely but the contrary, the languishing appearance 
 is very ensnaring. We may note en passant that if this 
 form of eye is affected by any one it constitutes " the 
 sheep's eye." 
 
 Large eyes are more powerful than beautiful — they 
 are too dazzling. They are the kind wc fancy as appro- 
 priate in persons of command. Thus Homer delights to 
 speak of Juno as having " large, majestic eyes," as being 
 H ox-eyed." A taste for large, dark eyes is very general 
 in the east, and it is there that the most magnificent 
 
9 o 
 
 specimens are to be seen. The Arabs compare women's 
 beauty when they would emphatically emphasize it, 
 to the eye of the gazelle, which is certainly very 
 attractive. Byron, speaking of one of his oriental 
 damsels, says : — 
 
 " Her eye's dark charm ' twere vain to tell, 
 But gaze on that of the gazelle, 
 It will assist thy fancy well." 
 
 Eyes differ greatly in color, the beauty of which may 
 as a rule be graded by its purity. Black and blue are 
 the principal colors ; the others— brown and gray — are 
 mixtures — black being the main element in the former, 
 and blue in the latter. The blood circulating in the 
 iris modifies all these colors in every case. When the 
 structure of the iris is so delicate as to allow the red 
 tint to be very distinctly felt, we have hazel eyes, such 
 as had Shakspeare. 
 
 The majority of the Teutons are blue-eyed, and black 
 is the prevailing color in people of the Latin races. A 
 still higher generalization is, that wherever the climate 
 is warm the natives are black-eyed, and wherever it is 
 cold they are blue-eyed. The Greeks admired blue eyes, 
 and fondly called Minerva " the blue-eyed maid," and 
 Neptune " the god of the azure eyes." The eyes of 
 Venus were blue. 
 
 The distinctness of the color of the eye is highest 
 when in health and good spirits ; and the same may be 
 said of its brightness. The left eye, it is said, is naturally 
 a little brighter than the right. The direct application of 
 the desired color to the iris has never been practiced. 
 
9i 
 
 It is possible to do so, we believe, but it would be 
 somewhat dangerous. 
 
 The size of the pupil changes wonderfully the apparent 
 hue of the entire eye, making it dark and brilliant in 
 proportion to its size. Getting into a joyous frame of 
 mind enlarges it, and we can readily produce the same 
 effect for a while by placing in the eye a few drops (one 
 to five) of a solution of atropia (sulphate of atropia one 
 grain, water one ounce). Dullness or the use of opium 
 in any form will have an opposite effect. 
 
 Long lashes also add greatly to the apparent darkness 
 and lustre of the eyes, and the shadows cast beneath 
 the lower ones are very attractive, so much so that 
 they are often imitated with the brush. The simplest 
 way of increasing their growth and strength is to trim 
 them repeatedly. We are not disposed to recommend 
 washes here. The one given elsewhere for promoting 
 the growth of the hair of the head is as good as any 
 other, but care must be exercised not to let any of it 
 pass into the eye, for it will irritate. 
 
 In the east it is customary to color the lashes, and the 
 practice is not unknown among us. The lines of Lalla 
 Rookh come to mind : — 
 
 " Others mix the Kohol's jetty dye 
 To give that long, dark languish to the eye." 
 
 But we have treated of this matter in the preceding 
 chapter. 
 
 A bold contrast between the color of the eye and 
 that of the eyebrow is scarcely compatible with beauty, 
 
92 
 
 as when the former is light blue and the latter black, 
 or when the former is black and the latter very light. 
 Cato's brows were red and his eyes light blue; but 
 although he was ugly he was very wise. It is stated 
 by good authority that a large majority of insane people 
 have light eyes and dark hair. 
 
 In regard to character it may be said that the black- 
 eyed are brilliant and impulsive; the blue-eyed mild and 
 considerate ; the gray-eyed shrewd and passionate ; and 
 the brown-eyed affectionate and faithful. The black eye 
 wins by show, the blue by kindness, the gray by talent, 
 and the brown by love. 
 
 In astonishment and fear the eyes are thrown open ; 
 in shame and penitence they are cast down ; and in 
 deep thought and adoration they are thrown up. When 
 the under lid rises up towards the pupil it is a marked 
 sign of an amorous nature, or at least a temporary feeling 
 of that kind. A rolling, unsteady eye is an index of a 
 general but suspicious character. It may be instanced 
 in Sir Walter Scott's Cormac Doil, who 
 
 " Circumspectly took 
 A circling, never-ceasing glance, 
 By doubt and cunning marked at once." 
 
 A motionless, stern eye, on the other hand, is not in- 
 dicative of an amiable character, and it is less attractive, 
 perhaps, than what we may term the dancing eye. Burke 
 discriminatingly remarks : — " The motion of the eye con- 
 tributes to its beauty by continually shifting its direction, 
 but a slow, languid motion is more beautiful than a brisk 
 one ; the latter is enlivening, the former lovely." 
 
93 
 
 Addison states that "the intelligence of the affection" 
 is carried on by the eye only, and continues, " Had you 
 ever been in love you would have said ten thousand 
 things which it seems did not occur to you. Do but 
 reflect upon the nonsense it makes men talk, the flames 
 which it is said to kindle, the transport it raises, the 
 dejection it causes in the bravest men ; and if you do 
 believe those things are expressive to her extravagance, 
 yet you will own that the influence of it is very great 
 which moves men to that extravagance. Certain it is 
 that the whole strength of the mind is sometimes seated 
 there, that a kind look imparts all that a year's discourse 
 would give you, in a minute." 
 
 A few words now on some affections of the eye. If 
 the eyes are weak and habitually red, there is something 
 wrong with the system. An opening tonic, such as the 
 one recommended under the head of Complexion, will 
 generally be in order ; and they should be bathed 
 morning and evening, or oftener, with warm water. 
 Cold water alone, or with a little common salt, or alum 
 dissolved in it, will sometimes do quite as well, and a 
 decoction of tea has its advocates. If the trouble is 
 great the following is an excellent wash and it may be 
 used three times, or oftener, daily : — 
 
 Wine of opium, .... Half an ounce. 
 Solution of acetate of ammonia, . . One and a half ounces. 
 
 Rose water, Two ounces. 
 
 The near-sightedness of very stout people is cured 
 by reducing treatment, and far-sightedness arising froij) 
 
94 ' 
 
 thinness should be treated in an opposite fashion. De- 
 bility and deranged conditions of the system frequently 
 cause these affections. Great efforts should be made to 
 remove the cause rather then to resort to the disfigura- 
 tion of glasses. Wearing glasses under the circum- 
 stances tends to make matters worse, especially in very 
 young persons, because it favors the morbid proclivity 
 of vision. A lens, either concave or convex, changes the 
 natural focus of sight, and the entire structure of the eye 
 must accommodate itself to it; which makes it sufficiently 
 evident that glasses cannot be worn with impunity. 
 
 It is lamentably surprising how many are affected 
 with these two affections. A recent examination of 
 school children shows that thirty-five per cent of them 
 have defective vision, and of these about twenty-five 
 per cent, are far-sighted and nearly twelve are near- 
 sighted. There are five girls to every four boys affected. 
 Some attribute a great deal of this disorder of vision 
 to defects in the lighting, heating, and furniture of 
 the schools, which may be to some extent true; but 
 we believe that the real cause is neglect of proper 
 attention to physical development and bad constitutions 
 to begin with. It is right to have the school-rooms as 
 hygienic in every respect as possible, but at the same 
 time direct efforts should be made to make the children 
 healthy and strong. A properly-equipped gymnasium 
 should be attached to every school, and the length of time 
 spent in it daily as well as the character of the exercises 
 practiced should depend on the physical condition of 
 each child. 
 
 As to glasses, should it be deemed well to use them, 
 
95 
 
 those of but slight power should be started with. The 
 way to test whether a lens is good or not is to hold it 
 obliquely over print; if it is true, the letters are in no 
 manner distorted. Glass lenses are just as good as 
 pebble ones, but the latter being harder are not scratched 
 or broken so readily and do not become dimmed with 
 moisture. 
 
 It is often desirable to use glasses simply for the 
 purpose of modifying the character of the light and 
 conseqently change its effect on the retina. For sensi- 
 tive eyes, green-tinted glasses are the best ; but if the 
 eyes are not very sensitive but weak, violet ones are 
 preferable, as this hue cuts off nearly all but the chemical 
 rays, which are very promotive of physiological activity. 
 If there is no malformation of the eye we believe far 
 more advantage, by way of cure, can be derived in the 
 end, whether in young or old, from using suitable tints 
 than magnifying power in the lens. 
 
 There is a disease of the eye called achromotopia, a 
 condition of inability to distinguish colors, which it is 
 well to know something about. It is not at all rare, and 
 in engineers and others it may be the cause of terrible 
 disasters. Dugald Stewart, the distinguished Scotch 
 metaphysician, saw only the yellow and blue colors of 
 the spectrum, and Dalton, the English chemist, only 
 these and red slightly. It is well known that the great 
 painter Turner changed his style of coloring after he 
 became celebrated, and critics never could tell why 
 until recently, when Liebrich, the noted ophthalmologist, 
 proved that it arose from this disorder of his vision, the 
 existence of which he was unconscious of, but which led 
 
9 6 
 
 him to mistake one shade of color for another. From 
 the absence of taste displayed in the arrangement of 
 colors in their costume, a noted American author de- 
 clares it as his deliberate belief that most of the English 
 people (the better half of them he was writing about) 
 must be color-blind. 
 
THE NOSE. 
 
 As a column the nose bears up the brow 
 And forms the face. 
 
 It is the nose which most of all the features gives 
 character to the face. There it stands immovable, un- 
 changing, and almost entirely beyond the control of 
 the owner, a pillar of strength and beauty or anything 
 even to a mere unsightly projection. The eye may de- 
 ceive by assuming foreign beams and the lips by affecting 
 unwonted smiles, but the nose is no hypocrite ; it rests 
 in relief, open and truthful. " A nose," says Lavater, 
 "physiologically good is of unspeakable weight in the 
 balance of physiognomy." 
 
 Now as to the nose the items for consideration are 
 relative size, shape, and complexion. According to the 
 rule of Zeising the length of the nose should be to the 
 combined length of itself and that of the forehead as the 
 length of the latter is to the former. We reckon from the 
 line of the eyebrows to the tip of the organ. It is gen- 
 erally held by artists, that from the root to its point of 
 juncture with the lips the nose should be equal in length 
 to one-third the whole length of the face. This is about 
 the average length ; but it varies within wide limits, and 
 as a rule the greater the length the greater the mind. 
 
 (97) 
 
9 3 
 
 Again, the breadth at the root from eye to eye should be 
 equal to one-fifth the breadth of the face, and it should 
 be of equal breadth at the other end. Great relative 
 breadth is a sign of great mental capacity and vice versa, 
 unless modified by the length. If it is broad and short 
 the propensities are strong and the intellect weak. The 
 length of the nostril should be equal to one-half the 
 breadth of the nose. 
 
 As regards shape, noses are divisible into the Grecian, 
 the Roman, the Jeivish, the snub or pug, and the celestial 
 or le nez retrousse. The Grecian is high at the root and 
 straight, rising but slightly; the Roman is hollow at the 
 root, from which it gradually rises until within a third 
 of the tip, when it inclines downward; the Jewish is flat 
 at the root and rises in a curve to its middle, when it 
 gradually bends to the tip; the snub is low at the root 
 and rises in nearly a straight line to the tip, which is 
 rounded ; and the celestial is flat at the root and rises 
 in a gentle bend to the tip. The first and second are 
 generally of medium length, the third and fifth long, 
 and the fourth short. The Grecian nose is artistic, the 
 Roman strong, the Jewish striking, the snub interesting, 
 and the celestial insinuating. The first bespeaks taste, 
 the second power, the third shrewdness, the fourth 
 versatility, and the fifth sweetness. When the nose 
 projects outward and far it is said to be inquisitive ; 
 when it has a great downward development it is said to 
 be melancholy, and these two united form what is known 
 as the bottle nose. 
 
 The ancients esteemed the nose as especially expressive 
 of scorn and ridicule. Napoleon had great faith in long 
 
99 
 
 noses. " In my observation of men/' says the general, 
 " I have almost invariably found a long nose and a long 
 head together." 
 
 Whatever the nose may be like, it is largely an 
 inheritance, but subject to considerable modification. In 
 children and to some extent in all it can be readily 
 changed in outline by the skillful use of traction and 
 pressure. The bones of the nose do not extend more 
 than half its length, the frame-work of the remainder 
 consists of cartilage, which is very pliable. Now if the 
 organ is retained for a length of time in the desired form 
 it will afterwards remain in it. Some people jest at the 
 idea of a nose-machine, but we see no reason why there 
 should not be one or why it might not prove useful. 
 Two little splints arranged in the form of a saddle and 
 bound on the nose nightly soon transform acceptably 
 those tip-tilted affairs which mar so many faces. 
 
 The complexion of the nose should be like that of the 
 face in general and of the same hue throughout. A life 
 of depravity of any kind soon becomes visible in this 
 organ. Every one has noticed its swollen, ruby condition 
 in the drunkard. He has not long entered upon his dis- 
 solute career when friendly Nature lights it up as a 
 beacon to warn him from destruction. They are fools 
 who disregard the signal. On its appearance a man 
 should summon up all his courage and get free of 
 danger. The inebriating cup is a slow poison, and a 
 person who dies untimely from its use is virtually a 
 suicide. Now although nasal ruddiness is generally the 
 result of some vicious habit, it must in justice be said 
 that a great many afflicted with it are by no means 
 
100 
 
 dissipated. It may be hereditary or it may be caused 
 by some reducing disease or even by simple debility. 
 Enlargement and redness can both be removed by the 
 application of resolvents, such as the muriate of ammo- 
 nia, and of astringents, such as alum or tannic acid. 
 When either or both conditions are present we advise the 
 following mixture : — 
 
 Muriate of ammonia, ..... One drachm. 
 
 Tannic acid, Half a drachm. 
 
 Glycerine, ....... Two ounces. 
 
 Rose water, Three ounces. 
 
 Saturate a piece of cotton with it and bind it on the nose 
 nightly until a cure results. In order that this or any 
 other prescription shall prove effectual, of course it is 
 necessary to discontinue or at least abate the cause ; if 
 it is a bad habit it should be relinquished, and if it is 
 some derangement it should be remedied. When the 
 system of the drunkard is so affected that by an effort of 
 his will he cannot resist the temptation, he is a proper 
 subject for medical treatment. If his case is not of long 
 standing there is little difficulty experienced in curing 
 him. The liquor mubt be discontinued and substituted 
 by a stimulating tonic medicine. There is nothing 
 better than the following : — 
 
 Sulphate of iron, ...... One drachm. 
 
 Tincture of nux vomica, .... One ounce. 
 
 Mint water, . . . . . . . Four ounces. 
 
 The dose is one teaspoonful,and it should be taken four 
 or five times for two or three days, and then three times 
 a day for a couple of weeks or so. 
 
THE CHEEKS. 
 
 " Thou hast given me, in this beauteous face, 
 A world of earthly blessings to my soul, 
 If sympathy of love unite our thoughts." — Shakspeare. 
 
 The favorite seat of beauty's form and sheen is the 
 cheek. No other part of the face admits of more grace 
 of mould, and none of such charm of hues — hues whose 
 varying depth speak sweetly the feelings of the spirit 
 within. Not as often as we might do we meet with 
 cheeks that have reached the limit of possible perfection 
 and loveliness ; the majority are sadly defective. Even 
 before youth has ebbed away the cheek which ought to 
 be rounded and " decked with rosy gifts" — to use the 
 words of Anacreon Moore — we often find hollow and 
 sallow. Where shall we look for the cause of this 
 lamentable falling off? Ask what has sapped the 
 strength — the life — for therein lies the cause. It maybe 
 some vice, the cruel inheritance of " the iniquity of the 
 fathers/' some lurking disease or some grievance of the 
 mind or heart. Health and contentment are wanting ; 
 these must be courted and won before the cheek can fill 
 and glow with tints of white and red. 
 
 A rounded cheek, if not full withal, is the prettiest. 
 When hollow it spoils the appearance of the whole 
 
 (IOI) 
 
102 
 
 face — the cheek-bones especially coming into disagree- 
 able prominence. These are naturally prominent in 
 some persons, and it betokens a capacious mind and a 
 decided character. It has been observed that these 
 bones towards the ears are particularly large in dis- 
 tinguished medical men, for which reason they are often 
 described as the physician's or surgeon's bones. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that there is never any 
 bloom in a hollow cheek. This should be evident to 
 every one. If we see clear white and red in such a cheek 
 we need not hesitate to declare the colors artificial. 
 Should any attempt be made to color here it should be 
 with a hand that stints the paint. The proper tints of 
 red and white come, as a rule, of themselves, if the form 
 is what it should be. The exceptions are generally 
 found in persons of phlegmatic temperament, or in those 
 who stay a great deal within doors. In these cases a skill- 
 ful pencil will improve the appearance, but not so much 
 as a proper amount of sunshine and exercise. Here and 
 in those in whom the pallor is due to some derangement 
 of the system which has thinned the blood, a few doses 
 of some invigorating medicine will be advantageous. 
 The critic Winckelmann writes, "A little rouge is to a 
 melancholy style of beauty what a smile is to the lips 
 of a suffering mother who wishes to hide her trouble 
 from her children, or to conceal it from the eyes of 
 stupid indifference." 
 
 There is a wonderful amount of difference in the com- 
 plexion of cheeks. Each has tints of its own, and it is 
 this that makes it so hard to use paint so as to improve 
 and yet not be indicative of the brush. Indeed, this 
 
103 
 
 natural difference of hues in the complexion is not 
 usually taken into consideration in the preparation of 
 the colors, nor can it very well be. 
 
 Different tints of colors should be used in each case, 
 and these should be as close as possible imitations of 
 the person's complexion, but not necessarily at its best 
 It is often well to be content to improve a little. 
 
 The materials generally used as cosmetics are lily- 
 white or pearl-powder (either nitrate of bismuth or fine 
 chalk), which receives all sorts of fancy names, and rouge, 
 which is nothing more than carmine. Rose shades of 
 all degrees of depth are obtained by mixing these 
 articles. Instead of the whites mentioned, cascarilla 
 powder is used, and those who never paint — you know — 
 use ordinary starch or flour. Cascarilla powder and 
 rice powder are both excellent. The real French rouge 
 is obtainable from a plant, the safflower (carthamus tincto- 
 rius), and as it sells at a very high figure it is not used 
 very extensively. 
 
 Now, it cannot be said that any of these substances 
 are poisonous or injurious in their influence ; the only 
 possible harm that they can do would arise from filling 
 the pores of the skin, but the space is so limited that it 
 can have no effect of any consequence on the system. 
 The argument that they cause diseases of the skin is 
 without foundation ; if it were true we might expect to 
 see strange looking faces come out of mills and factories 
 where the air is thick with dust and the skin is con- 
 stantly covered with a film of it. To be sure, much 
 strongly alkaline powder lying on the skin will destroy 
 qi great, deal of its oil and otherwise injure it; but we do 
 
104 
 
 not advocate the use of strongly alkaline powders nor 
 much of any kind. 
 
 Painting the face and other exposed parts of the person 
 is practiced as an art in some of the great centres of 
 gaiety, and particularly in Paris, where may be found 
 artists who will undertake to do wonderful things, even 
 to restore at their touch, to the most haggard, a com- 
 plexion like " immortal Hebe's, fresh with bloom divine," 
 as Homer would say. Some of the public cosmetic 
 salons are very elegant places, and are well patronized. 
 
 To give an idea of how elaborate and refined the cos- 
 metic art really is, we will give an extract or two from a 
 pamphlet issued by a Parisian exhibitor at the Centennial 
 Exhibition. It is said therein, " Besides being arranged 
 according to their consistency, color, and shade, our 
 fards (paints) are classed according to the purpose in- 
 tended and the effect of light in the following manner : — 
 White and rose fards with every shade for the com- 
 plexion; fards for indoors; fards for out-of-doors; fards 
 for daylight ; fards for gaslight ; fards for court and 
 ball ; fards for the eyes ; fards for the lips ; reaseau (Tazur 
 to mark the veins ; hair-dyes and hair-powders ; nail- 
 powders ; appliances for the application of fards ; sanitary 
 compositions to remove fards and to maintain health and 
 freshness of the skin." Speaking of the art it is said, 
 " the perfection of the artifice is to imitate nature. You 
 should be at the same time artist and model and idealize 
 your own beauty in concealing the faults, in making ap- 
 parent the perfections, in establishing harmony, and 
 creating from time to time bold and piquant contrasts 
 without any exaggeration or false tone which may betray 
 
105 
 
 the artifice." On application this gentleman gets up for 
 those who desire to paint themselves what is called a 
 boite de jouvence, or box of everything required for 
 beautifying the person. In the Castellani collection of 
 antiquities already referred to, were to be seen a number 
 of similar caskets used by the Roman ladies. These, 
 however, contained personal ornaments besides cos- 
 metics, and the casket and contents formed what was 
 known as the mitndus rnulieris, or woman's world, and it 
 was protected by the goddess Venus, who made it a 
 sealed secret even to the husband. 
 
THE CHIN. 
 
 " Beneath her velvet chin, 
 Whose dimple shades a love within, 
 A charm may peep, a hue may beam." — Moore. 
 
 We will preface our notes on the chin with a few words 
 on the whole jaw. Apart from the shape of the chin, the 
 jaw may be angular or rounded, and its breadth, depth, 
 and prominence differ greatly in different persons. An 
 angular or square jaw is incompatible with beauty of 
 outline and grace, and it indicates a strong, rugged, 
 amorous nature. In a beautiful face a line from the lobe 
 of the ear to the chin is a graceful curve. Great breadth 
 of jaw may be met with in attractive faces of the round 
 type. A very deep jaw is ugly, and it is generally 
 noticeable in obstinate people. 
 
 Prominence of the jaw lessens with the advancement 
 of the race, the region of the forehead becoming pro- 
 portionately enlarged; but when it runs to an extreme 
 in the other direction it is weak and ugly. A person 
 with a receding jaw is rarely independent and strong 
 intellectually. 
 
 The chin may be pointed, round, square, or indented, 
 and the extremes of any of these is unattractive. All of 
 them may be found in handsome faces; but the rounded 
 
 (106) 
 
107 
 
 is the most beautiful. The indented form of chin is often- 
 est seen in men, and a slightly square form in women. 
 Dignity is principally indicated by the set of the chin, 
 and physiognomists place much faith in it as an index of 
 the affections. It may be said that the pointed chin is 
 variable, the rounded temperate, the square ardent, and 
 the indented selfish. The first is intense, the second 
 mild, the third strong, and the fourth cold. Great 
 anterior development of the chin is a sign of a warm 
 disposition, and great depth is a sign of waywardness. 
 Love in a lady is shown by an inclination of the chin 
 forward and to the right, and in a gentleman by an incli- 
 nation inward and to the right. 
 
 We may here give a statement of the proper relative 
 proportions of the head and face, and we cannot do bet- 
 ter than give a few of the measurements in the case of 
 the larger of the Laocoon youths, where they are unex- 
 ceptionable. Reckoning according to the method of 
 Audran, the distance from the highest point of the back 
 portion of the head to the chin is four parts five minutes; 
 from the bump at the base of the skull behind to a point 
 between the eyebrows is three parts five minutes; and 
 from the lobe of the ear to the chin is one part eleven 
 minutes. As we have elsewhere stated, a point immedi- 
 ately in front of the external opening of the ear should 
 divide the antero-posterior diameter of the head into 
 two equal parts. 
 
 A long, heavy, projecting face mars the effect of the 
 head by dwarfing its apparent size, and by overshadowing 
 the features of intellectual expression it gives a person 
 an unrefined appearance. 
 
THE LIPS. 
 
 " Mark when she smiles with amiable cheer, 
 
 And tell me whereto can you liken it?" — Spenser. 
 
 The lips being subject to great variation in form, hue, 
 and movement, are interesting subjects for study. Char- 
 acter, which is the complexion of the entire qualities of 
 heart and mind, taken as a unity, is apt to be more ap- 
 parent in them than anywhere else. Says Dr. Holmes : — 
 "There is one feature (the mouth), and especially one 
 part of that feature, which, more than any other facial 
 sign, reveals the nature of the individual, and that por- 
 tion of it referred to is the corner." 
 
 Recognizing lips as thick or thin, we may say that the 
 extreme of either is ugly. The most beautiful and ex- 
 pressive lips are of medium fullness, the lower one being 
 slightly the fuller. The line of division between the 
 delicate membrane of the lip and the skin should be 
 well defined. In the upper lip none of this membrane 
 should show at the corners, and most of it should be 
 seen a little distance from the centre, which should be 
 the lowest point; and in the lower lip, also, none of the 
 lining membrane should appear at the corners, but most 
 should be visible at the centre, which should be the 
 lowest point. The lips should meet closely, and the line 
 
 (108) 
 
109 
 
 of union should be a graceful curve, the extremities being 
 highest. Lips which fail to meet, and thus show the 
 teeth, are ugly. They are mostly thick, and their pos- 
 sessor is apt to have sensual tastes and an unmanly 
 character. 
 
 The proper width of the mouth is generally set down 
 at one and a half times the width of the eye; but the 
 average is quite that much, we believe. What a pity 
 it is that in persons who become thin there is not a 
 corresponding diminution in the size of the mouth! 
 Unfortunately, the leaner people get the larger, rela- 
 tively, does it become to its surroundings. The only 
 remedy for a large mouth is found in the enlargement of 
 the other features, particularly the cheeks, which can be 
 brought about by measures already dwelt upon. 
 
 A wide mouth implies an open nature, acute feelings, 
 and an active mind; and a small mouth points to opposite 
 traits. 
 
 The upper lip should have a well-marked surface de- 
 pression at its middle, and it should be equal in length to 
 about one-third the distance from the nose to the chin. 
 It is said that a long upper lip bespeaks great business 
 capacity, and according to another item of folk-lore, it 
 points to long life. These surmises are not without 
 foundation, for it is often the case that a person with a 
 long upper lip is active and possessed of a good stock of 
 vitality. It will be remembered that in Venus the length 
 of the upper lip is just two-thirds that of the under one. 
 
 When the lips are full the disposition is warm, and 
 when thin it is cold. Thin-lipped people are decided in 
 character, and the full-lipped are comparatively pliable. 
 
no 
 
 When the lips are well set and thoroughly under con- 
 trol, the probabilities are that the person's mind is disci- 
 plined and strong. Tremulous lips accompany a nature 
 of acute sensibilities. 
 
 Projection of the lower lip, with the lower teeth over- 
 lapping the upper ones, is indicative of a weak character. 
 Properly, the lower front teeth rest, when the mouth is 
 shut, behind the upper ones, and in some persons are 
 completely covered; but under such circumstances the 
 lower jaw is apt to be of the receding type. 
 
 Badly-arranged teeth often spoil what would otherwise 
 have been pretty lips, and many sets of artificial ones 
 have a similar effect. Blame here must be thrown on 
 the parents and the dentists, — they have failed to com- 
 pletely perform their duties. This subject will be ad- 
 verted to in another place. 
 
 If the corners of the mouth are inclined downward 
 the person is of a stern, gloomy, and unkind nature; but 
 if they are of an upward turn, the reverse. A cheerful, 
 amiable disposition lifts the features up as it were, and a 
 sullen, unsympathetic disposition drags them down. A 
 ridge running from the lower lip towards the angle of the 
 jaw on either side is seen in egotistic, jealous people. 
 Pouting of the lips express contempt, and in the expres- 
 sion of disgust the lower lip is turned down. 
 
 St. Pierre writes : — " The mouth consists of two lips, 
 the upper moulded into the shape of a heart, that form 
 so lovely as to have become proverbial for its beauty ; and 
 the under rounded into a demi-cylindrical segment. In 
 the opening between the lips we have a glimpse of the 
 quadrilateral figure of the teeth, whose perpendicular 
 
Ill 
 
 and parallel lines contrast most agreeably with the round 
 forms adjoining, arid so much the more so as we have 
 seen that the first generative term being brought into 
 union with the supremely harmonious term — that is, the 
 straight line with the spherical form — the most harmonic 
 of all contrasts result from it." 
 
 We will now turn to the subject of color of the lips. 
 In healthy people their color should be a decided pink ; 
 if of a light tint it indicates a weak constitution, and if 
 actually pale, it is a sign of disease, or at least some dis- 
 turbance of the body or mind. 
 
 In striving to improve the appearance of the lips it 
 should be kept in mind that health and serenity of mind 
 are the best cosmetics ; creams and salves and carnations 
 can never have a like beneficial effect. The irritating 
 properties of various substances are taken advantage of 
 by many to make the lips of a ruby hue. Pepper is the 
 favorite article, and it is the active ingredient in most of 
 the lozenges and other preparations gotten up for the 
 purpose. When a coloring agent is desired, the best is 
 made by adding more wax to cold cream and then color- 
 ing it to a suitable depth with carmine. 
 
 Fissuring or chapping of the lips is generally caused 
 by cold. Glycerine or cold cream or stramonium oint- 
 ment should be applied, and if there is swelling and it 
 may be a few little blisters, a mild aperent, such as 
 magnesia, should be used in connection with the local 
 application. Discoloration and peeling of the membrane 
 of the lips are caused by some trouble in the system — 
 very often by indigestion. The pill spoken of in the 
 chapter on the Complexion will do excellent service 
 here. 
 
112 
 
 Times ago people went through life with harelips; now 
 they rightly demand their cure, which can be obtained in 
 nearly every case, particularly if taken early. The 
 operation is simple: the edges of the opening are fresh- 
 ened, and being held together for a week or so they 
 adhere permanently. 
 
 A few words now about the delicate custom of 
 mutually touching the lips as a mark of friendship and 
 love. It was prompted by their high sensibility and the 
 pleasurable sensation which results from contact. How- 
 ever, history tells us the following nice little story about 
 the origin of the custom, one which contains a hint that 
 some ladies might do well to accept: — After the capture 
 of Troy by the Grecians, a party of the inhabitants under 
 the lead of ^Eneas escaped, and " after much tossing, 
 both on land and sea, by the power of the gods above, on 
 account of the lasting ire of cruel Juno," as Virgil tells 
 us, landed on the banks of the Tiber. Here they were 
 not inclined to remain, but sick of an unsettled mode of 
 life, it said that Roma, in order to compel their remaining, 
 plotted with the rest of the ladies and burned the fleet 
 which was lying at anchor. At first the men were greatly 
 exasperated, but settling and prospering on the Palatine 
 hill the wayward Roma's name was given to the Eternal 
 City. " Hence, too, " says Plutarch, " we are informed the 
 custom arose for the women to salute their relatives and 
 husbands with a kiss, because those women when they 
 had burned the ships used such kind of endearments to 
 appease their husbands' resentment." 
 
 Kissing is not practiced by the Chinese, and it is in- 
 dulged in quite as much by our own as by any other 
 
H3 
 
 people. Noble Britons esteem it vulgar, and the readers 
 of George Eliot will remember that Grandcourt did not 
 kiss Gwendolen's lips until after she had become his 
 bride and had entered the halls of her new home. Now, 
 without insisting on such abstinence as this, we will say 
 that kissing as a customary form of every-day salutation 
 should be discontinued. It is far too. familiar and fond, 
 far "too flattering sweet to be substantial." . It is sense- 
 less and sickly in the extreme. People can be warm 
 enough in their ordinary greetings without going to the 
 extent of an embrace. A kiss maybe the medium of 
 communication of various disfiguring and fatal diseases. 
 
THE TEETH. 
 
 " She doth display 
 The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight, 
 Through which her words so wise do make their way." — Spenser. 
 
 A beautiful set of teeth is an essential element of a 
 beautiful face, for however expert a person may be in 
 controlling and shaping the lips, it is impossible to con- 
 ceal them ; they will show themselves in spite of all that 
 can be done to the contrary. The charm of many a face 
 is gone the moment the mouth is opened. No one can 
 view complacently a mouthful of ill-formed or decayed 
 teeth. Nor is it the appearance alone of the ugly teeth 
 that disfigures ; the vain efforts to hide them, which so 
 many are inclined to make, are just as bad if not worse. 
 There can be nothing more disagreeable to witness than 
 these futile attempts at concealment. 
 
 We need not enter into a description of what consti- 
 tutes beautiful teeth, farther than to remark that they 
 should be white and partially pellucid, and be arranged 
 evenly in an unbroken arch in either jaw. 
 
 Each tooth consists of two parts : the crown, and the 
 root or fang. 
 
 On splitting a tooth in the line of its length it is seen 
 to be made up of a pulpy mass in the centre, in which 
 the nerves and blood-vessels are imbedded ; a thick 
 
 (114) 
 
us 
 
 layer of ivory-like material (dentine) ; a crown-capping 
 of enamel, the hardest of all organic products ; and a 
 fang investment of bone-like substance (cement). If a 
 portion of the enamel is removed decay of the rest of 
 the tooth speedily ensues. 
 
 The teeth begin to appear in the seventh month or 
 earlier, and by the end of the second year the whole 
 milk or temporary set, twenty in number, have appeared. 
 They consist of two incisors, one canine, and two molars 
 on either side of each jaw. When they appear very 
 early it is not a sign of vigor, but the reverse. They 
 should not decay, as is generally the case, but gradually 
 fall out from the seventh to the fourteenth year, to give 
 place to the permanent set, which when completed with 
 the four wisdom ones, which do not appear until towards 
 the twenty-first year, are thirty-two in number, sixteen 
 in each jaw, or eight on either side of each jaw, as fol- 
 lows : — Two incisors, one canine, two premolars, and 
 three molars. The root of each of the first two upper 
 molars has three branches; of each of the first two lower 
 molars two; and of each of the others one; though 
 there is a disposition on the part of that of each of the 
 premolars to divide into two, and that of each of the 
 upper wisdom ones to divide into three, and of the 
 lower ones into two. 
 
 It is stated by Pliny that "women have fewer teeth 
 than men," and the great naturalist, Cuvier, in com- 
 menting on this statement, acknowledges that it is 
 sometimes true, and gives an explanation. Without 
 intending a fling at the sex, he says, " The wisdom 
 teeth are more frequently absent in women than in men." 
 
u6 
 
 As a matter of interest, we may mention that we have 
 seen several instances in which the teeth were double 
 all the way around. 
 
 In that excellent work, Plutarch's Lives, we are told of 
 Pyrrhus, the celebrated king of Epirus, that " instead of 
 teeth in his upper jaw he had one continued bone, 
 marked with small lines resembling the divisions of a 
 row of teeth." It is likely the union was only apparent. 
 
 Some dentists are of the belief that the closer the 
 teeth are together the more likely are they to decay ; 
 but several of the best sets of teeth we have ever seen 
 were in aged people, and they were extremely close 
 together. When a tooth comes into contact with one 
 that is decayed it runs some risk of injury thereby; 
 
 Compared with the teeth of other creatures those of 
 man seem to be rudimentary, and are partly like those of 
 vegetable-eaters and partly like those of flesh-eaters. A 
 study of them leads us to the conclusion that a mixed 
 diet is the most suitable kind for him, but it in no wise 
 proves that he cannot live and flourish on either vege- 
 table or animal food alone. Analogy forbids us to come 
 to that conclusion, and so does actual experience. One 
 of the greatest efforts, perhaps the greatest effort of the 
 human intellect, was the production of the Principia, and 
 we know that Newton restricted himself to a vegetable 
 diet while composing it. The requisite amount of nour- 
 ishment is supplied in a less bulky form in animal food, 
 but all the necessary elements are present in vegetable 
 food. This is the gist of the whole matter. 
 
 It is a very remarkable fact, but nevertheless a true 
 one, that from the wildest savages in whom they are 
 
ii7 
 
 sound and regular the teeth progressively deteriorate 
 and are at the worst in people in the foremost grade of 
 civilization. A startling fact, indeed ! The cause of this 
 unfortunate degeneration is not definitely known, but it 
 is generally attributed to the character of the food. The 
 food of the savage is simple, and it is such as requires 
 mastication. The complicate, sugary food of civilized 
 life injures the teeth indirectly by deranging the digestive 
 organs, and directly by favoring the accumulation of 
 matter about them. But perhaps the greatest cause is 
 the use of food of extreme temperatures. The teeth 
 and gums are very sensitive to heat or cold, and bring- 
 ing articles varying from the boiling to the freezing 
 points into contact with them a number of times daily 
 cannot but induce disease, and greatly promote it when 
 it is present. Whatever the cause or causes may be, it 
 is certain that in those of good constitution and health 
 the teeth are soundest and most beautiful, and vice 
 versa. 
 
 On the appearance of the permanent teeth, if they 
 tend to become irregular and decay, there is generally 
 some vice in the system which demands correction. In 
 such cases, all kinds of measures to promote physical 
 development and growth will be in place, and as a medi- 
 cine, phosphate of lime in doses of five to twenty grains 
 in a little water three times a day, immediately after 
 meals, will be of use. 
 
 Crowding of the teeth is nearly always the cause of 
 their irregularity, and it is met with in persons of weak 
 constitution, but it may be present in healthy people, the 
 cause being the injudicious leaving of the temporary 
 
n8 
 
 teeth in the gums after the permanent ones have begun 
 to appear. When the cause is weakness of the system 
 and defective development of the jaw these troubles 
 must be combated by remedies such as are spoken of 
 above. Removing a tooth under these circumstances is 
 not judicious unless the difficulty is extreme, — -still it 
 may be done in many instances greatly to the improve- 
 ment of the appearance of the mouth. 
 
 Now, when one or several of the teeth are so placed 
 as to be an actual disfiguration, what course should the 
 person pursue? Well, the best thing to do is to consult 
 a sensible dentist as to the propriety of interfering with 
 them, and then have done whatever he may suggest. 
 Undoubtedly, in many cases, it is possible to press them 
 into an even line without injuring them in any respect ; 
 nay, they can be entirely removed from the jaw and be 
 replaced, and, what is more remarkable still, those of 
 another person may be substituted, as Ambrose Pare, the 
 greatest, perhaps, of French surgeons, fully demonstrated 
 over three hundred years ago. Every surgeon must 
 have met with instances where the front teeth were so 
 loosened as to admit of being readily pressed into any 
 position desired, and which became firm as ever in ten 
 days or so. 
 
 To keep the teeth from decaying it is necessary to 
 keep them clean, and how? Not with toothpicks. 
 These implements, made artistically of wood, are served 
 up in bundles at the tables of some hotels, and although 
 unknown at the domestic board they are familiar enough 
 to everybody. Now, we condemn the toothpick in all 
 its forms. The use of it injures the teeth and gums, and 
 
H9 
 
 stripping the latter from the former creates places for 
 particles of food to lodge. Thus it gives rise to a neces- 
 sity for its continued use. If at any time it is absolutely 
 necessary to use one in order to remove an adhering 
 particle of food it should be manipulated with care. 
 
 The mouth should be well rinsed every morning, and 
 if done after each meal and at bedtime benefit will 
 follow from it. Water alone will answer the purpose of 
 a wash, but it is better to add to it some cdmmon salt or 
 a little of the tincture of myrrh. j 
 
 If the gums are spongy and inclined to bleed and the 
 teeth loose perhaps, awash made of alum or thertincture 
 of catechu will be in order. If a tooth is decayed, or 
 even in absence of such trouble, an excellent wash is 
 made of the permanganate of potash. It removes the 
 odor and the tartar and other accumulations in a very 
 acceptable manner. A very little of it will answer these 
 ends, just enough to slightly color the water, say two or 
 three grains to the pint of water. A fine antiseptic wash 
 is made from salicylic acid, a grain or two of it to the 
 ounce of water, and phenol sodique also makes a very 
 good one. 
 
 For polishing the teeth powdered charcoal is much 
 used, but it should be used sparingly, for it is possible 
 by much rubbing with it to wear off the enamel ; more- 
 over, the brush displaces and irritates the ensheathing 
 gums. Chalk and magnesia are also used, but the least 
 objectionable and as a whole the best tooth powder is 
 made by pulverizing any aromatic bark, or several 
 together. 
 
 No one should be so imprudent as to use mineral acids 
 
120 
 
 for dentifrices, for they are corrosive and ruin the enamel 
 of the teeth. 
 
 It is curious to observe that the people of some East- 
 ern countries do not desire their teeth to be white, but 
 actually use agents to color them black. 
 
 We will not do as people in general do, leave those 
 afflicted with the toothache to suffer without even an 
 expression of sympathy. There are few diseases more 
 painful, and although not dangerous to life it may seri- 
 ously impair health. Being seated near the brain it 
 greatly disturbs the functions of the whole nervous 
 system and unfits one for any desirable form of mental 
 activity. If allowed to continue it completely breaks 
 the temper. Nobody can bear it patiently. As to reme- 
 dies, if the pain is continuous, the cause being an irri- 
 tated condition of the parts around the root of the tooth 
 or of the tooth itself, the application of anything warm, 
 such as hot water or oil of cloves or the tincture of 
 myrrh will afford relief; if it is intermitting, neuralgic in 
 character, the cause being exposure of the nerve of the 
 tooth, certain relief is obtained from the application of 
 creosote ; and if it arises from both these causes, both 
 methods of cure may be called for conjointly, and in 
 addition the local use of laudanum or some other ano- 
 dyne. 
 
 It is wise to consider well before having a tooth ex- 
 tracted, especially if it be a front one. When the cause 
 of the trouble is a cavity, if the decayed parts are care- 
 fully removed and it is well filled with gutta-percha or 
 oxychloride of zinc or an amalgam or gold, it will 
 remain free of pain and may last a long time. We 
 
 
121 
 
 would here remark, however, that there is nothing more 
 unsightly than the appearance of any filling about the 
 teeth. We cannot imagine why it is that some people 
 like to see them studded with gold. If a filling is neces- 
 sary we would advise people to have it done with an 
 agent less noticeable than this precious metal, for in- 
 stance, the zinc cement, referred to above, which can be 
 obtained of any hue. Indeed, from all we can learn 
 about the subject, and we have heard it discussed over 
 and over again before the American Dental Association, 
 we do not believe that gold is any better as a filling, 
 under most circumstances, than the oxychloride of zinc 
 or an amalgam. When the front teeth become badly 
 decayed they should be extracted and be replaced with 
 artificial ones. 
 
 In conclusion, we may say that mechanical dentistry 
 does a very great deal to promote and preserve beauty. 
 A well-made and properly-fitting set of artificial teeth is 
 an ornament to the face and maintains it in shape to the 
 end of life. We now see so few old people without 
 teeth that we have scarcely any conception of what old 
 age is like. " Sans teeth " cannot be said of the valetu- 
 dinarians of modern times. 
 
LINES AND WRINKLES. 
 
 * u Grief hatrr changed me, 
 And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand, 
 Hath written strange deformities in my face.' 5 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 It is not as the sad memorials of time alone that we 
 propose to treat of lines and wrinkles, but also as aris- 
 ing from the shape of the features and the expression of 
 emotions, such as induce — 
 
 " The low'ring eye, the petulence, the frown, 
 And sullen sadness that o'ershade, distort, 
 And mar the face of beauty." — Cowper. 
 
 Now, in a handsome, blooming face, when at rest, 
 there should be neither line nor wrinkle, — these are 
 foreign to beauty of form. To be sure, they may be 
 present in a degree, without causing actual ugliness ; 
 and, indeed, some faces are made more interesting by 
 them ; but it is by making it picturesque and adding to 
 its character that they make a face attractive, and not by 
 enhancing genuine beauty of it. We look on a smooth 
 stream with pleasure, but on a rippling one with interest; 
 the one excites feeling principally, and the other thought; 
 and so it is with faces smooth and rough. 
 
 Passing now to the details of our subject, we would 
 remark that a line running from the wing of the nose by 
 
 (122) 
 
123 
 
 the corner of the mouth is seen in many well-cut taces, 
 and, if marked, it indicates a happy disposition and a not 
 very decided character. When this line passes some 
 distance from the corner of the mouth, and one or two 
 others appear behind it in smiling, it is indicative of a 
 not very happy disposition and a character more or less 
 decided. The shape of the bony framework of the face 
 has a good deal to do with the production of these lines, 
 and so has the temperament. 
 
 A series of lines radiating from the outer angle of the 
 eye gives a pleasant expression to the face, and imports, 
 according to their distinctness, a merry, happy nature. 
 
 A dark, bluish line, or circle rather, beneath the eye, 
 if slight, may be beautifying, but when pronounced it dis- 
 figures, and tells a tale of physical weakness or derange- 
 ment of the system, and is suggestive of dissipation of 
 all kinds. 
 
 In very doleful people there is often a deep crease 
 running outward and downward from the inner angle of 
 the eye, — a condition of things which is unattractive. 
 
 Parallel transverse lines on the forehead are striking 
 in appearance, and are marks of a character more or less 
 uncertain in nature. They apparently shorten the fore- 
 head. 
 
 One or more perpendicular lines in the mesial portion 
 of the forehead add to its apparent height, and though 
 not pretty, are tokens of a benevolent disposition and an 
 amiable character. 
 
 Intersecting lines are seen on the foreheads of people 
 acquainted with grief and of a gloomy turn of mind. 
 
 One or more concentric lines above the eyebrows are 
 
124 
 
 noticeable on the foreheads of spirited, egotistic persons 
 of shallow understanding. 
 
 Lines radiating upward and outward from the inner 
 end of the eyebrows are tokens of melancholy and sor- 
 row. 
 
 A transverse line at the root of the nose apparently 
 shortens the latter, and it is observable in persons of 
 stern, resolute character. It is the commander's wrinkle. 
 
 All these lines may be present in the young as well as 
 in the old; but they are generally more deeply marked 
 in the latter. 
 
 Turning our attention to wrinkles, and restricting the 
 meaning of the term to the little furrows and ridges or 
 corrugations of the skin, we observe that while lines 
 may be present in both young and old, these are absent, 
 as a rule, until the meridian of life has been passed. 
 Sometimes they come prematurely, but not without cause. 
 If we search we shall find in every instance that there is 
 something at work undermining health and happiness. 
 If these are overturned even in a person comparatively 
 young, the face, though it were as beautiful as Hya- 
 cinthus', will become disfigured and ugly. 
 
 As the conduct of the mind plays an important part 
 in determining the absence or presence of wrinkles, and, 
 in a measure, of lines, we will indulge in a few remarks 
 on the subject. On this head the advice of the old 
 Samian sage, Pythagoras, is most excellent, " Do not 
 devour your heart." A great many people worry them- 
 selves into ugliness and foster it by nursing discontent. 
 Let adversity but threaten, and they precipitate them- 
 selves into the depths of apprehension and despair. Yes, 
 
125 
 
 there are many who peer into the future and conjure up 
 all kinds of misfortune as coming in their way. The 
 medical poet, Armstrong, in his Art of Preserving Health 
 (1744), justly exclaims : — 
 
 " What avails it that indulgent heaven 
 From mortal eyes has wrapt the woes to come, 
 If we, ingenious to torment ourselves, 
 Grow pale at hideous fictions of our own ?" 
 
 Imaginary troubles should find no lodgment in our 
 minds ; they should be discarded, and when fate does 
 impose cruelties upon us it is then that fortitude and 
 reason should be most relied upon. 
 
 " Wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss, 
 But cheerily seek how to redress their harm." — Shakspeare. 
 
 Everyone should know that there is nothing so much 
 tends to make and keep the countenance smooth as a 
 cheerful, loving spirit and an honest desire to be pleas- 
 ing to others. Active, blithe, and artless, how could 
 Thackeray's " Maid of Limavady" be otherwise than 
 rounded, rosy, fair ? Keep the blood warm and the heart 
 well filled with affection and there is no danger of the 
 face shriveling. This advice is simple and can be fol- 
 lowed by old and young. Really they are only young 
 and seem young who feel young. We have seen a state- 
 ment somewhere to the effect that if one would be pos- 
 sessed of an amulet against wrinkles it is necessary to 
 hold on to love and love of romance. 
 
 City people are more afflicted with wrinkles than coun- 
 try people are, and the reason is simply because the 
 
126 
 
 conditions necessary to happiness, or rather health, 
 which is the foundation of happiness, are not as good in 
 the city as in the country. To a great many the still 
 monotony of city life, apart from the impurity of the air 
 and a thousand and one other enervating influences, is 
 sufficient to break down their constitutions. The medi- 
 cal philosopher, Broussais, declares :— " If large cities 
 were not incessantly supplied with robust families from 
 the country, their population would very perceptibly 
 diminish, and would in time be converted into gloomy 
 deserts." This statement is too sweeping, perhaps ; but 
 whether it is true or not, one thing is certain, which is, 
 that residing in the country and pursuing the ways of 
 the people there will often, in a little while, clear away 
 wrinkles. Doubtless the change of scene contributes 
 much, for no difference what it may be, it is always ad- 
 vantageous to a person broken down physically as well 
 as mentally. In his Task, Cowper gives some fine 
 descriptions of the beauties of the country and its 
 effects. Of the health and gayety of spirits imparted 
 to the sickly citizen, he writes : — 
 
 " His cheek recovers soon its healthful hue, 
 His eye relumines its extinguished fires ; 
 He walks, he leaps, he runs, is winged with joy, 
 And riots in the sweets of every breeze." 
 
 Everything that favors health of body and serenity of 
 mind assists in keeping the face free from unsightly 
 delvings. 
 
 In the study of wrinkles the question arises, what is 
 
127 
 
 their immediate cause ? It cannot be mere leanness, for 
 if it were we should certainly see them in young people, 
 Bichat, the genius who laid the foundation of scientific 
 medicine, in his Anatomie Generale (iypy) f tells us that 
 it is because the organic contractility of the skin is de- 
 fective. While the skin retains a proper degree of tone 
 and elasticity wrinkles do not appear. These qualities 
 are deficient in the aged, so the skin fails to adapt itself 
 to the emaciated parts beneath. 
 
 Does this explanation of their cause not suggest a 
 method of removing wrinkles ? Is it not evident, from 
 the premises, that if we can restore a proper amount of 
 tone and elasticity to the skin, that we can thereby wipe 
 them out ? How is this to be done ? We should en- 
 deavor to improve, as' much as possible, the general 
 health, and at the same time apply local stimulation, 
 and how ? Without knowing the modus operandi of it, 
 many are in the habit of using spirits of turpentine as a 
 wash for the purpose. A somewhat similar remedy is 
 the ordinary adhesive plaster, which is heated and stuck 
 on the offending part. Bathing with cold water and then 
 rubbing well with a coarse towel or a flesh-brush will do 
 good service.. One or other of the washes spoken of in 
 the next chapter may be used in connection with the 
 cold-water ablution. 
 
 It is very noticeable that an attack of any serious 
 disease — say typhoid fever— smooths over and brightens 
 up the most markedly wrinkled and haggard of faces; 
 and the philosophy of it is this, that after the disease 
 a period of health and excellent spirits follows, from 
 which there is sure to be not only an increase in the 
 amount of fatty tissue beneath the skin, but also an 
 
128 
 
 improvement in the tone and contractility of the skin 
 itself. 
 
 A few words on some of the causes of lines. Want 
 of equilibrium of the faculties of the mind gives rise to 
 telling creases in many instances. Thus, when the rea- 
 soning powers are weak we generally find furrows above 
 the eyebrows and all across the forehead. We have 
 again and again seen people cultivate this thoughtless 
 but bold expression ; so let us say that throwing the eye- 
 brows up is a sign of a very shallow or distorted mind. 
 If this practice is due to deficiency of the faculty of 
 reason, it should be strengthened, if possible ; and if it 
 is merely a habit it should be corrected. 
 
 A look of anger or any grimace often repeated will 
 soon settle in the face, and such 'distortions are not re- 
 moved without some trouble. 
 
 Says St. Pierre : — " Persons disfigured by traces of 
 vicious education and habits have it in their power to 
 reform their looks, and to acquire a beauty altogether 
 irresistible, by being internally good, gentle, compassion- 
 ate, sensible, beneficent, and devout. These qualities of 
 a virtuous soul will impress on their features celestial 
 characters, beautiful even in old age." 
 
 Proper treatment of body and mind will keep the 
 countenance fresh and smooth for life. How sad to think 
 that we will not or cannot do our duty to ourselves ! 
 Alas ! that the poet could truthfully say — 
 
 " We wither from our youth." — Byron. 
 
 
THE COMPLEXION. 
 
 See her face's faultless tints, 
 
 And note what healthy life can do. 
 
 The complexion is an exceedingly important element 
 of a handsome face; and we but justly accord to it the 
 bad eminence of being the greatest, or at any rate the 
 commonest, source of disfiguration. How many faces 
 admirable in the outline and symmetry of their features, 
 and of excellent expression, are charmless, even ugly, 
 from defects in the complexion ! How could Scylla 
 be handsome with a complexion of " a strong red in- 
 terspersed with spots of white" (Plutarch) ? And it is 
 not alone from the effect on the eye that an ugly com- 
 plexion is objectionable ; the train of ideas excited by it 
 is not such as leads to the belief that the soul within is 
 spotless. It is almost beyond the power of anyone to 
 fancy a pure, gracious soul in a repulsive body ; nor can 
 it exist therein. If the inner nature is perfect it tends 
 to transform the outward appearance to its own likeness. 
 
 The complexion merits particular attention, not only 
 because it is very liable to become unattractive and to 
 disfigure, but also because the resources of our art 
 enable us to beautify it to a great degree. 
 
 As it is impossible to thoroughly understand many of 
 the remarks we are about to make on the complexion 
 
 (129) 
 
130 
 
 as well as some of those made or to be made on other 
 subjects, without a knowledge of the structure of the 
 skin, we will here give a short account of it. 
 
 Spread over the surface of the body the skin varies in 
 thickness in different parts — the average being about a 
 quarter of a line, but it everywhere consists essentially 
 of two layers : an inner one, the dermis or true skin, and 
 an outer one, the epidermis or scarf-skin. 
 
 The dermis varies in thickness from one-sixth of a 
 line to one and a half lines, and may be divided into two 
 layers: an inner one of fibrous, elastic material, which 
 rests on the cellular and fatty tissues — the packing 
 elements of the body, and an outer one of conical pro- 
 jections [papilla), each about one-hundredth of an inch 
 in length, and one-two-hundred-and-fiftieths of an inch 
 in diameter at the base. These little projections are easily 
 seen in parallel ridges on the palm of the hand. One or 
 more loops of fine blood-vessels (capillaries) and also one 
 or more nerve-fibres are contained in each papilla. 
 
 The epidermis varies in thickness from one-sixtieth to 
 one-tenth of a line in different parts, but it is sometimes 
 greatly thickened on the palms of the hands and soles 
 of the feet, and it is without blood-vessels and nerves and 
 consequently void of sensibility. It may be divided 
 into two layers — an inner one (rete mucosum), in which 
 is located the pigmentary matter upon which the color 
 of the negro and the various tints of complexion in 
 every other race depends, as do freckles, and an outer 
 one (cuticle) which is constantly shedding in the form of 
 scurf or dandruff. 
 
 In the inner layer of the dermis are situated the 
 
I3i 
 
 follicles of the hair and also the sebaceous glands, and 
 we may add the perspiratory glands y for these are in 
 immediate contact with its inner surface. 
 
 The sebaceous glands, each of which consists of a 
 little sack, are placed around the roots of the hair — from 
 two to eight around each. The matter secreted by 
 them is oily, and besides lubricating the hair it renders 
 the skin repellent of water. A stippled appearance of 
 the nose is caused by sebaceous matter resting in the 
 outlets of the hair follicles. 
 
 The perspiratory or sweat-glands, each of which con- 
 sists of a little knot of tubes, the open end of which rises 
 spirally to the surface, are very numerous ; on the palm 
 of the hand there are three thousand of them to the 
 square inch. 
 
 The texture and hue of the skin are most delicate in 
 youth, but in both respects it differs greatly in persons of 
 different temperaments, being as a rule smoothest and 
 clearest in the sanguinous and vital. In people of 
 nervous temperament the texture is generally good but 
 the hue is defective, the red tint being absent almost ; 
 and in the bilious both the texture and hue are often 
 bad, the former coarse and the latter an ugly brown. 
 
 Now if the texture of the skin is bad the color will 
 also be bad; a fine skin, therefore, is the basis of a good 
 complexion. 
 
 Says Burke:— " In a fine complexion there is not 
 only some variety in the coloring, but in the colors; 
 neither the red nor the white are strong and glaring. 
 Besides they are mixed in such a manner and with such 
 gradations that it is impossible to fix their bounds." 
 
132 
 
 This statement fairly indicates what the hues of a beau- 
 tiful complexion should be. Absolute red and white are 
 out of place and ugly; a blending of them in varying 
 depth is what is desirable, but really the general ground 
 or flesh-color which artists find so hard to imitate is a 
 yellowish-pink. 
 
 The color of the skin in all its varieties in the Cau- 
 casian race is never an elementary one, it is always 
 more or less mixed; but we can nearly always find a 
 prevailing tint — white, yellow, red, brown, or olive. 
 
 Some people have been puzzled to know why a race 
 should be esteemed beautiful in proportion to the clear- 
 ness of the skin. It is simply because the fair skin is 
 most capable of showing vital and emotional activity. 
 In the white skin only can we recognize the most deli- 
 cate expressions of feeling. That charming language 
 of innocence — blushing — we look for in vain in the sable 
 cheek. 
 
 In persons of weak, scrofulous constitution we some- 
 times see the complexion wonderfully clear and beautiful, 
 but it is only in the healthy that we need expect it to be 
 lastingly beautiful. Herein lies the key to the right 
 method of improving it. " When beauty's rose is with- 
 ering ere its prime/' to use the words of Mrs. Hemans, or 
 when the skin assumes an unnatural texture and hue, 
 we may decide at once that there is something wrong 
 elsewhere in the system which requires correction. 
 
 In treating of the cheek we spoke of the artificial im- 
 provement of the complexion, so we will not enter upon 
 that subject again further than to say that not one of 
 every ten of the people who paint themselves seems to 
 
133 
 
 know when the point has been reached up to which the 
 brush improves but beyond which it disfigures ; and that 
 however expertly done the effect of this eclat emprunte is 
 not very good, the artifice being too transparent. Per- 
 haps we may better convey our meaning through 
 Cowper : — 
 
 " Lovely, indeed, the mimic works of art, 
 But Nature's works far lovelier." 
 
 Now it is the intention of Nature to give everybody 
 a good complexion, and with the proper conditions a 
 good one would be vouchsafed to each of us. Besides 
 attention generally to the rules of health, cleanliness is 
 an important matter here. Plenty of pure water with a 
 little mild soap may be put down as an indispensable 
 cosmetic and as a whole the best. For people of very 
 delicate skin distilled or rain water is recommended, 
 being free from alkaline minerals. Immediately after 
 washing the face, sponging it with water of elder flowers, 
 or of rosemary or of lavender, will have a brightening 
 effect. If more decided agents are desired, half a drachm 
 or so of either muriate of ammonia or chlorate of potash 
 may be added to every pint of the aromatic water. Bay 
 rum is another excellent stimulating wash. But of 
 formal methods of obtaining a smooth, clear complexion 
 the best by far is as follows : — Saturate cotton or chamois, 
 or anything similar, with glycerine alone or with a little 
 of either muriate of ammonia or chlorate of potash dis- 
 solved in it, and keep it applied to the part at night until 
 the desired result is obtained. The hands or any other 
 part of the body may be treated in the same way. 
 
134 
 
 The various preparations sold for the purpose of 
 clearing the complexion contain either arsenic or mercury 
 in some form. They generally prove injurious, but in 
 suitable cases their alterative effects are beneficial. They 
 should not be used either externally or internally unless 
 under the guidance of a physician. The best medicines 
 to use internally will be spoken of in the sequel. 
 
 Having treated of all the measures necessary to im- 
 prove and preserve the complexion in the general way, 
 we will now speak specifically of certain troubles of it 
 which nearly every one is at times affected with more or 
 less, and which are great sources of annoyance and 
 mortification. We refer especially to freckles, to those 
 little black-headed accumulations of matter in the skin 
 which are popularly believed to be worms, and to pimples 
 or acne. Innocent as these things are they are dreadful 
 to many people. Only those who have been afflicted 
 with them can form any idea of how much anxiety and 
 depression of spirits they can cause. Many a one has 
 stayed at home and moped about for a week from a bare 
 pimple on the cheek. Indeed, that person must be pos- 
 sessed of much more than an average amount of fortitude 
 whom a blotched face cannot abash or inspire with a 
 sense of humiliation. He must be a hero if he can dis- 
 abuse his mind of the consciousness of his unsightly 
 imperfections. It is well that ugliness does affect people 
 in so decided a manner, for it saves others the pain that 
 arises from witnessing it. The following notes as to the 
 cure of the affections spoken of will, we believe, be pro- 
 motive of beauty and happiness : — 
 
 Freckles, or little yellow spots, give a stained, un- 
 
135 
 
 pleasant appearance to the face. They are generally 
 seen in persons of the blonde type, particularly those 
 with reddish hair, and are most plentiful in the heat of 
 summer. They are increased by any digestive derange- 
 ment and by exposure to the sun. In setting about their 
 removal it is necessary to get the system into as healthy 
 a condition as possible, and to this end the pill recom- 
 mended below should be used. Various washes are 
 useful and the ones already given for general use will be 
 found very good. The glycerine application, too, may be 
 used. But it is well to remember that freckles are seated 
 in the inner layer of the epidermis, so that surface reme- 
 dies can hardly touch them. Unquestionably the best 
 way of getting rid of them or any other discoloration, 
 when very bad, is to eat them out with muriatic acid 
 slightly diluted, or by applying a blister, or by exposing 
 the face to the sun until it becomes burned sufficiently 
 to be followed by exfoliation of the skin. This last is 
 an excellent remedy and it takes only a few days to 
 effect a cure. 
 
 When the secretions of the sebaceous glands accumu- 
 late in the hair follicles and the exposed ends become 
 discolored we have as a result comedones or black- 
 head worms. Should these excite inflammation and 
 suppuration the result is a pimple, acne, a miniature 
 boil. The main causes of both these troubles is some 
 derangement of the action of the skin or of the system 
 or of both, and they are met with mostly in young 
 people. Living on carbonaceous food (starchy and 
 sugary articles), without a proper admixture of the 
 nitrogenized element, develops skin eruptions, and 
 another source of them is excessive eating. 
 
- 136 
 
 It may not be amiss to give here a statement of the 
 proportions of the different classes of food and the 
 average amount required to keep the system in a healthy 
 condition. The proportions are as follows : — Carbon- 
 aceous or heat-producing, seventy per cent. ; nitrogenized 
 or muscle-nourishing, fifteen per cent. ; phosphatic or 
 brain, nerve, and bone nourishing, two to three per cent.; 
 and of mineral and other elements the remainder. The 
 average amount of food required daily by an average 
 adult male is about as follows : — Forty ounces of solids, 
 of which two-thirds are vegetable, and from twenty to 
 thirty ounces of fluid. Females require less, but much 
 exercise in either sex will call for more. 
 
 Now, in the treatment of the above-mentioned diseases 
 as in the treatment of diseases of all kinds, the first and 
 most important step is to remove the cause, if possible. 
 Besides complying with the rules of health, some medi- 
 cine to give tone to the system, purify the blood, and 
 correct the action of the skin will here prove of the 
 utmost value. An admirable prescription for these pur- 
 poses is as follows : — 
 
 Compound extract of colocynth, . . Thirty-five grains. 
 
 Sulphate of iron, Twenty-five grains. 
 
 Extract of nux vomica, .... Ten grains. 
 
 To be mixed and made into twenty-five pills, one of 
 which may be taken once, twice, or three times a day. 
 Cooling, acidulous drinks, such as lemonade, may be used 
 freely and to an advantage. 
 
 As to local remedies, after washing the face with 
 either castile or carbolic acid or glycerine soap and luke- 
 
137 
 
 warm water, it should be briskly rubbed with a coarse 
 towel until it is perfectly dry and glowing. Sponging 
 with the washes heretofore spoken of will here be of 
 vast service. 
 
 The " black-heads " may be nearly always dislodged 
 by gentle pressure, but if they do not come away easily, 
 to persist in the attempt to force them will only turn 
 them into pimples. Sometimes an actual pimple may be 
 cut short in this way, but when once it has begun to form 
 it usually goes on until matter is formed, when it may be 
 pricked with a needle and gently squeezed, which will 
 expedite the cure. 
 
 For pimples, a wash that is sometimes very serviceable 
 is made by adding half a drachm of bi-carbonate of soda 
 to half a pint of any aromatic water, and carbonate of 
 ammonia in the same proportions is excellent. At night 
 a little of the following ointment may be applied to the 
 affected parts : — 
 
 Lard, . . Six drachms. 
 
 Glycerine, . . . . . . . Two drachms. 
 
 Carbolic acid, Half a drachm. 
 
 This ointment is very good for a variety of other erup- 
 tions and troubles, such as ring- worm and bites of insects. 
 There is a multitude of other skin diseases, but com- 
 pared with the ones we have treated of they are not very 
 common. Most of them will be more or less benefited 
 by the foregoing treatment, but if they are at all severe 
 in nature they should receive special medical attention. 
 
THE HAIRS. 
 
 " Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, 
 And beauty draws us with a single hair." — Pope. 
 
 In the hair of the head, kind Nature's curious robe 
 both protects and adorns ; and how admirably ! What 
 a perfect shield against extremes of temperature and of 
 direct violence to the delicate brain ! What beauty in 
 its waving tresses and shining hues! The glory of the 
 head : poets have delighted to sing of it, and priests 
 have proclaimed it sacred. 
 
 Though equally useful and ornamental to man as to 
 woman, a fine head of hair has been in all ages the special 
 pride of the latter. And we all agree with St. Paul in 
 his statement, " If a woman has long hair, it is a glory to 
 her." 
 
 The hairs, like the nails, are appendages to the skin, 
 and in structure are modifications of it. They are found 
 throughout the entire surface of the body, except, per- 
 haps, the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. 
 As many as seven hundred have been counted on a 
 square inch of the scalp. They are everywhere better 
 developed in man than in woman, except on the head, 
 where, as a rule, they are more healthy and do not turn 
 gray as soon. 
 
 (138) 
 
139 
 
 A hair may be described as consisting of two parts : 
 the shaft, or external portion, which is cylindrical, flex- 
 ible, elastic, and of various hues from white to red and 
 to black, and the root, or bulb, which rests in and slightly 
 beneath the inner layer of the dermis. Both shaft and 
 root are insensitive, and are without blood-vessels as 
 well as nerves ; neither grows nor lives. They are as 
 much dead products as the epidermis, and their freshness 
 is maintained by imbibition. 
 
 Examined under a microscope, the shaft of a hair is 
 seen to be composed of an external layer or coat of 
 minute scales (the cuticle), which are directed upward 
 and outward, and an internal portion (the cortex), which 
 is fibrous, and in which the coloring matter exists. 
 Within the cortical portion runs sometimes a central 
 axis (the medulla), of granular material, by which oily 
 matter may be carried easily. 
 
 The root of a hair is of pretty much the same structure 
 as the shaft, but it is softer and thicker, and less dis- 
 tinctly divided into layers. It is seated in a little follicle 
 or flask-shaped fibrous sack, and at its end it embraces a 
 minute papilla, from which it is developed. The follicle, 
 which is really an infolding of the dermis, being elastic, 
 tightly clasps the growing root, and thus moulds, as it 
 were, the forming hair. 
 
 Chemical analyses of hair show it to be composed of 
 an albuminoid substance — sulphur, lime, phosphorus, 
 iron, magnesia, and an oil upon which it is believed its 
 color depends. There is more iron in dark than in fair 
 hair, and there is an excess of phosphate of lime in either 
 when gray. 
 
140 
 
 It may not be superfluous to say that a hair does not 
 grow at the terminal end of its shaft; all addition to its 
 length is made at the other end ; it is newest at the root, 
 as everybody who dyes very well knows. 
 
 The hairs generally rise obliquely from the skin, and 
 are arranged systematically in parallel lines or in whorls. 
 When the arrangement is irregular, and they are inclined 
 to project in all directions, it is hard to keep them 
 dressed. This is often noticed in those of the eyebrows. 
 By continued forcing we can give them any inclination 
 desired. 
 
 We have said that hairs are cylindrical in form, and so 
 they are, as a rule, but they are sometimes much com- 
 pressed ; and they are inclined to curl in proportion to 
 the degree of compression. 
 
 Very few substances are worse conductors of heat 
 than hair, and this property serves the important pur- 
 pose of maintaining the head constantly at the same 
 degree of temperature. As bearing on this point, we 
 may say that of two persons equally exposed to the 
 rays of the sun, one with plenty of hair and the other 
 with very little, the former suffers less than the latter 
 from the heat, — a statement which is contrary to the 
 popular belief on the subject. If the heat, however, 
 originates in the system, it is much more freely dissi- 
 pated when the hair is short. 
 
 Hair is very absorbent of moisture, which thickens 
 and elongates it. So marked are these properties, that 
 the latter is availed of to make an instrument (a hygrom- 
 eter) for determining the state of moisture of the at- 
 mosphere. 
 
Hi 
 
 There is no tissue of the body resists decay so long 
 as the hair. We have seen specimens of it which had 
 been buried for hundreds of years, and they did not 
 seem much the worse from it. It requires the caustic 
 alkalies or the mineral acids to dissolve it. 
 
 The life of a hair may be short or long, it may grow 
 for an indefinite length of time ; but any great disturbance 
 of the skin, such as that consequent on typhoid fever, 
 sometimes leads to its falling off. This does not, how- 
 ever, prevent another one from rising in its place. There 
 is generally too much apprehension in regard to this 
 matter, so w r e repeat that when a hair falls out during 
 the course of any severe disease it is rarely wanting in 
 a successor stronger than itself. 
 
 There has never been a fixed preference for any spe- 
 cial color of the hair, but among different peoples we can 
 trace a particular admiration for some one tint. Thus 
 black was and is yet especially prized by the Jews, while 
 a fair or rather a golden hue, the color of Psyche's, de- 
 lighted many of the Greeks. We believe dark hair is 
 most in favor among us. It is said that of two ladies, 
 one with dark and the other fair hair, the chances of 
 matrimony are as three to two in favor of the former. 
 It is certain, however, that the majority of beauties are 
 fair-haired. This color is usually present in persons of 
 sanguineous and vital temperaments, which are most 
 favorable to grace of features and delicacy of complex- 
 ion, as well as that warmth and sweetness of disposition 
 which give openness and charm to the face. We may 
 say that the darker the hair the coarser it is, and the 
 more tenacious the frame and character. 
 
142 
 
 Red hair is not much admired, and it is disliked by 
 none so much as those to whom it belongs. For our 
 part, we think some shades of it very beautiful, for in- 
 stance, auburn, which is in most cases accompanied with 
 dark eyes and a fine complexion. Red-haired people 
 are active, both physically and mentally. There are 
 grounds for the popular belief that they make trouble- 
 some companions : it is their passionate nature that has 
 led to it. 
 
 When treating of the eye, we stated that distinctness 
 or purity makes any color beautiful, and the same holds 
 good in regard to the hair. 
 
 Now, apart from the color, we may declare that the 
 coarser and more abundant the hair, the stronger is the 
 person. Thus, powerful Samson's locks were very pro- 
 fuse, and we are told of the headstrong Absalom, that 
 " he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels'' 
 (Bible), or six and a quarter pounds. Some question 
 this view, except when it is made in reference to the hair 
 of the head and face. For example, Goethe says : — " A 
 superfluity of hair on the chest and lower limbs rather 
 indicates weakness than strength." This is not the 
 popular view, but it may be the correct one. Whether 
 it is or not, however, all are agreed that a heavy head of 
 hair is a sign of a vigorous, sound constitution, and of 
 the presence of a plentiful supply of good blood. On 
 the other hand, when it is poorly developed or inclined 
 to fall off, or both, there is a lack of healthy activity and 
 nourishment at its roots. A knowledge of these facts 
 enables us to intelligently undertake the task of promot- 
 ing its growth. 
 
x 43 
 
 Now, the first thing to do in setting about the invigora- 
 tion of the hair is to see whether or not the system is in 
 a healthy state, and then whether or not there is a suffi- 
 cient amount of pure, rich blood in the veins. Should 
 there be a deficiency in these respects, it is the first thing 
 that should claim our attention. The principles of hy- 
 giene should be complied with, and perhaps it may be 
 useful to take some purifying tonic medicine, than which 
 there is none better than the prescription given in the 
 chapter on the Complexion. 
 
 As to local remedies for increasing the growth of the 
 hair, if the hair and scalp are dry, we should apply some 
 oil, and the best is made by mixing castor oil and eau 
 de cologne in equal amounts. It should be well rubbed 
 into the scalp, and then a stiff brush should be used until 
 a glowing sensation is produced in the parts. Oiling 
 and brushing the hair alone will not produce the desired 
 effect. 
 
 Should it be thought necessary to use a stimulating 
 oil — a real hair invigorator — the following has no supe- 
 rior: — 
 
 Tincture of cantharides, . . . Half an ounce. 
 
 Aromatic spirits of ammonia, . . One and a half ounces. 
 
 Glycerine, Three ounces. 
 
 Spirit of rosemary, . . . One ounce. 
 
 This embrocation may be used either daily or weekly, 
 and in the same manner as the oil spoken of above. 
 
 Cutting the ends of the hair tends to invigorate it. 
 How it does so we are unable to say, unless it be from 
 the fact that it is thus made more liable to be moved by 
 
144 
 
 friction, which leads to greater functional activity about 
 the roots. This explanation seems very plausible when 
 we consider that the shorter the hair is cut the better it 
 serves to increase its growth and strength. 
 
 We may here note a few of the avoidable causes of 
 weakness of the hair. 
 
 Many persons ruin their hair by repeated washings 
 with strong soap, while the mildest, even, should be used 
 sparingly, for it destroys the oil upon which its freshness, 
 and to some extent, also, its color, depends. By the 
 way, ten or fifteen grains of carbonate of ammonia to the 
 quart of water makes an excellent wash for cleansing the 
 hair and scalp. 
 
 The use of curling irons and frizzing wires is injurious 
 to the hair, and the same may be said of plaiting and 
 papering, though in a less degree. The injury arises 
 chiefly from compression, which adds to the density as 
 well as changes the shape of the hairs. Curling and 
 crimping can be practiced, and with very little injury to 
 the hair, by first applying a bandoline or glutinous 
 pomade, and an excellent one is made by dissolving a 
 drachm or more of gum tragacanth in four ounces of 
 eau de cologne and the same amount of water. 
 
 The constant use of powder is also injurious, especially 
 if it be alkaline in nature. For the hair, and also as an 
 absorbent generally, the best powder is that made of 
 rice — pure and simple. This is the basis of some of the 
 so-called violet powders, and nothing could be better. 
 
 Baldness does not naturally come with years, but it 
 very often does. There is no possible reason why the 
 hair should not be as plentiful at seventy as at twenty- 
 
■145 
 
 five. Strong, healthy people generally retain it to the 
 last. 
 
 Unlike baldness, grayness of the hair is naturally 
 brought about by years, but it frequently appears prema- 
 turely. We have seen gray heads over which twenty- 
 five summers had not passed. Mental trouble of some 
 kind is nearly always the cause. Profound agitation has 
 been known to bleach it almost like magic. Sir Walter 
 Scott but speaks the truth in saying: — 
 
 " Deadly fear can time outgo, 
 And blanch at once the hair." 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, and Marie Antoinette are often 
 cited as instances in which this sudden change occurred, 
 and numerous others are on record. 
 
 As we have already stated, grayness of the hair occurs 
 earlier in men than in women; the only reason for this, 
 so far as we know, being that the latter are much less 
 liable to be affected with intense mental perturbations. 
 We may also remark that, as a rule, the beard does not 
 get gray as soon as the hair of the head. 
 
 Bacon but expresses an opinion which is still popular 
 when he says : — " Early grayness without baldness is 
 a token of long life/' This assurance will be a source 
 of consolation to many. The explanation of it is that 
 people of strong constitution are most subject to intense 
 mental conditions which cause grayness. 
 
 It is curious to note that grayness of the hair and a 
 fresh, fine complexion are not at all incompatible, and, 
 on the other hand, that the face may be faded and worn 
 while the hair still retains its natural hue. 
 
146 
 
 Passing now to the subject of dyeing of the hair, we 
 would say at once that if the purpose is to mask the 
 grayness of age we entirely disapprove of it. Silvery 
 locks are an ornament to the aged, or, as it is put in the 
 Bible, "The beauty of old men is their gray heads." 
 But when the grayness is premature, dyes can often be 
 used with good effect as regards beauty. This is especi- 
 ally so when the face is full and the complexion good. 
 
 Now, in using dyes, the natural color should in each 
 case be imitated as closely as possible. Most people are 
 too anxious to improve very much, and, also, to select 
 the color that pleases most, no matter what the natural 
 color of their own may have been. A jet black is the 
 favorite, and, undoubtedly, it is very pretty, but it is 
 entirely wrong to use it in all cases. Such a practice 
 strikes us as a plain violation of common sense. 
 
 The walnut stain, spoken of elsewhere, or, what is as 
 good and far more easily obtained, a concentrated decoc- 
 tion of potato-parings, will be found useful by many to 
 deepen the tint of very light hair, and, also, to hide 
 grayness, if a dark brown is desired. Should a black 
 color be wished for it may be obtained by moistening the 
 hair, after using the walnut stain, with a solution of sul- 
 phate of iron, say half a drachm to a pint of water, 
 either alone or perfumed to suit, a brush or sponge being 
 used to rub it in. If the black thus produced is not 
 deep enough a little of the tincture of nut-galls may be 
 added to the walnut stain, or it will answer alone. The 
 trouble with this iron black is that it is hard to apply, 
 and, we may add, it does not remain permanently of the 
 same tint, but nearly the same must be said of all dyes. 
 
147 
 
 The best golden dye is made, not of arsenic, but by 
 dissolving a little of the sulphide of cadmium or cadmia, 
 as it is generally called, in water. 
 
 Almost if not all the hair-dyes sold are made of either 
 lead and sulphur or nitrate of silver and sulphur. A 
 chemical analysis of twenty of these nostrums shows 
 that fourteen of the number are made of the former in- 
 gredients, and the remainder, the so-called restoratives, 
 of the latter. The amount of lead varies from one to 
 sixteen grains to the ounce. The silver preparations 
 come in two bottles, one of which is to bring out the 
 color, which it does by chemical action. The silver is 
 present in the form of the sulphide, which is insoluble. 
 This dye stains the skin badly and renders the hair crisp. 
 
 The dye which results from the union of lead and sul- 
 phur is of a fine black hue. It fades a little, but its 
 beauty makes it a favorite. The objection to the use of 
 it is that some of the lead may be absorbed, and give 
 rise to debility, or, perhaps, even painter's colic ; but we 
 do not see how this can very well occur since the sul- 
 phide of lead — the form in which it is present — is in- 
 soluble. Indeed, to give our candid opinion, we think 
 the danger not nearly so great as some would have us 
 believe. If care is exercised to prevent it from lying in 
 contact with the scalp, through accumulations about the 
 roots of the hair, no harm can result. The following 
 formula is as good as any other:— 
 
 Sugar of lead, Half a drachm. 
 
 Lac sulphur, One drachm. 
 
 Glycerine, One ounce. 
 
 Rose water, . . . . . . Three ounces. 
 
148 
 
 This mixture is to be well shaken and applied with a 
 sponge or brush, once or twice a day, until the desired 
 depth of color is obtained, and then once a week, or 
 oftener, if necessary. 
 
 Unobjectionable dyes of every shade can be made of 
 aniline, but we need not dwell on them, as those we have 
 treated of will answer every purpose. 
 
 Sometimes it is desirable to render the shade of color 
 of the hair lighter. For this end a tolerably concentrated 
 and slightly acidulated solution of peroxide of hydrogen 
 will answer ; but a much cheaper, and, perhaps, as good 
 an application is sulphur. Mix it with a little water, 
 then apply it to the hair and let the strong rays of the 
 sun fall upon it for an hour or so, or until the desired 
 fairness is produced. Chlorine gas or solutions of chlor- 
 ides will bleach the hair and so will a hot, strong solu- 
 tion of oxalic acid, but care should be taken not to let it 
 touch the skin. 
 
 When the hairs are irregular or otherwise objection- 
 able on any part, it may be desirable to remove them, 
 but this should not be done hastily. Some person of 
 good taste should be consulted before venturing to de- 
 stroy them. It is unwise to use any of the nostrums 
 sold as depilatories ; they are made of arsenic, caustic 
 potash, quick-lime, or litharge, and act by destroying 
 the roots of the hair. Ammonia, as strong as can be 
 borne, will have the same effect, but about the best 
 way to remove hairs is to pull them out with a pair 
 of pincers. It will be necessary, in all probability, to 
 repeat the operation, but it has to be nearly always 
 done, no difference what method is resorted to. It is 
 
149 
 
 very hard to destroy the vitality of the papillse of the 
 hairs. 
 
 We have now exhausted the subject of the hair of the 
 head, or rather in general, and, of course, our remarks 
 are just as applicable to the hairs of the face as those of 
 the head, but a few notes addressed more especially to 
 the former, particularly the beard, will not be out of 
 place. 
 
 The great lawgiver of the Jews said, " Thou shalt not 
 round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar 
 the corners of thy beard." A long, flowing beard was 
 esteemed by them the noblest ornament of the person 
 and a mark of wisdom. To kiss the beard was consid- 
 ered an act of high esteem and love, and was permitted 
 only to near relatives. To neglect or abuse it indicated 
 great grief, while to be deprived of it was a sign of ser- 
 vility and infamy. At present the Jews and Arabs, 
 faithful to their ancient custom, continue to let the entire 
 beard grow for a period of thirty days as an indication 
 of mourning. 
 
 "By the beard of Aaron," and " By the beard of the 
 Prophet," are regarded by the Jew and Moslem, re- 
 spectively, as among the most solemn of oaths. 
 
 Lycurgus prohibited cutting of the beard and the hair 
 of the head also, his reason being, as Plutarch tells us, 
 that "hair makes the handsome more graceful and the 
 ugly more terrible"; and Alexander the Great, like 
 William the Conqueror, ordered his troops to " shave 
 their beards, these being a ready handle in battle" 
 (Plutarch). 
 
 The Romans cut their hair and shaved off the beard 
 
ISO 
 
 or not, as they saw fit, and the same may be said of the 
 Greeks generally. In the Belvidere Apollo the hair is 
 moderately long and forms a heavy roll in front, but 
 there is no beard. 
 
 Our Saxon ancestors did not curtail the growth of the 
 beard nor of the hair of the head either. 
 
 The Chinese and Japanese, like our Indians, keep the 
 face almost free from hair, and most of the old Egyptian 
 paintings represent the men beardless ; but, generally 
 speaking, all the nations of the East have always allowed 
 the beard to grow to the fullest extent. Plato was 
 honored with the title of " Bearded Master " by his ad- 
 miring pupils and disciples, and most of the ancient 
 worthies are represented with large beards — that of 
 Aesculapius, the god of Medicine, being particularly 
 long and of a golden hue. 
 
 The beard is an attribute of the prophets, apostles, 
 evangelists (with the exception of St. John), fathers of 
 the church, and hermits. The female saints Paula Bar- 
 bata and Galla are represented with long beards, which 
 grew, we are assured, in response to prayers and for the 
 purpose of repelling the addresses of the other sex. 
 We may state in this connection that bearded women 
 are not at all great curiosities. We have seen several. 
 The last one we saw had a full beard, with a fairly- 
 developed mustache, and she was married and the mother 
 of two children. So a female beard does not repel the 
 other sex in modern times. 
 
 Probably the longest beard ever seen is that of a 
 Philadelphian. He appeared in a Centennial procession 
 of Germans, and it was then of fifteen years' growth and 
 
i5i 
 
 measured nine feet. History records that the beard of a 
 personage named Mayo was so long that when untied it 
 reached to the ground. He was a source of amusement 
 about the court of Charles V. But that of the person 
 we have spoken of is much longer than this one's was. 
 
 It cannot be said that any particular style of beard is 
 affected by either the English people or ourselves, but 
 whiskers alone or with a mustache are more generally 
 worn by the former than the latter; and the mustache 
 alone is much more generally worn by the latter than 
 the former. 
 
 The effect of a long head of hair and a long full beard 
 is very disagreeable and it is due to association of ideas: 
 the long hair of the head suggests the woman and the 
 long beard the man. 
 
 When the beard is allowed to grow excessively long 
 or has any peculiar cut it gives the person an air of 
 vanity and eccentricity. 
 
 A moderately-full beard, besides affording protection 
 against cold, adds energy and power to a man's appear- 
 ance; but if beauty is the main consideration the shape 
 of the face should determine the cut. 
 
 If the forehead is low and the cheeks hollow, allowing 
 the beard to be long emphasizes these defects; but when 
 the forehead is very high and the cheeks not very thin 
 it is better to have it pretty long. 
 
 ' If the face is broad and full, side locks are disfiguring; 
 but a mustache and chin whiskers will here improve the 
 looks. 
 
 If the face is well proportioned and attractive in itself 
 it is best to shave off all except, perhaps, the mustache. 
 
152 
 
 The mustache is most improving to those with a very 
 deep lower jaw; except, of course, in cases where it com- 
 pletely covers an ugly mouth. 
 
 A few special remarks on the color of the beard may 
 not be out of place. It is very noticeable that its hue 
 is generally lighter than that of the hair of the head, 
 and the degree of lightness increases toward the chin. 
 The only way to account for this blemishing difference 
 of color is by referring it to degrees of difference in 
 the strength and freshness of the hair ; and a variegated 
 hue of it on any part is accounted for in the same way. 
 If, then, we would bring about unity of color without 
 resorting to dyes, we must endeavor to bring about a 
 state of uniformity in its growth, and this can often be 
 done by using the stimulating oily preparations already 
 described. 
 
 In conclusion, we would say by way of advice to every- 
 one in whom, from constitutional peculiarities or other 
 causes, the hair bulbs or papillae, rather, are almost or 
 entirely absent, but who has a desire to be possessed of 
 a beard, or at any rate of a mustache, that he had better 
 not deceive himself in regard to what remedies of any 
 kind can do to promote his cherished hope. As a rule, 
 all the agents for the purpose advertised as infallible 
 are unworthy of confidence. If the procedures and 
 remedies we have given do not bring the desired result 
 it will be useless to try others. 
 
SPECIAL FLAWS OF THE PERSON. 
 
 " Beauty still has blemish, and the mind 
 The most accomplished its imperfect side." 
 
 Armstrong. 
 
 Of very few could it be said, as of Absalom, "From 
 the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there 
 was no blemish in him" (Bible). Nearly every one has 
 flaws. But we will not indulge in this vein, for we have 
 no desire to place ourselves in the list of people who 
 libel their fellow-creatures by charging them with num- 
 berless defects and depravities. Even if they were full 
 of imperfections there is nothing to be gained by draw- 
 ing mournful pictures of their miserable condition. 
 Instead of indulging in patronizing commiseration, we 
 should rather strive to inspire hope, and, if in our power, 
 assist them in their efforts to perfect themselves. In our 
 estimation the worst deformed people in existence are 
 those who can see nothing noble or beautiful in hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Now there are numerous flaws, more or less common, 
 which are amenable to treatment, and, therefore, merit 
 serious attention, for unless there is no remedy nobody 
 should pass through life with any disfiguring or dis- 
 abling deformity or disease. We have already treated 
 
 (*53) 
 
154 
 
 of a great many of these remedial troubles which admit 
 of self-cure, but we deem it wise to speak of a few more 
 of a like character, which we could not very well dis- 
 pose of in any of the preceding chapters. 
 
 Mothers' marks (naevi) or moles are common and by 
 no means attractive affairs. These spots are generally 
 small in compass, but they may be very extensive, — so 
 extensive as to involve even one-half the face, when 
 they frequently receive, popularly, the title of claret 
 stains. In appearance they often resemble creatures, 
 such as moles and mice; or fruit, such as strawberries, 
 cherries, pears, currants, and mulberries; and at the 
 time of year when the particular fruit to which there is 
 a resemblance is maturing, they have a tendency, in 
 some cases, to become enlarged and sensitive. This is 
 an extraordinary fact, one which it is impossible to ac- 
 count for otherwise than by referring it to the direct 
 influence of the mind. 
 
 Mothers' marks may be elevated or not, and with or 
 without hair. They are generally mere discolorations, 
 due to the presence of abnormal pigmentary matter in 
 the inner coat of the epidermis; but sometimes they are 
 not only discolorations but growths, and these are occa- 
 sionally vascular, permeated with blood-vessels. 
 
 The color of mothers' marks may be red or brown or 
 black, or but slightly different from that of the surround- 
 ing skin. The reddish-colored ones are vascular, and 
 are greatly influenced by emotions of the mind. During 
 a fit of excitement they become larger in size and 
 brighter in color; and warm weather, or anything which 
 accelerates the circulation, has the same effect. Under 
 
155 
 
 these circumstances they sometimes burst and bleed 
 profusely. 
 
 Of the cause of mothers' marks very little is known. 
 They are more numerous in some families than in others, 
 but they do not occur with sufficient regularity to war- 
 rant us in regarding them as hereditary. They are 
 commonly attributed to impressions made on the mother 
 during the period of gestation, and we can scarcely 
 doubt but that they do occasionally originate in this 
 way. Dr. Dunglison, than whom there are few better 
 authorities, is of a different opinion; but he fails to give 
 us any explanation at all. In his Human Physiology 
 (1835) he says: — " Cases of harelip are perpetually oc- 
 curring, yet we never have the maternal imagination 
 invoked, because it is by no means easy to discover any 
 similitude between the affection and extraneous objects. 
 Moreover, in animals of all kinds, even the most inferior, 
 as well as in plants, monstrous formations are necessarily 
 happening, where maternal imagination is out of the 
 question. " Whether they are of chance occurrence or 
 not they are born with us, and if they do not happen to 
 be located on the face or other exposed parts they are 
 of comparatively little account; but, unfortunately, it is 
 just on these parts that they do generally appear. 
 
 The most important question in regard to mothers' 
 marks is the one of their curability. Well, we have no 
 hesitation in saying that they can be nearly always com- 
 pletely removed, and the earlier done the easier. The 
 method of treatment will vary with their size and char- 
 acter. If they are non-vascular, and even when slightly 
 vascular, any caustic agent, and preferably nitric acid, 
 
i 5 6 
 
 carefully applied, will have the desired effect; but if 
 they are markedly vascular the best way to proceed is 
 to break the skin around their base and then apply a 
 silk ligature. If thought necessary to keep the ligature 
 in position, two or three needles should be passed 
 through the growth previous to its application. It may 
 be well to say that, in using the acid, it should be ap- 
 plied drop by drop, until the spot is thoroughly saturated 
 with it; and lest it might spread and affect surrounding 
 parts, it is proper to take the precaution of smearing the 
 latter with oil. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of mothers' marks, we 
 may state that when they become swollen and tender 
 the best thing to do, besides keeping them scrupulously 
 clean, is to paint them daily with tincture of iodine. 
 
 Warts (verrncae) are common disfigurations. These 
 almost colorless excrescences seem to originate in the 
 cuticle, which becomes much thickened; but all the 
 layers of the skin may become involved. A tendency 
 to them appears to be hereditary in some families; but 
 we can scarcely doubt but that they can be transferred 
 from person to person. There are many superstitions 
 popular in reference to how they come, but it would be 
 useless to recount them. We have seen instances in 
 which they originated, beyond question, from sheer ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 There is little difficulty experienced in removing 
 warts. The insensible portion should be pared off, and 
 then one or two applications of nitric or any other 
 strong acid will effect a cure. The old-fashioned method 
 of cure consists in rubbing them with some substance, 
 
i57 
 
 which is then put aside to decay. As soon as this agent 
 is consumed the warts have disappeared. Bacon soberly 
 relates how he got rid of a crop of them in this way. 
 The imagination must play an important part in the 
 operation. 
 
 It may not be amiss to say a few words about corns 
 (clavi). These growths, which are met with nearly 
 always in the feet, arise, in every instance, from press- 
 ure, and consist of epidermis much thickened. They 
 are insensible in themselves, and cause pain only when 
 pressed upon, which hurts the parts underneath, or when 
 the tissues around them become inflamed. They are 
 easily cured; but unless their cause is discontinued they 
 will return. Except when they are inflamed, when it 
 may be necessary to first apply a poultice, careful paring 
 away of the hard tissue is all the treatment that is re- 
 quired as a rule. Sometimes it is well to put a piece 
 of adhesive plaster, from which the centre has been cut, 
 over the part, so as to protect it for a time from all 
 pressure. 
 
 Styes (kordeoli), or little boils at the edge of the eye- 
 lids, are very troublesome to many. They originate in 
 the hair follicles, and mostly in debilitated persons. We 
 can partly prevent them by toning up the system, and 
 by allaying local irritation with one or other of the 
 washes elsewhere spoken of; and when present we can 
 remove them in a few days by applying a little poultice 
 of flaxseed meal, which soon brings them to a top, 
 when the cure will be hastened by pricking them with a 
 needle, — precisely what we would do in treating boils 
 wherever found. The popular practice of rubbing the 
 
i 5 8 
 
 lid with a ring or the finger-nail does good sometimes. 
 The way to charm them off, according to an old au- 
 thority, is to stand where two roads cross each other, 
 and repeat this couplet — 
 
 " Sty, sty, leave my eye, 
 
 And take the first person that passes by." 
 
 The subject of bad breath deserves attention. It is 
 remarked by a popular writer that he does not believe a 
 woman could fall in love with Hyperion, if he had this 
 disability; and it is quite as repulsive in a lady as in a 
 gentleman. 
 
 To have a sweet breath it is necessary to keep the 
 mouth clean and the whole system, but particularly the 
 digestive organs, in good condition. We have elsewhere 
 spoken of mouth-washes, which can never be substituted 
 by any of the masking preparations sold inpilular form, 
 under the name of cachous. Still, some of these contain 
 disinfecting substances and are at times useful to have at 
 hand. We have also spoken of the measures which are 
 calculated to fulfill the second indication. The prescrip- 
 tion given in the chapter on the Complexion is excellent 
 in many digestive derangements. We may here give a 
 remedy for acidity, which is a great source of foul 
 breath, besides being a painful affection. Dissolve a 
 drachm of carbonate of ammonia in three ounces of 
 water, either plain or aromatic, and take a teaspoonful 
 or so, as required. This will act almost instantly, and is 
 better than magnesia, which is much used. 
 
 Shakspeare was not indulging his imagination exces- 
 
159 
 
 sively when he compared Cytherea's breath to the odor 
 of violets, for it is frequently as pleasant in children, 
 and, not to mention instances of ladies, it is recorded 
 of Alexander the Great that his breath was like a per- 
 fume, and that his person was most agreeably fragrant. 
 It is not usual to be favored with such an acceptable 
 personal aroma, but by due attention to the laws of 
 health, and cleanliness especially, it is possible for 
 every one to prevent any unpleasant emanations. 
 
 Soap and water are all the remedies necessary to re- 
 move and to some extent prevent objectionable odors of 
 the person; for instance, that consequent on perspira- 
 tion. A bath taken for this purpose is much improved 
 by adding to it a little carbonate of ammonia. 
 
 Should the disagreeable scent arise from sores or 
 runnings, as from the ears, it can be completely de- 
 stroyed by a. wash made of permanganate of potash, in 
 the proportion of a grain or so to the ounce of water. It 
 may be used under any circumstances, for it can do no 
 harm, but, on the contrary, may do much good as a 
 healing agent. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter of miscellaneous mat- 
 ters with a few notes on the nails. These corneous 
 appendages of the skin, each of which rests in a speci- 
 ally modified portion of the dermis (the matrix), take the 
 place of the epidermis, and should be shining, smooth, 
 or but very faintly striated longitudinally, circular later- 
 ally in form, and of a delicate pink hue. The posterior, 
 fourth (the lunula), of each should be a little paler, and 
 the free border of each much brighter than the rest; but 
 it should be translucent throughout. White spots, 
 
i6o 
 
 which come and go mysteriously, are frequently noticed 
 in them. 
 
 Water and a brush are all the agents necessary to keep 
 the nails in order, except, of course, a sharp knife to 
 trim them occasionally. Powders and files may be useful 
 sometimes, but as a rule they are entirely uncalled for, 
 and do more harm than good in the end. 
 
 The appearance of short fingers is much improved by 
 letting the nails be pretty long; but, in general, very long 
 nails are ugly, besides, it is hard to keep them clean. It 
 is customary in the East to wear them long, and in 
 some instances they may be seen over six inches in 
 length. 
 
 In people of bad constitution the nails are poorly de- 
 veloped, and are prone to turn in; but this latter condi- 
 tion should not be confounded with ingrowing of the 
 nails of the toes, which is caused by wearing tight shoes, 
 and which often calls for their removal. 
 
 When a nail is removed by violence or intentionally, 
 a new one will grow in its place, unless some strong 
 caustic agent is injudiciously applied. All that it is 
 necessary to do under the circumstances is to apply cold 
 water until the bleeding stops, and then keep a greased 
 rag applied for a few days. 
 
DRESS AND BEAUTY. 
 
 " Her purple habit sits with such a grace 
 
 On her smooth shoulders, and so suits her face." 
 
 Dryden. 
 " The apparel oft proclaims the man." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 Up to this point we have been discussing man, — physi- 
 cal and mental, — and we have nothing more to say on the 
 subject, but an intimately related one merits careful con- 
 sideration. We refer to the one of dress. Now, although 
 it is in some respects going beyond the pale of our allotted 
 task, we believe it wise to give some account of it, not 
 only because it is desirable that it should be beautiful in 
 itself, but also because a great deal can be done through 
 it to improve the appearance and effect of the face — of 
 the whole person, in fact. It is in this latter regard es- 
 pecially that we propose to treat of it; but a satisfactory 
 discussion of the principles involved will lead us over 
 the entire ground, or, at any rate, a sufficient amount of 
 it to make our methods and rules so familiar to those 
 who follow us attentively, that they can, under all cir- 
 cumstances, rely confidently on their own judgment. 
 
 The history of the development of dress-forms is a 
 most interesting study. We advisedly use the term de- 
 velopment, for the complicate dress of the present day 
 has been developed from one of very simple description. 
 
 (161) 
 
l62 
 
 Beginning in the tunic and mantle of uncivilized peoples, 
 it has passed through strange evolutions, some of which 
 cannot be regarded as having resulted in the permanent 
 " survival of the fittest." But we maybe misled in form- 
 ing our opinion, by details; it is possible that our style 
 or type of dress essentially embodies all the best feat- 
 ures of those that have preceded it. 
 
 The dress of the Greeks and Romans, throughout 
 their long history, was comparatively simple, consisting 
 of only two or three pieces, and this simplicity rendered 
 it necessarily almost alike in both sexes. And trim- 
 ming and embroidery and ornaments, as such, were, in 
 general, matters of little or no concern, though occasion- 
 ally all were worn in great profusion. Use was the main 
 consideration, and yet their costume was, withal, very 
 beautiful, as artists well know. They rightly regarded 
 dress as an auxiliary to personal charms; their desire 
 was that they, their real selves, should attract and be 
 remembered, and not their dress. We are inclined, 
 though reluctantly, to believe that a similar desire does 
 not prevail at present to an equal degree ; or, if it does, 
 it is not realized frequently, for it generally happens that 
 one must confess of people, in the words of the author 
 first quoted above — 
 
 " I pass their form and every charming grace, 
 
 But their attire, like liveries, of a kind 
 
 All rich and rare, is fresh within my mind." 
 
 In modern times, and principally since the early por- 
 tion of the sixteenth century, there has been an increas- 
 ing divergence in the style of attire of the sexes. The 
 
163 
 
 fantastic female fashions then introduced by Marguerite 
 de Valois, Queen of Navarre, were the progenitors of 
 many more now or recently in force; and although 
 male fashions have often borne marks of resemblance 
 which might well lead us to believe that there was some 
 imitation, yet from that time we can trace in it steps of 
 improvement and reform. 
 
 Male costume (our system) is, on the whole, more 
 sensible, comfortable, and beautiful at the present time 
 than ever before ; and with such qualities it is not at all 
 strange that it is being introduced and adopted through- 
 out the world. It displays the figure to advantage, and 
 it is conducive to grace in movement. Female costume, 
 we are sorry to say, cannot be spoken of in the same 
 terms. Is it in accordance with the principles of mo- 
 rality, of hygiene, and of beauty? The only answer we 
 can give, to be truthful, is, that it generally does not sub- 
 serve, satisfactorily, any of these three ends, which ought 
 to be the great aims in dressing. Without intending to 
 formally arraign it, we would remark that it impedes 
 motion and mars its grace ; that it is supported in posi- 
 tion mainly by a system of injurious compression, and 
 not by resting on the shoulders — and, by the way, it 
 might thus find support through the use of well-boned, 
 neat, but not tight-fitting corsets, provided with broad 
 shoulder-bands; that it partakes too much of the nature 
 of an ill-distributed, useless burden; and that in its 
 tendency to excessive, meaningless intricacy and adorn- 
 ment, it runs counter to good taste, if not to the laws of 
 art. Really, it would seem as if the more people had 
 tried to decorate themselves the greater has been the 
 
164 
 
 disfiguration. We cannot refrain from calling to mind 
 the oft-quoted but still truthful lines of Thomson — 
 
 " Loveliness 
 Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 
 But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most." 
 
 We desire it to be distinctly understood that in noting 
 down these strictures we do not believe that it is impos- 
 sible to retain the main outlines of the prevailing type 
 of female dress and yet obviate nearly all objections. 
 We would not for a moment think of replacing it with 
 any of the half-manly styles which certain cliques pro- 
 pose, and which are dubbed reform. We have no desire 
 to see women dressed like men; but every one being a 
 free agent and advocating consistency in everything, we 
 believe that persons of masculine qualities should don 
 masculine habiliments, a la Turc y if they please. The 
 Sorosis takes Beau Brummel's saying to read, " Dress 
 makes a man," substituting the indefinite for the definite 
 article ; and not without reason, for the power of the 
 association of ideas is such that if a woman were 
 dressed like a man we could scarcely think of her other- 
 wise than of his sex, and vice versa. Readers of the 
 Spectator cannot but remember the caustic article on 
 people who dress so that one is compelled to regard 
 them as doubtful in sex. Referring to ladies in riding- 
 habits, it is said that had one of these " appeared in Juve- 
 nal's days with what an indignation should we have 
 seen her described by that excellent satirist? He would 
 have represented her in a riding-habit, as a greater mon- 
 ster than a centaur. He would have called for sacrifices 
 
i6 5 
 
 of purifying waters to expiate the appearance of such a 
 prodigy. He would have invoked the shades of Portia 
 or Lucretia to see into what the Roman ladies had 
 transformed themselves." But to repeat, we do not 
 want similar costume for both sexes any more than we 
 want similar education; we do not want woman to be 
 made like man, for, as Tennyson beautifully expresses 
 it— 
 
 " Could we make her as the man, 
 Sweet love were slain." 
 
 However, whether the type of dress (female) of modern 
 times is possessed of beauty or not, it is not as much to 
 the advantage of anyone laboring to mask deformities 
 as might be supposed. It emphasizes too much important 
 parts of the figure, and it deals too extensively in detail 
 refinements — it is not uniform and flowing enough. But 
 without indulging any longer in preliminaries we will 
 enter on our difficult task. 
 
 We have spoken elsewhere of proportion as being one 
 of the essential elements of beauty of form. Now, in 
 the cut of the dress it should be fully considered, with 
 the view of making the figure, if defective, appear of 
 pleasing size as a whole and proportionate throughout. 
 These points are far too generally ignored in dress-cutting. 
 To be sure, if we have a faultless figure to clothe there 
 is nothing more to do than to see that the dress is artistic 
 in itself; but where it is not, it is often judicious to en- 
 croach a little on the rules of art in the latter. 
 
 If a person is tall and thin the bad effect of these 
 peculiarities can be considerably corrected by cutting 
 
i66 
 
 the dress as full as is consistent with neatness, and the 
 thicker the fabric the better. A person with a taste for 
 padding can here indulge it advantageously. It is much 
 more difficult to improve the appearance of a short, 
 stout person. Here we do not want much depth of 
 material and no unnecessary fullness ; still it will not do 
 to gird a great deal. 
 
 A long, wide dress makes a tall person appear shorter, 
 and the reverse ; but if short and tending to a state of 
 embonpoint, very short, narrow dress will cause the 
 person to appear very ungraceful ; it is best to have it 
 moderately full and long. A dumpy woman in short 
 dress is a sight. If we could fancy Daphne such and in 
 such a costume we do not think that it would have been 
 necessary for her to hide in order to shun the addresses 
 of Apollo. 
 
 High, full neck-dress improves people with dispro- 
 portionately long necks, while it makes matters worse 
 if their necks are disproportionately short. When this 
 method of correcting the objectionable effect of a neck 
 of disproportionate length is resorted to, care must be 
 taken not to spoil the shape of the shoulders and also 
 the length of the bust in the attempt. In the instance 
 of a long neck a little addition to the height and breadth 
 of the shoulders will be in place, and the waist may be 
 made a little lower; and if the neck is short, opposite 
 measures will be proper. Placing anything around the 
 neck shortens it apparently. 
 
 Full or rather wide neck-dress lessens the apparent 
 size of a large face and head, and vice versa, 
 
 A square corsage makes a thin person seem still 
 
167 
 
 thinner, but if tall it detracts from the height. A shawl 
 or heart-shaped one, not giving rise to a marked con- 
 trast, does not make thinness more noticeable, but it will 
 add seemingly to the height. The latter is of course the 
 proper sort for persons short and thick. 
 
 A low corsage makes the figure appear shorter and 
 fuller, and a high one the reverse. 
 
 Some of the principles of how to improve the appear- 
 ance of the whole figure, or of any part of it, by the cut 
 of the dress are well illustrated in the item of gloves. 
 If the hands are long and thin the gloves should not 
 extend far up the arms, but if the hands are short and 
 thick their shape will be improved by gloves that en- 
 croach upon the wrists. Again, bracelets will make the 
 hands seem shorter. Then, if it is not desirable that the 
 hands should attract attention, the gloves should not be 
 showy or in any way outre in style. Those of a dark 
 color appear smallest, unless the arm is exposed or there 
 is a good deal of white or light-colored materials about 
 the wrist. But in touching on color we are anticipating. 
 
 The pattern or design of dress fabrics merits particular 
 study. According to well-known optical principles, 
 horizontal lines, stripes, or what are the same practically, 
 plaits and flounces, make a tall, thin person appear 
 shorter and stouter, whereas, perpendicular ones have 
 precisely opposite effects. Oblique lines have a slightly 
 lengthening effect. These facts in regard to the effect of 
 the direction of lines are of great importance, but we 
 cannot dwell on them. We may add, however, that 
 either vertical or horizontal lines are consistent with 
 symmetry and unobtrusive style, but the former are more 
 
i68 
 
 beautiful than the latter, for the reason that they do not 
 come into conflict with the natural lines of the person, 
 and oblique lines are bold and gay and are only com- 
 patible with the ardor and gayety of the jeunesse. Noth- 
 ing can more disfigure a person advanced in life than a 
 hat balanced on the side of the head or on the forehead 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees or so. Its obliquity is 
 incompatible with her years. 
 
 Large designs are suitable for large-sized people— small 
 ones will add to their apparent size ; and small designs 
 are suitable for small-sized people- — large ones will dwarf 
 them still more, apparently. 
 
 Checked and, to a lesser degree, barred materials show 
 defects in the proportions, particularly the symmetry of 
 the figure, especially when they are large enough to be 
 easily counted. They serve as measures to reckon the 
 relative size of parts. 
 
 We may here state that small, intricate designs gener- 
 ally appear tawdry, just as much trimming and intricate 
 coloring do. The philosophy of it is simply this, that 
 the eye derives no satisfaction from contemplating a 
 broken view. It wants some one thing to repose upon 
 at once, and this is why an open space, a sweeping curve, 
 and a single color are most pleasing. Again, as Addison 
 states, " The mind naturally hates everything that looks 
 like a restraint upon it, and it is apt to fancy itself under 
 a sort of confinement when the sight is pent up in a 
 narrow compass." In patterns, trimmings, and decorations 
 of all kinds the design should be so marked as to be 
 readily caught at a glance, otherwise the effect will be 
 confusing and void of pleasure. And again, the design 
 
169 
 
 of detail ornamentation should be similar to that of the 
 whole. This is the simple, beautiful method of nature. 
 From very plain forms the most elaborate are produced 
 by a sort of progression. 
 
 We now turn to the interesting but somewhat con- 
 fusing subject of color; and, although we have already 
 stated most of the important principles which bear on 
 colors, we will here go into details which are of great 
 interest in connection with dress, and which must be 
 known before one can dress with a reasonable degree of 
 taste and effectiveness. 
 
 Now we may preface the discussion by saying that, 
 in choosing a controlling color for the dress, the great 
 question is, does it suit the complexion and hair? In 
 other words, is it such a contrast as will tend to idealize 
 or perfect the appearance of the face and head ? 
 
 Everyone must have noticed how contiguous colors 
 heighten or diminish the effects of each other, as well 
 as their effects on the eye as it passes alternately from 
 the one to the other. "A curved line," says Ruskin, "is 
 set off by a straight one, a massy form by a slight one, 
 and so on ; and in all good work nearly double the value 
 which any given color would have uncombined is given 
 to each by contrast." Ruskin here speaks in reference 
 to painting, but arranging the colors in dress does not 
 differ in any way from arranging them in a picture, so 
 far as the effects are concerned. Certainly everyone 
 should study the effects of contrast, harmonious and in- 
 harmonious, of colors and forms, too, even if it were for 
 no other purpose than to become proficient in dressing, 
 an art which often shapes the fortune, the happiness, the 
 
170 
 
 whole destiny for life. There is some interest taken in 
 this subject, if we may judge from what one of Dr. 
 Holmes' characters, in The Philosopher at the Breakfast 
 Table ', says. "I remember," says she, "the time when I 
 thought more about the shade of color in a ribbon, 
 whether it matched my complexion or not, than I did 
 about my spiritual interest in this world or the next." 
 Nor is the present generation less anxious to appear 
 well than the last ; most people, we think, will agree with 
 us in saying that it is precisely the reverse. We must 
 confess, however, that there is a plentiful lack of taste 
 displayed in this matter, as anybody can readily see by 
 passing along a fashionable promenade. But it is only 
 strange that so many appear passably beautiful when we 
 begin to discover how little they are guided by rules in 
 their getting up. The will to be beautiful is abroad, but 
 it needs more intelligence to guide it. People are willing 
 enough to make themselves attractive in appearance, for 
 they know that prepossessions are proverbially hard to 
 eradicate. On this point Addison justly remarks, "A 
 man's appearance falls within the censure of everyone 
 that sees him ; his parts and learning very few are judges 
 of, and even upon these few they cannot at first be well 
 intruded." But this theme has been fully treated of 
 already. 
 
 Now to any color we may oppose as many contrasts 
 as there are colors, but only one is an harmonious con- 
 trast. What is known as the accidental or complimentary 
 color is the one that matches most artistically with any 
 other. This important fact should be known by every- 
 body, for a complete knowledge of it alone is almost 
 
171 
 
 sufficient to make one an expert in dressing, so far as 
 colors are concerned. 
 
 The way to determine the complimentary or harmoni- 
 ously contrasting color is experimental but extremely 
 simple. Put a red wafer on a sheet of white paper and 
 look at it steadfastly for a moment in a bright light; 
 then instantly turn the eyes on another part of the paper 
 and the wafer will still be seen, but instead of being red 
 it will be green, which is the complimentary of the 
 former. In this way it will be found that if the wafer is 
 yellow the phantom one will be violet, if blue it will be 
 orange, if olive it will be dark orange, if russet it will be 
 dark green, if citrine it will be dark purple, if black it 
 will be white, and contrariwise. Here we have the 
 fundamental law of all harmony in the contrast of colors. 
 It is based on the nature of light and of vision, and is 
 in no manner conventional. 
 
 Says Goethe, " The eye seeks for a colorless space 
 next every hue in order to produce the complimentary 
 hue upon it," and that hue is the right one to place there 
 in arranging the colors in dress as well as in a painting 
 and everything else. In fact, this vue-sentiment or sensi- 
 bility of sight is the taste-guide of nearly everybody, 
 including dressmakers and milliners, but it is a reliable 
 guide in only a small percentage of people — only in 
 people of genius. Great painters, or rather great color- 
 ists like Titian and Correggio, are rare — the art is so 
 difficult— and it is just as hard to properly arrange 
 colored fabrics as the bare paints. Anyone to dress well 
 requires some genius and much culture and knowledge. 
 
 Before going into the subject of the practical application 
 
172 
 
 of colors for the improvement of the appearance, we will 
 state some important and interesting facts in regard to 
 them individually. 
 
 Red, which is generally regarded as including all other 
 colors, is gay and dignified when deep, and active and 
 sweet, so to speak, when of a light shade. The fiery 
 shade, which is known as scarlet, is too violently cheer- 
 ful and exciting to be agreeable, but it is the favorite 
 color of children, uncultured persons, and savages, and 
 a very deep shade, or what is known as " cardinal red," 
 because it is favored by the church, is very disturbing, 
 but when slightly attenuated in tint it is not unattractive. 
 Red holds an intermediate position to the other primaries, 
 as, also, to black and white, light and shade, and to cold 
 and warm qualities. It is symbolic of love — it is Cupid's 
 color. The rosy band of the little archer is a favorite 
 theme of poets, and it is not unknown or despised by 
 people in general. 
 
 Blue is a cold color, and yields the impression of 
 shade. The character of its effects partakes of both 
 excitement and repose. Pure and retiring, as in the 
 vault of heaven, we love to contemplate it — the sight of 
 it fascinates the eye. It is symbolic of modesty, good- 
 ness, and faith. Painters have always represented the 
 Virgin Mary in a blue mantle. When we remember its 
 symbolic meaning, there is sense in the expression " blue 
 blood," as applied to persons of good character and of 
 respectable family — blood having reference to the lineage. 
 
 Yellow is a warm, serene, and softly exciting color. 
 It is agreeable in dress and all kinds of drapery. The 
 Chinese esteem it the most beautiful of all colors, and it 
 
173 
 
 is to them symbolic of faith, just as it was in Christian 
 symbolism. To us it denotes inconstancy and treason. 
 Judas is represented in garments of this color. But 
 in spite of all this we must acknowledge that it is the 
 physicians' color. Wherever a yellow flag is seen it 
 informs us of the prevalence of disease. 
 
 Orange is similar in nature to yellow, but in a superior 
 degree ; it is more energetic and splendid. It is symbolic 
 of indissoluble marriage, and hence its use on bridal 
 occasions. The wife of the flamen dialis or priest of 
 Jupiter wore a veil of this hue, and her divorce was 
 strictly prohibited, which was the origin of the custom. 
 Virgil gives Helen a saffron-colored nuptial veil, and the 
 Roman brides wore long veils of this color on the wed- 
 ding-day. 
 
 The character of violet is cool and retiring, but some- 
 what active and enlivening. People advanced in life find 
 this a most appropriate color. It unites the symbolic 
 signification of purple, which is the love of truth, and 
 that of hyacinth, which is the truth of love, 
 
 Purple is mild but cheerful, partaking of the nature of 
 both red and blue, but mostly of the former. A 
 favorite from the earliest times, purple was adopted by 
 the Roman emperors as the imperial color and such it 
 still continues to be. It is very much worn by ladies in 
 England, as observing travelers rarely fail to notice. 
 
 Hyacinth, which becomes lilac when attenuated, is a 
 lively color, but it does not excite a feeling of gladness. 
 
 Green is of a mild character and the most agreeable 
 and refreshing of all colors. It is Nature's favorite, the 
 color of her spring robes, and it symbolizes youth, hope, 
 
174 
 
 and gladness. Greens are esteemed warm or cold 
 according to the predominance of yellow or blue in the 
 tint. 
 
 White, the favorite color of ladies, is cool and cheerful, 
 and it is symbolic of purity and innocence. From the 
 Magi and the Druids down to the present time the priests 
 of nearly all religions have approached their altars in 
 vestments of white. It is in garments of snowy white- 
 ness that we think of angels and other heavenly 
 beings. 
 
 Black, the favorite color of gentlemen, yields the im- 
 pression of warmth and it is symbolic of grief. The 
 view of it is depressing. It was worn by the Romans to 
 indicate mourning, and the custom was copied by the 
 Christians, although strongly opposed by the great lights 
 of the church. Thus, in the course of a powerful sermon 
 (De Consolat. Mort), St. Augustine demands: "Why 
 should we disfigure ourselves with black, unless we 
 would imitate unbelieving nations?" No very satis- 
 factory reason can be given save that it is well to thus give 
 the world an appropriate form of ocular evidence of the 
 state of our feelings. It does add a little, perhaps, to our 
 sense of sorrow, it is at any rate congruous with it, but 
 we may doubt whether it is always worn with sincerity. 
 Were it not that it is universally taken to indicate a 
 sentiment so sacred and tender as that of love for the 
 dead, we should speak against it on the score of being a 
 voluntary disfiguration. It is possible to dress in a 
 sombre enough fashion without going to the extreme of 
 unbroken blackness. Children and those not of the 
 immediate circle of the deceased should not be victimized 
 
175 
 
 by any such custom. In them it is meaningless ostenta- 
 tion. Violet was formerly regarded as quite as much a 
 mortuary color as black, and the Roman church used 
 them indiscriminately while fasting and mourning. 
 
 We need not dwell on browns and grays or on the 
 tertiary colors — citrine (yellow — red-gray), russet (red — 
 violet-gray), and olive (blue — green-gray) for they more 
 or less resemble one or other of the colors spoken of. 
 
 Of beauty of colors Burke says : — " First, the colors of 
 beautiful objects must not be dusky or muddy, but clear 
 and fair. Secondly, they must not be of the strong kind. 
 Those which seem most appropriate to beauty are the 
 milder of every sort, light greens, soft blues, weak whites, 
 pink reds, and violets. Thirdly, if the colors be strong 
 and vivid they are always diversified and the object is 
 never of one strong color; there are almost always 
 such a number of them (as in variegated flowers) that 
 the strength and glariness of each is considerably abated." 
 This statement is so clear and to the point that it is un- 
 necessary for us to add to it. 
 
 Colors appear very different at night, the artificial light 
 not being strong enough to bring out all the shades of 
 them as seen by day, and also being yellowish it con- 
 siderably changes several of them. In a dim but pure 
 light it is often possible to bring out the natural tints by 
 placing them on a contrasting ground. Light shades of 
 color, as a rule, are proper at night, because they can bear 
 a little darkening without detriment. The extent of 
 actual change colors undergo in artificial light depends 
 principally on the amount of yellow in the tint of the 
 latter. However, white is softened and rather improved ; 
 
176 
 
 black sustains little injury except in the case of blue- 
 black, which appears greenish ; grays and browns appear 
 darker and duller as a rule; reds assume a tint of orange ; 
 blues seem greenish; yellows are deepened; oranges be- 
 come more yellowish ; greens are brightened ; violet as- 
 sumes something of a citrine tint; purple changes to 
 reddish-brown ; hyacinth becomes greenish, and citrine, 
 russet, and olive are more yellowish in tint. 
 
 Another noticeable effect of artificial light is the depth 
 it gives to shadows. This affords assistance in obtaining 
 the splendid effects of light and shade which should be 
 well considered in arranging the costume. No matter is 
 more neglected than this and few are more worthy 
 of attention. It should not be slighted. If drapery is 
 perfectly flat, free from foldings, it is wanting in an im- 
 portant source of beauty and power, if they are properly 
 arranged. 
 
 The material has a modifying effect on the color. 
 Gauzy, napped, grained, or velvety fabrics absorb the 
 light more or less, which gives them a soft, rich aspect, 
 and dulls and deepens the hue; and smooth, glossy 
 goods reflect the light, which makes them appear clear 
 and lively and lighter in tint. The former are as a rule 
 the most becoming to blondes and the latter to brunettes. 
 
 Placed in juxtaposition, the effect of yellow and blue 
 is agreeable like that of green; of blue and red, startling 
 like violet; of yellow and red, exciting; of orange and 
 violet, slightly exciting; of yellow and green, cheering; 
 of blue and green, repellent; and of yellow and orange, 
 orange and red, blue and violet, violet and red, rather 
 pleasant. Of course it is unnecessary to say that none 
 
177 
 
 of these are harmonious contrasts. If beauty — pure and 
 simple — is the aim, they are not admissible ; but their 
 more or less startling or piquant effect is often desirable 
 in dress, and the best artists at times resort to inharmo- 
 nious coloring in order to produce striking pictures. 
 Then, too, in painting or in dress as well as in music, a 
 certain amount of discord acts as a set off to combina- 
 tions of sweet harmonies. 
 
 In the use of colors, if a powerful impression is de- 
 sired, yellow, orange, and red should be chosen, and 
 little violet and blue, and still less green should be used. 
 On the other hand, if a mild effect is aimed at, blue, 
 violet, and light red are in order, but a moderate 
 addition of yellow and orange and much green are 
 admissible. 
 
 It is related of a witty Frenchman, " II pretendoit que 
 son ton de conversation avec madame etoit change 
 depuis qu'elle avoit change en cremoisi le meuble de son 
 cabinet, que etoit bleu." Now, if the change in the color 
 of the furniture had the effect of changing the style of 
 the gentleman we think had madame changed her 
 colors, the effect would have been much more marked. 
 Had she placed something red conspicuously before his 
 eyes it is likely that he would have become more lively 
 and voluble, and had she placed blue in the same posi- 
 tion it is likely that he would have become more gentle 
 and quiet. So powerful and real are the effects of differ- 
 ent colors that they are utilized in the treatment of 
 mental affections. 
 
 Dress is eminently capable of sentiment in hue, cut, 
 foldings, light and shade, and so on, and a costume 
 
i 7 8 
 
 without sentiment is just as uninteresting as a face or 
 character without it. 
 
 People of an active temperament prefer striking colors, 
 but culture tends to subdue the taste. A lively people, 
 like the French, like intense colors ; a sedate people, 
 like the English or Germans, like subdued tints ; and a 
 dignified, haughty people, like the Spaniards or Italians, 
 favor positive colors, 
 
 The pattern and degree of harmony observed in the 
 disposal of colors in the dress, and also the character of 
 the colors themselves, speak eloquently of the person's 
 taste and knowledge. In no other way can we get a 
 better idea of character; in no other way does the 
 degree of refinement become so patent. Every one of 
 us is a Sartor Resartus ; every one of us reveals our 
 inner life in our clothes, and all else are interpreting 
 Carlyles of various degrees of insight. 
 
 We will now proceed to lay down some precepts 
 which should be carefully considered by all who aspire 
 to dress well. 
 
 Unity of color in dress imparts an air of dignity and 
 refinement, but if it is entirely unbroken, the monotony 
 is fatiguing to the eye. A person all black or blue is 
 exceedingly unattractive. The relief of a collar and 
 scarf, even, is not enough. Some contrast should be 
 found in the head-dress or in the trimming, or both. 
 Different shades of the same color can often be blended 
 to excellent advantage. 
 
 Very showy, fanciful colors, just as a profusion of 
 meretricious jewelry, are apt to appear tawdry and give 
 the person a vain, ridiculous air, particularly if not young. 
 
179 
 
 Simplicity is always the aim of une femme distingue. A 
 maze of colors should be avoided, " that way madness 
 lies." Says Sir Joshua Reynolds, " Nothing will con- 
 tribute more to destroy repose than profusion of what- 
 ever kind, whether it consists in the multiplicity of 
 objects or the variety and brightness of colors. On the 
 other hand a work without ornament, instead of sim- 
 plicity to which it makes pretension, has rather the ap- 
 pearance of poverty." 
 
 Large-sized persons who want to appear smaller than 
 they are, should prefer subdued and almost uniform 
 color in their dress. Dark colors are here more effect- 
 ive than light ones. 
 
 Any showy color about the upper portion of a tall 
 figure makes the height appear greater. The reason of 
 this is simply because the eye is led to the elevated part, 
 whereas if there had been nothing there to specially at- 
 tract attention, it is very likely it would repose on a 
 point lower down, and so forget the person's height. 
 
 A shortening effect is produced by putting the color 
 that is most likely to catch the eye low down, and on 
 the other hand, a lengthening effect is produced by 
 putting the color which is most likely to attract upper- 
 most. This ruse can often be practiced in order to direct 
 the attention from any part we do not desire to be 
 noticed. 
 
 In his work, De Arte Amandi, the celebrated Latin 
 poet Ovid says, " Black suits the fair. It became Bri- 
 seis. She was dressed in black when she was carried 
 off. White suits the dark. It added to thy charms, 
 Andromeda, when clothed in white thou didst traverse 
 
i8o 
 
 the isle of Seriphos." This still continues to be the 
 popular opinion in regard to these matters, and in his 
 interesting work on Art iit Ornament and Dress (1876), 
 Ch. Blanc declares that it is right. Now it is certainly- 
 true that these are the proper artistic contrasts, but we 
 believe they are not the most improving in the great 
 majority of cases. Black and allied colors brighten the 
 complexion of brunettes to a desirable degree generally, 
 but they are apt to give blondes a blanched appearance. 
 On the other hand, white and allied colors deepen the 
 complexion of blondes to a degree that it is improving 
 mostly, but they frequently emphasize too much the 
 complexion of brunettes. On this same principle, attenu- 
 ated tints — that is, colors reduced by the addition of 
 white — are most improving to blondes and pale brunettes. 
 
 Of the pure colors, blue is most suitable for blondes, 
 and red and yellow for brunettes; but a deep blue may 
 be very becoming to the latter, and pinks and light yel- 
 low to the former. 
 
 Violet, blue purple, which is properly hyacinth, light 
 green, and delicate orange, are most suitable for blondes, 
 and red purple, or plum, and orange, for brunettes. 
 
 People of red hair and florid complexion find green 
 the most becoming color ; but it really deepens the rosy 
 hue. In fact, there is no color tends so much to redden 
 its surroundings as does green, for red is its compli- 
 mentary color. 
 
 Light shades of citrine, russet, and olive are the most 
 suitable for blondes, and the same statement holds good 
 in regard to browns and grays; but these neutral tints 
 are often equally becoming to both blondes and bru- 
 nettes. 
 
181 
 
 When the complexion is dull, warm, lively colors are 
 ' desirable, and when it is brilliant, cold, serene colors are 
 the best. 
 
 From the fact that a great many, indeed, the majority 
 of people, are neither blondes nor brunettes, but a mix- 
 ture, the tint of which is somewhat peculiar to each, 
 there is plenty of room for judgment in the selection of 
 colors. But the foregoing hints will serve as a guide in 
 most cases. We believe, too, that they can be complied 
 with throughout the vicissitudes of fashion, which is less 
 imperious in regard to colors than form ; but if it comes 
 to a question of sacrificing either looks or fashion, we 
 would say do not hesitate a moment about offering up 
 the latter. We have due respect for this capricious 
 power, but we sincerely deprecate blind adherence to it. 
 We would have people dress so that they will not feel 
 ashamed to look at their pictures ten years hence, or 
 fifty, for that matter. The wise are never led captive by 
 any passing whim in dress, or in anything else. Persons 
 like the ladies spoken of by Swift, in his satire, A Tale 
 of a Tub, who " were ever at the top of the fashion and 
 abhorred all that were below it but the breadth of a 
 hair," must be sadly wanting in mind and contemptible 
 indeed. 
 
 Of course, the character and age of the person and 
 also the occasion should be duly considered in dressing. 
 
 Fresh, elastic, vivacious people can wear almost any- 
 thing, however fanciful and showy; but those not so 
 favored should be careful in their choice of costume. 
 
 With advancing years the style of dress should grow 
 plainer and the colors be correspondingly subdued. A 
 
182 
 
 person far past the meridian of life appears ridiculous 
 when ornamented with flowers which are becoming to 
 the young, and the effect of splendid jewelry, which is 
 becoming to the middle-aged, is almost as bad here as 
 in the young. The incongruous is never beautiful. 
 
 The preceding remarks are in all respects applicable 
 to head-dress; but we will say a few words separately 
 on the coiffure. 
 
 Of course, the aim in arranging the hair should be to 
 improve the beauty of the head and face. Fashion 
 here, as elsewhere, often says, " No, let the hair be put 
 up this way or that way, because it is attractive in itself." 
 Attractive in itself! Well, it is not very often that the 
 fashionable coiffure is very attractive. 
 
 It may be laid down as a rule that in dressing the hair 
 the natural relative proportion between the head and the 
 rest of the figure should be maintained, only a slight 
 deviation being admissible. This one precept covers 
 the whole ground of hair-dressing, but the details of the 
 art are not so easily stated. 
 
 Says Ovid, " Never let your hair be in a state of dis- 
 order; nothing pleases us so much as neatness." We 
 wonder what Ovid would say, if he were alive, to see the 
 frizzing, banging, and disheveling which goes to make 
 up a presentable head to-day. However, his advice is 
 excellent. Straggly or towy locks are never beautiful, 
 whether they are the result of design or not. 
 
 If the face is broad and full it is proper to have the 
 coiffure rather high and moderately full; but if the face 
 is long and thin it is most improving to have it pretty 
 high and narrow. 
 
 
i83 
 
 If the coiffure is rounded in front it lengthens the face, 
 and if square it shortens it. 
 
 If the forehead is very low it is better not to pile the 
 hair high, or its size will dwarf the former into insig- 
 nificance; and, again, it is better not to throw the hair 
 up but slightly, for if raised in a high rim, a la Pompa- 
 dour, it makes the forehead appear still smaller. In 
 such cases the more careless the arrangement, perhaps, 
 the better. Indeed, it may be laid down as an axiom of 
 the art of the toilet, that if an artful device attracts at- 
 tention it can be of no service to beauty, for its discovery 
 leads the mind to inquire why it was resorted to, and 
 the search is sure to bring to light what might otherwise 
 have passed unnoticed. 
 
 Dressing the hair full in front is most becoming to 
 people of a concave style of face, and most unbecoming 
 to people in whom it is of a convex shape. Thus, a 
 person with a markedly celestial nose makes a mistake 
 in throwing the hair back, and a person with a Roman 
 or Jewish nose blunders quite as badly in having it en- 
 croach on the forehead. 
 
 A great mass of hair on the back portion of the head 
 is disfiguring in most cases, but a moderate amount is 
 allowable when the nose is very prominent. 
 
 Ringlets make a round face appear more oval, and 
 plain bands shorten it. 
 
 Any fantastical arrangement of the hair about the face 
 is very apt to give rise to an air of affectation, but some 
 coquetry of style is becoming if the features are cramped 
 or irregular. In this way it is possible to produce a 
 certain magnificence in many ugly faces. 
 
1 84 
 
 If the head and face are well shaped the plainer the hair 
 is dressed the better. To be sure it may be made so plain 
 as to be ungraceful, but such an extreme is unreasonable. 
 
 In Venus de' Medici the hair is gathered into a knot on 
 the crown and it is the most sensible and beautiful way 
 of arranging it. The size and position of the knot should 
 vary to suit the profile of the face, especially the nose. 
 
 When the hair is very scanty it is proper perhaps to 
 employ a little of the false brand, but otherwise it should 
 be entirely let alone. It is bad taste that leads people to 
 desire a great mound of hair, and yet it has been more 
 or less prevalent from the earliest times. A false addition 
 was extensively used by the Roman ladies. When 
 Caesar conquered Gaul (France), we are told that he had 
 the beautiful tresses of his female captives cut off and 
 sent to Rome for sale. Plaits, switches, and chignons 
 are evidently not of recent origin. 
 
 As for wigs, when the hair is almost or entirely absent, 
 of course it is proper to use them ; and there is one rule 
 in regard to them which should never be overlooked, viz., 
 let the color of the wig match with the color of the eye- 
 brows and the hue of the complexion. Thus, if the 
 eyebrows are gray or almost hairless and the face faded 
 a gray wig is the right kind to choose. To be sure it is 
 sometimes possible to make the hue of the brows and 
 face harmonize with any color in a wig by using dyes 
 and paints. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians shaved off their hair and wore 
 wigs so that when they chose they could more readily 
 cool their heads. When bald the Greeks and Romans 
 occasionally wore them, but they were little used for a 
 
 
1 85 
 
 long time. It was about the middle of the last century, 
 during the reign of Louis XIV V that wig-wearing began 
 in earnest. Nor were the wigs of that period similar to the 
 ordinary ones we are in the habit of seeing ; they were 
 sometimes immense, and those of the ladies were of very 
 intricate design. These last partook of the nature of the 
 modern chignon and have been described as " edifices of 
 brass wire, ribbons, hair, and all sorts of tawdry rubbish, 
 more than two feet high, making their wearers' heads 
 seem in the middle of their bodies. If they moved, the 
 edifice trembled and the inconvenience was extreme/' 
 (St. Simon.) They were worn by everybody who made 
 any pretense to the name of lady or gentleman. This 
 outrageously senseless custom was introduced by the 
 effeminate French noblesse whose heads often required 
 "thatching," as Shakspeare has it, and who had nothing 
 more important to do than practice as amateur perruquiers. 
 
 Wigs are still worn as part of the insignia of certain 
 offices; for instance, that of judge of the courts of Brit- 
 ain; but we believe they are entirely disused in this 
 country. 
 
 It is right that we should say a few words about 
 shoes. There is an Oriental adage to the effect that if 
 the hat, gloves, and shoes, the covering of the three ex- 
 tremities of the body, are correct, the whole person is 
 genteel. 
 
 Now, the proportionate length of the foot, in all an- 
 tique classic statues, according to Winckelmann, is one- 
 sixth the stature, and Albrecht Diirer holds this to be 
 the proper length. 
 
 The popular Chinese notion that the smaller the foot 
 
1 86 
 
 the greater its beauty, is an error, and the reason which 
 led to it we are unable to divine. 
 
 A shoe should fit neatly and be comfortable. The toe 
 should not be narrow, for if it is it will injure the foot 
 and preclude the possibility of a graceful gait. 
 
 In walking we set down the heel first, and then spring 
 on the balls of the great and little toes, inclining forward 
 gradually on the toes which spread. From this it is 
 evident that the shoe should be somewhat broader 
 toward the toe than the foot requires while it is at rest. 
 
 Those who wear shoes which are broad across the 
 toes never have corns or bunions. 
 
 The sandals of the ancients allowed the toes and 
 joints of the entire foot to spread to any extent, and the 
 result was that beautiful feet were the rule among them, 
 while with us they are but occasionally met with. In a 
 paper before us, as we write, we see it stated by a noted 
 lady of expansive form and reforming proclivities, that 
 "not one decent pair of toes among five thousand women 
 can be found to-day"; a statement which might well 
 startle us, if it were not that the writer is in the habit of 
 exaggerating a little when condemning what she thinks 
 wrong in her sisters, particularly the physically con- 
 tracted ones. 
 
 Turning out greatly at the toes, which is so common 
 and disfiguring too, is one of the entailments of narrow- 
 toed shoes. It is said that this set of the foot is so 
 characteristic of our people as to enable the Indian to 
 recognize where they have been by their tracks. Women 
 naturally turn out more than men. 
 
 It is very hard to understand why people will persist 
 
i8 7 
 
 in wearing tight-fitting shoes, even that they in them- 
 selves seem beautiful, for suffering is inevitable, and no- 
 body can walk gracefully whose feet are paining. The 
 effect, too, on the general health is very bad, and local 
 disfiguration will sooner or later follow. 
 
 High heels to shoes are of modern origin; but what 
 we recognize as such are as nothing when compared 
 with those fashionable about the middle of the last cen- 
 tury. In some of the paintings of that period, for in- 
 stance, those of Gainsborough, they are represented as 
 high as five inches. 
 
 Now, high heels are not only unnatural, but ugly and 
 injurious to health. Nature does not warrant walking 
 on the toes, and we cannot violate hfer teachings with 
 impunity. Human digitigrades are great patrons of 
 chiropodists, and they have often occasion to call on 
 physicians famous for their ability to cure spinal and 
 nervous diseases. Oriental people wear no heels on 
 their shoes, and yet they are very erect and graceful in 
 their carriage. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 We have now touched on every important point bear- 
 ing on personal appearance and its improvement, and 
 also the art of character-reading. Perhaps we have 
 omitted topics worthy of notice, and perhaps, too, we 
 have not handled those noticed in a way acceptable to 
 all, but we plead that the novelty of the idea of our book 
 has left us without one to guide us, and, also, that we 
 have done our best to do justice to every subject. And 
 here we may state that our facts are drawn from observa- 
 tions and reflections noted down during the last seven 
 years, and, also, from a careful examination of the 
 opinions of others in all ages, which we have been led 
 to know through the composition of a laborious Work 
 on matters somewhat related. 
 
 In all that we have said our aim has been to be clear 
 and practical. We have spoken without any reservation 
 save that suggested by honest propriety, and without 
 any other purpose than to make everything said intelli- 
 gible, interesting, and useful to everybody. 
 
 From repeatedly indulging in digressions, or some- 
 thing much akin, we have run the risk of being incoherent 
 at times, but we have tried all along to reason, to develop 
 and teach principles rather than throw together, without 
 system, a mass of disjointed details. 
 
 (188) 
 
189 
 
 Addressing ourselves as to people of common sense, 
 we have not seen fit to be childish in the use of language 
 or to be burdensomely minute in regard to common-place 
 matters. We think, however, that our style has been 
 sufficiently simple and full to suit anyone of ordinary 
 capacity and intelligence. But we may remark that we 
 have been dealing with themes which cannot by any 
 manner of treatment be made understandable without 
 some mental effort on the part of the reader. Not many 
 if any subjects more intricate could engage the attention. 
 We have been discussing that master-mould of nature, 
 that wonderful microcosm, illustrated in each of us, from 
 the conjoined standpoints of artist, physician, and 
 psychologist. Chapters like the one just concluded will 
 bear frequent reading, if we may judge from the amount 
 of thought and research required to produce them. 
 However, we would repeat that it is our belief that 
 everyone can easily enough appropriate and utilize our 
 ideas. Nor will these be found meagre, we hope. The 
 volume might have been increased to twice its size with- 
 out conveying any more information. 
 
 With each of our readers we part with the assurance 
 that we have done all in our power to bring within the 
 reach of all the divine possession of beauty, or at least 
 a knowledge of what it is and how it may be obtained. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absalom, 142, 153. 
 Accidental color, 170. 
 Achromatopia, 95. 
 Acid, tannic, 100. 
 Acidity of stomach, 158. 
 Acne, 134, 135-137. 
 Activity and growth, 58, 65. 
 Adam, 39. 
 Adam's apple, 70. 
 Addison, 21, 93, 164, 168, 170. 
 Adonis, 31, 70. 
 iEneas, 112. 
 .^Esculapius, 53, 150. 
 Affections and the chin, 107. 
 Age, appearance of, 121. 
 
 and baldness, 144. 
 
 and beauty, 44. 
 
 and dress, 181. 
 
 and grayness, 145, 
 
 and marriage, 52. 
 
 Agreement, 67. 
 
 Alexander the Great, 61, 147, 159. 
 
 Alison, 20. 
 
 Alum, 119. 
 
 Amalgam, 120, 121. 
 
 Ambrose, St., 22. 
 
 Ammonia, 93, 100, 133, 143, 144, 148, 158, 
 
 159. 
 
 Amulet against wrinkles, 125. 
 
 Anacreon, 85. 
 
 Andromeda, 179. 
 
 Angelo, Michael, 22, 27, 32. 
 
 Aniline, 148. 
 
 Animal food, 116. 
 
 Antony, Mark, 43. 
 
 Aphrodite, 24. 
 
 Apollo, 17; 31, 48, 165. 
 
 Belvidere, 31-34, 150. 
 
 Aristotle, 7, 11, 14, 19. 
 Armstrong, 125, 153. 
 Arsenic, 134, 147, 148. 
 Art and Lycurgus, 48. 
 
 most precious relic of, 24. 
 
 of dressing, 169. 
 
 the cosmetic, 104. 
 
 — the soul of, 5. 
 
 Artificial light and colors, 175, 176. 
 
 teeth, 121. 
 
 Artists, cosmetic, 104. 
 
 end and aim of, 5. 
 
 Aspasia, 39, 40, 43. 
 
 Association of ideas, 20, 129, 151, 164. 
 
 Athalie, 44. 
 
 Atropia, 91. 
 
 Attire of the sexes, 162-165. 
 
 Audran, 27, 33, 107. 
 
 Augustine, St., 20, 22, 174. 
 
 Bacon, 9, 10, 37, 56, 82, 145, 157. 
 
 Bandoline, a, 144. 
 
 Baldness, 144. 
 
 Bardinelli, 24. 
 
 Bars in dress, 168. 
 
 Basil, St., 22. 
 
 Bay rum, 133. 
 
 Beard, the, 149-152. 
 
 Beauty and age, 44. 
 
 and health, 44-47. 
 
 and love, 29. 
 
 and rouge, 102. 
 
 and the beard, 151, 152. 
 
 and the complexion, 132. 
 
 and the sex, 37-42. 
 
 and youth, 43, 44. 
 
 definitions of, n. 
 
 female, 23-30. 
 
 general taste for, 6, 7. 
 
 goddess of, 23. 
 
 Greek love of, 23. 
 
 ideal of all, 22. 
 
 line of, 12, 13. 
 
 not confined to face, 20. 
 
 not conventional, 12. 
 
 object of, 6. 
 
 of form, 12. 
 
 of man, 36. 
 
 of the face, 21, 75. 
 
 personal, 7. 
 
 scope and power of, 5. 
 
 size and, 29. 
 
 the sense of, 19 20. 
 
 Beautiful, what is, 22. 
 
 feet, 186. 
 
 Bichat, 127. 
 
 Bilious temperament, 76. 
 Black, 174, 179. 
 Black eyes, 90. 
 Blackheads, 134, 135, 136. 
 Blanc, Charles, 180. 
 Bleaching, hair, 148. 
 Blonde, the, 76, 179, 180. 
 Blue, 172, 180. 
 
 blood, 172. 
 
 eyes, 90. 
 
 (190) 
 
I9i 
 
 Boils, i57- 
 Bonaparte, 69. 
 Bottle-nose, a"8. 
 Bow-legs, 59- 
 Breath, bad, 158. 
 
 . ■ sweet, 158, i59- 
 
 Braces, 60, 
 
 Brain, the, 64-69, 82. 
 
 Bridal occasions and orange, 173- 
 
 Briseis, 179, 
 
 Broussais, 44, iz6 - 
 
 Browns, 175, x 8o. 
 
 Bruce, 69. 
 
 Brummel, Beau, 164. 
 
 Brunette, the, 76, 179, l8 °- 
 
 Burke, 14, *9, 2 9, 3°> 9 2 > *3*» r ^ m 
 
 Burns, 13, 48, 84. 
 
 Byron, n, 29, 34, 47, 54, 64, 7°, 9 ( 
 
 Cachous, 158. 
 Cadmia, 147. 
 Csesar, 39, 144- 
 Calisthenics, 61. 
 Camper, 78. 
 Cantharides, 143.* 
 Carbolic acid, 136, i37- 
 Carbonaceous food, 135, I 3°- 
 Cardinal red, 172. 
 Carlyle, 178. 
 Carmine, 103, 111. 
 Cascarilla powder, 103. 
 Cassius, 63. 
 Castellani, 73, 105. 
 Castor oil, 143. 
 Catechu, 119. 
 Cato, 92. 
 
 Celestial nose, 98. 
 Celsus, 22, 65. 
 Chalk, 119- J , B 
 
 Character and dress, 178. 
 
 definition of, 108. 
 
 . reading of, 10. 
 
 Charcoal, 119. 
 Charles V., 151. 
 Chaucer, 40, 43. 
 Checks in dress, 168. 
 Cheeks, the, 101-105. 
 Chest, circumference of, 35- 
 Children, mortality of, 51, 5 2 - 
 Chin, the, 106, 107. 
 Chlorides, 148. 
 Chlorine gas, 148. 
 Chrysostom, St., 22. 
 Cicero, 36, 58, 80. 
 Citrine, 19, 175. l8 °- 
 City and wrinkles, 125, 126. 
 Clavi, 157. 
 Cleanliness, 56, *33- 
 Clement, St., 22. 
 Cleomanes, 24. 
 Cleopatra, 39, 4°, 43- 
 Clothing, 56. 
 Cloves, oil of, 120. 
 Co-education of the sexes, 41. 
 
 Coiffure, the, 75, 182-185. 
 Colocynth, 136. 
 Cold cream, in. 
 Color, a deception, 18. 
 
 and dress, 169-102. 
 
 and fabric, 179- 
 
 and human beauty, 37- 
 
 and structure, 18, 19. 
 
 _ its meaning, 18. 
 
 of the beard, i5 2 - 
 
 -of the eyebrows, 86. 
 
 of the eyes, 90, 92. 
 
 of the hair, 139, I 4i» x 4 2 - 
 
 . of the nose, 99, 100. 
 
 of the skin, 130- 
 
 the imperial, 175. 
 
 Color-blindness, 95, 9 6 - , 
 
 Colors, artificial light and, 175,170- 
 
 beauty of, 177. 
 
 effects of, 177, *79- 
 
 harmony of, 19. 
 
 —how derived, 19. 
 
 Combe, 69. 
 Comedones, 135- 
 Commander's wrinkle, 124. 
 Comparison, 67. 
 Complexion, the, 102, 129-137- 
 Complimentary color, 170, I7 1 - 
 Conclusion, the, 188, 189. 
 Congestion of the eyes, 93. 
 Conjunctiva, the, 88. 
 Consanguinity and marriage, 51. 
 Consciousness, 66. 
 Contrast of colors, 169, 170. 
 Cookery, 55- 
 Cornea, the, 88. 
 Corns, 157, l86 - 
 Correggio 171- 
 Corsage, the, 166, 167. 
 Corsets, 26, 163. 
 Cosmetic pastilles, 86. 
 Cosmetics, 103, in. 
 Costume of the sexes, 162-105. 
 Country and wrinkles, 125, 120. 
 Cousin, Victor, 22. 
 Cowper, 55, I22 > I26 > r I3 i* 
 Creation, Vestiges ot, 50. 
 Creosote, 120. 
 Crimping, 144. 
 Cromwell, 69. 
 Crookedness, 60. 
 Crowding of the teeth, 117, «»• 
 Culture and colors, 178. 
 Cupid, i7 2 - 
 Curling-irons, 144. 
 Curling of the hair, 140. 
 Cutting, hair, 140. 
 dress, 165. 
 
 Cuvier, 115. 
 Cyril, St., 22. 
 Cytherea (Venus), 
 
 Dalton, 95. 
 Dancing, 61. 
 
 159- 
 
192 
 
 Daphne, 166. 
 
 Darwin, Mr., 72. 
 
 Deformity and dress, 165. 
 
 Degeneracy, 53. 
 
 of city people, 126. 
 
 of Americans, 78. 
 
 Demosthenes, 69. 
 
 Dentifrices, 119, 120. 
 
 Dentine, 115 
 
 Dentistry, 121. 
 
 Depilatories, 148. 
 
 Dermis, the, 130. 
 
 Design of dress, 167, 168. 
 
 Development of Dress-forms, 161. 
 
 Diana, 27. 
 
 Discoloration of lips, in 
 
 Discolorations, removal of, 135, 154-156. 
 
 Diseases and cosmetics, 103. 
 
 as cosmetics, 127. 
 
 of the eye, 93-96. 
 
 of the skin, 134-137. 
 
 — ; — — of the teeth, 117. 
 Dissipation, 54. 
 Doil, Cormac, 92. 
 Dowry, the best, 48. 
 Drapery and shadows, 176. 
 
 and age, 181. 
 
 Dress and beauty, 161-187. 
 
 and character, 178. 
 
 of the Greeks, 162. 
 
 of the Romans, 162. 
 
 sentiment in, 177, 178. 
 
 Drunkard's nose, 99, 100. 
 Dryden, 50, 73, 161, 162. 
 Dumb-bells, 58, 60. 
 Dumpy women, dress of, 166. 
 Dunglison, Dr., 154. 
 Diirer, Albrecht, 17, 185. 
 Dyeing, hair, 146-148. 
 Dyspepsia, 158. 
 
 Ear, the, 71-74. 
 Ear-rings, 73, 74. 
 Early rising, 56. 
 
 education, 60. 
 
 Eating as an art, 54. 
 Ecclesiasticus, 38, 57, 79. 
 Education, early, 60. 
 
 of Cleopatra, 39. 
 
 of the sexes, 41, 42. 
 
 Effects of colors, 177. 
 Eliot, George, 41, 113. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 56. 
 Emerson, 79. 
 Emotions, 67. 
 
 their expression, 49. 
 
 Enamel, 115. 
 Epidermis, 130. 
 Erect posture, 59, 60. 
 Eulogy on Venus, 28. 
 
 on Apollo, 34. 
 
 Eve, 39. 
 
 Evolution and dress, 162. 
 
 Exercise, 56-62. 
 
 Exhibition, Centennial, 73. 
 Expression, 37-39. 
 
 and the complexion, 132. 
 
 of the head, 70, 71. 
 
 Extraction of the teeth, 120, 121. 
 
 Eyebrows, the, 84-87. 
 
 Eyelashes, the, 91. 
 
 Eyes, the, 88-96'. 
 
 circles beneath the, 122. 
 
 Fabric and color, 176. 
 
 Face and the head, 107. 
 
 as a whole, 75-79. 
 
 beauty of the, 21, 36. 
 
 ; — the, 16, 19, 26. 
 
 Facial angle, 78, 79. 
 
 Faculties of the mind, 66, 67. 
 
 seat of mental, 68. 
 
 ■ intellectual, 81. 
 
 False hair, 184. 
 
 Falstaff, 62. 
 
 Fancy, 67. 
 
 Fards, 104. 
 
 Farsightedness, 93, 94. 
 
 Fashion, 181. 
 
 Fashions, modern, 163. 
 
 Fate, resisting, 125. 
 
 Fatness, 62, 63, 77, 78. 
 
 Fau and Knox, 21, 23, 61. 
 
 Fear, effect of, 145. 
 
 Feeling, 66. 
 
 Female costume, 163. 
 
 Filling of teeth, 120, 121. 
 
 Fissuring of the lips, 111. 
 
 Flathead Indians, 81, 83. 
 
 Flaws, special personal, 153-160. 
 
 Flesh-color, 132. 
 
 Follicles of the hair, 131, 139. 
 
 Food, amount required, 136. 
 
 • animal and vegetable, 116. 
 
 carbonaceous, 135, 136, 
 
 nitrogenized, 135, 136. 
 
 phosphatic, 136. 
 
 proportions required, 136. 
 
 Foot, the, 185. 
 
 Forehead, the, 80-83. 
 
 Form, beauty of, 12, 40, 102. 
 
 Freckles, 130, 134, 135. 
 
 Free-will, 81. 
 
 Frizzing of the hair, 144. 
 
 Gainsborough, 187. 
 
 Galen, 8, 47. 
 
 Galla, St.. 150. 
 
 Galton, Mr., 50. 
 
 Gibson, 26. 
 
 Girdle of Venus, 46. 
 
 Glands, perspiratory, 131. 
 
 sebaceous, 131. 
 
 Glasses, 94, 95. 
 
 Gloves, the, 167. 
 
 Glycerine, 100, 133, 134, 136, 137, i 43j 147 . 
 
 Lrcetne, 19, 142, 171. 
 
 Gold, 120, 121, 
 
193 
 
 Golden cut, the, 15. 
 Grace, 17, 18, 61. 
 Graces, the three, 76. 
 Grayness of the hair, 145. 
 Grays, 175, 180. 
 Grecian nose, 98. 
 Greeks, their dress, 162. 
 
 their love of beauty, 23. 
 
 Green, 19, 173, 174, 180. 
 Green lenses, 95. 
 Gregory, St., 22. 
 Growth and activity, 58, 65. 
 Gum tragacanth, 144. 
 Gutta-percha, 120. 
 Gymnastics, 61, 94. 
 
 Hadrian, 76. 
 
 Hairs, color of the, 139. 
 
 of the eyebrows, 85. 
 
 stain for light, 85. 
 
 the, 138-152. 
 
 Hammond, Dr., 35. 
 Harelip, 112. 
 Harless, 16. 
 Harmony, 19. 
 Hay, Mr., 15. 
 Hazel eyes, 90. 
 Head and face, 107. 
 
 the, 64-69. 
 
 Health and beauty, 44-49. 
 
 and exercise, 59. 
 
 and wisdom, 9. 
 
 definition of, 44, 45. 
 
 Heat and the hair, 140. 
 Hebe, 44, 104. 
 Heels, high, 187. 
 Helen, 40, 43, 173. 
 Hemans, Mrs., 5, 132. 
 Henry II., 43. 
 
 Prince, 62. 
 
 Heraclides, 47. 
 Hereditary resemblance, 50. 
 Hindoos' love of beauty, 29, 30. 
 Hippocrates, 62. 
 Hibernation, 45. 
 Hogarth, 12, 13, 19. 
 Holmes, Dr., 38, 108, 170. 
 Homer, 23, 46, 48, 89, 104. 
 Hordeoli, 157, 158. 
 Horizontal lines, 167. 
 Hyacinth, 173, 180. 
 Hyacinthus, 124. 
 Hydrogen, 148. 
 Hygeia, 43, 47. 
 Hygrometer, hair, 140. 
 
 Idea, 67. 
 
 Imaginary troubles, 125. 
 
 Imagination, 67. 
 
 and disease, 155, 157, 158. 
 
 Imaginative faculties, 81. 
 
 Indolence, 54, 65. 
 
 Industry, 66. 
 
 Inharmonious contrasts, 176, 177. 
 
 Inheritance, 50, 62. 
 Inquisitive nose, 98. 
 Insects, bites of, 137. 
 Intellect, 67, 80. 
 
 and facial angle, 78. 
 
 greatest effort of, 116. 
 
 Intemperance, 99, 100. 
 
 Invigoration of the hair, 143, 144. 
 
 Iodine, 156. 
 
 Iron, 100, 136, 146. 
 
 Irregular teeth, 117. 
 
 Jaw, the, ic6. 
 
 Jeffrey, 20. 
 
 Jerome, St., 22. 
 
 Jesus, 22. 
 
 Jewish nose, 98. 
 
 Jews, health and longevity of, 51. 
 
 Jezabel, 44. 
 
 John, St., 150. 
 
 Jove, 23, 46, 173. 
 
 Judas, 173. 
 
 Judith, 40, 57. 
 
 Julius II., Pope, 32. 
 
 Juno, 24, 45, 89, H2. 
 
 Justin, St., 22. 
 
 Juvenal, 164. 
 
 Kissing, 112. 
 
 the beard, 
 
 Knowledge, 67. 
 Knox, 69. 
 
 [49. 
 
 Lacing, tight, 35. 
 
 Laocoon youths, 107. 
 
 Laudanum, 120. 
 
 Laura, 29. 
 
 Lavater, 79, 97. 
 
 Lavender, 133. 
 
 Lead, 147. 
 
 Leanness, 62, 63, 77, 78. 
 
 L'Lnclos, Ninon de, 44. 
 
 Lens, how to test a, 95. 
 
 Liebriech, 95. 
 
 Lilac, 173. 
 
 Lily-white, 103. 
 
 Limavady, Maid of, 125. 
 
 Lime, 117, 139. 
 
 Line of beauty, 12, 13. 
 
 Lines and wrinkles, 122-128. 
 
 Lips, the, 108-113. 
 
 Litharge, 148. 
 
 Locke, 61, 62. 
 
 Longfellow, 9, 41. 
 
 Looks, reforming the, 128. 
 
 Louis XIV., 43, 185. 
 
 Love and beauty, 29, 41. 
 
 signs of, 107. 
 
 Lucretia, 40, 165. 
 Lungs and the voice, 35. 
 Luther, 69. 
 Luxury, 54. 
 Lycurgus, 48, 149. 
 
194 
 
 Madonna, 76, 172. 
 Magnesia, 111, 119, 158. 
 Maintenon, Madame de, 43. 
 Male costume, 163. 
 Man, beauty of, 13. 
 
 compared with women, 33, 34. 
 
 height of, 35. 
 
 his costume, 163. 
 
 subject to natural laws, 8. 
 
 perfectibility of, 56. 
 
 weight of, 35. 
 
 Marguerite de Valois, 163. 
 Marie Antoinette, 145. 
 Marriage and age, 52. 
 
 and consanguinity, 51. 
 
 Marriages, causes of unhappy, 42. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, 145. 
 
 Mary, Virgin, 76, 172. 
 
 Matrimony and the complexion, 141. 
 
 Mayo, 151. 
 
 Medicine, god of, 150. 
 
 father of, 62. 
 
 father of American, 12. 
 
 ■ object of, 47. 
 
 Rome's legacy to, 22. 
 
 Melancholy nose, 98. 
 
 Memory, 67, 72. 
 
 Mental affections and colors, 177. 
 
 temperament, 76. 
 
 Menu, Institutes of, 30. 
 Mercury, 134. 
 Milton, 23, 39, 69. 
 Mind and disease, 154. 
 
 and matter, 9, 69. 
 
 ■ and the skull, 82, 83. 
 
 conduct of the, 124, 125. 
 
 nature of, 65-67. 
 
 Minerva, 23, 24, 27, 90. 
 Montague, Lady, 20. 
 Montorsoli, Angelo da, 32. 
 Moore, 37, 70, 85, 91, 101, 106. " 
 Morning, beauties of the, 56. 
 Mortality, infantile, 51, 52. 
 Mothers' marks, 154-156. 
 Motion and grace, 17, 18, 61. 
 
 of the ears, 72. 
 
 of the eyes, 92, 
 
 Mourning, signs of, 149, 174. 
 Mouth, the, 108-111, 
 Muriatic acid, 135. 
 Mustache, the, 151, 152. 
 Myrrh, 119, 120. 
 
 Naevi, 154-156. 
 Naiis, the, 159, 160. 
 Names, female, 30. 
 Napoleon, 32, 98. 
 Near-sightedness, 93, 94. 
 Neck, dress of, 166. 
 -the, 70, 71. 
 
 Neptune, 90. 
 Nerves, 65. 
 Newton, 116. 
 
 Nitric acid, 155, 156. 
 Nitrogenized food, 135, 136. 
 Nose, the, 97-100. 
 Nut-galls, 146. 
 Nux vomica, 100, 136. 
 
 Oaths and the beard, 149. 
 
 Oblique lines, 167. 
 
 Oblong faces, 76, 78. 
 
 Oil for the hair, 143. 
 
 Olive, 19, 175, 180. 
 
 Opium, 91, 93. 
 
 Orange, 19, 173, 180. 
 
 Ornament, the beard as an, 149. 
 
 Ovate faces, 76, 78. 
 
 Ovid, 179, 182. 
 
 Oxalic acid, 148. 
 
 Ox eyes, 89. 
 
 Padding, 166. 
 
 Pain, 45. 
 
 Painting, 102-105, *3 2 > *33' 
 
 Papering, hair, 144. 
 
 Papillae, 130, 139. 
 
 Pare, Ambrose, 118. 
 
 Parentage, responsibilities of, 50, 51. 
 
 Paris, 24, 43. 
 
 Passions, 67. 
 
 Pastilles, cosmetic, 86. 
 
 Paul, St., 7, 138. 
 
 Paula Barbata, St., 150. 
 
 Pearl-powder, 103. 
 
 Penelope, 23. 
 
 Pepper, 111. 
 
 Perceptive faculties, 81. 
 
 Perfectibility of man, 8, 9. 
 
 Pericles, 39, 43. 
 
 Permanent teeth, 115. 
 
 Perpendicular lines, 167. 
 
 Person, special flaws of the, 153-160. 
 
 Personal charms and dress, 162. 
 
 Perspiration, odor of, 159. 
 
 Perspiratory glands, 131. 
 
 Peter, St., 32. 
 
 Petrarch, 29. 
 
 Phenol sodique, 119. 
 
 Phidias, 48. 
 
 Phosphatic food, 136. 
 
 Phrenology, 67-69. 
 
 Physicians' bones, 102. 
 
 color, 173. 
 
 Physiognomy, 10, 38, 79. 
 
 Piercing of the ears, 74. 
 
 Pierre, St., 42, no, 128. 
 
 Pimples, 134, 135-137. 
 
 Plaiting hair, 144. 
 
 Plato, 11, 14, 15, 20, 22, 36, 42, 54, 150. 
 
 Pliny, 72, 115. 
 
 Plutarch, 8, 36, 39, 59, 112, 116, 129, 149. 
 
 Poets, their inspiration, 29. 
 
 Poisoning from hair-dyes, 147. 
 
 Poitiers, Diana de, 43. 
 
 Pompadour, 185. 
 
195 
 
 Pope, 75, i3 8 - 
 
 Portia, 165. 
 
 Potash, 63, 119, 133, *4 8 , I 59- 
 
 Powder for the face, 103. 
 
 for the hair, 144. 
 
 Powers, 26. 
 Precocity, 77. 
 Prepossessions, 170. 
 Priests, vestments of, 174. 
 Primary colors, 19. 
 Proportion, i4 _I 7- 
 
 and dress, 165. 
 
 Psyche, 141. 
 Pupil, the, 88. 
 
 size of the, 91. 
 
 Purple, 173, 180. 
 Pyriform faces, 76, 78. 
 Pyrrhus, 116. 
 Pythagoras, 124. 
 Python, 32. 
 
 Quick-lime, 148. 
 
 Race and beauty, 132. 
 
 and the jaw, 106. 
 
 Racine, 44. 
 Raphael, 22. 
 Recamier, Madame, 44. 
 •Red, 172, 180. 
 
 . hair, 142. 
 
 Red-haired people, 142, 180. 
 
 Reflective faculties, 81. 
 
 Reflex-action, 66. 
 
 Reform costume, 164. 
 
 Regimen, 53-57- 
 
 Renewal of the hair, 141. 
 
 Restoratives, hair, 147. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 14, 19, 66, 179. 
 
 Rice powder, 103. 
 
 Richard III., 61. 
 
 Riding-habits, 164. 
 
 Ringlets, 183. 
 
 Ringworm, 137. 
 
 Roma, 112. 
 
 Roman brides, 173. 
 
 nose, 98. 
 
 Romans, their dress, 162. 
 
 their hair, 149. 
 
 - their love of beauty, 23. 
 
 Rosemary, 133, 143. 
 Rosewater, 93, 147. 
 Rouge, 102, 103. 
 Round faces, 76, 78. 
 Rush, Dr., 12, 71, 81. 
 Ruskin, 6, 12, 18, 20, 169. 
 
 Safflower, 103. 
 
 Salicylic acid, 119. 
 
 Salutations, 113. 
 
 Samson, 50, 142. 
 
 Sandals, 186. 
 
 Sanguino-phlegmatic temperament, 76. 
 
 Sartor Resartus, 178. 
 
 Saturnia, 45. 
 
 Saucer eyes, 89. 
 
 Savages, teeth of, 116, 117. 
 
 Saxons, their hair, 150. 
 
 Scarlet, 172. 
 
 Schools, 59, 94. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 92, 145. 
 
 Scylla, 129. 
 
 Sebaceous glands, 131, 135- 
 
 Secondary colors, 19. 
 
 Sedentary life, 58. 
 
 Sentiment in dress, 177. 
 
 Sex and beauty, 37-42. 
 
 and dress, 164. 
 
 Sexes, proportion of the, 52. 
 
 Shadows, 176. 
 
 Shakspeare, 5, 9, 29, 31, 69, 87, 88, 90, 101, 
 
 122, 125, 158, 161, 185. 
 Sheep's-eye, the, 89. 
 Shoes, 185-187. 
 Siesta, 55. 
 Signs of love, 107. 
 Sigourney, Mrs., 46, 48, 53. 
 Silver, 147. 
 
 Simplicity in dress, 179. 
 Simon, St., 185. 
 Skin, the, 130, 131. 
 Skull and mind, 82, 83. 
 Sleep, 55. 
 Snub nose, 98. 
 Soap and the hair, 144. 
 Socrates, 9, n, 14, 3 8 > 54, 68 - 
 Soda, 137. 
 Solomon, 38, 56, 70. 
 Solon, 8. 
 
 Sores, odor of, 159. 
 Sorosis, the, 164. 
 Spartans, 48. 
 Spectrum, 18. 
 Spencer, Herbert, 20, 40. 
 Spenser, 108, 114. 
 Spine, disease of, 60. 
 
 straightness of, 61. 
 
 Stael, Madame de, 8. 
 Stewart, Dugald, 95. 
 Stramonium ointment, in. 
 Strength and the hair, 142. 
 Structure and color, 18, 19. 
 
 and function, 44, 45. 
 
 of the hair, 139. 
 
 of the skin, 130, 131. 
 
 Styes, 157, 158. 
 Style and lines, 167, 168. 
 Sulphur, 147, 148. 
 Sunburning, 135. 
 Surgeons' bones, 102. 
 Swift, 181. 
 Symmetry, 17, 18. 
 
 Taste for beauty, advantage of, 6. 
 
 and dress, 170. 
 
 Taste-guide, 171. 
 Tawdriness, 168, 178. 
 Teeth, the, no, in, 114-121. 
 
196 
 
 Temperance, 54. 
 Temperament and intellect, 81. 
 
 and complexion, 131. 
 
 Temperaments, the, 76. 
 Temporary teeth, 66. 
 Tennyson, 165. 
 Tertiary colors, 19. 
 Thackeray, 125. 
 Theophrastus, 11. 
 Thomson, 24, 25, 59, 164. 
 Thinking, 66. 
 Titian, 171. 
 Toothache, 120. 
 Toothpicks, 118, 119. 
 Training in childhood, 77. 
 Turner, 95. 
 Turpentine, 127. 
 
 Ugly, advice to the, 38. 
 Ugliness, causes of, 124, 125. 
 its effects, 134. 
 
 Vandalism, 24 
 
 Vatican, 32. 
 
 Vegetarianism, 116. 
 
 Venus, 17, 24, 31, 46, 48, 70, 76, 90, 105, 159. 
 
 Venus de' Medici, 24-29, 34, 73, 109, 184. 
 
 Verais, Abbe de, 44. 
 
 Verrucae, 156, 157. 
 
 Vinegar, 63. 
 
 Violet, 19, 173, 175, 180. 
 
 lenses, 95. 
 
 Virgil, 20, 112, 173. 
 Vital temperament, 76. 
 Voice and the lungs, 35. 
 
 Waist, the, 25. 
 Walking, 58, 186. 
 Walnut stain, 85, 146. 
 Warts, 156, 157. 
 Washes, eye, 93. 
 
 face, 133. 
 
 hair, 144. 
 
 mouth, 119, 158. 
 
 Webster, 9. 
 
 White, 174, 179, 180. 
 
 Wigs, 184, 185. 
 
 Will, 67. 
 
 William the Conqueror, 149. 
 
 Winckelmann, 33, 102, 185. 
 
 Winship, Dr., 58, 59. 
 
 Wisdom and health, 9. 
 
 Woman, beauty of, 13, 23, 90. 
 
 her costume, 163. 
 
 her teeth, 115. 
 
 compared with man, 33, 34. 
 
 should be pleasing, 38. 
 
 stature of, 25, 29. 
 
 traits most prized in, 37-42. 
 
 weight of, 29. 
 
 world of, 105. 
 
 Women, bearded, 150. 
 Wrinkles, 124-128. 
 
 Xanthippe, 68. 
 
 Yellow, 172, 180. 
 Youth and beauty, 43. 
 
 Zeising, A., 15, 97. 
 Zinc, i2<j, 121. 
 
 Notice. — Copies of this book will be sent to any address, on 
 receipt of the price ($1.50), by the author, 1523 Vine Street, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
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