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HEALTH  AND BEAUTY.
EXPLANATION OF THE LAWS
GROWTH  AND  EXERCISE;
THROUGH WHICH A PLEASING CONTOUR, SYMMETRY
  OF FORM, AND GRACEFUL CARRIAQB^RTfflKp-H^^
        BODY ARE ACQUIMI^jJM™ gj^
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                       /
THE COMMON DEFORMITIES OF THIS'./ /  k
SPINE AND CHEST PREVENTED.
■VY.
     BY JOHN BELL, M. D. '
LECTURER ON THE INSTITDTES OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL
       JURISPRUDENCE, &C., &.C.
    PHILADELPHIA:
E. L. CAREY & A. HART.
1838. 
Entered according to the act of congress, in the year 1838, by
  E» L. Carey &. A. Hart, in the clerk's office of the district
  court of the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
T. K. & P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. 
CONTENTS.
                  CHAPTER I.

           THE STUDY OF BEAUTY--THE SKIN.

  Admiration of Beauty by the Ancients, 15.—Advan-
tages of studying Beauty, 17-19.—Obedience to vital
laws, 21.—The skin, 23.—Color of the skin,  25.—
Perspiration,  27.—Perspiration and evaporation, 29.—
Respiration, 31.—Changes  in  the air breathed, 33.—
Changes in the blood, 35.—Tight lacing, 37.—Death
from impure  air, 39.—Injury from compressed chests,
41.—Infraction of natural laws, 43.—Education of the
body, 45.—Cleanliness,  47.—Bathing, 49.—Vapor bath,
51.—Regimen, 53.—Exercise, 55.—The hair, 57-64.—
The nails, 65. 
IV
CONTENTS.
                  CHAPTER II.

OF THE ROUNDED OUTLINE AND DISTINCT CONTOUR OF THE
        TRUNK AND LIMBS OF THE HUMAN BODV.

  Contour of the body, 67-69.—Contour of the female
form, 71.—Delicacy of skin, 73.—Digestion, 75.—Signs
of languid heallh, 77.—Appropriate food, 79.—Strength
from nutriment, 81.—Pastries, &c, unwholesome, 83.—
Impeded movements, 85.—Fears  from obesity, 87.—
Diminution  of fatness,  89.—Cure  of  leanness,  91.—
Elasticity of the skin, 93.—Evils of pressure, 95.—Dis-
ease by pressure, 97.—Development of the bust, 99.—
Female  contour, 101.—Styles of beauty, 103.—Hands
and feet, 105.—Assimilation of food, 107.—Poor or de-
ficient blood, 109.—Regular digestion important, 111.


                  CHAPTER  III.

OF ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS—EXERCISE AS A MEANS OF
               HEALTH  AND OF GRACE.

  Locomotive apparatus, 113.—The spine or back bone,
115.—Midriff or diaphragm, 117.—Shoulder bones, 119. 
                      CONTENTS.                    T
 —The spine or vertebral column, 121.—Flexibility  of
 the spine, 123.—Elastic  intervertebral cartilage, 125.—
 Curved figure  of the spine, 127.—The joints, 129.—
 Shoulder and hip joints, 131.—Cartilage between bones,
 133.—Muscular structure, 135.—Course  of a muscle,
 137.—Muscles and their  tendons, 139.—Muscles shrink
 by  inaction,  141.—Growth  of the leg,  143.—Law of
 muscular  action,  145.—Muscles of the  chest, 147.—
 Muscles of the shoulder, 149.—Muscles of the shoulder
 blade, 151.—Muscles enlarged  by exercise, 153.—Un-
 equal exercise of muscles, 155.—Standing, 157-159.—
 Muscles  of the  back, 161.—Extensor muscles, 163.—
 Flexor muscles, 165.—Sitting  posture, 167.—Natural
 bend of the spine, 169.—Posterior spinal curvature, 171.
 —Lateral  spinal curvature, 173.—Causes of curvature,
 175.—One sided attitudes, 177.—Balance  by the mus-
 cles, 179.—Tendency to lateral curvation, 181.—Corsets
 enfeeble the muscles, 183.—Prevention of deformities,
 185.—Infantile movements, 187.—Early weakness  and
 deformity, 189.—Effectsof a bad regimen, 191.—Inaction
 of the spinal muscles, 193.—Education chairs injurious,
 195.—Recumbent posture useful,  197.—Friction  and
the  spout bath, 199.—Pastimes  of the young, 201.—
 Strength by gymnastic  exercises, 203.—Various exer-
cises,  205.—Walking,  207.—Easy fitting clothes in 
VI                   CONTENTS.
walking, 209.—Spine  free for walking,  211.—Mixed
exercises, 213.—Dancing,  215.—Enlargement  of the
chest, 217.—Obstructed respiration, 219.—Various dis-
eases  from tight lacing, 221.—Indian  exercises—bath-
ing, 223.—Proportion of cases of distortion, 225.


                  CHAPTER IV.

OF EXPRESSION—THE MUSCLES GOVERNED  BIT THE  BRAIN
  ARE THE  INSTRUMENTS   OF  EXPRESSION—ITS  ADVAN-
  TAGEOUS DISPLAY DEPENDENT ON A CULTIVATED MIND
  AND FREE EXERCISE OF THE MUSCLES.

    Of expression, 226.—Expression.—Dress, 251. 
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
                 CHAPTER I.

        THE STUDY OF BEAUTY--THE SKIN.

  That  beauty of person  is  synonymous with
health and perfect organisation, is  an opinion to
which, with some qualifications, we must give  our
assent.   Shall we not go farther, and admit, " that
ideas of goodness, of suitableness, of sympathy, of
progressive perfection, and of mutual happiness, are,
by an intimate and inevitable association, connect-
ed with the first impression made  by  the sight of
beauty."
  The importance of an inquiry into, and of a full
examination of, this subject is obvious.  Man was
created after the image of his Maker:  and,  surely,
it is the dilty of his descendants in all after times
to  strive to  preserve the type free  from disfigura-
tion.  The study of Beauty, in its causes and sup-
ports, is not only a  fit, but, also, an elevating and
purifying one.   The  Grecian artist studied the hu-
      2 
14
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
man shape for his conceptions of the divine.  Intent
upon the natural, he ascended  to the ideal.   This
same intentness, this admiration of beauty inspired
the Italian artists with their  finest  conceptions, as
we see in those images of loveliness and grace, the
inimitable productions of a Rafael and a Guido.
Hence, it has been observed, that the great models
of ideal beauty please us, not merely because their
forms  are disposed  and combined so  as to  affect
agreeably the organ of sight; but because their ex-
terior appears to correspond with admirable  quali-
ties, and to announce an  elevation in the condition
of humanity.   We need not wonder, then,  that the
Greeks  should  have made  beauty an object of
worship, and placed it  immediately after virtue,
in the  order  of  their  affections.^Refined  and
spiritualised in  the  discourses of Plato, described
with all its moving attitudes to charm  and enliven
in the verses of Homer and his successors, beauty,
when embodied in marble, by the skill  of  Phidias,
still retained its poetical  grace  with perfect  purity
of expression.—The philosopher could  calmly con-
template the work of the artist, as representing  his
own abstractions; the poet gaze on it  as a realisa-
tion of his imaginative musings; and  the moralist
admire the combination of bodily grace and harmo-
nious proportion with the image of mildness  of dis-
position and maiden purity of  thought. That thi3
is no fanciful speculation, each of us can prove, by 
      THE ANCIENTS' ADMIRATION OF BEAUTY.    15

looking at that statue of the goddess of Love and
Beauty which enchants the  world; and in whose
presence we inhale the ambrosial  respect,  which,
beheld, instils

" Part of its immortality; the veil
Of Heaven is half undrawn; within the pale
We stand, and in that form an<l face behold
What mind can make, when Nature's self would fail."

  Greatly shall we err, if we  indulge in a not un-
common notion, that the study and admiration of
beauty are unfavorable to vigor of thought and phi-
losophical research, or are opposed to whatever is
useful in the every day concerns of life.—The Athe-
nians, the people most celebrated for  heroic deeds,
amongst whom Socrates taught and practised wis-
dom, who extended farthest at the time, and by a
successful exercise of the nobler faculties of our na-
ture have perpetuated, the fame of Greece, were the
most enthusiastic worshippers of beauty.—This
worship they continued amidst  the  contests of a
fierce democracy—a worship  revived  in  modern
times by a people, the Florentines, whose  blended
aspirations were for liberty  and  high art.  The
Spartans, distinguished as they were by an  austere
and  unpolished gravity, did not neglect the cultiva-
tion of  bodily address and equable vigor and  ener-
gy—nor withhold their reverence for beauty, though 
16
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
less adorned by grace, and less animated by en-
livening dance and song, than amongst their more
imaginative and tasteful rivals of Athens.—In this
latter, more peculiarly, were men made to feel their
individual importance, and to  move and speak and
act with an ease, so readily acquired as  to seem in-
nate, and a conscious dignity, which furnished  ad-
mirable models  for the artist, himself participat-
ing in the same feelings, and  influenced by  the
same causes with themselves.
  In the public games and gymnastic exercises, the
manly form, here naturally of fine proportions,  un-
cumbered and uncramped by  excess  of  drapery,
was exhibited in all the varied  postures and atti-
tudes, which strength and address, skill and grace
could suggest, in the contests of the athletae and
the chariot race, alternating with the recitations of
historians,  and the musical reading of rival poets.
  Their festivals displayed the pomp  and ceremo-
nies of religion, in all that was venerable in age, and
graceful and lovely in youth.—On these occasions,
the other  sex appeared in  processions, decorated
with flowers and dressed in a light and flowing dra-
pery, which, whilst is  allowed of a display of the
figure in the various evolutions demanded on the oc-
casion, left no room for the censure that might at-
tach to the, occasionally, almost nude exhibitions by
their fathers, brothers, and lovers, at the games and
the gymnasia.—The  dramatic exhibitions of  the 
        ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING BEAUTY.       17

Athenians were representations of the sufferings and
exploits of heroes and of demigods, with interludes
of the mazes of the dance,  and the harmonies of
song.—In all these,  the artists found the personifi-
cations  of glory, honor,  suffering,  and crime; of
beauty, grace, innocence,  and simplicity.   Borrow-
ing from poetry and tradition the conceptions of hero-
ism and deity, they subsequently furnished, in re-
turn, subjects calculated to excite the glow of enthu-
siasm; and conveyed moral sentiments in agreeable
images.—Their  productions,  at first copies of the
most beautiful and graceful individual  figures  and
pleasingly contrasted groups, became, in after times,
models for the disposition and arrangement of the pub-
lic  ceremonies and  dances.—We learn, therefore,
with the less surprise, that, at one time, the  youthful
Greek frequented equally the schools of philosophy
and the workshop of the artist; and that even Plato
applied himself to the sciences and the arts of design
at the same time, in  order to obtain, with  a know-
ledge of the good and the true, that of the beautiful.
  The sense of the beautiful, like the sense of mo-
ral  right, is innate; but the  former, like the  latter,
will be either greatly perverted, or  rendered more
delicate and  observant by the extrinsic circumstan-
ces of education and associations.—Its proper culti-
vation will be found to contribute largely to perso-
nal  comeliness  and  comfort  as well  as to social
pleasure, and to administer  to, and  be  in   turn
                       2* 
18
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 strengthened  by, well  regulated feelings and intel-
 lect.  The rules for the preservation of beauty are
 based on a knowledge of the proportions of the hu-
 man frame, and of its several organs, and  of the
 means best calculated to  preserve the entireness of
 each, and its appropriate connection and  sympathy
 with all the  others.   These are, precisely,  the
 same rules to  be followed for the support  of health,
 which  includes  both  physical and intellectual
 well being.   They are in entire  harmony, moreo-
 ver, with  those by which each  individual is re-
 quired to maintain his ethical and  religious rela-
 tions with  his fellow men.
   The study of the parts, proportions, relations, and
 harmonies, of one object with another,  and with
 the rest of the  universe, constitutes a branch of phi-
 losophy.   How truly philosophical, must be the
 study  of the  noblest object in nature,  man him-
 self, who is, we are told, but a little lower than the
 angels, and with whom he is allowed to entertain
 hopes of holding fellowship hereafter.—It will be
 found to be one of the best correctives to pruriency
 of imagination,  and aid to soberness of thought.
 By purifying  the  taste, it furnishes a direct and
ready auxiliary  to  religious  restraints against the
debasing influences and connections to which the
impulse of passion might otherwise prompt.
  Were a knowledge of the  outlines, proportions,
and symmetry  of the human form, and of  the natu- 
        ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING BEAUTV.       19

 ral attitudes and appropriate gestures as general as
 it might  readily be made, exercise  would  be de-
 termined  by the requisite considerations of health
 and grace; and the subject of clothing be studied in
 reference  to its true  purposes—protection against
 atmospherical vicissitudes and a tasteful adornment
 of the person.—Decency  would no longer be deter-
 mined by fashion, nor would the approved costume
 of the day be at variance  with personal comfort and
 ease of carriage, as  it so commonly is, in  all its
 successive  mutations.—In place of the  fantastic
 figures, called fashionably dressed persons, moving
 in a constrained and artificial manner, we should
 see them, and especially  the fairer part of creation,
 arrayed in vestments adapted to  their  size,  shape,
 and undulating outline of form, and with draperies,
 which should flow in graceful  folds, adding  to the
 effect of, without impeding, elasticity  of step and
 the varied movements of the  limbs.
   It may be alleged, that beauty is not made by rules
 of art, nor is health the result of dietetic maxims.
 This is unquestionably true.  But the  converse  of
 the  proposition will not apply, viz:  that  nature
 alone is the guide.   If we rightly understood, and,
 understanding, would follow the laws of nature, our
 kind mother, we should not err.—But her dicta, as
 now construed, are of import as  equivocal as ever
 were the Delphic oracles  of old.  He, who  yields
to every momentary impulse of personal gratifica- 
20
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tion, claims to follow nature; forgetting, that a fel-
low being, whose appetites run counter to his, may
fairly urge his own construction; and  thus, every
man alleging that he is the interpreter, we should
have a chaos in taste and morals, and see confusion
worse confounded.
  It is the part of a cautious observer, unbiassed by
individual  caprices  and wayward impulses, to note
and record the succession of movements and chan-
ges, which may be  said to constitute events, in the
human body, from birth to death; and to study care-
fully the modifications produced by all the external
agencies to which it is subjected.   The result of ob-
servations thus cautiously and honestly made proves,
that there are laws,  part of  the  general ones of na-
ture, to which man is subjected, as fixedly, despite
his  false philosophy and perverse fashions, as are
the  planets to the laws  of attraction and repulsion
by which they move  and are  kept in their orbits.
He  cannot break through, with impunity, the laws
of human nature, by abuses and excesses, no matter
whether  the  motive be pure or vicious, more  than
he could interrupt those  of general nature, by trying
to arrest the earth in its  course, or make it submit
to oscillatory retarding movements. A person, who,
without prior training of his vocal organs, or whose
lungs have suffered  from recent disease, should in-
dulge in loud and protracted speech, or vociferation,
will, assuredly, pay the penalty for such rashness; 
            OBEDIENCE TO VITAL LAWS.         21

whether he were addressing his  congregation from
the pulpit, yielding to mimic passion on the stage,
or affecting the patriot, eager for his country's weal,
at the election  ground and in the legislative hall.
The contents of  the  intoxicating  bowl  will  be,
alike perilous  to  him, who  believes that he  is
drinking the elixir of life, as to his companion, who
knows that he is taking the bane of his peace, the stu-
pifier of his  senses, and the degrader of his intellect.
   To the same natural laws equal  obedience must
be paid by the pious missionary, who visits foreign
and remote lands,  to spread the truths of revelation,
as by the needy adventurer athirst  for gold and  a
slave to avarice.   The noon day sun will burn with
equal  fierceness, the midnight dews equally chill,
and  the  pestiferous exhalations  poison to the very
springs of life, both the  herald of peace and  the
lawless freebooter.—An infraction of these laws by
the child of poverty, doomed to bodily efforts  and
labor beyond its strength, and  by  the daughter of
affluence, who is prevented from the free exercise of
her body, will be followed, in both, by the penalty
of premature  feebleness  and early   deformity.
Beauty,  herself,  enshrined  though she  be  in all
hearts, and allowed  to play the tyrant over them
all, must yield graceful  submission to  those laws
on which her existence and her empire depend.—
To enumerate and  elucidate them,  will  be my en-
deavor in the present work. 
22            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

   In the consideration of beauty, we must include
grace, the often nameless charm, which mere regu-
larity of features and of form are insufficient to  im-
part.  Our admiration is not confined to the cheek,
suffused with celestial red, love's proper hue, nor to
the eyes with their liquid lustre, nor to  the vermeil
lips and ivory teeth.  It extends to the play of fea-
tures, the expression of the soul  through  the face;
the easy attitude, and graceful movements  of  the
whole body,  under the guidance  of kindly feelings
and a refined intellect.
   I shall speak of the attributes of beauty, under
the heads of complexion and color of the skin,  its
polish and softness; rounded outline and distinct con-
tour of the body and limbs; attitude and movements;
and finally  expression.—After this,  I  propose to
make a few  observations  on the  different styles of
beauty, with reference to their characteristic pecu-
liarities and causes.

                   THE SKIN.

  The skin is the seat of touch, the most important
of our senses, and, so far, it is connected with sen-
sation and mind.   It is, also, one of those organs,
the function of which is so necessary to health, that
any  impediment  exerts a marked sinister influence
over all the internal organs of the body. In this latter
point of view, the skin is ancillary  to the lungs, in 
THE SKIN.
23
 their respiratory office; since, like these, it gives out
 a watery vapor, oftentimes converted into a fluid,
 and gases, the  chief of which  is carbonic acid.
 It, also, absorbs air, or rather the gases, of which
 the atmospherical  air  is  compounded,  and  of
 these,  mainly  oxygen, the  supporter  of life  in
 all  animated  beings,  and  which is  introduced
 into the blood, either through the  lungs  and skin,
 or, in some of the inferior animals, through the skin
 alone.  For this part to perform its functions well,
 requires the admission to it of fresh air and light;
 and the circulation  through it of red and  healthy
 blood.
   The freshness of color of the skin of our  race de-
 pends  mainly on the  blood  which so abundantly
 circulates through it.  This fluid  is distributed  at
 the surface of the body, by means of a delicate  in-
 terweaving of small  vessels, or tubes, so numerous
 as to cover every point.   Of this  fact, we all have
 familiar proof in blood flowing, after the  introduc-
tion of  the finest needle into any part of the skin.
This net-work  of vessels, with which are also  in-
terwoven filaments of nerves to serve for the sense
of touch, rests  on a  soft and elastic tissue beneath,
called  fat;  and is covered above, by a horny mem-
brane, called scarf-skin, which is diaphanous. The
whiteness of the skin depends directly on this  fat
beneath; and on this  ground, as  we  may  call it,
of the  coloring above, will  depend the  modifica- 
24            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tions of tint, communicated by the blood, in the mi-
nute vessels of the skin.   Whoever has  seen and
felt, and who has not so experienced, the suffused red,
and at times, crimson of the cheeks, and even entire
face, under the quick feeling of bashfulness, shame,
joy, or transient anger, as well as after active bodi-
ly exercise; and the contrasted  pallor from fear,
fainting, and exhausting  losses of blood,  can well
appreciate  the coloring  agency of this vital fluid
which circulates, in the first examples, Avith rapidity
and in  increased quantity, and, in the latter, aban-
dons the skin and is abstracted from the system.
  I have said  that the sanguineous net-work of ex-
ceedingly small and innumerable vessels of the true
skin, is covered with a diaphanous lamina called scarf-
skin.   I should add, that, under this latter and be-
tween it and the true skin, is spread a semigelatinous
or mucous  layer, which serves, in conjunction with
the scarf-skin  or horny lamina, to obtund the impres-
sion of external bodies, and to prevent continued suf-
fering from the exercise of the sense of touch.  The
greater thickness and the black color  of this inter-
mediate substance constitute one of the distinctive
marks of the African or Negro race proper.  It re-
quires no knowledge of anatomy to make  one,  who
has suffered from  or  seen the slightest vesication
of the  skin, understand  the arrangement of parts
which  I  have  just  described.  The  outer or scarf-
skin is raised  up, and contains some fluid: on the 
COLOR OF THE SKIN.
25
 first being removed, and the latter  discharged, the
 highly red and true skin is seen with a slight mu-
 cous or semigelatinous matter imperfectly spread
 over it.  The red color of the true skin, therefore,
 every where existing, will be seen in proportion to
 the  thinness  of  the  outer or  scarf-skin  and the
 smallness of quantity of the intermediate mucous
 layer.  This  is the case  in parts of the face, and
 notably the cheeks, and still more the lips, which
 have only an exceedingly thin pellucid membrane,
 external to the red true skin beneath.  We may men-
 tion, also, the  tips of the fingers and nails.   But,
 although  the actual red or rather roseate color be
 visible only at the parts of the skin  just described,
 it is not the less true that the healthy tone,  as colo-
 rists would term it, of the  whole external surface
 results from  a  regular circulation, and abundant
 supply of pure blood, in it.  The whiteness of skin
 so much admired, especially by the  ancients, would
 soon  be converted into chalky or clayey color, if
 there be irregularity or deficiency of supply of the
 blood beneath, as in the case of any disorder of the
 system at large.
  There is another arrangement of structure, imbed-
ded  in  the scarf-skin.  It is  the numerous small
follicles, called sebaceous, in  which is formed an
 oleaginous matter, that contributes greatly to the soft-
ness and smoothness of the skin.  These follicles or
glands abound in  some parts of the surface of the
       3 
26
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
body as  in  the  arm-pits,  &c.  The matter given
out from them communicates  that peculiar odor to
the animal body, which is  most manifest after ex-
ercise, and often fixedly so, where the rules of clean-
liness, in suitable ablutions and changes of raiment,
have been neglected.   The appearance exhibited in
the globules of  water on the  surface of the skin,
after coming out of the bath, is caused by the olea-
ginous fluid, which repels the water.
  In reference to the color of the face, it may be ob-
served, that  the forehead, the temples, the  eyelids,
the nose, the upper part of  the superior lip, and the
lower part of the inferior one,  ought, in  woman, to
be of a beautiful and rather opaque white.  The ap-
proach to the cheeks,  and the  middle of the chin,
ought to have a slight tint of rose color, and the mid-
dle of the cheeks be altogether rosy, but of a delicate
hue.  Cheeks of an  animated white are thought
preferable to those of a red  color,  although less
beautiful than  those of a rosy hue.   Let me repeat,
however, that, without a healthy circulation of the
blood, which  implies  in it, a healthy respiration,
and action of the lungs, none of these characteris-
tics  can  be retained. Another condition for  the
skin's acquiring  a natural, it may be called the true
color  and hue of health, is its exposure  to light.
From erroneous notions, and fears of this agent  la-
dies often excuse themselves from going out in  the
open air, especially during the summer months__ 
                  PERSPIRATION.               27

forgetting that all that is rich and variegated in the
bloom  of  vegetable and  animal nature, in  the
flowers of the field, and  the birds of the air,  is
owing to light.   Deprive a plant of this genial in-
fluence, the green color of its leaves  is gone;  and
we no longer see the beautiful varied hues and tints
which win admiration for its  flowers.  The indivi-
duals of our own  species deprived of light, as when
resident in underground apartments, and in prisons,
and factories, become blanched, wan, and sickly, in
their  complexion.  When  I  say blanched, I mean
rather the  absence of all  hue of  health than the
acquirement of a  natural or clear white color.  The
ground of the  skin in this case is that which
would be imparted by potter's clay.
   Though color  is spoken of, as an evidence of a
he.althy state of  the skin, and an effect of the  free
transmission of pure and florid blood, its acquisition is
far from being the only object and use of the regular
circulation of this vital fluid  through the cutaneous
tissues.   From  the blood are made,  by a process
termed secretion, the gases and fluids already ad-
verted to, the regular discharge of which  is a ne-
cessary operation, both for the  health of the skin
and of the internal organs of the body.

   Perspiration.   The chief secreted fluid from the
skin,  is that of perspiration—which is either sensi-
ble or insensible.   The first is a moisture or fluid, 
28
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
commonly called sweat.  The second is  a vapor,
which is generally invisible, and  which is con-
stantly being exhaled.  It  is  more abundant, and
gives rise to a greater diminution of matter from
the body, than sensible perspiration  or sweat.  Its
escape from the surface of the body is easily shown,
by the inclosing of the hand and arm in a glass jar,
and  carefully excluding the atmospheric air.  The
inner surface of the  glass,  soon becomes covered
with moisture.  If the tips of the fingers, of their
natural warmth, be held very near to, but not touch-
ing, a glass mirror, or any polished metallic surface,
this is soon dimmed  with a vapor, which conden-
ses upon it in small drops.
  Sensible perspiration, or  sweat,  is  formed in a
more active  state  of  the circulation  through the
skin than the insensible; as we see in  its being so
largely given out after active muscular exercise, in
which the blood is brought in increased quantity to
the surface of the body; and, also, after immersion in
water  of a high temperature.  There  is a certain
point,  however, below which  sweating does not
take place, and  insensible perspiration is  very in-
considerable; and  above which the  former ceases,
and  the latter goes on with great activity.  The
first of these states is  that in which the skin is pale
and cold, and its circulation languid; the second is
where  the skin is red, arid with an excess of blood
in it, as in cases of fever.   It is often  sufficient, in 
         PERSPIRATION AND EVAPORATION.        29

circumstances in which the skin is hot, red and dry,
to apply cool air, or cold water by immersion of the
entire body, or by sponging the surface, in order to
convert  the  insensible into  sensible perspiration,
and to bring on a profuse sweat.
   The principal ingredient in the fluid of perspira-
tion is water, with the addition of some saline sub-
stances,  an acid, a modification  of the acetic, or
that  which constitutes  vinegar, some  animal mat-
ter, and  an oily or fatty substance which comes
from the sebaceous follicles already mentioned.
   In addition to the fluid and vapor of perspiration,
carbonic acid  is given off  from  the skin.  The
same experiment,  by which  the  exhaled  vapor
from the skin  of the  arm is demonstrated in the
glass jar, will  serve  to procure the carbonic acid,
which is given out at the same time.
   The removal from the surface of  the body of the
fluid formed on it,  is  accomplished by the process
of evaporation,  in which a liquid is converted into
a vapor by the addition of heat.   The effect is  a
coolness or coldness, and a reduction of the ther-
mometer—perceptible enough if this instrument be
held on the skin when it is moistened with sweat
and exposed to air,  so that evaporation shall go on
rapidly.
   Perspiration  is,  then, a means  for cooling the
body, and enabling it to bear those extremes of heat,
either  solar or induced by artificial means, which,
                       3* 
30
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 without this provision, would inflame the skin, and
 excite the system to  an alarming and  even  de-
 structive extent.
   But, although the simple aqueous portion  of  the
 sweat may be removed  by evaporation, and by its
 being imbibed by an inner garment, yet the saline
 and animal matters  will remain  adherent  to  the
 skin, and irritate it and  impede  its function,  un-
 less they be removed by regular ablution.
   I shall now point out the conditions on which  the
 vitalising fluid, the blood, acquires its coloring pro-
 perty, and at the same time, the power of nourish-
 ing  all parts  of  the animal frame, as  well as of
 furnishing the materials for perspiration, and  all
 the other necessary secretions.
   Allusion has been  already  made to the fact,
that the atmospheric air is not elementary, but con-
sists of different gases, viz:  oxygen twenty-one per
cent., azote or nitrogen seventy-nine per  cent., and
carbonic acid or fixed air, not quite one per cent.

   Respiration.   There  are two varieties of  blood
circulating in  the  living human body—one,  in the
veins, of a dark color; another, in the arteries, of a
florid red.   The first,  or the venous blood, is that
which is returned from all the organs and tissues
of the body, flows towards the heart and is  finally
poured into the two cavities  of its right or anterior
side.  The second, or the arterial blood, goes from 
                   RESPIRATION.                31

 the cavities  of the left, or somewhat posterior side
 of the heart, and is distributed to every portion of
 the body.    Before the dark blood, which is in the
 right cavities of the heart, can reach the left, it must
 pass through the lungs; and before the scarlet blood
 of the left cavities can reach the right ones  it must
 traverse  all  parts  of the  animal  frame.   In its
passage through the lungs,  from the right to the
left side of the heart, the blood  acquires its florid
color and other properties.  In its course through
the body at large, by the time it reaches the inti-
 mate structure and tissues of the organs,  it  has be-
come dark, with, also, a change or loss of some of
its properties.  By what means  does the blood of
 the right cavities, and of the vessels or cylindrical
tubes by which  it is conveyed into  the lungs, be-
come, when in these organs, of a bright red, and thus
changed, is sent from the left cavities of the heart.
This may be readily understood.  The lungs are
spongy and elastic organs which fill  up the cavity
of the  chest, and inclose the heart between them.
They are hollow, and habitually distended with air,
which  finds entrance through the windpipe.   This
tube,  beginning at  the  back part of the  mouth,
and before the passage which leads into the sto-
mach,  goes down in front of the  neck; and  on en-
tering  the cavity of the  chest, at the spot  corres-
ponding nearly  with the beginning of the breast
bone, it divides into two, and these tubes again sub- 
32
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 divide, until every part of the lungs is penetrated by
 them, on to their terminations in air cells, which are
 as minute as drops of water.  The interior of all these
 ramified tubes, and indeed the  whole cavity of the
 lungs, is lined by a smooth  and thin membrane,
 the extent of surface of which is said to be greater
 than  that of the skin itself; it being estimated at
 twenty thousand square inches.  It now remains to
 show what part, this  membrane of the  lungs, con-
 stantly exposed to the air in the cavity which is lined
 by it, performs in changing the color of the blood.
  This fluid, which reaches the lungs from the right
 side of the heart, of a dark color and unfitted to nou-
 rish and preserve life,  is distributed by a  net-work
 of very fine, and  innumerable vessels, under the
 lining membrane, and is acted on by the air through
 this latter.   The consequence of the action of the
 air  in  the pulmonary  cavity on the  blood,  is its
 prompt and  entire conversion  into a  fluid of a
bright red color, and its  acquisition of properties
by  which  it is fitted to  nourish  and to  vivify
every part of the animal economy.   Thus  changed
it returns from the lungs, by another set of vessels
and is  conveyed to the cavities of the  left  side of
the heart—by whose  strong muscular sides,  it is
 propelled into the great canal, or great  artery, and
by which, and  its divisions, and minute  ramifica-
tions it is distributed  to every, the minutest  por-
tion of the human body, and of course, in abundance 
CHANGES IN THE AIR BREATHED.        33
to the skin.  It is this red, purified and  nutritive
fluid which imparts the  color of the rose and the
carnation to the cheeks, lustre to the eye, and ani-
mation to all the senses.   After it  has reached
every  tissue, and  performed its requisite  office, in
vessels so small as  not to be visible to the naked
eye, the blood loses its florid color at  the moment
of its  passing into another set of vessels, the veins,
which are, also  exceedingly small.—These gradu-
ally unite  into larger  ones, until  all the returning
and  now  dark  blood of  the body is poured  by
one great vein into the right cavities of the heart,
whence it pursues the course or round of the circu-
lation  already described.
  It will, perhaps, be asked, whether the change in
the color  and other  properties  of the  blood circu-
lating through  the lungs, consequent on its ex-
posure to  the  atmospheric air  introduced in the
windpipe, be accompanied or  attended by  any alte-
ration in the properties of the air inhaled. The affirm-
ative answer opens to our view, truths of  the most
vital bearing on health and beauty.  In exchange for
the pure air, which entered the lungs by inspiration,
or the  effort of drawing in the air by a  raising and
expansion of the chest, there goes  out by expiration
or breathing out of their contents, with a fall of the
chest,  an impure air, consisting of much watery va-
por, and a gas similar to that which was given out
from the  skin and called carbonic acid.  This gas 
34
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 is evolved, also, in the process of fermentation; as in
 the vats of a brewery, and in the burning of charcoal,
 and, also, of limestone for the purpose of procuring
 lime: it is found at the lower part of old wells, and is
 sometimes given out from the surface of the  ground,
 as  in the  Grotto del Cane near Naples.  It is  de-
 structive  to life, when inhaled alone for  a  short
 time, as we all have heard, if not witnessed, in  the
 instances of persons sleeping in a room, or between
 the decks of a vessel, in which charcoal  had been
 burned, or was burning, and no ventilation procured
 by  the escape of this  gas and the introduction of
 the outer air.  Its retention or that of its material
 element in the blood, in  place of its being  given
 out in breathing, will prevent this fluid from acquir-
 ing its proper redness; and it remains dark  and  un-
 fitted for giving  healthy color and nutrition to  the
 body.   The  lips, far  from exhibiting their  coral
 hue, are livid, and the cheeks of a dark bronzed ot
 leaden aspect.
  It has been found, that the air of the atmosphere,
 which was taken into the lungs in breathing, loses
 a great deal of that element or the oxygen, on which
 its salutary properties for the support of life depends.
 It is this element  or the oxygen, which enters the
blood vessels through the lining membrane of the
lungs, and imparts to  the blood, a bright or florid
red, and those other properties already mentioned.
  Hence, we learn, that the process  of respiration 
CHANGES IN THE BLOOD.
35
 is productive of the imbibition and entrance into the
 blood  of the vitalising and coloring stimulant of
 oxygen, and of the removal from it of the sedative,
 deteriorating, discoloring and deadening agent, car-
 bonic acid gas.  With the first we  are  familiar, in
 the change of color which takes place in the blood
 drawn from a vein.   From dark, as it is when flow-
 ing from the vein and immediately on its being re-
 ceived into a vessel,  it becomes, at least, that part
 on the surface exposed to the atmospheric air, of a
 bright red.   Just  such  a  conversion of dark into
 bright is performed in the blood, as it flows through
 the lungs in minute vessels under the lining mem-
 brane of the windpipe and its ramifications.
   I would repeat, in a summary manner, that the
 blood which reaches one side of the heart, from all
 parts of the  body, is dark  and  unfitted to  nourish
 and vivify, and cannot be carried again to the organs
 until it passes through the  lungs, and is exposed to
 the air, and then reaches the other side of the heart.
  Assuming,  as near  the truth,  that there  are
 twelve pints of air constantly in the cavity of the
 lungs—for these can never be  emptied, no  matter
how complete the expiration, there is introduced by
inspiration,  every  minute, nearly  eighteen  pints
of air, and in the space of twenty-four hours  up-
wards  of fifty-seven hogsheads of air.
  The blood sent from the heart, and  exposed to
this quantity of air flows through the lungs, in the 
36
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
quantity  of  eight  pints  every minute, and  about
twenty-four hogsheads in the twenty-four hours.
  When we have been  apprised, that at each in-
spiration fresh air is taken into the lungs, and  at
each expiration, impure and altered air is given out;
and that these two movements which constitute the
act of respiration are repeated every three seconds,
or eighteen times in a minute, we can the better un-
derstand how readily and constantly the air around
us is deteriorated by our breathing, and how  indis-
pensably necessary it is to have, regularly, a supply
of that which is fresh and pure.
  The quantity of oxygen, or of the vital  element
of the  air,  which is consumed  and appropriated
in the lungs by respiration and the wants of the
animal economy  through this channel, is,  on  an
average, forty-five thousand,  seven hundred  cubic
inches in twenty-four hours.   The quantity of car-
bonic acid generated, and given out from the lungs
in respiration, during the same time, is rather more
than thirty-eight thousand cubic inches.
  To make, now, the application.  In order that we
should breathe freely, and with the desired healthy
result, the  chest must be  allowed its full expan-
sion, so that it shall inhale or draw in as much air as
the lungs can  readily hold;  and secondly, the  air  it-
self must be pure.  Unless these requisites  be com-
plied with, the blood neither entirely nor complete-
ly acquires the color which gives the dye  of beau- 
TIGHT LACING.
37
ty—nor its other properties on which  the growth
and strength, and ready movements of all the organs
depend.  What cruel injustice, then, do they  com-
mit on themselves, who so compress by tight lacing
their chests, that often these cannot be distended to
half their proper dimensions; and who, at the  same
time,  inhale, day after day, in close rooms, an  air
imperfectly renewed;  with  perhaps  a  change from
bad to worse, by inhaling a vitiated  air, in crowded
assemblages, to a late hour in the night.
  Badly do they attempt to atone for these deficien-
cies by hurried  movements of the  chest or  pant-
ing respiration.  The lungs are not expanded—air
does not reach all parts of  their lining membrane;
the blood beneath this latter is not changed, or is so
imperfectly.  The complexion is lost, or becomes sal-
low, with a change, occasionally, to a purple flush;
and the faculties of the  mind are oppressed by  the
accompanying disturbance in the circulation of  the
brain.   There is an air of languor and lassitude, if
not of suffering, and an absence of that expression of
countenance, which, when it speaks cheerfulness and
mind, simulates, if it is not actually, beauty.  Nor is
it necessary that fashion or folly should be the im-
pelling motive, under which persons with compressed
waists and chests crowd together, and inhale over
and over again an impure air.   But not alone will
the frequenter of the dancing room and the theatre be
the sufferer.  They on pious work intent, who con-
       4 
38
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
gregate in churches, where ventilation is  neglected,
will be equally victims, both in their appearance and
their health.  The Deity makes no exceptions, in
the operation of  his general laws, to suit the whim
or the  custom of  any individual, or class  of per-
sons.   All our moral duties can, happily, be per-
formed without transgressing the laws of our physi-
cal nature.  The discords to the universal harmony
are of  our own  creation,  and not in the nature of
things.
   We  learn that there are two causes of disorder
and even  death, from persons  breathing  over and
over again the same air, without renewal, or with
an imperfect supply of fresh air.  The  first  is in
the,diminution of the vital and coloring element,
oxygen; the second, in the application to the lungs
of a positively deleterious agency, or the carbonic
acid gas, that which is given out from the lungs in
respiration.   Death generally occurs from this last
cause,  long before  the air  is exhausted of its  oxy-
gen.  For, it has  been ascertained,  that not  more
than a fourth of the  quantity of the air taken in
the lungs  at any time  is  decomposed—the re-
mainder  is  given  out  unchanged.  Many of my
readers have, no  doubt,  heard of  a  fact  in the
history of  English  settlement  and conquest  in
India, strongly illustrative of the destructive effects
of a vitiated air, or of the deficient  supply of that
which  is pure. In  1756, the members of the factory 
DEATH FROM IMPURE AIR.
39
 at Fort George, one hundred and forty-six in num-
 ber, were taken  prisoners by the Viceroy of Ben-
 gal, Sur  raja al  Dowlat, and confined during the
 night until he should determine how to dispose of
 them.  Their dungeon, since called the Black Hole
 of Calcutta,  was eighteen feet square, in which
 two very small windows were the only apertures for
 the admission of air from without; and as they were
 both on the same side, ventilation was  impossible.
 Hardly was the door closed on the prisoners, when
 their sufferings commenced, and in a short time, a
 delirious  and mortal struggle ensued to get near the
 windows. At the end of six hours, ninety-six were
 relieved by death.  In the morning when the door
 was opened,  twenty-three only were found alive,
 many of  whom were subsequently cut off by what
 has been  termed  putrid or malignant fever, caused
 by the dreadful effluvia and the corruption of the air.
   Such an awful example ought not to be lost sight
 of; nor should it be forgotten, that there is a slow poi-
 soning, perhaps more torturing than the sudden and
 violent kind. In our school rooms, churches, hospi-
 tals, and places of public evening amusements, and
 in our private dormitories, we not unfrequently make
 near approaches to the summary poisoning process
 of the Black Hole of Calcutta.  In these places, the
pure element of the air is  exhausted; and there is
an exhalation both from the skin and the lungs of
the poisonous  agent,  carbonic acid, which, when 
40
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
breathed for a while, produces necessarily the ef-
fects already mentioned.  Young and delicate fe-
males, confined, hour after hour, in a close and badly
ventilated school room, inevitably show, in their
languid looks and pale if not sallow complexions,
the wrong done to their health and their beauty—a
wrong aggravated beyond measure, by the absurd
fashion  of tight lacing, and the cruel deprivation  of
suitable  supports  to their wearied bodies, when
seated.
   Of the extent to which females allow the absurd-
ities of fashion to conflict with the plain conditions
for healthy  respiration, and consequently, healthy
coloration, we have too many lamentable examples.
One needs not to be either physician  or confessor,
to discover  this fact.  The freedom of exhalation
corresponding with that of inhalation, the differen-
ces in the former will give us a tolerably fair crite-
rion of the latter. In ten females,  free  from disease,
about eighteen or nineteen years of age, the quanti-
ty of air inspired, as well as that given out at each
expiration, averaged about three  and  a half pints;
while in young men, of the same age, it was found to
amount to six pints—an alarming contrast, even after
due allowance is made for any natural difference of
capacity of chest in the two sexes.  How much great-
er, how enormous the evil! where the regular move-
ments of the chest  are rendered almost impossible
by the extreme tightness of bands and lacing, which 
         INJURY FROM COMPRESSED CHESTS.      41

 may be truly called the fetters and chains of beauty.
 But what a deliberate  cruelty is  committed by pa-
 rents, when the practice is begun on their children,
 before the chest has acquired its proper and relative
 capacity.
   The above calculations apply to a voluntary, full
 inspiration.  The greatest volume of air hitherto
 found to have been received by the lungs, in the
 most powerful inspiration, is nine pints and a half.
 The quantity received  at an easy and natural  inspi-
 ration, free from  any labored effort, is  about two
 pints and a half;  but  the quantity received at any
 ordinary inspiration, made without any effort at all,
 is about one pint.
   Walking in the open air, in the garden and the
 fields, will  be  productive  of but little  good to
 persons thus deprived  of the  free use of their lungs;
 a slavery, voluntarily imposed though it be, worse
 than that lamented by the poet, of those  who were
 deprived of the common air and proper use of their
 own limbs.   But even  with  all the disadvantages
 of cramped chest and defective respiration,  they
 who woo the zephyrs in the  morning walk will re-
place the roseate hue on their cheeks for  the sickly
paleness which   had  before overspread  them.
Though short and evanescent the bloom, it  gives
evidence and  promise of what might  be obtained
and kept, if nature's laws were fully obeyed by the
ample inhalation  of pure air, by active exercises
                       4* 
42
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
of the body—walking varied by occasional running,
and both alternating with riding, and these, again,
yielding, for a while, to  the sports in which the
arms are freely used and the  chest thereby expand-
ed and strengthened.   The spirits of the mountain,
the water and  the grove,  the ministers to Hygiea,
should also be the attendants  on Beauty, with Flora
for her companion.   Her  attire the while should be
borrowed from the Graces, and not forced on her by
Fashion.
  The active  exercises of the lungs are those in
which the  voice is concerned, as  in  reading or
speaking aloud, declamation and singing.   None of
these can be used with advantage, unless the chest
be freed  from  all the ligatures and bandages which
prevent  its full expansion.   If  this last  condition
be  complied with, they will favor the circulation of
the blood in the lungs, and contribute to all the good
results which follow, both for health and beauty.  I
ought to add, that these, like  all other exercises,
should be commenced with moderation, and adapt-
ed to the bodily  state of the individual.   We are
told,  that the celebrated naturalist, Cuvier,  was
thought to have had his life saved and prolonged by
his being early called to a professorship, which led
him to  the regular and  moderate  exercise of his
lungs in teaching.   Far different will be the re-
sults, if these active exercises be undertaken with-
out preparation and prior training by the weak and 
          INFRACTION OF NATURAL LAWS.        43

the sickly.  A rapid breaking up of the constitution
is soon witnessed.  Lamentable examples of the in-
fraction of this one of nature's laws are seen, every
now and then, in young divines, who, unprepared
by  previously regulated exercise of the voice, give
themselves up to preaching; and this to an excess
which the more practised orator could hardly bear.
The consequences of  this imprudence, well meant
though it be, are, naturally, pains in the chest, cough,
spitting of blood and  other dangerous forms of dis-
ease, which often cut short in their career men fit-
ted to give lustre to the pulpit, and, above all, use-
fulness to their vocation.  The sacrifice once made
by ignorance to piety draws  forth expressions of
regret and  sincere sympathy  from all, and  from
no  quarter more than the  congregation, whose in-
temperate zeal and urgency for his carrying out ob-
servances beyond his strength, if not beyond all
human strength, may have been among the contri-
buting if not chief disposing causes of the loss of
its  lamented pastor.   Real kindness is best exhibit-
ed  in acquiring a knowledge of the causes of .si ffer-
ing, and  in  sedulously  withholding  or removing
them.   Of little avail, if not for mockery, would be
the whining speech of feigned regret and proffer of
assistance to a poor wretch, about to die of destitu-
tion and hunger, to whom the pharisaical consoler
had before refused the pittance which would have
procured him bread and raiment. 
41
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
   Who would stand for the principal in this pic-
 ture?  No one—I know of no one—though I can
 readily believe there are such. And yet, if we were
 to ask how much of physic is taken up with inef-
 fectual attempts to  cure, of law  to punish, and of
 theology to threaten, in place of these professions
 bringing to bear a more expansive philosophy, in a
 truly humane  study of mankind, towards the pre-
 vention of disease,  of crime, and of evil  passions,
 we all would shrink, not fearing, but conscious of
 our inability to sketch the picture; and still more, to
 exhibit in suitable  relief and coloring its various
 parts.   Even were the work done, we would glad-
 ly draw a cloud over the  figures of deformity, dis-
 ease, baseness, envy, slander, discord, and cruelty;
 hoping to see emerge under the hands of  the artist,
 health, peace,  and the amenities of life, headed by
 moral beauty in the  personation of the physical.
  These  last  remarks, may be  thought to be a
long parenthesis, if not a positive  deviation from
the  subject.   To this  we soon recur,  however,
by  alleging,  that  although we  do  not  expect
to find beauty  of person  in those who  teach us
the beauty of  holiness, yet  ought all our associa-
tions with religion to be of a pleasing kind.  We
can soon forget, it is true, Socratic  ugliness, in fa-
vor of Socratic wisdom; but we are pained when con-
templating  the  ascetic look, the  expression  of
disease and  suffering, in the sallow front, sunken 
EDUCATION OF THE BODV.
45
yet hectic cheek and  hollow eye  of  him, who,
whilst inculcating from the pulpit  the  revealed
laws of God, forgets or is ignorant, that he is him-
self a transgressor of those natural laws of the same
beneficent Power, by obstinately inviting and retain-
ing disease, and its formidable drawbacks to equa-
nimity of temper and protracted usefulness.
  We are allowed to  connect  ideas of personal
comeliness and  youth  with piety  and devotion,
when  we  remember who  was the  favored  dis-
ciple  of  our Saviour.   Would  that the neophytes
of  the present  day,  who are  to   exercise  the
apostolic mission, if they cannot equal the  beauty
of John, would bear in mind the important truth,
that to be fitted for their calling,  they  should
acquire the outward expression, corresponding with
the inward grace—those attributes which bespeak
health and serenity—a sober earnestness, a collect-
ed  energy, a  joyous content, a consciousness  of
well being as  well* as the eager  desire  of well
doing.   Preparation  is required to  fashion and
strengthen the  body as well as the mind; and he
who neglects or has  been neglected  in  the  former
particular will be deprived of much of his useful-
ness, if not all  his comfort, in the exercise of  the
latter.   Poor  is the  master of the world  whose
health is lost.
  In dwelling  with some emphasis  and detail, on
the coloring of the skin  by pure blood being an 
46
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
evidence of health  and a cau3e*of  beauty, it must
not be  supposed that I undervalue, as I do  not
mean to overlook, the  other qualities of this part.
These are its fineness, softness, and freshness, with
a moderate degree  of  turgescence  or fulness and
plumpness, to which may be added  a polish, one of
the' first conditions, by the way, of mere physical
beauty.   The brunette  may be thus endowed  as
well as  the blonde;  but it is  in the latter, chiefly,
that the charmed eye follows the  azure veins seen
in relief from and almost blended with the ground
of a delicately tinted white skin.   Most  observers
who have had an opportunity of viewing the paint-
ings of Rubens, in which, he  represents,  as in a
gallery, the chief events in the life  of Louis XIIL,
must have gazed with admiring attention on a dis-
play of this kind, in the beautiful coloring of Maria
de Medicis.   She is  in a demi-toilet,  and  yet
languid  from  the sickness which made  her a mo-
ther.
  So  closely  connected is the healthy  condition
and of course the beauty of the  skin  with regu-
larity and  vigor  of function of other parts of the
animal economy, that it furnishes a ready index of
which the physician is  fully aware,  and which can-
not escape  even  the uninitiated.  If the  digestion
be disturbed  or  bilious disorder of the mildest
kind be  present, the skin gives notice, and sympa-
thises with the internal suffering organ, by assum- 
CLEANLINESS.
47
 ing a dingy or a sallow hue, perhaps, at times by
 its being covered with troublesome eruptions, pim-
 ples, blotches, and the like disfigurations.
   The means for preserving the beauty of the skin
 and of restoring it when lost, are the  same with
 those which we should recommend for the promo-
 tion and retention  of bodily  health and  vigor.
 They may be summed up under the heads  of cleanli-
 ness, a suitable regimen, exercise and cheerfulness.

   Cleanliness.—Cleanliness, which has been call-
 ed one of the half virtues, and an auxiliary to those
 of admitted importance, is recommended to us by
 Addison, for  the  three  following considerations:
 first, as a mark of politeness; secondly, as it produces
 love; and thirdly, as it bears analogy to purity of
 mind.   "In order," says an English woman of ad-
 mitted talent,  and an ardent  stickler for  the rights
 of her  sex, (I  do not mean any of those  who
have  honored us  with a  visit,  and  afterwards
given us much  good  advice,) "In order to  pre-
serve health and beauty, I should earnestly recom-
mend frequent ablutions."  To carry out  this coun-
sel requires  an observance of practices of a much
more extended nature than many of either sex, who
spend much time at their toilets, are fully aware.
A general immersion of the body, at stated but not
long intervals, in water  of such a temperature as
personal experience or good authority may indicate, 
48
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
is a necessary condition  for personal cleanliness,
comeliness, and comfort.  Where considerations of
health or domestic  arrangements  prevent  access
to a bath,  a ready and convenient substitute pre-
sents itself in  sponging the entire surface of the
body with water of a suitable temperature, tepid or
cool, at a  fitting hour of the day.   As  a general
rule, the  best time is  immediately  after rising in
the morning.

  Bathing—The value attached to bathing, as a
supporter of beauty by  the Greeks, may be inferred
from  their  mythological account of the  origin of
Venus, "fresh from ocean born;"  and also from
the  general  practice of all those  who  studied
personal appearance.  The restorative influence of
warm bathing  is  typified in the story  of Medea
renewing the  freshness  of youth  to   the  aged
jEson.  So,  also, we  read in Homer,  of Andro-
mache preparing warm water for  Hector on  his
return from battle; and of Penelope calling in  the
aid of baths and inunctions, to mitigate her melan-
choly for the prolonged absence of her  husband.
We certainly ought to  regard this latter as a much
more rational course than  that  which ladies fair
under the  influence of grief sometimes follow, of
neglecting all the  minutiae of the toilet;  as if  the
absent could be consoled by knowing of the per-
sonal discomfort which they had caused to their 
BATHING.
49
 friends or  survivors at home.   That the ancients
 thought warm bathing a wise fashion, is  shown in
 their feigning Minerva to have imparted renewed
 vigor  to the wearied limbs of  Hercules,  at the
 warm  springs of the afterwards far-famed Thermo-
 pylae;  and even limping Vulcan, in  place  of fine
 speeches, which he  could  not make, or of other
 gifts, offered warm baths to this itinerant redresser
 of wrongs.
  In sacred writ we  find evidences of the  impor-
 tance attached to bathing; not  only in the Mosaic
 ceremonials, but also  in the miracles  performed on
 Naaman, the leper, who was directed by the pro-
 phet Elisha to wash  seven times in the Jordan;
 and  still more, on the blind man, who, at the com-
 mand  of our  Saviour, washed  in the pool  of Si-
 loam.
  But I need not enter into farther details on this
 part of my subject, as they will be found in various
 systematic and popular works.
  The  Greeks adopted  from  the inhabitants  of
 Egypt and the  East,  in bathing, usages congenial
 with their national love of pleasure and of novelty
 of sensation.   More  social than the latter, and
 more intent on mixing up with the common  affairs
 of life, Epicurean philosophy and patriotic  pride,
they joined their public baths to the gymnasia;  so
that  athletic sports should  be succeeded by bath-
     5 
50
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
ing, and those again, alternate with conversations on
poetry, philosophy, and the arts.  One and the chief
object of their long and finely sculptured porticoes
was to  allow  the  people, on these  occasions, as
well as in religious ceremonies, to  congregate and
converse,  whilst  either slowly  walking or, what
was less frequent, when seated.
  Sea  bathing must have  been  in  high  repute
amongst the Athenians, if we may  judge from a
scene in Aristophanes, in which Plutus is led to
the temple of Esculapius, in order to cure him of
blindness.  That  application which  should open
the visual orbs  of avarice to a sight  of  others'
wants and sufferings, and the hand in unison to
offer relief, would, indeed, be the grand medica-
ment, equal in the magnitude of its effects to what
was presumed of the philosopher's stone.
  The Romans, imitators in so many respects, of the
Greeks, were too apt to measure grandeur by size,
in their buildings.  In the baths of Caracalla, three
thousand persons could be accommodated at once.
Bathing was  practised in every  variety of cold,
warm, hot, and vapor.
  It is among the nations of the  great Scythian or
Tartar family, that the vapor bath is in most gene-
ral use.   Of these the Russians and Finlanders,
Turks  and Persians,  are conspicuous, by their
fondness for a practice, the origin and continuance 
VAPOR BATH.
51
 of which can hardly be referred to climate, when
 we find it prevailing under latitudes so remote from
 each other as  the  North Cape and the Gulf of
 Persia; nor to religion, since  it is participated in by
 the  immense  population of  the  Greek church, as
 well as by the  hordes  professing  the Mahometan
 faith.   There is this difference, however, that the
 people of the  north are most partial to the moist;
 those of the south to the dry vapor bath.
  All  travellers  in  Turkey and  the East join in
 praises of  the deterging effects on  the skin, and of
 the  pleasurable sensations  diffused  through the
 whole frame, after the  use of the  vapor  bath.  A
 person  who had recourse to  it for the  first time,
 would experience some feeling of surprise, if not
 alarm, at the  quantity  of the  outer  or scarf-skin,
 and  of the  matters that had been dried on it, which
 is separated.  More especially is this  good effect
 obtained by the subsequent rubbing and strigilation,
 accessories  to  the bath, which, with us are too
 much overlooked, as well as the kneading or mass-
age of the muscles, and stretching and cracking all
the joints of the body.  By these processes  the
skin acquires a  purity, a softness,  and  a polish
which would  excite the despair of a  very Don
Quixote amongst the venders of lotions and oils of
Macassar.  The  warm or vapor  bath is more effi-
cient than the cold one, to produce a requisite puri-
fication, by the  removal of  an oleaginous matter 
52
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
which is secreted from the skin in addition to the
fluid and gases already mentioned.
  To the women of the East, a visit to the bath is
a source of the greatest enjoyment.  It is at  once
their coffee house, exchange, and  tea party, which
they visit in full costume; and where they give and
receive all the news and details of their respective
harems,  talk  of fashions, and perhaps, if ladies
ever do such  matters, settle the character of the
absent, by discussing their peccadilloes. It is said,
indeed, that there iB nothing in our  meetings  like
the  conversational  riot that is witnessed on those
occasions.
  The Turkish baths and their female visiters have
been described by two lady travellers within rather
more than a century of each other; the first is Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu, a woman of wit, wanting
in delicacy, dirty, and a  dowdy;   the second is
Miss Pardoe, in her late and last work, the " City of
the  Sultan."   If Lady Mary had introduced  into
England, in addition to the practice of inoculating,
the  Turkish baths, and set  an example by using
them herself; her countrywomen, and doubtless our
own might have gained an  admirable  addition  to
the  appliances  of health and  beauty.  But, on  the
other hand, we should have lost that characteristic
reply of hers to a French lady, who  was  express-
ing surprise at her hands being apparently so un-
washed.   Ah Madame! si vnus voyiez mes pieds. 
REGIMEN.
53
    It has been already stated, that friction of.the
  skin is an excellent adjunct to the bath, and be it
  added, one of the best substitutes for exercise.

    Regimen.—The second means indicated for pre-
  serving the  beauty  of the  skin,  is  a suitable
  regimen.  By this I mean  food  in such quantity,
  of such a quality, and at such  intervals as shall,
  whilst  it please, not  flatter  nor  tickle, the palate;
  but give nourishment without any feeling  of op-
  pression or discomfort during  the  entire period of
  digestion.  This may be considered one  of those
  oracular announcements, which the members of the
  medical profession have  the  privilege of making,
  and which leave the  wondering  inquirer about as
  well informed as before.   In justification, however,
  I must be allowed  to say, that at present I am
 necessarily restricted to  a general consideration of
 principles,  the details of which, can be  hereafter
 carried out at leisure.
   The  skin has been already declared to be an in-
 dex to the state of  the internal organs of  the body.
 It should be added, that  it is a complete reflector,
 one might say tell-tale of the  health or disease of
 the stomach.   There are some cases in which  this
 fact is  more remarkably illustrated; as where an
 eruption of the skin follows almost immediately
the eating of particular kinds  of fish, especially
of shell fish; pimples and the like from the uso of
                       5* 
54
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
butter; flushed  cheeks after a draught of stimulat-
ing liquor,  &c.  Among the articles of food in
common use, most  prejudicial to the health  and
beauty of the skin,  are hot bread, or hot toast  and
butter, chocolate, strong  coffee,  pastries, pickles,
much  salad, smoked meats, and  fish.   Of  the
practices at the table, in regard to eating  most to
be deprecated, is the partaking, at the same meal, of
a number of different articles of  food; highly  sea-
soned  soups, fish,  pates, roast and boiled meats,
game, tarts, ices,  fruits,  &c.  We are  told  that
women, regardful of beauty, do not use either  fer-
mented or spirituous liquors.  Wines are especially
inimical to the  skin.  They may do for the worship
of Bacchus; but  they are most  unfit offerings at
the shrine of Venus.  The  fountain of the Muses,
the waters of the  famed  Helicon and Parnassus,
are those from which the  Graces would be  sup-
posed to draw for the use of the servitors in her
temple.
   But without the third  requisite be  fulfilled, the
 other two will  fail  to produce the desired effect.  It
 is exercise which contributes, and is indeed neces-
 sary  to good digestion,  to  the conversion  of the
 food  into blood, to  the complete circulation of this
 fluid through the skin and to its  purification in the
 lungs by respiration, in  the manner  already  men-
 tioned.   Hints might be advantageously taken on
 this point, from the course of training of that noble 
EXERCISE.
55
quadruped, the horse,  for the race and the hunt,
and of the ignoble biped, the professed pugilist,
for the contests in the ring.   Both these animals,
by their being subjected to methodical diet and full
exercise of the body and limbs, and frictions of the
skin, acquire not only a strength and  an activity
which almost stagger belief, but, also, a smooth-
ness and  glossiness of external  surface, which is
in itself a variety of beauty.   Exercise—and that
should be  brisk exercise, which constitutes so es-
sential a part of beauty-training, acts like a charm
upon  the  most harsh, rigid, and obstructed skin,
and makes  it soft and supple;  while  the  subse-
quent bathing, or sponging, and  friction clear away
all external impurities.
   Apollo, the poetical representative, and by the
skill  of the  sculptor the impersonation, of manly
beauty, was swift of foot, and a hunter of unerring
bow on earth; and when in the heavens drove from
morn  to  night the  chariot of  the sun.   In this
fiction, we have pictured out to us some of the chief
conditions for the preservation and, if begun  early,
the acquirement  of manly  beauty,  with   added
ease and  grace.  These cannot be entirely over-
looked, even by the hero of a drawing room; if he
would win regard for other attributes than  the
studied postures  and  movements of his dancing
master.
  The last condition for a pure and  healthy skin, 
 56           Health and beauty.

 is a cheerful frame  of  mind; which,  also, gives
 harmony  of  expression  to the  features,  as  well
 as those easy movements of the  body that almost
 border on grace.   One may not go  quite so far as
 an  ancient philosopher,  in saying,  that all the  dis-
 eases of the body depend upon perturbations of the
 mind;  but this much we ought to know, that strong
 and  contending passions will disfigure  the  face
 more than the ravages of small pox itself.  To the
 latter as  to a defaced building we  become accus-
 tomed.  The other, like  the raging of the storm,
 causing present destruction and threatening  still
 more, awakens  our fears, and  alarms as much by
 the mistrust in our present safety as by the actual
 ills which it brings in its train.  Continued fidgeti-
 ness, impatience,  hopes  wrong directed,  a mind
 without meaning, and  definite  object  or regular
 employment, will keep  the nervous system  dis-
 ordered, and through it cause disturbed  circulation
 of the blood, imperfect digestion, with their conse-
 quences in a bilious hue  of the  skin and discom-
 posure of  the features.

           OF  THE HAIR AND NAILS.

  Connected with the skin, resembling it, especial-
ly the outer or scarf, in many respects, and depend-
ent in a great degree  on  its healthy condition  for
their growth and beauty, are the hair and nails.   A 
THE HAIR.
57
 languid circulation  of the blood and  inertness of
 the skin, manifested by its paleness,  dryness, and
 roughness, are accompanied by a thin growth of
 hair, which is moreover long and lank;  and the nails
 are at the same time brittle, and wanting  in their
 graceful curvature and roseate hue.  This hue pro-
 ceeds  entirely from  the bloodvessels  beneath the
 nail, which is sufficiently transparent  to  allow of
 the blood being seen through it.  Impeded circula-
 tion and  an  accumulation of  blood in the small
 veins  of the  skin, are manifested by a blueness of
 the nails and also of the lips, as in the chill of in-
 termittent fever, attacks  of asthma,  &c. In these
 cases  the  breathing is, also,  laborious, and the
 blood  is not changed as it ought to be in the lungs.

   The Hair.—The hair, in addition to its uses in
 the animal economy,  has been  ever  most appropri-
 ately regarded as one of the greatest ornaments of
 the human head.   As a mere mass crowning the
 body, it serves the purpose  of a frame or setting
 and groundwork, from which the face shines out
 with animation and grace.  But when  divided into
 tresses, curved into curls and exhibiting numerous
 serpentine and waving lines, it is itself a source of
beauty  which has been  described and praised  in
all  ages.  Soft curls  agitated  by the  wind have
been the theme of  every  poet.  When the  hair
divides in a line extending  from the  crown  to the 
58
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
forehead and is closely combed so as  to allow of
the arched form of the head being exhibited it adds
a certain degree of dignity to the expression of the
face.   But when it falls over the temples and takes
the form of finely turned ringlets and discloses the
forehead, the dividing line of the hair  above unit-
ing with the median line of the face in general, and
that of the  nose in  particular, the whole  features
acquire a  peculiar  symmetry  and beauty.   This
symmetrical arrangement of the  hair bestows  an
intellectual  air; and is especially evident  where
there is a natural parting and readiness  of the hair
to fall  on each side from the top of the head,  owing
to the elevation of the forehead, itself an index of
mind,  and, according to  some,  characteristic  of
beauty in woman.
   That this was thought to be a physiognomical trait
evincing sweetness  of disposition united to firm-
ness and possession  of the higher observing facul-
ties we have abundant proof, in the representations
of the more elevated personages by the  ancient
sculptors, and in the heads  of Guido and Rafael.
What  spectacle, it is asked, can be more seducing
than that of jet  black hair  falling in  undulating
ringlets upon the shoulders and  bosom  of a youth-
ful beauty?  The distinctive  epithets  by  which
Homer designates Helen, that fair but false one,
who set all Greece  and  Asia in arms, was  the
beautiful-haired. 
THE HAIR.                  59
   The quantity and color of the hair are always in
 relation with  the  constitution  of the individual to
 which it belongs and are one  of the characteristic
 signs of temperament.  In northern latitudes it is
 smooth and fine, and of a fair or light color. In south-
 ern climates it is dark or black, stronger and coarser;
 and more readily and naturally grows in curls.
   The hair, which, if not most generally admired,
 is that which certainly  has been most celebrated in
 poetry and song, and  has served  as  the favorite
 model of the painter,  is light colored, fine and flexi-
 ble. Fair golden hair was, of all tints, that which  the
 ancient artists preferred.  It was assigned by them
 to the most beautiful, not only amongst the Gods,
 as Apollo (the golden haired Apollo) and Bacchus,
 but also  amongst the heroes: Alexander the Great
 had flaxen hair.   // biondo  Dio  is the title  by
 which the modern Italians designate Cupid.
   We might adduce, as additional proof  of the
 deep  rooted belief of  the  great beauty of light
 colored hair, the fact, that from the earliest pictorial
 representations of our Saviour down to those of the
 present day, he is always  depicted with this kind
 of hair or approaching to the golden hue; although,
 as every reader knows, the national Jewish color
 was dark brown or black.
  The different styles of wearing the hair will
not detain me.  It is sufficient for us to be aware of
some general principles  in this respect.  In infancy, 
60
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
the hair should be allowed to grow in short curls;
but if these do not come naturally, it would be the
height of absurdity to  procure  them by art.  In
adolescence, especially of the other sex, the hair
may be allowed to flow in  longer curls or ringlets
and  tresses.   Womanhood reached,  it should  be
arranged in a symmetrical  fashion, regularly parted
at the  median line, as already described, carefully
combed  and  lying  smoothly  on the  upper  and
arched part  of the head;  and either carried back
from the  forehead above the ears  perfectly smooth,
or in part falling somewhat  over the  temples in
short and graceful  curls, like  the tendrils of the
vine.
  If it be desired  to  give the greatest  degree of
simplicity and ingenuousness  of appearance,  and
especially if the  features are very symmetrical and
mild in their expression, the effect will be  increased
by the hair being parted at  the forehead and brought
round, in a semi-arched form and plain, over the
temples and above the ears.
  Occasionally, for dramatic effect,  a profusion of
curls, some of them falling over the forehead  and
eyes, may please;  but the expression is  seldom
pleasant  to the observer,  or  advantageous  to the
wearer.  The sparkle  cf  the eye -through these
curls dazzles  it is true, and  produces  a powerful
sensation; but it is in part  one of a dread of sinister
results, and gives rise to unpleasant associations. 
THE HAIR.
61
   Passing from  the question of taste  to  that of
 health, it will be easy to show the dependence of
 the vigorous growth, fineness and glossiness of the
 hair on the  healthy state of the body in general,
 and of  that of the skin in  particular.  After an
 attack of fever or  of  any violent disease, the hair
 falls off in great quantity, and is  sometimes long
 in  being reproduced  in its pristine  abundance.
 In  languid states of the system of long duration,
 caused or  kept up  by weak digestion  and asso-
 ciated  with cold extremities  and a dry rough skin,
 the hair is of feeble growth, and comes away  readily
 with the customary combing  and brushing.  What-
 ever causes diminish the activity of the powers of
 life, whether physical or moral; excesses  of any
 kind,  late  hours, privation of  sleep,  anxiety and
 grief, will all have a prejudicial effect  on the hair.
 Sometimes, under the operation of one or other of
 these agents  it becomes prematurely gray, as hap-
 pened  in the  course of a single night to the unfor-
 tunate  Marie  Antoinette, queen of France.   More
commonly it is thinned and lank.
  It may happen  that the cause which  impedes the
healthy and abundant  growth of the hair is local
and  confined  to  the scalp  alone.   A neglect of
cleanliness, by not  removing the accumulation of
perspired matter  which after a time forms  crusts
or a coating,  occasionally  gives rise to  inflam-
mation and sores  of this part.   The hair becomes
    6 
62
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tangled and  matted, and  readily  falls off.  Re-
lief in this case is obtained by having  the  hair cut
at short intervals, and the head washed daily, with
a sponge, in tepid water and  Castile soap; and
afterwards rubbed with  a coarse towel, and well
but not very roughly brushed  for some time, until
the hair is dry.
  A  preventive to any  unpleasant  thing  of  the
kind just mentioned will  consist  in  the  regular
daily use of a comb sufficiently fine to cleanse  the
hair' of matter adherent to it, and of a brush  twice
or more daily, so that the  surface  of the scalp, •
from which the hair grows, shall be reached  and  not
only cleared of dandruff  and the like dried  perspir-
able matter and dust; but, also, be subjected to a
moderate  friction.   At stated  intervals; daily, or
on  alternate  days,  the  whole  head   should  be
sponged in the manner above mentioned,  prior to
the use of the comb and brush.
  There are two opposite conditions of the hair:
1. Of  extreme dryness  and wiriness;  2.  Of oili-
ness and  undue softness, which urge  those who
suffer from them to have recourse to various washes
or oils, according to the inconvenience complained
of.  Nearly all applications of this nature are use-
less; some of them mischievous.  The defects in
the state  of the hair arise from an unhealthy or
disordered state of the scalp,  the soil  as  it were
from which the hair grows.  Where dryness and 
THE HAIR.
63
 stiffness  of  the  hair  are the fault, relief will be
 obtained  by procuring a restoration of the  natural
 secretion or discharge from the surface of the scalp,
 which acts as an unguent to the hair above.  With
 this view regular exercise should be had recourse
 to; since whatever induces perspiration of the skin
 generally will have the same effect on that  portion
 of it covering the head. A person, who has taken a
 long walk and perspires freely in consequence, is,
 sensible,  on  applying the  hand  to the hair, of its
 greater  smoothness  than  when  leaving  home.
 Often the hair falls out of curl under these circum-
 stances,  owing to the  abundant  supply of this
 natural unguent and  perspirable matter which are
 conducted along each hair, and which had been pre-
 viously exuded from  the  scalp.   Ladies not  un-
 commonly lay the blame  of this derangement of
 the labor  of their toilet on the humidity of the  air.
 The true cause is that  just stated.
   The opposite state  of the hair to that now  de-
 scribed, is its being constantly and in excess softened
 and oiled, as it w.ere, with the too abundant discharge
 from  the  surface of the scalp.  Various washes,
 some of a spirituous kind,  the  chief of which is
 cologne water, and others  astringent, and some-
 times even powders, in which poisonous ingredients
 are introduced, have been employed, with a view
 of somewhat drying the hair, but  really with  the.
antecedent effect of checking the discharge of per- 
64
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 spirable  and oleaginous matters from the scalp or
 skin of the head.  Against recourse to such prac-
 tices, as  fraught  with danger I would  caution all
 persons of both sexes.  It is at all times hazardous
 to check, by  this means,  perspiration  from any
 region of the  body;  but more  especially is there
 room to fear the worst consequences, in the form of
 violent head-aches, convulsions, alarming diseases
 of the brain and of other  important organs, from
 suppressed perspiration of the hairy scalp.
   The diminution, for we  ought not to wish  the
 entire removal, of the natural discharge from  the
 field of the hair, or surface of the scalp is obtained
 by regular ablution of the part with soap and water;
 or with water in which a small portion  of common
 salt has  been  dissolved.   Frequent dry  friction
 with a coarse  towel  or  a brush which is not too
 hard, is also serviceable.  In those cases in  which
 the skin of the head  is so easily excited as to be
 thrown into a sweat  with the least  exercise;  and
 in which  it becomes  enfeebled  and  the  hair thin
 and falls off, I have seen a restoration of this orna-
 mental growth  by the measures detailed.  Salt and
 water is perhaps one  of the best restoratives  of the
 hair, by restoring the  tone of the skin from which
 it  grows.
   The growth of the  hair is  often impeded and its
glossiness  impaired  by  various  manipulations to
to  which  it is  subjected, under  the  hands of the 
THE NAILS.
63
 coiffeur or tire woman; or, in the absence of these
 important personages, by  the lady herself.  By
 being much stretched and twisted, and curled, as
 was once so common, with hot irons, the hair, if not
 loosened  at its roots, is so strained at its  points
 of connection  with the skin  as  to  readily come
 away; nor is its place supplied with any readiness
 by a fresh growth.

   The Nails.—The  nails may  be considered as
 appendages to, and in a measure  prolongations of,
 the skin.   Their beauty is displayed in their figure,
 their  surface and their  color.  They ought to be
 smooth, polished, somewhat transparent and rose
 colored.
   As  their use consists in the  protection which
 they  afford, on their inner side, to the  ends of
 the fingers and toes, and, on the  other, in  suitable
 support, by  resistance to  the pressure of bodies
 to be  grasped by  the  fingers  or  examined by  the
 sense  of touch, they should extend a little beyond
 the flesh   which  terminates these  organs.   The
 form of the nails  depends much  on the  care em-
 ployed in cutting them during  early life, and still
 more on the mode  of employing the hand.
  The most effectual method for  injuring and dis-
 figuring the nails,  ahd  interfering  with the sense of
touch  and the delicate  processes in  which  the
fingers  are so frequently required, is by biting
                       6* 
66            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

and gnawing them, so as to keeep them excessively
short and close to the quick.   There is not only a
loss  of ornamental termination of the hand  but a
positive  and serious  diminution of its usefulness
by this bad habit; an indulgence,  besides, which
throws the person, for the time being, into a most
ungraceful posture, not very unlike that of a mon-
key cracking nuts. 
CONTOUR OF THE BODY.
67
                 CHAPTER II.

 OF THE ROUNDED OUTLINE AND DISTINCT CONTOUR OF
    THE TRUNK AND LIMBS OF THE HUMAN BODY.
                                              •
  The elements of beauty,  both in inanimate and
 animate  beings,  are  entireness  without abrupt
 breaks, as in rounded forms;  delicacy, smoothness,
 variety in curved lines  and  figures, contrast in the
 several parts.  Sharp points and angles and straight
 lines offend the sight, which in this instance is an
 exponent  of the impressions that would be  pro-
 duced by these things on the sense of touch.   Cy-
 lindrical or spherical bodies, at first pleasing, would
after a while weary  by their  sameness.  Roundness,
gradual transition  in undulating  and  serpentine
lines,  progressively  diminishing  circles  in  the
limbs, exist more at the surface of the human body
than at that of any other animal or object in nature.
  The muscles, those red fleshy bodies which  sur-
round the bones, and pass from one bone to another
and which, when  they contract and tend thereby to
approximate their two  ends, are also the organs of
motion, exhibit a gradual swell in their middles,
and come under the  head of  rounded and gradually 
68
HEALTH AND BRAUTY.
diminishing forms.  The diminution is usually at
their extremities  where  they end  in  firm elastic
cords or tendons, the insertion of which latter into
the bones prevents the inconvenience and unseemly
appearance of projecting flesh at the joints.
  Familiar examples of this  arrangement are seen
in the hands and  feet, the  joints  of which and
especially of  the  fingers and toes, are  pulled in
different directions, either for flexion or extension,
by these tendons, themselves obeying the motion
communicated to them by the contraction and ap-
proximation of the fleshy bodies  or the muscles
proper with which- they are in a direct continuous
line.  Contrast and variety in the swell of the arm
and leg, alternating with the  thinness of the wrist
and lower limbs  just above  the ankle and the en-
largement of parts again on the hand and foot, are
obtained by this means.  But these numerous ten-
dons, like so  many ropes, would jut out abruptly
in straight  lines  during the contraction  of the
muscles  and  the  movements of the limbs, were
there  not some additional provision by strong cross
bands, as at the  wrist and at intervals along  the
fingers, and by firm parchment like membranes in
other  parts.   "Wherever,"  as  Hogarth well  ob-
serves,  " for the  sake of the necessary motion of
the parts, with proper strength and agility, the in-
sertions of the muscles  are too hard and sudden,
their swellings too bold or  the  hollows between 
CONTOUR OF THE BODY.
69
them too deep, for  their outlines to be beautiful;
nature softens these  hardnesses, and  plumps  up
these vacancies with  a  proper  supply  of fat, and
covers the whole with  the  soft, smooth, springy,
and, in delicate life,  almost transparent skin, which
conforming itself to the external shape of all the
parts beneath, expresses to the eye the idea of its
contents with the utmost  delicacy  of  beauty and
grace."
  It is principally in the  features of the face, as
has been often observed, and on the surface of the
trunk  and limbs of a beautiful woman, that  these
delicate, bending, varied and contrasted  lines are
multiplied; by their union they  mark the outlines
of different parts, as in  the  region of the neck, of
the bosom, at the shoulders, on  the surface of the
abdomen, on the  sides, and principally in the  grad-
ual transition from  the head to the neck, and from
the loins to the inferior extremities.*
  These lines vary  under  different circumstances;
much  embonpoint, or fulness  of flesh, producing
round  lines, and leanness  or old  age producing
straight ones.
  There is an excellent lesson contained in the fol-
following remarks of Burko, which  we would im-
press on  the  attention of those of our fair readers
who persist in reducing their bodies to the figure of
* Walker's Analysis of Beauty. 
70
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 a mere cylinder, and destroy all the easy and almost
 insensible  swell and undulation from part to part,
 so indicative of, and essential to true beauty,  " Ob-
 serve that part of a beautiful woman where  she is
 perhaps  the most  beautiful,  about the  neck and
 breasts; the smoothness, the softness, the easy and
 insensible  swell, the  variety of the surface, which
 is never for the smallest space the same, the deceit-
 ful  maze, through which the unsteady eye glides
 giddily, without knowing where to fix or whither it
 is carried.  Is  not  this a  demonstration of that
 change of  surface,  continual,  and yet hardly per-
ceptible at  any point, which forms one of  the great
 constituents of  beauty'?"
  The hair affords  an excellent instance of this
 agreeable complication, in. its soft  curls and flow-
ing  tresses agitated  by the  wind.  "And  yet,"
 says  Hogarth,  "to  show  how  excess  ought  to
be avoided in  intricacy as well as in every other
principle, the very same head of hair wisped and
matted together,  would make  the  most disagree-
able figure; because  the eye would be perplexed
and at a fault, and unable to trace such a confused
number of  uncomposed and entangled lines."
  A primary condition for the display of the round-
ed and undulating lines, so  much admired in wo-
man and so essential to beauty, is a certain degTee
of fulness, bordering on plumpness of the body and
of its several parts.   And for  this  state of things 
CONTOUR OF THE FEMALE FORM.       71
 to exist there must be health, manifested by good
 digestion and activity of the nutritive functions.
 Woman has the  same number and arrangement of
 bones and of their fleshy envelopes, the muscles, as
 man.   But in her there  is a greater abundance of
 fat and of an analogous tissue, called cellular or
 reticulated, both of which in woman fill up the
 interstices between  the  muscles, are spread over
 the joints and tendons, and constitute a layer under
 the skin.   The tendons of the feet and hands  and
 at the wrists of  man, which are so commonly seen
 clearly defined, especially in active exercise  of the
 limbs, are, in the other sex, covered with a cushion
 of fat and reticulated tissue, which give that pleas-
 ing and arched  outline as. well as softness to both
 the hands and feet.   In  like manner are filled up
 the spaces between and around the muscles  of the
 face which are not so well defined in woman, and the
 contractions of which without being visible are just
 sufficient to move the eyelids, mouth, and nostrils,
 for the purposes of expression.  It is owing to the
 profusion of this same tissue under  the skin  and
 over the muscles  that the limbs  acquire a greater
 fulness and roundness,  and that the  shoulders
above and haunches below are lost imperceptibly in
the limbs with which they are connected.
  This fulness of the parts and swelling and  undu-
lating outline are pleasing to the eye, because they
give proofs of fitness and  of health, necessary con- 
72            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
ditions for beauty.  A reverse state, in  the folds of
the skin or wrinkles, and projection of the muscles
and unclothed tendons, is displeasing, not only be-
cause they show deficiency in  the harmonies of
form and proportion, but because they  are indica-
tions  of sickness, old age, or the shock  of strong
and contending passions.
  Although there is  a  contrast  between the con-
tour of  ihe  individuals of the  two  sexes;  that
of woman  being, as already shown, more full and
less marked by straight lines and angles; yet in the
finest exhibitions  of manly beauty, there is also a
certain softness and delicacy in the  external confi-
guration.   The course of the muscles and their ten-
dinous terminations without  being  entirely  con-
cealed are measurably covered, and all asperities of
lines  and abrupt breaks removed, by the cellular
and fatty tissues surrounding those parts and dis-
tributed under the skin.  The face, also, has an ex-
pression of calmness  from the same arrangement of
its  soft parts.   Examples of this style  of manly
beauty are seen in the  Apollo Belvidere, and the
Perseus of Canova.  A nearer  approach again to
the female and its characteristic fulness and round-
ness of forms are met with in the Antinous and the
Fauns.   Very different  from these and in contrast
with the female figure is that of the Farnese  Her-
cules, whose massive muscles are so clearly defined
and convey inevitably the idea of brute  but passive 
DELICACY OF SKIN.
73
strength, whilst Appollo suggests agility and swift-
ness.
  The greater abundance  of loose texture in the
body of woman and interposed between her differ-
ent  organs  gives to  all  of them a  suppleness
that renders  her  capable of easily yielding to the
great revolutions which affect her organisation, in
regard to reproduction, as well  as mark  the dif-
ferent periods of  her life.   It is principally this ex-
cess of the cellular and fatty tissues which gives to
the members of woman those round and beautiful
outlines, that soft and polished  surface  which the
body of man does not possess.
  It appears, also, that the true skin is much thin-
ner and more delicate in woman  than  in man, and
that it derives  more or less of its clear whiteness
from the quantity of fat which is  below it;  for lean-
ness always  tarnishes and  soils it.  Hence, to pos-
sess a fine, soft, white and fresh skin, it is also in-
dispensable to possess plumpness.
  While the skin is  thus  more white in woman it
is also more transparent.  The tissue between the
true skin  and the  outer  or  scarf-skin  appears to
have more clearness and turgescence, especially in
the face, where, under the  influence of various emo-
tions, it  easily permits a passage to the blood, as
we see in blushing.   It is in youth that this tur-
gescence and clearness are most evident.
  Hence the skin in woman less conceals the veins, 
71
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 of which the color, only enfeebled or modified by
 the skin,  " gives all those shades of azure, which
 the charmed eye follows with so much pleasure on
 the surface of the bosom and of all the parts where
 the skin has least thickness."
   All  this  constitutes  freshness,  or  animation,
 which is nearly synonymous with health, and with-
 out which there is no beauty.
   It has been already intimated that the fulness and
 plumpness of the external parts and the consequent
 rounded outline of the forms, presuppose good di-
 gestion  and  active  and regular  nutrition.   The
 strongest and at the  same time most familiar proof
 of  this connection and order of vital  phenomena is
 met with in infancy and  early life.  At this  period
 the calls for food are frequent and  strong, the dis-
 posal of it by digestion  prompt and  the  abundant
 deposal  of organised matter  in  and  around  all
 the organs correspondingly full.  The cellular and
 fatty tissues  under the  skin are  particularly abun-
 dant, and impart to the face  and members of infants
 and those individuals in the first septennial of their
 existence an expression of mildness, ingenuousness
 and innocence, associated with and in a measure de-
 pendent on full health.
  The present is an appropriate occasion to make a
 few remarks  on digestion, since the object and end
 of this function are the growth of the body and of
its several parts, and the reparation  of waste matter 
DIGESTION.
75
 carried away by the other functions, such as perspi-
 ration, &c.

   Digestion.—It may happen that some of those
 persons who shall peruse  these pages are in that
 happy state of ignorance as not to know where their
 stopiach lies; although they may have heard some-
 thing vaguely about its being the organ by and in
 which their  food is  digested.   I  should be  sorry
 to disturb by unseasonable knowledge  this  igno-
 rance, and therefore shall not detail, as' it has been
 my duty to do so often elsewhere, the figure, struc-
 ture, ' situation  and connection  of this  important
 organ; the measure although it be, if not the seat, of
 some men's  sensibilities and conscience.  When
 pointing out, however, the needless  cruelty with
 which the stomach is  treated by external pressure,
 and  the curtailment of the range  of movement to
 which it is legally, that is physiologically, entitled,
 I must mention where it is and something about its
 neighbors, which are  hurt  by the  same practices
 that injure it.
   In  order that the  stomach should  perform  its
 duties with regularity  and efficiency, the food intro-
 duced in it  must  not be  too heterogeneous; nor
 taken at irregular intervals.   No  matter how  keen
 the appetite or vigorous the  digestion, the stomach
 will  assuredly suffer ere long by a great variety of
articles of food  being introduced  into it  at  one 
76            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
repast; and especially if this latter be taken at an
unaccustomed hour.  It sometimes happens, that
robust persons will continue a course of excessive
and irregular repletion for a length of time, without
acknowledging any disturbance of the animal econ-
omy in  consequence.  They will  be the  less in-
clined to admit that they suffer from  this cause, if
they make no complaint of nor feel any uneasiness
or pain in the region of the stomach, nor are trou-
bled with heartburn or  nausea.   But even these
persons, who think themselves, and are sometimes
cited by others, to be exempt from hygienic  laws
and  privileged'to laugh at the doctor, pay penalties
for disobedience  in unexpected  and  inconvenient
forms.  Their digestion, they will tell us, is good,
but yet, they admit that  their sleep is not as  tran-
quil and refreshing as it  used to be.  They awake
in the morning unrefreshed, hot  and thirsty, and
with a disagreeable if,not bitter taste and a loaded
or foul tongue.  They insist upon  having good di-
gestion, although the clearness of their complexion
has  yielded  to a tinge  of sallowness, or a slight
addition  of yellow  to its red  and white;  an ap-
pearance by the  way most evident and of earliest
occurrence in the white of the.eye, as it is commonly
called.
   I may state here, that every person, male or fe-
male, whilst at  the toilet, can tell  immediately,
"without  any of the learning or knowledge of the 
SIGNS OF LANGUID HEALTH.
77
 technicalities of the schools, whether the circulation
 of their blood, their respiration, and their^ digestion
 are regularly performed.  The color of their lips and
 nails will be a suitable evidence of the two  first,
 and the color of  the white of the eye of the last, of
 these important functions.  Pale  lips and nails be-
 token  a languid circulation,  if not poverty of the
 blood; whilst their blueness or lividness show both
 obstructed circulation and  respiration, and that the
 blood  is  not sufficiently exposed to the  air in the
 lungs, nor undergoes the requisite changes, by the
 escape of its carbon and the acquisition of oxygen,
 to enable it to acquire its color, nor  the  other pro-
 perties  fitting it to give  nourishment to all the
 organs of the body.  Whilst a red  tint is that of
 full  health, a very bright scarlet hue  of the lips, on
 the other hand, is a symptom of a too active circu-
 lation  and a morbid  state of the respiration, as in
 some cases of pulmonary consumption.
   A loss of the usual clearness of the  white of the
 eye, and in its place a turbidness  and a slight yel-
 lowish  discoloration are among the  earliest and
 surest symptoms of indigestion and  bilious  dis-
 order.
   As regards the proportions of animal and vege-
 table aliment most favorable to  digestion, it is not
 easy to lay  down a rule susceptible of any  thing
like  positive application.   Young persons, whose
stomach, for the most  part, performs its  functions
                       7* 
78
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
with  despatch  and  completeness,  and  in  whom
blood is readily and largely formed from  the elabo-
rated  fluid of digestion, or the chyle, should use,
relatively, larger quantities of vegetable food; bread
of various  kinds,  potatoes,  rice, spinach, carrots,
turnips, &c, and ripe and preserved  fruits.  Milk
or milk and  water is a preferable beverage to tea
and coffee, mornings and evenings.
  Where the habit of body is naturally gross and the
temperament sanguine, there  is a tendency to accu-
mulation of blood in the head, wit;h flushed cheeks
or fulness  and  heat  in  other organs, the regimen
should be  almost exclusively vegetable.   Not only
will many serious and alarming diseases be warded
off by this means,  but personal  appearance will be
greatly improved; the skin made smoother and softer,
and the complexion clearer and exhibiting the blend-
ed hues of the lily and the rose.  Nutrition will go
on more equably, and be manifested by a more harmo-
nious outline of feature and limbs under this simple
regimen than   where  more  stimulating aliment,
drawn from the animal kingdom and seasoned with
various condiments has been used.   Some of the
most  agreeable examples  of infantile health and
joyousness of spirits, and of maidenly beauty and
loveliness are of persons whose food is  habitually
simple, and mainly, if  not exclusively,  vegetable,
including  the ripe fruits of the season.
   But whilst thus recommending to  young persons, 
                APPROPRIATE FOOD.              78

and to those in the prime and vigor of life, to  use
vegetable food in large proportion, I must be under-
stood to refer to that which has undergone appropri-
ate culinary changes.  Bread and pastry are both of
them made chiefly from flour; but  they  are vastly
different in the readiness with which they  are digest-
ed and the amount furnished towards the nutrition of
the body.   The first is nutritive  and salutary; the
second too  often  oppressive to  the stomach,  in-
terfering with digestion and consequently nutrition.
In bread itself, the difference i's great and important,
between  that which  is well  baked and raised, and
has been kept a day after being out of the oven, and
that  which is imperfectly baked and raised, and is
eaten either warm or while yet fresh.   The former is
one of the most nutritious and strengthening articles
of food;  the  other  nearly the reverse.   Potatoes
badly  prepared and  sodden  will  irritate  a weak
stomach,  and bring on an  attack  of dyspepsia.
Well boiled and mealy, or roasted, they may often
be eaten  with impunity by  the  invalid, and will
give  to a person in health an abundant nutriment.
  Milk with good bread and such vegetables as the
potatoe and rice, or  rye and Indian meal in the
form of mush, constitute food admirably adapted to
the young, and to those, who for want of suitable
out door exercise would suffer from  the regular  use
of animal substances.   Sometimes, milk disagrees
on account of  its coldness,  which may be obviated, 
80
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
and  its oppressiveness  to  certain  stomachs  pre-
vented, by the addition  of a portion, from ti third
to a half, of hot water.   In other cases, a compro-
mise of interests between taste and  salubrity, may
be effected, by the addition to tea or coffee  of an
equal quantity of milk or cream.  It has been found
that this latter will agree with some weak and dis-
ordered stomachs, to which milk  is rather inimical.
  Of a milder nature than  common animal sub-
stances is the egg, which, if soft boiled, will  gene-
rally  be  found easy  of  digestion.   Whereas, few
articles task so severely the powers of the stomjich
as a hard  boiled egg, and  particularly the white
of it.
  Under a regimen of the kind just described, not
only  will the fulness of figure  and the  glow  of
health be preserved; but the wan and  the  feeble
will  regain strength and  animation.   Occasionally,
however, we meet with persons of both  sexes, and
particularly females, whose  skin  is  pale  and cold,
circulation languid and  digestion  either torpid  or
very  irregular.  The tongue, for the most part, is
whitish and slightly coated; and there is an absence
of even the customary  thirst.   In such  cases, re-
course will be had, advantageously, to the daily use
of animal food;  with the understanding, that regu-
lar exercise in the open air be, also, taken.  With-
out this condition, there  will be  danger of the per-
son,  whilst yielding to the calls  of appetite and 
           STRENGTH FROM NUTRIMENT.         81

indulging in the use of this nutritious and stimulat-
ing aliment, being a sufferer from undue determina-
tions of blood to a particular organ, the head, lungs,
&c, and even of inflammation supervening.
  Any attempt  at sudden invigoration of persons,
thus habitually weak and wanting in activity of
nutrition, will fail, and leave them "worse than be-
fore; as  where strong tea, coffee, that greasy mix-
ture,  common  chocolate,  stimulating condiments
and cordials, wine, and malt liquors, rich soups and
gravies, are taken in alternation or  succession.  I
do not speak, now, in opposition to, or  disparage-
ment of, the recommendation of a physician, in any
case directly under his guidance, and in  which  his
opinion is asked professionally.  My remark applies
to the rules of hygiene for the government of those
who are  in quest of health and strength  and  good
looks;  and who hope to retain these, when  pro-
cured, by aids not medicinal, but which  must be of
daily and  prolonged use.  To  attain this end, no
bitter, nor tonic, nor cordial, derived from the shops,
no fermented and, still less, distilled alcoholic liquor,
can be regularly taken.  On the contrary, a long
perseverance in their use will  be found eminently
detrimental both to health and beauty.   The only
means of permanent restoration of  the  exhausted
economy and feeble frame and deficiency of contour
are plain nourishing food, free exercise in the open 
 82            HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
   •
 air, regular  occupations, tranquillity of mind and a
 proper allotment of time  for sleep.
   Not less  marked are  the modifications produced
 by  culinary  processes  on  animal food  than  are
 those  on vegetable to which  I  have just adverted
 The chief end to be attained by the art of cookery
 is a softening of the fibres  of  the meat and, at the
 same time, a retention of its juices.   Much of the
 latter are dissipated by boiling, after the common
 method.   That which ought to be preferred is  the
 subjection of the meat to a regular and protracted
 heat, in a small quantity  of water, as in  stewing.
 By roasting, the juices are in greater proportion re-
 tained than  by boiling, and the  fibre is  tolerably
 well softened, except that of the outer portion,
 which is crisped and condensed.
  Fried meats of any description are unwholesome.
 By tasking the stomach unduly, they cause indiges-
 tion and not unfrequently eruptions and discolorations
 of the skin.   More especially does this remark ap-
 ply where butter is used in the process, and  fish is
the article fried.
  Dried, and salted and smoked  meats do not fur-
nish that nutriment which is necessary to  give the
requisite  proportion of blood and  other fluids and  of
fatty deposit, in order to constitute the desired ful-
ness of outline so essential to abiding beauty.
  Pastry, and especially such a leaden substance as 
           PASTRIES, &C, UNWHOLESOME.        83

 i3 commonly inflicted on us under this name, gives
 no adequate return for the discomfort which it is so
 apt to cause  to the  stomach.  Alone, it does not
 constitute a meal fit for civilised or savage man, or
 woman either.  Added to or coming  in after other
 kinds of food, whether animal or vegetable, it is
 bad company, and interferes with the due  digestion
 of these substances.
   With equal force do these remarks  apply to vari-
 ous kinds of cakes and  confectionary, which  to-
 gether with pastry, are given  to children, as a lure
 to  good  behavior, and a bribe against misconduct.
 The mind is thus  appealed  to through the stomach;
 and such  an appeal!  Disturbances and riots in the
 poor stomach first take place; and then the disposi-
 tion becomes savage; and the little beings indulge
 in all kinds of vagaries and passionate outbreaks,
 which the kind mammas or sage nurses think they
 shall appease by appeals similar  to those made at
 first.   More cakes or pies or sugar plums, and per-
 haps all three in quick succession, are given to the
 poor little dears, either because they cry, or to pre-
 vent them from crying.   The  tumult increases, and
 at length an attempt is made  to quell it, similar to
 the reading of the riot act to a mob, which, for the
 nonce, considers itself legislature and jury, and
proceeds forthwith to hang people on  suspicion and
to burn their houses, to sjiow' its sense of justice.
The book cf " Ddmtsuc Medicine"  is read, and a 
84
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
dose such as it directs is  administered  to the poor
little  sufferer.  This, like the  sheriff's reading to
the mob, proving ineffectual, the physician is called
in by the alarmed  mother, as  the military are by
the officer of law;  and in both instances  with a
similar  result, viz:  the shedding of blood;  and, to
carry  out still  farther the parallel, in both with a
cooling effect.
  But short of  this extreme  termination  of the
cruelty of educating children to habits of gluttony,
and associating  these  in their minds  with ideas
of reward and distinction, are many inconveniences
and discomforts, both on the score of health and of
good looks.  The digestion is habitually deranged;
the child is said to have worms, and on this account
is sorely vexed with a variety of anthelmintics, the
last one advertised being always preferred.   The
teeth  decay, the breath  is  offensive,  the  natural
beauty of the skin, which in children ought to ex-
hibit freshness and fairness, with a  slight roseate
color, is replaced by a sallow  or dingy hue.   The
full  development of  all  the parts,  the trunk and
limbs and face, disappears. The features no longer
wear the aspect of cheerfulness, but show care and
suffering; the limbs  have lost their roundness and
the whole body those springy and  joyous, move-
ments,  to which it is  prone under the happy in-
stinct of animal life in healthy children.
   If the subject of this poisonous course of feeding, 
               IMPEDED MOVEMENTS.            85
                        •
 by the frequent administration of the irritating and
 indigestible articles now under view, be a boy, a
 remedy is offered in the counteracting influences of
 various sports in the open air, and, a little later, his
 transfer to a school, on which, whatever may be its
 faults, that of high and luxurious living can seldom
 be charged.
   But, if the little being belong to  the  other  sex,
 additional agencies are brought to bear, to her  still
 farther detriment.  She is already delicate and lan-
 guid, and disinclined to  motion, by the indulgence
 in  a depraved appetite  for " good things," as  the
 abominations above mentioned are called;  and she
 is  now kept in  the house  and perhaps in a close
 and badly ventilated room; and, as  if for  fear she
 might yield to the instinct of her age, by engaging
 in some gambols, she is dressed in clothes so tight-
 ly put on as to prevent the  full movements of her
 body, in its various inflections, and the free exercise
 of the limbs, in running and jumping, clapping her
 hands, &c.  She is told to behave like a little lady,
 that is, to sit still  or  to move with  head  erect in
 short and measured steps, and not to rumple or soil
 her dress.
   Under this discipline, the joints and  bony pro-
 minences lose their appropriate fleshy investments;
 the figure is scraggy, and often remains  so  during
 adolescence and into ripening womanhood.   Then
the climate is abused, and sundry causes for the want
     8 
86
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 of the full development of the forms and of the con-
 tour so essential for beauty are assigned; but, gene-
 rally, with a careful omission of the  true  ones.  If
 these be suggested by some well meaning person,
 who is simple  enough to believe, that experience
 and rectitude of intention will make him be listened
 to, he is silenced as a croaker, or a visionary cynic;
 one who wishes to curtail the pleasures of childhood
 and to  check the affectionate outbreaks of parental
 love.   It will be  in vain  for him to allege that he
 speaks in reference to the  means  of enjoyment by
 the young and to its being prolonged into after life;
 and that it is from his regard for both  children and
 parents that he is anxious for a reform of practices,
 which he knows to be so prejudicial  to the happi-
 ness of both.

   Obesity.—It must seem strange, that, although all
 our ideas of beauty of the human form are associated
 with those of a full and rounded outline of its several
parts, the fear  of excessive fulness  or of fatness
 greatly predominates over that of leanness or even
 of meagreness.  This is an evidence  of the power
 of adventitious taste and of fashion over nature and
 those models in nature which are representatives of
 health and beauty.   Were  the human body, itself,
 made the subject of  study, and the proportions and
 outlines  of its  several  parts,  especially  of those
 concerned in locomotion, understood, in connection 
               EEARS FROM OBESITY.            87

 with their uses, we should find but little difference
 of sentiment  on the essentials of beauty, whatso-
 ever we might think of the lines and angles and ab-
 rupt swells of a figure made by dress.  Feebleness
 of movement would no longer be considered graceful,
 nor  paleness of complexion and general meagreness
 of frame be regarded among the attributes of beauty.
   The first evidences of an approach  to  fleshiness
 or a deposit of cellular and fatty matter under  the
 skin, so as to constitute «t notable fulness  of feature
 and  of limb, are often seen by their possessor with
 alarm;   and  measures,  generally  prejudicial to
 health,  are at once had recourse  to  for their re-
 moval.   The  calls of appetite are disregarded, or
 appeased by  articles which  weaken  and disorder
 the digestion, such as acids in excess, pickles, &c.
 This is  mischievous and cruel.  The dreaded fat-
 ness is kept away, it is true; but at the expense of
 comfort  and  well being  ever afterwards.   The
 6tomach is irreparably injured; blood is not made in
 sufficient quantity nor  of quality adequate to the
 wants of the several parts of the  system.  Hence
 the skin becomes pale and the lips are blue.   If the
 change  have  been sudden,  the  skin, in place of
 gradually accommodating  itself to the diminished
 size  of the parts  beneath, which  by its  elasticity
 it  is able to  do  in health, either  falls into folds
and  puckers or is loose and destitute of its wonted
smoothness and polish. 
88
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  The season of belleship over, and it may be the
duties of maternity devolving on her, the victim to
bad taste, who was so eager  to  make  herself thin,
will wish most earnestly for her former good appe-
tite, and good digestion, nor fear even if somewhat
of embonpoint should follow.  But vain will be her
wish, if the  practices already adverted to, in the
large  and long use of acids and of indigestible sub-
stances  containing acid, have  been followed.  The
chances of salutary change, even after  reform is be-
gun, will be much less if, for the sake  of exhibiting
a delicate waist, tight lacing  has been added to the
other  enormity in  question.   The injury  to the
stomach and liver, and to their functions, and to the
lungs  and the  circulation,  though  not  perhaps
beyond  recovery, will yet be of long duration.
  If a person suffer from obesity, either by its im-
peding the requisite pleasurable freedom  of move-
ments or  its unseemly appearance, the cure  is to
be sought  for by a perseverance in the following
course:  1. The use of food in moderate quantities,
at long intervals,  and  with  a  restriction  in the
amount of fluid as well  as of solid; 2. Full exer-
cise, to the extent  of  producing fatigue;  3. En-
grossing mental occupation, so that the brain shall
also be somewhat fatigued by its peculiar exercises
as were the  muscles of the trunk and  limbs by
theirs;  4. Sleep, short of its  customary  period,
which implies of  course  very  early  rising.  An 
DIMINUTION OF FATNESS.          89
  active thinker and a short sleeper, a long walker
  and a spare feeder will seldom be burthened with
  flesh or require compassion for obesity.
    In some countries, especially in the East, mode-
  rate fulness is considered beautiful; and the ex-
  treme  of obesity has  found royal admirers, in the
  persons of the kings of some  of the Sandwich
  Islands.
   That corpulency, to even an unwieldy extent, may
  be  brought down within comfortable limits  we
  have many well attested proofs.  Dr. Cheyne, who
  weighed thirty-two stone  (14 lbs. to the stone) re-
  duced  himself one third, and enjoyed good health
  till the age of seventy-two.  Numerous instances
  of the kind are mentioned, where journals of gradual
 reduction were kept.  The following is an  abstract
 of one of them, in the case of a person,  who, on
 the 17th  of June,  1820,  weighed  twenty-three
 stone two pounds.
   June 17th,    -    -    23 stone  2 pounds.
   July 27th,
   September 10th,
   October 10th,  -
   November 10th,
   December 10th,
   December 25th,
   In another case,  attended by  Dr. Gregory of
Edinburgh, the patient weighed twenty-three stone,
and by a regular system of diet was brought down
                        8*
21	u	10
20	t<	7
19	k	3
18	a	11
18	u	4
18	u	1
 
90
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
to fifteen stone, being a reduction of a hundred and
twelve pounds.  In this instance brown bread with
a certain quantity of bran in it was employed.  A
baker in Pye Corner, (London,)  weighed thirty-
four stone, and would frequently eat a small shoul-
der of mutton, baked  in his oven, and  weighing
five pounds: he, however, persisted for one year to
live upon water  gruel and  brown bread, by which
he lost two hundred pounds of his bulk.

  Leanness.—We  are not  to suppose that  there
is a uniform proportion between the quantity and
quality of food eaten and the size and corpulence of
the individual.   Some  of the most ravenous eaters
have  had the leanest  bodies,  and  some of the
most  rotund and fat figures have been moderate in
their living.
  There is  no  better, and perhaps it should be
added less easy, means of removing leanness and
its straight lines and furrows than cheerfulness and
a composed mind. To laugh and  grow fat, is one
of the truest proverbs; but in this utilitarian age, in
which children, even, are crammed with cakes and
confectionary in one establishment, and with chosen
morsels  and essences, or,  more vernacularly ex-
pressed, with the odds  and  ends of all the sciences
in another,  this is now-a-days seldom witnessed.
Then, in after life, the thirst for  gold and  office
among men, and the craving for dress and gewgaws 
CURE OF LEANNESS.
91
and show among women, and the  heart-burnings
and anxieties respecting their social position among
all;  liquor and tobacco with one sex; coffee and tea
with the  other;  indolence alternating with over
exertion in both, induce a state of feeling most in-
compatible with that which would prompt to laugh-
ter and incline us to grow fat.
   Various expedients, in addition to an improved diet,
have been resorted to, for the restoration of lean
persons to a better case;  but amongst the most sin-
gular which we have on record is that of flagellation.
Galen says, that horse dealers having been observ-
ed to fatten horses for  sale, by flogging  them, an
analogous method might be useful with spare per-
sons who wish to become stouter.  He, also, men-
tions slave-dealers who  employed  similar means.
Suetonius  informs us that Musa, the favorite phy-
sician of Augustus, used to fustigate him, not only
to cure him of sciatica, but  to keep  him plump.
Meibomius pretends that nurses whip little children
to fatten  them, that they may appear  healthy and
chubby to their mothers.   No doubt but flagellation
determines a greater afflux  of blood to  the surface,
and may thus tend to  increase the circulation, and
give tone to parts which would otherwise be lan-
guid.*
   As flagellation  is now out of fashion and  fallen

  * Millingen's Curiosities of Medical Experience. 
93
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 into disuse, both in church and state, prisons  and
 schools, we may be content to take the hint which
 the practice furnishes and obtain the  application of
 the philosophy by  gentler methods.  There is no
 doubt, that a greater determination of blood to the
 surface will give fulness and activity of growth to the
 skin and soft parts beneath. Hence the advantage, in
 reference to the point which now engages our atten-
 tion, apart from  the considerations on  which  the
 custom has been already recommended, of the use
 of the warm bath and, subsequently, of even rough
 and assiduously continued friction of the skin.

  Effects  of pressure on the contour of the
 body.—The frame-work of the body consists of the
 bones, and the size and proportion of the limbs and
 external parts are given by the muscles which cover
 this frame-work,  or the skeleton.  The  fulness of
 form and outline, in which the jutting muscles are
 covered and the spaces left between them are filled
 up, is  communicated  by the adipose and cellular
 tissues, as already described.  But the well  de-
 fined contour and finely rounded forms depend on
 the skin, which has  sufficient elasticity to allow of
its yielding to the distension from growth or tem-
 porary enlargement  of parts, and  to resume  its
former state when the  distending cause ceases to
act and the parts  have  returned to their pristine di-
mensions.  Its power of accommodation is evinced 
ELASTICITY of the skin.
93
also in its gradual retraction, in  cases of diminish-
ed embonpoint, so that it still closely invests  and
gives a  finished  outline  to  the  parts  beneath.
Where the change of size is sudden, however, as
from distension by tumor or swelling, the  skin is
not elaatic enough  to  prevent  its being  unduly
stretched and becoming very tense, with the loss
of its natural softness;  or to fall into wrinkles  and
folds, after a sudden removal of the subjacent parts,
in violent disease.
  The elasticity of the skin, and it may be added,
of the  soft tissue beneath  is best maintained by
the means already described, as those most favor-
able to the health and beauty of this part.  What-
ever gives vigor and animation to  the body will
contribute to the increase of this property, and  also
of  the  vital tone  or tonicity,  which  on this ac-
count are most  active and manifest in youth  and
the prime of life.  They are best preserved by  that
middle  state  of fulness of habit alike removed
from obesity and from emaciation.  The skin long
distended in very fleshy persons loses  its elasticity
and tone, and  any diminution  of size, unless by
regular  training,  leaves it  in  folds  or puckers.
Long retracted, in thin persons it does not yield
with regularity and entireness  to a rapid increase
of  flesh, and   exhibits  lines  and  creases,  and
shadows, which are  unpleasant breaks  on what
Ourf&l to  be a smooth and polished surface. 
94
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  With old age  comes  diminished elasticity and
vital tone of the skin and the consequences just
mentioned.
  It would be most fortunate if we could with pro-
priety dismiss this subject without any additional
remarks, and especially  without the  necessity of
censuring a practice, sanctioned by fashion, which
anticipates the worst  effects of disease and of old
age, in destroying the elastic and  tonic powers of
the skin, removing thereby the proper and equable
compression  of  the contained parts  beneath and
disfiguring the beautiful contour  and undulating
lines of beauty.   I refer  now to the artificial  pres-
sure exerted on different  parts of the body by busks
and tight lacing, and by padding.   The inevit-
able effect of these applications is to destroy the
elasticity of the  skin, or the  power of accommo-
dating itself to  the  varying fulness of  the  soft
parts, and even of giving  these the requisite sup-
port at any time.   But, not only is the vital power
of the skin enfeebled, the elastic cushion of fat
and cellular tissue beneath is  removed by the con-
tinued pressure,  and the  undulating outline  and
desired fulness of the external forms are destroyed.
In place of roundness,  ever  essential to beauty,
there  is flatness.  Poorly is the deficiency in this
respect  compensated  for by additional fulness of
the parts immediately external to or beyond the line
of compression.   If the  skin  in the  former  ^ssc 
                EVILS OF PRESSURE.            95

 suffers  by pressure,  it  is  injured  in  the  latter
 by being constantly relaxed.  In both cases it is
 deprived of that exercise of its properties which is
 absolutely  necessary  for their retention and acti-
 vity.  This is more particularly evident where  the
 person is fleshy and with naturally a full contour of
 the  bust.   The pressure on the  waist and lower
 part of the bosom causes an unnatural protrusion
 of the latter  upwards, so  as to  destroy  both  its
 natural convexity  of figure and to  interfere with
 and in a great measure prevent those gently undu-
 lating lines and gradual change of surface from the
 neck to the  breast and  shoulders.  Growth pre-
 vented at the  waist and central region of the body
 goes on now with  additional activity in the upper
 part of the breast, shoulders and  neck, which in
 consequence acquire a development unfavorable to
 symmetry, and both unsought and unwished for by
 the victim of  fashion herself.  A good  idea of the
 inequality of  growth and  unseemly  appearance
 caused by tight lacing or bandaging of the waist
 may be formed by witnessing the effects of a tight
 ring or iron girdle on the trunk of a tree or stem
 of a plant.  There will be depression of the part
 covered by this latter and unnatural growth or ex-
crescences above and below.   To the eye of taste
as well  as  to that accustomed to natural propor-
tions, how much more pleasing would be the sight
of the  several parts of the bust left in their relative 
96
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
position, with their appopriate fulness and contour,
and yet deriving just that artificial  aid from dress
which should aid the elasticity of the skin.   Gar-
ments of a suitable  texture and  shape  might be
contrived so as to  exhibit without deforming, and
to even set off to advantage, without discord of pro-
portions, the entire contour of the bust.
  If the bosom be full and expanded it will  in its
proper position harmonise with the natural size of
the waist and not be merged in the neck and shoul-
ders.   A bust  thus formed may not by  all be re-
garded as a standard; but it will at least please by
its  harmonious proportions and  will represent ad-
vantageously one of the types of beauty, that in
which nutrition and a consequent  fulness of all
the forms predominate.   Its  superiority over any
moulding by fashion would be admitted by  all of
either sex, if the two figures divested of drapery,
that  on which corsets  have been  long  used, and
that  left to its  natural  growth  and proportions,
were copied on canvass or in marble.  The propel
contrast would be to  place the figure made by
fashion with its long, straight, flat, and dispropor-
tionately narrow  waist and upforced breasts, beside
the Venus de' Medici, or the Juno of the Capitol,
or Diana, or any admitted beautiful female, painted
by a  Titian or a Vandyke, a Guido or a Rubens.
Every  spectator, whilst  admiring the one, would
turn away with ill concealed dislike from the  other. 
DISEASE BY PRESSURE.
97
   Were the fashion now reprobated merely a mas-
 querade dress, put on  for a particular occasion, we
 might regard it as harmless  although  silly.   But
 when we know that  it  permanently injures  and
 deforms, by preventing the restoration of the skin
 to its natural elasticity and of the several  parts to
 their proper form  and contour, we must regard it
 with sentiments  of  dislike  for its mischievous
 effects, and of contempt  for its  being  opposed to
 good taste.  A lady who, after having been, we
 will suppose, a willing  victim to the cruelty and
 barbarism of tight lacing for some  years, should
 consent to abandon  the  fashion, can  no  longer
 expect  a restoration  of her natural and  graceful
 figure.  This is well known to the suffering party,
 and it is made a plea for not attempting a reform,
 which  on the  score  of beauty might not, per-
 haps, be so material; but which,  on that of health,
 for  reasons already  assigned and  for  others  to
 be  given  in the sequel, is of paramount import-
 ance.
  We have in the preceding remarks supposed that
 there was  obvious plenitude  of  bust.  But if the
 young person be of a thin frame  and yet growing,
 the evils from the artificial compression by busk and
corsets are still greater.   The gradual  swell and
roundness of the bust,  from the requisite fulness of
the breasts and shoulders, is prevented by the early
and continued pressure, which acts higher  up still
    9 
98
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
than in the case first supposed. The shoulder blades
are unduly brought together; and besides, they are not
adequately covered with the muscles and.the fatty
and cellular tissues, by which a graceful undulation
of contour is  acquired  for these parts.  Not only
is the growth  prevented, but there  is an actual re-
moval of  the soft parts  by the vital process of ab-
sorption, called into activity by pressure.   In front,
the breasts being similarly pressed on by the busk
between and corsets  over them, are also prevented
from expanding; and the bust in place of its full
rounded contour, represented by a succession of
circular, spherical, and  elliptical lines, is  flattened
in front and behind.   It pains the observer from its
appearance being associated with deficient amplitude
of chest and  feebleness of respiration; and by its
suggesting a deficiency in those parts which, here-
after, when the female has become a mother should
be the fount of  the pearly stream of nutriment for
her offspring.
   The artifice of padding, so as to give an  appear-
ance of fulness  to the  bust when the  breasts are
deficient in their development, is productive of bad
effects, by increasing the defect which  it was in-
tended to conceal if not to remedy.  This padding,
by its pressure on the breasts, really prevents  their
growth, and even diminishes their original bulk.
   Surgeons are  well aware, and constantly practise
on a knowledge of the  fact, that one  of the most 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUST.         99
effectual means for the removal of tumours or pro-
minences of any kind on  the  human body is by a
graduated pressure.   Bone itself will disappear
under  this agency, by what has been  called the
vital process of absorption.
  If the physician  or surgeon were  specially  re-
quested to undertake measures having for object
the removal of the  protuberance  of breasts  and
their entire flattening, he would make use of com-
presses (pads) and pressure,  either  by a roller or
bandage passed round the parts, or  by corsets as
commonly worn.
  The proper aids to a suitable development of the
bust are in some respects the very reverse of those
usually had recourse to.  The soft parts should not
either be thrust upwards out of their natural position
and direction, or compressed by padding; but left en-
tirely free from pressure of any kind, or in any direc-
tion.   Their growth will be encouraged by all the
means adapted to the promotion of health and in a
more especial manner by wholesome food, fresh air,
and  active exercise.  Those sports, in which the
arms are freely moved  in  every direction, and  by
which the chest is expanded, contribute not a little
to the desired amplitude and roundness both of the
breasts and shoulders.  Direct excitation  of the
skin and tissues beneath, so as to invite an afflux
of fluids and cause a consequent fulness, is obtain-
ed by warm  clothing, warm bathing or sponging 
100
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 with warm water, followed by moderate friction
 continued for some time.
   Other varieties of pressure, all of them  detri-
 mental to health and some of them to pleasing out-
 line of form and  graceful carriage, are caused by
 tight shoes, tight garters,  the upper part of the
 sleeves which press  at the same time on the arm
 pits and cause swellings of the glands  in  those
 parts; tight cravats  or collars, and hats too  small
 for the head.  I but Jnention these now, as I shall
 have occasion to  speak of them hereafter, under
 the heads of movements and expression.  In  refer-
 ence to the subject now under illustration, it can-
 not, however,  have escaped the notice of the  most
 superficial, that tight and very low shoes  often
 worn to make  the feet appear less large than they
 really are, have  a most .disfiguring  effect.  The
 undue  pressure on  the  sides  and toes causes a
 swelling or actual puffiness. of the upper part of
 the foot  and that contiguous to the ankle, so as to
 destroy  the proportion and  symmetry which  even
 a large  foot may  exhibit when not  distorted  by
 false fashion.

  Of the Figure and Contour.—During youth
and among civilised nations, woman is distinguish-
ed by the softness, the  smoothness, the delicacy,
and the polish  of all the forms, by the gradual and
easy transition between all  the parts, by the  num- 
FEMALE CONTOUR.             101
 ber and the harmony of the undulating lines which
 these present  in  every view, by the beautiful out-
 line of the reliefs and by the fineness and anima-
 tion of the skin.*
   A certain degree of plumpness is appropriate to
 the sex.   It  evinces  an abundance  of that soft
 tissue, the cellular or reticular, which is not only
 largely distributed  under the  skin, but is found
 also interposed between all the internal organs as
 well as in the  neighborhood  of the joints  and all
 the parts, the pressure  of which  on each  other
 would be  productive  of injury to the health.   A
 woman thus constituted is less liable to suffer from
 irritation  or disease of the internal organs during
 those notable changes in the state of maternity, in
 which the organs are exposed to great compressions
 and distensions.
   During the third stage or turning period of life a
 woman, who has  retained the healthy exercise  of
 her digestive  functions, and enjoyed relative free-
 dom  from the  shock  of strong and  contending
 emotions, sometimes acquires an increase of plump-
 ness and displays  even a degree of beauty, mature
though it be, to which owing to her  meagreness in
early  life she had been heretofore a stranger.

  * Analysis of Beauty.—For the descriptions which
follow, of the different styles of beauty, I am mainly in-
debted to this work.
                       9* 
102
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
   Gradually with  advancing age  the  polish and
 firmness of the skin and flesh are lost;  the natural
 prominences and all the forms lose  their roundness
 and softness, and acquire angularity and hardness.
   There are well marked varieties of the female
 form and of fulness and roundness of outline, accord-
 ing to the predominance of the nutritive, the loco-
 motive and the intellectual functions.  It is in the
 first that we expect always to find the  highest
 degree of development of the external forms; from
 the greater  abundance in them of the cellular and
 adipose tissues.  In a woman of this variety, the
 face is generally full and  rounded;  the  neck  is
 rather short and by the gentlest curvature forms an
 almost insensible transition  between the body and
 head; the shoulders are softly  rounded, and  owe
 any breadth they may possess rather to the expand-
 ed chest than to any bony or muscular size of the
 shoulders themselves; the bosom, a vital organ, in
 its  luxuriance seems to protrude laterally on the
 space occupied  by  the arms;  the  waist,  though
 sufficiently marked, is, as it were  encroached on
 by  that  plumpness of all the contiguous parts
 which results from the  activity of the nutritive
 system.  But the locomotive organs, the limbs and
arms, tapering and becoming delicate, terminate in
feet and hands,  which compared with the ample
trunk  are peculiarly small.
  This  variety is  most frequently met with in 
STYLES OF BEAUTY.           103
 women of short  stature; and  is especially evident
 after they have become mothers.   It is in it that
 the light complexion prevails, so that the rose and
 the  lily are exquisitely blended;  and there is at
 the  same time in persons thus constituted a profu-
 sion of soft and fine flaxen or auburn hair.
   The variety of beauty characterised by a pre-
 dominance of the locomotive system, shows itself
 in a woman whose face  is  generally somewhat
 bony and  oblong; the neck long and tapering; the
 bosom of moderate dimensions; the waist enclos-
 ing smaller nutritive organs, is  remarkable for fine
 proportion and resembles, in some respects, an in-
 verted cone;  the arms as well as the lower limbs
 being formed chiefly  of locomotive  organs are
 rather long and  moderately tapering;  the hands
 and  feet are moderately small.  The complexion,
 owing to  the  inferior activity of the nutritive sys-
 tem  is often rather dark;  and the hair is frequently
 dark  and strong.  The  whole  figure is precise,
 striking, and often brilliant. From its proportions,
 it  seems  almost  aerial;  and  we  would imagine,
 that  if our hands were placed under the lateral parts
 of the tapering waist of a woman thus character-
 ised, the slightest exertion would  suffice  to make
 her rise and float  in mid air.
  The arms  of woman are shorter than  in  man.
As these  members  are well marked in beauty of 
104
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
the locomotive system, they may be  more  fully
considered  here.  The arms, and  especially  their
extremities, are susceptible  of a degree of beauty
of which we have few  examples.  Their bases,
the bones, ligaments, and muscles belong to the
locomotive system;  and their characteristic beauty
consequently depends upon  its  proportions; but to
the nutritive system, on which the soft tissues that
cover and clothe, as it were, the muscles, depend,
are owing  the  circumstances that in woman, the
arm is fatter  and  more rounded, has milder forms,
and more flowing and purer outlines.  The hand
in woman is  smaller, more plump, and softer, and
whiter.   It is peculiarly beautiful when full; when
it is gently dimpled over the first joints; when the
fingers are long, tapering  towards the ends; when
the other joints are marked by  slight reliefs and
shadows; and  when  the  fingers are delicate and
flexible.  Beauty of the  hand becomes the  more
precious  because  it is the principal  organ of that
sense which  may  be considered as the most im-
portant of all.
  The women  of Rome,  we  are  told, present
beauty of  the  shoulders  in the highest degree,
when they arrive at that  period of life in which
plumpness succeeds to juvenile elasticity.
  The Greek or Ionian women, whose arms were
of so perfect a form, owed  this beauty in a great 
HANDS AND FEET.
105
measure  to  the  freedom of these parts  from the
pressure  and ligature  of modern dress  and their
consequent ability to exercise them freely.
  It might be thought to be pushing physiognomy
too far to allege that the form of the hand not only
often announces  the occupation of  the  person  to
whom it belongs, but sometimes even her particu-
lar capabilities.   There certainly are, says Walker,
hands that we may call intellectual; and there are
others that we may call foolish or stupid.  The
reader will excuse me for inability to define these
distinctive peculiarities.
  The ancients attached more importance  to the
form of the feet than we do at  this  time, probably
owing to the fact  of these members being con-
stantly exposed  to view.  The  philosophers did
not neglect it in the general view of the physiog-
nomy; and the  historians as  well as poets made
mention of their  beauty, in speaking of  Polyxene,
Aspasia, and others;  as they  did of their de-
formity, in describing the emperor Domitian.
   In woman the  joints and especially those of the
extremities are  small.   The elbow joint is softly
rounded; and the various joints of the fingers are
marked chiefly by little reliefs and faint shadows.
   The finest model of  beauty of the locomotive
system,  is in the statue  of the Grecian Diana,  re-
presented with one hand on her quiver just about 
106
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
to draw an arrow, and the other seizing the horn
of a bounding stag.
  In  the beauty distinguished by predominance of
the intellectual or thinking system, the greater de-
velopment of the upper part of the head gives it a
pyriform appearance;  the face  is  generally  oval;
the high and  pale  forehead  announces  the  excel-
lence of the observing faculties; the intensely ex-
pressive  eye is full of sensibility.   In  the  lower
features of the face  modesty and  dignity ,are often
united.  There is not  the expanded bosom, the
general plumpness, or the beautiful complexion of
the first species of beauty; and in place  of its ele-
gant  proportion of the second, we see  easy and
graceful motion.  The whole figure is distinguish-
ed by intellectuality and grace.
  Be it said, however, that this kind  of beauty is
less adapted to woman than the first.   It is not the
intellectual, but the nutritive system, which is and
ought to be most developed in woman.
  The best illustration of  the  union of the several
varieties  which render  the beauty of  the thinking
system, perfect, is the Minerva of the Giustiniani
Gallery at Rome.

  DEPENDENCE OF THE FORMS ON NUTRITION.

  In summing up the chief facts and  illustrations 
              ASSIMILATION OF FOOD.           107

 on the  subject of beauty of the skin, and fulness
 and harmony of the external forms, as displayed in
 the rounded and waving  outline of the  several
 parts, we see that the chief condition for the pos-
 session of these qualities is in the  health of the
 nutritive system.  By  this  we are to understand
 that series of functions constituting digestion, assi-
 milation, circulation of the blood, respiration, and
 the various secretions and excretions.
   Of these, the first is  digestion, for the due per-
 formance of which,  the stomach must receive food
 of an appropriate kind, enough to occupy without
 fatiguing it. The gastric change, when complete, re-
 sults in the formation of a semifluid matter which is
 taken up and received into numerous small vessels,
 to be converted into chyle.  This fluid is then carried
 onwards and collects into fewer and larger vessels,
and finally  into  one duct called the thoracic, by
which  it  is  poured into a  bloodvessel  near the
heart.   The chyle thus mixed with the blood, at
least that portion of it called venous, and which, as
already described, is returned from all parts of the
body, enters with this  latter into the right cavities
of the heart.   From these  it is propelled into the
lungs by the contractions of the walls of the  cavi-
ties, and, as before stated, is minutely distributed
by very small, and in some  instances, impercepti-
ble vessels under the lining membrane  of the
lungs, through  the medium of which it is exposed 
108
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
to the atmospherical air, taken in during inspiration.
The blood now assumes its rich vermillion tint,
and acquires those properties by which, when it is
returned to the left cavities of the heart and trans-
mitted by the contraction of their sides into  the
arteries and thence distributed to all parts of the
body, it becomes fitted to vivify and nourish  them.
Part of the blood, having reached the organs  and
tissues, continues its course through them, passing
from  the minute  arteries into minute veins  and
thence into larger veins,  until it is finally emptied,
in volume, into the right cavities of the heart.   But
another part of the blood remains  in  the  organs to
which it was distributed by the arteries.   Some of
it becomes  solid and assumes the appearance and
nature of the tissue in which  it is  deposited.  In
this way the growth of the body  is accomplished.
Whether it be  muscle,  or bone, or  fat, or cellular
tissue, each and all are nourished and replenished
from the blood.  Of this fluid remaining  in the
organs, that  which is not used for their direct nu-
trition  and  growth, undergoes peculiar kinds of
changes termed secretions, by which it is converted
into  new  fluids  destined  for specific  purposes.
Thus from blood brought to the liver, bile is form-
ed;  from that carried to the  glands  at the angles
and under part of  the  jaws, saliva, &c.   These
new products are used  in the digestive function;
the saliva mixing with the food in the mouth, the 
            POOR OR DEFICIENT BLOOD.         109

bile  with that which has been  changed by the
stomach  and  carried into  another  portion  of the
digestive canal.
  There are other fluids formed out of the blood;
such as sweat on the skin, the product of respira-
tion, in the lungs, &c, which must of  necessity be
discharged out of the body; for if retained, serious
disturbances  in   the  animal   economy  and even
alarming and fatal diseases would  ensue.  These
fluids are commonly called excretions.
  A very  slight acquaintance with  physiology
shows that on  the  ease and completeness with
which digestion, the first of the series  of the nutri-
tive functions, is performed, will mainly depend the
harmonious condition of the  other functions, viz:
assimilation, respiration, circulation, and the secre-
tions including  nutrition proper, or the deposit of
nutritive matter from the blood in the frame-work
of the tissues.  Crude  aliment or too  great a mix-
ture of articles of food will fatigue and disturb the
stomach, and prevent this organ  from  fitting it  to
be changed into  chyle.   Or if this latter be formed,
it will be in small quantity, not enough  to  supply
the blood in return for the waste of this fluid by
the processes already described.  Even when form-
ed, the chyle may be relatively poor, or  retain some-
what of  the  peculiarities of the  food, and  in this
way affect the blood. If the blood be  impoverish-
ed, vainly can we expect to see its possessor exhibit
     10 
110
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
either the hue of health or fulness of the forms, and
the swelling and rounded outline of beauty.
  There is one other consideration connected  with
the subject of digestion, which cannot be presented
in fewer words and  more to  the purpose than in
the language of a lady, who has addressed a work
to her own sex on the main topics, which are inte-
resting  to them, viz:  behavior,  dress, health, di-
visions  and  improvement  of time, conversation,
visits, travelling, and mental culture.*
  " I cannot dismiss this part of my subject," says
Mrs. Farrar, "without a few  observations on the
importance of a daily evacuation from  the bowels.
The practice  of taking medicine  to effect this
should be avoided; but no pains should  be spared
in regulating  the diet  and exercise so as to obtain
it.  If all mothers made a point of establishing
regular habits in childhood, it would not  be neces-
sary to notice the subject here; but knowing  how
carelessly most young persons treat  the subject
and  that  some even consider it a piece  of refine-
ment and a privilege not to pay daily attention to
this function of the body, I feel it incumbent upon
me  to  point out the evil consequences  of such a
course.
  " It may  startle some, who thus neglect them-
selves, to  know that they carry in their face the
proof of their bad habits; and that a medical  man
has said, he could distinguish, in a large  company,
all those girls who were inattentive to their health
  * The Young Lady's Friend by Mrs. John Farrar,
Boston, 1838. 
          REGULAR DIGESTION IMPORTANT.      Ill

 in  this particular.  He  says, he knows  them by
 the state of their  complexions;  and he  longs to
 remonstrate with them on  the impolicy if not the
 sin, of so maltreating their  systems and spoiling
 their good looks.  To those who have right views
 of  the subject, there is something the very reverse
 of  refinement in such conduct; and young ladies
 would certainly avoid it, if they were aware of all
 the consequences.  Besides  the indirect  injury to
 the health, and consequently to the  beauty, of all,
 it has a direct effect unfavorable to the complexion;
 it, also, makes the breath offensive, and sometimes
 affects the whole atmosphere of a person;  it is,
 moreover, a frequent cause of eruptions of the skin.
 If this be not already your mortifying experience,
 let  me persuade you to comply with  the laws of
 your  being,  before you have felt  the  chastening
 which will sooner or later  follow  their infringe-
 ment."
  Not only  are  the  looks  injured  by this torpid
 state  of the  alimentary canal, or constipation, but
the health is  in  various ways  affected and many
important functions deranged;   for  the  relief  of
which a female is too apt to have recourse to dele-
terious nostrums.   The tone of  the  spirits and the
activity of the  intellect are also lowered by the
same  cause. 
112
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
               CHAPTER  HI.

  OF ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS--EXERCISE AS A
        MEANS OF HEALTH AND  OF GRACE.

  The most important division of my  subject is
reached in  this chapter.   It is not merely a con-
sideration of beautiful proportions to be preserved
and graceful movements to be acquired, but of de-
formity to be  prevented,  which is now  to engage
our attention.  If evils of great moment are pointed
out, the remedy can, happily, be made equally mani-
fest.  There is a standard before us by which to
measure  the accuracy of our  opinions and to test
the correctness both  of  our  advice and censure.
The facts  on this  occasion cannot be evaded nor
denied, however  much their  value  may be under-
rated,  and  the inferences from them ridiculed, in
the same frame of mind  with  which one may be
supposed,  by a  horrible perversion of  the moral
sense, to find amusement at  the sight of a fellow
creature brought  to the rack, on which his joints
are dislocated and their  ligaments  torn.   One
cannot  but  wish that our  nursery associations
between  the bony frame-work, or the skeleton of 
              LOCOMOTIVE APPARATUS.          113

 the human body, and death and decay were broken
 up;  and  a rational  acquaintance  with  medical
 mechanics substituted in their stead.  Great would
 be the gain of useful knowledge to  the young of
 both sexes, if  pedants and pedagogues  were to
 present, in place of a wearisome neology, illustra-
 tions of the lever, the pulley, and the wedge, of the
 arch, the hinge, &c, in the human skeleton;  and
 to show how wonderful the elasticity and flexibility
 evinced in the structure of the spine; and the vari-
 ous examples of the laws of the centre of gravity
 in attitudes and movements.
   A very brief study of the locomotive apparatus
 at rest and in action would prevent, or  if they  had
 been acted on, shame the  enactors from persisting
 in them, the various privations  and observances by
 which the body is placed and  retained in weari-
 some postures and cheated of proper exercise.   A
 skeleton should be a part of the little  museum of
 every seminary of learning for  either sex: it cer-
 tainly is an appropriate addition to any  philosophi-
 cal apparatus; and, as respects  direct personal  ad-
 vantage to the scholar, should  be preferred to  the
 air-pump, or electrical machine.
  Into a detailed or even systematic description of
 the parts  for  support  and motion in  the animal
economy, I cannot be  expected to enter  on this
occasion.   Enough will be introduced, however, to
enable the reader to  understand the practices to be
                      10* 
114
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
pursued and those to be avoided, in the various atti-
tudes and movements and regular exercises of the
body.

  The Bones.—The solid frame of the human body
consists of a series of bones variously joined to and
connected with one another. In some instances, their
union is so intimate that they seem to form but one
bone, as the skull or cranium, which in fact consists
of eight bones.   In others, as at the wrist and foot,
they are so tied to each other and connected by in-
terlacing ligaments that they seem to form but one
structure, although they have a slight motion on
each other.
  The head, which consists of the skull and bones of
the face, rests on the spine, back bone, or  spinal or
vertebral column, as it is variously called.  The spine
is formed of a series of bones (vertebrae) which are
hollow in their centre and constitute by their junction
along canal, in which the spinal marrow is contained.
The spinal marrow  is continuous with the brain
above, which is contained in and protected by the
6kull.  The figure  of the  back bone examined
laterally  is that of an italic /  being waved or
curved in different directions.  It becomes, that is
to say, the several bones of which it  is made, be-
come wider and present more surface as it descends
until it is locked in  as a wedge between  the  two
bones, the haunches, and  it  then  tapers off into a 
THE spine or back bone.
115
point.   It may be said in this respect to represent a
double pyramid, the base of the upper one, which
consists of twenty-four separate bones or vertebrae,
is at the  junction  of the last  of  these with the
bone that runs down between the haunches, and its
apex is at the neck where it is joined with the skull;
the  base of the lower  pyramid is in direct apposi-
tion with the other, and its apex is  at the  very ex-
tremity of the  bone already  mentioned or in other
words at  the very lower end of the  spine.  The
vertebrae composing this last portion, or the invert-
ed  pyramid,  are  so  closely united  as  to  form
but  one-bone, which  is  technically called sacrum.
It must be  obvious,  therefore, that this sacrum is
both a continuation  of the spine and is the back part
of  that series of large  and  strong bones, the
haunches, which meet in front and constitute an ir-
regular cavity called pelvis.  The weight of the spine
proper and of the parts, which we shall soon see are
connected with it,  is borne  directly by the lower
portion  of it or the lower pyramid, the sacrum, as
more immediately  in the  line  of the centre of
gravity.  But this  weight is also transmitted in a
very great degree to the bones on each side of the
sacrum, owing to their close union, we might call
soldering; just as a weight resting  on one portion
of a horizontal circular machine  is borne  to a cer-
tain  extent by  the whole of this circle.  Were it not
so, the part on which the weight immediately rests 
116
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 would be too  weak for  its support and  would be
 detached or broken off from the remaining and larger
 part of the circle.   The sacrum or lower part of the
 spine, that which we have seen serves as a support
 to  the upper,  larger, and  moveable part  or spine
 proper, being situated between the haunch bones
 on  each side transmits equally to them the weight
 with which it is loaded.   From these bones the
 weight is transmitted to the thigh bones, one on
 each side, which are  connected  with the haunches
 by  a strong joint.  Thence the weight is transfer-
 red to the great or inner bone of the leg, and from it
 to the arch of the foot, the two  ends of which are
 chiefly the lower portion  of the heel and the ball of
 the great toe.
  The above is the direct line of gravity from the
 skull or cranium to the  feet, if we suppose them
 drawn close together and resting  on  the ground.
 But other important bones are joined, laterally, to
 the spine, which supports them indirectly and trans-
 mits their weight to the bones beneath it, as already
 described.   Those  now  referred to are  the  ribs,
 twelve on each side, which at one end are joined,
by articulation, to  the back bone  or spine, and at
the  other, in a similar manner, to the breast bone in
front.  More correctly, we should say, that seven
on each side are joined to the breast bone: the ends
 of the others  are left free.   The  first seven are
called the true, the other five the false  ribs.  The 
MIDRIFF OR DIAPHRAGM.
117
 portion in front  of each  rib is cartilaginous, and
 hence is endowed with elasticity.  The ribs in-
 crease in length successively from the first to  the
 seventh,  and from  this latter  they  diminish in
 length.
   It is in the cavity, the frame or outline of which
 is formed by a portion of the spine behind, of the
 breast bone in front, and  of the ribs on each side,
 that the lungs and heart and  the ramifications of
 the windpipe formerly described, and the passage
 to the stomach are contained.  From the lower part
 of the breast bone and the ends and borders of the
 lower ribs, and passing backwards to  the spine, is
 spread a fleshy and tendinous partition of a vaulted
 form, called midriff, or technically, diaphragm, which
 separates the organs,  just named, in the cavity of
 the chest or thorax, from  the other important ones
 chiefly  for nutrition;  as the stomach, liver, spleen,
 intestines, kidneys, &c.   These last are contaiued in
 the cavity (abdomen) formed by the midriff above,
 by the inclined inner walls of the haunch bones or
 the pelvis below, by the  spine and  broad muscles
 on each side of it behind, and  by broad sheet-like
 muscles, in front; the whole being covered  with
 some  fat and cellular  tissue and the external tegu-
 ment  or the skin.
  The weight of all these organs, viz: the lungs for
respiration, and the heart, the central or motive power
of the ciroulation;  and those other organs for diges- 
118
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tion, absorption of chyle, secretion, &c,  &c,  is
borne, in part, by the  spine, which  has a tendency
in consequence, to be bent forwards, and in part,
directly, by the circle  and sides of the cavity form-
ed by the haunch bones on each  side and  the sa-
crum  behind.   The  whole  weight, however,  is
transmitted, when the body is erect, to the bones  of
the lower extremities.
  There are, still, other bones, which have a more
indirect connection with  the  spine  than  those al-
ready described;  but which are  the instruments,
under the guidance of his mind,  of man's  superi-
ority over all  other animated beings, and the means
whereby he fashions inanimate nature to suit his
views of usefulness, taste, or caprice.   These are
the bones of the arm and hand on each side, or of the
upper extremities, which  consist of the  shoulder,
the upper bone between it and the elbow, or the arm
proper, and the two lower bones between the elbow
and wrist, or the forearm, and the series of bones
which  make  up  the wrist, the body of the hand,
and the fingers.
  The shoulder consists of two bones, the  shoul-
der blade  or scapula, and  the clavicle  or collar
bone.   The shoulder blade is placed upon the upper
and back part of the bony chest or  thorax,  and oc-
cupies  the space between  the  second and  the
seventh ribs.   It has no direct connection, by joint
or articulation, with the chest, from which it  is 
SHOULDER BONES.
119
separated  by an intervening layer  of muscles,  as
upon  a cushion, and over the smooth  surface  of
which it glides.  Its anterior surface is concave, and
corresponds to the  convexity of the ribs.  On the
external surface runs a ridge, or  spine, as it  is
called, which ends in a projection or process termed
the acromion.   The figure of the shoulder  blade is
triangular, the shortest border being  uppermost.
At the anterior angle of the bone there is a shallow,
oval depression covered with cartilage and deepen-
ed by a cartilaginous margin.  Into this cavity  is
received the head of the bone of the arm, the other
end of which  is articulated, at the elbow, with the
upper ends of the  two  bones which make up the
forearm.
  The second bone of the shoulder, the  clavicle  or
collar  bone, is  long and  slender, with a double
curve, and in the middle projects a little forwards,
so as  to give a slight  convexity of outline to the
top of the chest and the bottom of the neck. It is
attached by one end to the breast bone  and by the
other to the shoulder blade by moveable joints.
  The  collar  bone serves to sustain the upper ex-
tremity or the arm, forearm, and hand; and to connect
it with the chest as well as to prevent it from fall-
ing forward on this latter.  This bone, also, affords
a fixed point for steadying the upper limb in the
performance of its various functions.
  The  head or upper  round end of the arm (hu- 
120
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
merus)  received  into the  cavity  of the shoulder
blade and the  two united by  ligaments forms the
shoulder joint.  This latter is  what  is  termed  a
ball  and  socket joint, one of the peculiarities of
which is to  admit of free and extensive  motion
in every direction;  upwards, downwards,  back-
wards, and forwards.
  Let us now return to the  spine or vertebral or
spinal column, as it is  generally termed,  which
merits a farther consideration.   From  the descrip-
tion hitherto given we see that it affords  a support
and buttress to other  bones.  It sustains  the head;
it is a buttress to the  ribs; through  the sternum or
breast bone, and the ribs, it is also a buttress to the
upper, and through  the  pelvis  to the  lower limbs.
So  far we can understand how it is  firm, rigid and
strong;  and from its consisting of a number of sepa-
rate  bones resting on  and articulated with  each
other, that it should also have some degree of flexi-
bility.  Each  separate bone or vertebra  yields to
some extent, which though slight in a  single bone,
becomes  considerable in the twenty-four.   But a
different or at  least modified mechanism is required
for  the  spine  to  display its  appropriate flexibility
and elasticity.  This will be readily understood by
what follows.  If I engage a little  in  detail,  I
intreat the reader's attention, and can assure  that
no description of structure and of connection of parts
is introduced which is not necessary to an elucidation 
         THE SPINE OR VERTEBRAL COLUMN.      121

 of the subject of attitudes and movements, and to
 an understanding of the necessity  of havinw the
 body and limbs untrammelled by tight and ill-fitting
 garments,  in order that it should be benefited by
 exercise.
  The vertebrae of which the spine or back bone is
 formed were represented to be so many long rings
 resting one on the other.  It would be more strictly
 accurate to say, that the anterior surface of each
 vertebra is convex and  its posterior surface  con-
 cave.  From the two sides of this  concavity there
 springs a long  arch,  which completes a ring, the
 cavity of which is filled up as already remarked by
 spinal marrow.   The union of twenty-four of these
 rings forms a  long canal in  which  the whole
 spinal marrow or nervous column, from the brain
 to the lower part of the loins, is contained.
  But the upper and  under edges of the arch just
 described form  a  notch, which, together with a
 corresponding notch  in the contiguous vertebra,
 completes  another opening rounder and  smaller
 than  the former, through which pass  out later-
 ally, on each side, the nerves from the spinal mar-
 row, or the  spinal  nerves, to be  distributed to all
 the muscles and to the skin, giving  the  former the
 power of contracting  and the latter sensibility.
  From both the upper and under sides of the  arch
project portions of bone termed articulating  pro-
cesses, because it is chiefly by them that the verte-
       11 
122
HEALTH AND BEAL'I V .
 brae are connected together, in such a way that  the
 two upper  processes  of  one  vertebra  are  united
 with  the two lower processes of the  vertebra im-
 mediately above it.
  It now remains  to be  seen by what contrivance
 the united vertebrae constituting  the  spine  or  the
 spinal column, or back bone, display that flexibility
 and elasticity with which  it is endowed  in  so
 wonderful a degree.
  Again,  it  is necessary  to modify  the  descrip-
 tion already given, in which it was said, as indeed
 is the case in the skeleton, that  the  vertebrae rest
 on one another.  In the entire body, however, each
 vertebra is separated from its fellow by a substance
 of  a  peculiar  nature  interposed  between  them,
 termed the intervertebral substance, which partakes
 partly of the nature of cartilage and partly  of that
 of ligament.  This substance  for about a quarter
 of an inch from its circumference  towards its cen-
 tre, is tough, strong, and  unyielding; then  it be-
 comes softer, and is  manifestly elastic;  and  so
continues  until it approaches the  centre when it
becomes pulpy and is again inelastic.   The exterior
tough and unyielding matter is for the firmness of
the connection of  the several vertebrae  with each
other; the interior softer and elastic  matter  is  for
the easy play of the vertebrae upon each  other; the
one for security,  the other for pliancy.  And the
adjustment of the one to  the other is such as to 
            FLEXIBILITY OF THE SPINK.         123

combine  these  properties  in a  perfect  manner.
The quantity of the unyielding substance is not so
great as to produce  rigidity; the quantity of the
elastic substance is not so great as  to occasion in-
security.  The firm union of its solid matter renders
the entire column strong; the aggregate elasticity
of its softer substance renders it springy.*
  A rigid and  immoveable  pile  of bones, in the
position of the spinal column, on which all the
other parts of the body rest, and to which they are
directly  or  indirectly attached, would necessarily
have rendered   its movements  stiff and  limited;
and every movement  of every kind impossible but
in a certain direction.   That  the movements of the
body may be easy, free, and  varied; that it may be
possible to bring into play new  and  complex  com-
binations of motion at any instant, with the rapidity
of the changes of thought, at the  command of the
impulses of feeling, it is indispensable that the
spinal  column  be flexible in every direction, for-
wards, backwards, and at the sides.  It is equally
indispensable that  it be thus capable of yielding,
without injuring either the spinal cord or the spinal
nerves; without injuring the  organs in the chest
and abdomen; and without injuring the  muscles of
the trunk and extremities.  The degree in which it
possesses this  power of flexibility, and  the extent

 * Dr. Soi'THWoon  Smith.— The Philosophy of Health. 
 124           HEALTH  AND BEAUTY.

 to  which, by  cultivation, it is sometimes actually
 brought, is  exemplified in  the positions and con-
 tortions of the posture master and the tumbler.   It
 is  acquired by means of  the intervertebral sub-
 stance,  the  compressible and elastic matter inter-
 posed between the several vertebrae.  So compres-
 sible is this substance that the human body is half
 an  inch shorter in the evening than in the morning,
 having lost by the exertions of the day so  much of
 its  stature; yet so elastic  is  this matter  that the
 stature lost during the  day is regained  by the  re-
 pose of the night.  The weight of the body press-
 ing in all directions upon the spinal column; mus-
 cles, bones, cartilages, ligaments, membranes  with
 all  their vessels and  all  the fluids contained  in
 them; the weight of all the component parts of the
 head, trunk, and  extremities pressing, without the
 cessation of an instant, during all the hours of wak-
 ing, upon the intervertebral substance, compresses it;
but this weight being  taken off during  the night,
by  the  recumbent posture of the  body, the  inter-
vertebral substance, in consequence of its elasticity,
 regains its original bulk, and  of course the spinal
column its original length.
  But  the flexibility acquired through the com-
bined properties of compressibility and elasticity is
 exceedingly increased by the action  of the pulpy
 and inelastic matter in the centre of the  interverte-
bral substance; this  matter serving as a  pivot to 
        ELASTIC INTERVERTEBRAL CARTILAGE.     125

 the  vertebrae,  facilitating their  motion  on  each
 other.   Its  effect has been compared to  that  of a
 bladder  partly filled with  water,  placed between
 two trenchers.   In  this case the approximation of
 the circumference of the two trenchers on one  side
 would immediately  displace a portion of  the water
 on that side, which would  occupy the increasing
 space on the  other, with the effect  of facilitating
 the change, in every possible direction, of the posi-
 tion of the two trenchers in  relation to each other.
 To this  effect, however, it  is  indispensable  that
 the matter immediately around  this central pivot
 should be, not like itself, rigid and unyielding, but
 compressible and elastic.  It is an interesting fact,
 that since this illustration was  suggested,  it  has
 been discovered  that this very arrangement is ac-
 tually  adopted in  the  animal  body.  In certain
 animals, in  the very centre  of their intervertebral
 substance, there  has been actually found a bag of
 water, with a substance  immediately surrounding
 it so exceedingly elastic, that when the bag is  cut,
 the fluid contained in it  is projected to the height of
 several feet in a perpendicular stream.
   But besides securing  freedom and  extent of  mo-
 tion, the intervertebral substance serves still another
 purpose, which well deserves attention.
   Firmness and strength  are indispensable to  the
 fundamental offices  performed by the column,  and
to  endow  it  with  these properties, we have  seen
                       11» 
126
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
that the external concentric layers of the interver-
tebral substance are  exceedingly tough,  and that
they are attached  to the bodies of the vertebrae,
which  are  composed of dense  and compact bone.
But than dense and compact bone, nothing  can  be
conceived better calculated to receive and transmit
a shock or  jar on the application of any degree of
force to the column.   Death may result from con-
cussion, that is, the communication of a  shock to
the brain through the bones of the skull, without
any change in the  appearance  or substance of the
brain itself.  A special  provision is made against
this evil, in the structure of the bones of the skull
(cranium)  by the  interposition  between its two
compact plates of  the  spongy  substance   called
diploe, and  this is sufficient to prevent mischief in
ordinary cases.  The  brain seldom  suffers  from
direct violence;  but every  hour, in  the  ordinary
movements of the  body, as in  walking and much
more in the violent ones of running, jumping, &c,
which  it occasionally makes, a degree  of force is
applied to,  or a jar is received by, the spinal column
and through it transmitted to the head, which would
inevitably  and instantly destroy both  the  spinal
marrow or cord and  the brain.   The evil is obviated
partly by the elastic, and  partly by the  non-elastic
properties  of  the  matter interposed  between the
several layers of compact bone.  By means of the
elastic property of  this matter  the head rides upon 
          CURVED FIOURE OF THE SPINE.       127

the summit  of the column as upon a pliant spring,
while the canal of the spinal  marrow remains  se-
cure and uninvaded.*  On the same  principle thin
pieces of lead  or slate are interposed between dif-
ferent pieces of marble in a column, to  prevent  the
edges  (technically  called  arrises)» from coming in
contact, as  they  would  in that ease chip  or split
off.
   But there is another  very curious provision for
the protection of the brain; in the curved form of
the spine.  If a steel  spring, perfectly straight, be
pressed between the hands from its  extremities, it
will resist, notwithstanding its elasticity, and when
it does give way, will be with a jerk.
   Such would be the effect on the spine if it stood
upright,  one  bone perpendicular to  another;  iot
then  the weight  would bear equally, the  spine
would yield neither  to  one side  nor to the other;
and consequently there would  be a resistance, from
the  pressure  on  all   sides being balanced.   We
therefore see the great advantage resulting from the
human spine being in the form of  an italic/1.  It is
prepared to yield in the direction of its curves;  the
pressure is of necessity more  upon one side of the
column than on the other;  and its elasticity is  im-
mediately in operation without a jerk.  It yields,
recoils, and  so  forms the most perfect spring;  ad-
* Op. citat. 
128
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 mirably calculated to carry the head without a jar,
 or injury of any kind.
  The most unhappy illustration of all this is the
 condition of old age.  The  tables of the skull are
 consolidated  by  the removal of  the  intermediate
 spongy structure? and the spine is rigid.   If an old
 man should fall with his head upon the carpet, the
 blow which  would  be of no consequence to the
 elastic  frame  of a child, may prove fatal to  him;
 and  the rigidity of the  spine  makes  every step
 which he takes vibrate to the  interior of the head,
 and jar on the brain.
  The two surfaces  of the spine, the anterior and
 posterior, present a striking contrast.  The anterior
 surface is smooth and rounded in its  whole  extent,
 as that against which  rests or glides so many of
 the important  organs already mentioned.   It is
 broad  in  the  region of the neck, narrow  in  the
 region of the back, and again broad in the region
 of the loins.  It presents three curvatures; the con-
 vexity of that of the neck being  forwards, that of
 the  back backwards, and that of the loins again
 forwards.
  From  the posterior  surface of the spine, which
 is every where irregular and  rough, or rather  from
 each of the vertebrae composing it, there is a pro-
jection, sharp and pointed like an  elongated spine,
 and  called spinous  process; and  hence the name
 given to the  whole chain  of bones.  These  pro- 
                   THE JOINTS.               129

 cesses afford fixed points for the action of powerful
 muscles.    Extending  the whole length  of the
 column from the base of the skull to the  sacrum,
 on each side of  the spinous processes, and between
 them and the angle of the ribs file deep excavations
 which are filled up with the powerful muscles that
 maintain the trunk of the body erect.
   From  the sides  of the  vertebrae there likewise
 arise short  but  strong  projections of bone, termed
 transverse processes.

   The  Joints—The union of  the  ends  of two
 bones to form a moveable joint or articulation has
 been already alluded to.   The kinds .of joints are
 various, and of  course the  kind and extent of mo-
 tion  also; for I do not take notice  at  present of
 what are called the  immoveable articulations; as
 where the serrated edge3 of two bones are adjusted
 intimately to each other, or where the  one is im-
 planted into a cavity  formed by  the  other  but  so
 tightly as not to allow of any motion.  The first
 kind is exhibited  in the  mode  of  union  of the
 several bones of the skull with each other; and the
 second, in the union of roots of the teeth with the
jaw  bones.
   The two chief varieties of moveable articulation
 are  the hinge, and the ball and  socket.  Of the
 hinge, we have examples in the union of the skull
with the  first vertebra, or bone  of the  spine, by 
130           HEALTH and beauty.

which  the motion of nodding is performed; of the
arm with the forearm at the elbow; of the leg with
the thigh at the knee; by which flexion and exten-
sion of the forearm and leg respectively are allow-
ed.  Similar to these are the flexion and extension
of the fingers.  A modification of this cavity con-
sisting in an angular and lateral hinge-like motion
is  seen in the union of the ends of the lower jaw
with partial cavities in the upper, and in that of the
wrist with the lower ends of the two bones which
make up the forearm.   The  lower jaw  when de-
pressed and the mouth thereby opened undergoes a
simple hinge-like motion; or by the action of other
muscles it may be  slid  forwards; and by another
set again  drawn  to one  side and made to perform
lateral movements.  The motions of the  hand as a
whole, or, more specifically, of the wrist on the ends
of the  forearm, are both hinge-like, as in simple
flexion and extension, and lateral, as when the hand
is  moved  from side to  side.  A compound move-
ment resulting  from the  two just described  gives
that of circumduction or imperfect rotation.   Of the
6ame kind, but not so extensive, are the motions of
the ankle joint.  The toes exhibit the simple hinge-
like motion similar to that of  the fingers.
   Of the  rotatory motions, we have that of the
first bone of the spine on the second, of the spine
on the sacrum or wedge between the haunch hones,
and of the vertebrae on each other, especially at the 
            SHOULDER AND HIP JOINTS.         131

loins, and those of the shoulder and hip joints, and
of one of the bones  of the forearm (radius) upon
the outer side of the lower end of the arm bone
proper (humerus).  It is customary to speak  of the
double movements of nodding, and of turning the
face to the right or to the left, as if they were both
of the head; whereas only the first is of the head
with the first bone or vertebra of the spine; but the
second motion is by the  articulation of the first
with the second bone of the spine.
  The shoulder together  with the hip joint come
under  the head of  ball  and  socket joint.   This
mode of articulation at the shoulder admits of free
and extensive motion in every direction;  upwards,
downwards, backwards, and forwards, and  a mo-
tion compounded of these, viz: that of entire rota-
tion or circular.  The hip joint consists of the large
head of the thigh bone inserted into a deep  socket
of the haunch bone.  Deep as this socket is, it  is
still farther deepened by the cartilage which borders
the brim.   In the direction of the  upper or outer
part, the brim is particularly high,  because it is in
this direction that the reaction of the ground against
the descending weight of the trunk tends to  dis-
lodge the  ball from its socket.   The joint of the
hip, lik* that of the shoulder, is capable of motion
in every direction; but its rotation is more circum-
scribed than that of the  latter, on  account  of the
greater depth of its socket. 
132
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  I have spoken, above, of the ends of two bones
being joined together to form a joint or articulation.
This requires to be explained, in order that the
reader should understand better  the  mechanism of
the joints.   It must be borne in  mind, therefore,
that in no instance are the parts of the bony struc-
ture proper in actual  contact.  At each extremity
of a bone which is to meet another at a joint, there
is a covering of cartilage  (gristle), which is en-
dowed with great elasticity and  prevents the attri-
tion that would take place between the two ends < f
a bone, or between the ball and socket.  Over  this
tip  of cartilage is spread a very delicate and trans-
parent membrane, which is reflected from the end
of a long bone, we  will suppose the head of the
arm, and continues on to the border of the cavity
or socket, and lines it.  From this membrane  and
folds in it,  or the  portion external to and between
the bones, is formed  (secreted) a fluid of a some-
what oleaginous nature, which lubricates the two
surfaces in contact and facilitates the motion of the
joint.  External to the cavity  of this membrane, or
what is called  the  cavity  of the joint, there arc
numerous  strong  bands  called  ligaments which
pass from one bone to  another, and often in differ-
ent directions so as to strengthen and prevent  mis-
placements of the joints.
   In some joints, particularly in the knees and at
the lower jaw, there are loose cartilages or  gristles 
CARTILAGE BETWEEN BONES.
133
 between the bones, and within the joint, so that the
 ends of the bones, instead of working upon  one
 another, work upon the intermediate cartilages.
   In brief summary, we  might say, that columns
 of compact bone  superimposed one upon another
 and united  at  different points by bands  of pro-
 digious  strength  form the  pillars of support cf
 the body.  "But  these bony  columns never touch
 each other; are never  in actual  contact; are all
 separated by layers of elastic  matter which, while
 they assist in binding the  columns together, enable
 them to move  one upon  another as upon so many
 pliant springs.   The  layers of cartilage interposed
 between the several vertebrae;  the. layer of cartilage
 interposed between the vertebral  column  and the
 pelvis;  the layer of cartilage  that  lines the  aceta-
 bulum (socket of  the  hip joint)  and covers the
 head of the  femur  (thigh   bone);  the  layer  of
 cartilage  that covers the  lower  extremity of the
 femur and the upper extremity of the  tibia and
 fibula (the  two bones  of the leg) and the tarsus
 (instep);  the successive layers, of  cartilage  inter-
 posed between the several bones of the tarsus; and
 finally the layer of cartilage  that  covers both  the
 tarsal and  digital extremities of  the metatarsal
bones (foot proper,) are so many special provisions
to prevent the weight of the body from being  trans-
mitted to the  gronnd  with a shock; and,  at the
same time, so  many barriers  established between
     12 
134
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
the ground and the spinal cord (marrow), the brain
and the soft and  tender organs contained  in  the
thoracic and abdominal  cavities, to prevent these
organs from being injured by  the  reaction of the
ground upon the  body. The  excellence of this
mechanism is seen in its results; in contemplating
' from what heights we can  leap—to what heights
we can spring—to what  distances we can bound—
how swiftly we can run—how firmly we can stand
—how nimbly  we can  dance—and yet how per-
fectly we can balance ourselves upon the smallest
surfaces of support!' "*

   The  Muscles,  and  Muscular   Action.—Inci-
dentally, I have once or  twice before spoken of the
muscles as fleshy bodies or fleshy bands which pass
from one bone to another and by their contraction
and shortening move the bones at the joints.  A very
brief description will suffice to make this be readily
understood; and again I would intreat the reader's
attention to these preliminary explanations, a know-
ledge of which will singularly tend to a clear under-
standing of the  value of the practical inferences to be
drawn for physical education and the  requirements
of health and beauty.
   The red fleshy part of meat is made up entirely
 of muscles.  But though redness be a character of

        * Philosophy of Health, vol. I. p.  325-6. 
MUSCULAR STRUCTURE.          135
 muscle in the warm brooded animals generally, it
 is  not  so in  all animals.  In some the  blood  of
 which  is nearly white or bluish, the muscle is of
 the same color.  The muscles which are subservi-
 ent to  voluntary motion,  and under this head are
 all those  which cover the skeleton and are inter-
 posed between the bones and the skin, are arranged
 in layers  one over the other.  Between these layers
 and between each muscle of the same plane is in-
 terposed  some fat  and more or less of that loose
 whitish tissue called cellular.   Often, a muscle is
 invested  with a strong  though thin,  tense, and
 shining membrane, the mechanical  effect of which
 is to  combine for one purpose, by directing  in one
 line,  the  power of  contraction of the various fibres
 of  which each muscle consists.  With the naked
 eye, and still more  readily by the  aid  of a micro-
 scope, one can see, even  in  boiled muscular flesh,
 that  between  the  fibres  or threads of which a
 muscle is composed, there is an abundant supply
 of  cellular  tissue  if not a  direct investment of
 each  fibre by transparent cellular membrane.   One
 great advantage of  this arrangement of interposed
 cellular tissue  and  fat, is the avoidance of undue
 pressure  of  one muscle  upon another  or of the
 several parts  or fibres of a muscle on  each  other
 during their contraction.
  In  reference  to  general  uses the muscles are
divided into flexors or those which  bend the body 
136
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 and limbs, and  into  extensors  or those  which
 strengthen these parts.
   In what does the so often spoken of muscularcon-
 traction consist 1  It is a shortening of the fibres
 and consequently of the  muscle of which these
 fibres  are' composed,  the  obvious  tendency and
 effect of which must be to bring the two ends of a
 muscle nearer together.  The better to  understand
 this, the reader should be  apprised, that, generally
 speaking, a muscle  is described anatomically  as
 consisting of three parts, the middle or  fleshy por-
 tion or body,  belly as the anatomist calls  it, and
 the opposite ends, termed  the origin and insertion
 of the muscle.  Almost always, muscles are attached
 to one bone by  their origin, and to another by their
 insertion.   If,  as is commonly the case, the origin
 of a muscle be in a bone which is fixed, it is very
 obvious that  the shortening of  the muscle  will
 necessarily draw its other end or point of insertion
 towards its point of origin.   But as the point  of
 insertion is also in bone, this latter will  be brought
towards the other or  fixed bone.   It is in this way
that the limbs, and all  the parts which have joints,
 are moved  one upon another.
   Rarely, however, are the  two ends of a muscle
thick  and  fleshy like  its central  part or body.
 Many  inconveniences  would result from  thick
masses passing over the joints, and especially, at
the hands  and feet,  where  various and  prompt 
               COURSE OF A MUSCLE.        .  137

 movements are required.  A uniform thickness  of
 the limb or increased thickness at the joints would
 have existed and the waving outline and delicate
 contrasts of the forms be lost.  Besides, there would
 be a useless  expenditure of  power.  To  obviate
 these difficulties, the muscle is made to communi-
 cate with  the point of action by  tendons, which
 may be compared to slender strings  or wires as it
 were.   The  insertion of a muscle by tendon  is
 more common than its origin by tendon.  At the
 wrist and the  instep we can see and feel these firm
 and yet somewhat elastic cords or tendons jut  out,
 when the muscles above, with which they are con-
 tinuous, contract.   A familiar example of the ter-
 mination of muscle in this way is furnished  in the
 Jeg of a chicken; the soft or fleshy part proper be-
 ing composed of muscles, which  can be readily
 separated from each  other, and  the dense  stringy
 parts passing downwards to the foot, and continued
 from these  muscles, being the tendons.
   Two highly important facts have  just been stat-
 ed; the first is, that a muscle, which, by  its con-
 tractions, is to move one bone, is inserted in, and,
 it may be added, mainly if hot entirely placed on,
 another bone, which  is fixed; the second is, that
 the termination or insertion of a muscle is for the
 most  part  by tendon.  The active  power is at  a
distance from the resistance to be overcome, that is
to  say, the part  to be  moved.  Of this principle
                      12' 
138  •
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 ready proofs are furnished  to  any person by the
 commonest trials.   Thus, if the fingers be applied
 to  the  temples, where the hair begins, and the
 mouth be opened  and shut with  some  degree  of
 force, we feel a projection of the soft parts beneath
 the  fingers  and covering  the  side of the skull,
 which is nothing more than a contraction and ap-
 proximation  to one  another of the  fibres of the
 muscle which serves to close  the mouth by bring-
 ing up the lower jaw, and, also, to aid in mastica-
 tion.   Now, although the body  of  this  muscle
 arises  in a fan shape from a segment of the side
 or temporal bone of the skull, yet it  is implanted
 at a distance  in another bone, that of the jaw, after
 passing down behind the arch  of the  cheek bone.
 [f the arm be extended to its full length, with the
 elbow downwards, and the  hand of the  other side
 be made to  grasp slightly the soft parts on the
 upper side of the arm proper, midway between the
 bend of the elbow and  the  shoulder;  and  then the
 forearm be suddenly bent  on the arm, a manifest
 fulness and projection will be felt by the hand thus
 applied.   This  fulness and this  projection  are
 nothing more than  the effects  of a contraction of
the great flexor muscle of the forearm; the origins
 of which are  in  part as high  up as the shoulder
blade, and in  part in  the arm bone articulated with
it; and the insertion of which  is by  means of  a
strong tendon that can be felt by the hand of the 
           MUSCLES AND THEIR TENDONS.       139

other side, if applied to it, passing from above the
bend of the elbow and continued downwards some
distance to the bone of the forearm.  Let the hand
of one side embrace  in a strong grasp the forearm
of the other about a third of its length from the
elbow;  and  then  if the hand  of the side thus
grasped be briskly opened and  shut  in quick suc-
cession, the fleshy part of the arm or the muscles
will be felt jutting out, and in active  contraction on
both sides.  One set of these muscles on one side,
the inner,  by their  contraction pull in the tendons,
some of which are felt at the wrists,  and  draw the
finders inwards  and  close the hand.  Another set
on  the other  side, the outer, pull on the tendons
of the back part of the hand and draw it back and
open it, and extend the fingers.   When the foot  is
bent or flexed at  the  instep, by turning the toes
upwards,  we  feel  a contraction of the muscles  in
the middle of the anterior part of the leg, just ex-
ternal to the ridge of its great bone; the tendons
which are continuations of these  muscles pass
downwards over the instep, and are inserted into
the foot and toes.  A reverse movement is that  of
extending  the foot,  as when  walking or dancing,
by resting on the balls of the toes,  especially the
great toe.   At this time  the muscles which make
up the calf of the leg are felt to be firm and  tense,
and are in a state of  strong contraction.  They are
the moving powers  by which  fhe heel is raised, 
no
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
and the body for the moment supported.  They all
terminate in that strong  common tendon, called by
anatomists  the  tendo Jlchillis, and which is evident
in every person, in its passage from the muscles of
the calf of the  leg to the heel in which  it is in-
serted.
  We make an important inference  from these
facts, in stating that  it is not  sufficient for the full
motion of a joint or of the member below that it
be exempt from any ligature or confinement what-
ever.   The  limb above the joint  or  that part on
which the body of the muscle is situated must be
equally free from all restraint. Thus, if a  strip
of shingle  or of pasteboard be applied  on  the  side
of the arm between the bend of the elbow and the
point of the shoulder, and tied on by circular  folds
of a bandage from the  shoulder to the elbow, or
even down  to the beginning of the tendon of the
great muscle already mentioned, so that this latter
shall  be  firmly compressed  and  thus prevented
from contracting, vain will be any attempt by voli-
tion to bend the forearm.  The joint is just as stiff
as if it were itself tied  and bound by splints and
bandages.   So, likewise, the hand would be render-
ed powerless for grasping any object; the fingers
could not be contracted on the hand, nor this latter
made more hollow or concave; the  whole member
would be  rigidly extended and stiff, if the muscles
before described on  the  inside  of  the forearm * 
          MUSCLES SHRINK BY INACTION.       141

were  strongly and permanently compressed by a
splint and bandages.   The joints might be allowed
their  freedom and the tendons going to them be
without ligature or band; they would all, still, be
unable to move, so long as  the motive power of
the bodies of the muscles above was suspended.
   On the other hand, if from  any cause the joints
be imperfectly used or in a great measure kept at
rest, the muscles of the limb above will be small
and flaccid, because they are  not called into exer-
cise;  it being a law of the muscular system  that
muscles become full, firm, and large in  proportion
as  they are exercised.   Were the  hand kept  ex-
tended and the wrist stiff by splints on either side,
and these secured  by a circular bandage or roller,
the muscles  of the forearm, on which its fulness
and roundness  for some distance below the elbow
depend, would after a while become flat, small and
shrunken.  They  are deprived of the necessary
condition for their health and growth; exercise, the
means by which  blood  is drawn  into them and
expands and nourishes them.
   Illustrative of the position, that  freedom  of the
limbs from restraint of any kind and full exercise
of the part into which the muscles by their tendons
are inserted, are the requisites for, and means of, the
fulness and volume of these muscles themselves, is
the fact that persons  exhibit great differences in
these respects, according to the labor in which they 
 142          HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

 are habitually engaged. The massive muscles which
 make up the brawny arm of the blacksmith are the
 result  of daily and active exercise of the hand, as
 the size of the  whole  upper extremity is  of the
 motions of all its joints and the action of its mus-
 cles,  including  those  of the  forearm,  arm,  and
 shoulder.  A notable difference will  be  observed,
 even, between the two  arms; the right  displaying
 more development and  more strongly defined mus-
 cles, in consequence of its greater exercise.  Bakers
 have, also, large and well proportioned arms from
•a  similar  cause—the  regular exercise of these
 parts.  To convince us of the  immediate and ne-
 cessary connection between the cause and effect  in
 these  cases, we often observe that blacksmiths,
 bakers, and others,  whose arms and  shoulders are
 thus full and rounded, have, many of them, legs
 and  lower limbs generally disproportionately thin
 and small.
   These persons will contrast strongly with porters
 and  others, who  walk much, and  the muscles  of
 whose legs and thighs are brought into regular and
 frequent contraction, and become in consequence
 large and strong.  But, for  this effect to be fully
 obtained, the feet must be untrammelled by tight
 or very clumsy shoes, which would interfere  with
 the spring of the foot and prevent it from being fully
 raised  from the ground, and the toes and forepart
 from  being first applied in each step  forwards. 
GROWTH OK THE LEG.
143
" Look to the legs of a poor Irishman travelling to
the  harvest with  bare feet:  the  thickness  and
roundness of the calf show that the foot and toes
are free to  permit the exercise of the muscles of
the leg.  Look again to the  leg of our  English
peasant, whose foot and ankle are tightly laced in
a shoe with a wooden  sole, and you will perceive
from the manner in which he lifts his legs, that the
play of the ankle, foot, and toes  are lost, as much
as if he went  on  stilts, and therefore are his legs
small and shapeless."*
  Continuing the illustrations in the language of
another English writer of deserved celebrity;! "^n
a graceful  human step, the heel is  always raised
before the  foot is lifted from the ground, as if the
foot were part of a wheel  rolling forward; and the
weight of the  body supported by the  muscles of
the calf of the leg, as  just described, rests for the
time on the fore part of the foot  and toes.  There
is  then a bending of the foot in a certain degree.
But when  strong  wooden shoes are used, or any
shoe so stiff that it will not  yield and allow this
bending of the foot, the heel  is not raised  at all
until  the whole  foot  rises  with it, so  that  the
muscles of the calf are scarcely used, and in con-
sequence soon  dwindle in size and almost disap-

       * Animal Mechanics—Treatise I. p. 28,9.
       t Arnott.—Elements of Physics. 
144
HEALTH AND BEAUTV.
 pear.   Many of the English farm servants wear
 heavy  stiff shoes; and in  London it is a striking
 thing to  see the drivers of country wagons with
 fine robust persons in the upper part, but with legs
 which are fleshless spindles, producing a gait most
 awkward and unmanly.   The  brothers  of these
 men, and who are otherwise employed, are not  so
 misshapen.  What a pity that for the sake of a
 trifling  saving, fair nature should be thus deformed.
 An example of an opposite kind is seen  in Paris.
 There,  as the streets have  no side  pavements, and
 the ladies  have  consequently to walk almost con-
 stantly  on tiptoe, the great action of the muscles of
 the  calf has given  a conformation of the  leg and
 foot, to  match which  the  Parisian belles  proudly
 challenge all the world."
   It requires no sagacity, after this, to point out the
 impediments to  the  full exercise of the legs, and
 consequently to  their suitable development, in the
 common use among us of stiff and tight boots worn
 by the  men and of tight shoes by the women,  so
 that in  both  instances the feet are cramped and
 prevented from those motions which are  at once
 evidence  of  graceful carriage  and of  healthful
 strength.   A contrasted  state of  parts from  an
 opposite fashion and conduct is evinced, in ad-
 dition to the examples already given, in  the full
 development of  the  loins, thighs,  and  legs of a
dancer;  "and when  we turn our  attention to his 
LAW OF MUSCULAR ACTION.
145
 puny  and disproportioned  arms  we  acknowledge
 the cause—that in the one instance exercise has
 produced perfection, and that in the other the  want
 of it has occasioned deformity."
   What holds good in the case of the muscles of
 the limbs applies with equal force to those on the
 trunk of the body.  The law for the healthy growth,
 size, and function of the  muscles  is  imperative in
 every particular.   It  dictates the  entire  absence of
 external pressure, by  means of band,  ligature, or
 bandage of any description, and an  observance of
 regular exercise of the muscles in due succession and
 alternation.
   For  the hand to  be able to  move  freely  in
 various directions;  for  the forearm to be readily
 flexed, and extended, and rotated by motions at the
 elbow, it is, we  have  seen, an essential  condition,
 that the forearm  and the arm, the limb  above the
 wrist as far as the hand is concerned, and the  limb
 above  the elbow as far as the forearm is concerned,
 must be divested of all pressure  or  compression.
 Not less essentially requisite is it, as a condition
 for the free  movements in all directions of the
 entire  upper  limbs  at the  shoulder joint, that the
 chest, in front and behind, and the  shoulder blades
should be equally free  from  any  pressure by the
artifices of dress, whereby the muscles with which
these parts are covered and from which they originate
might be, in any manner, prevented from  fully  con-
    13 
146
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tracting.   If the muscles on the chest in front, and
on the back and shoulder blade be thus prevented
from contracting fully and strongly, they cannot
draw towards them the arm proper into which they
are inserted, in the manner already described. This
limb consequently cannot  perform  those various
movements required of it, and  in which it is carried
across the breast, or the hand is  raised above  the
head, or carried to the back part of  the head and
neck, and even to the  point of the opposite shoul-
der in the same line, or the fingers made to touch
the spine  between the shoulder blades, &c.  It
could not, with the muscles thus compressed, per-
form  the rotary movement  already adverted  to.
Pinioned to  the chest  it would be  comparatively
powerless for any purpose  of  utility or  grace:
the motions of the limb  would be confined to  the
elbow, wrist,  and hands; and  the  shoulder joint
would  become stiff and immoveable.   All  the
graceful evolutions of the body in which the hands
and arms are upraised, and joined, and describe so
many curves would be lost.
   But alas!  this is not a suppositious case.   It is
 one of too common, one might  say  it is becoming
 of universal  occurrence amongst   all  females in
 town, and large numbers of those  in  the country
 who  dress after the fashion, that  is, who torture
 themselves  into deformity  and seek  grace  and
 beauty by a neglect of nature and of nature'b laws. 
MUSCLES OF THE CHEST.
147
  The influence which the muscles  of the chest
exert on the motions of the arm, and  the effect  of
these in giving fulness and roundness  to the chest
may be rendered still more evident by the  followr-
ing particulars.  The cavity termed the arm-pit is
made for the most part by the tendinous terminations
of two great muscles of the chest, the one before and
the other behind, which are inserted in  the arm bone;
as any person can ascertain by applying the fingers
of the opposite side  to these two terminations, the
front and  back of the  arm-pit, during the active
motions of the arm.  The connection is  in this
way:  from the side of the breast bone, from the
second, third, fourth, fifth, and  sixth ribs, and  from
a  part of  the  collar bone, arises a  great muscle
called pectoral, which is spread over the chest (one
on  each side) and  gives to this  part the  chief
fulness which it displays  in man.  Its fibres  con-
verging terminate  in  a strong tendon, which, is
inserted into  the arm bone, a few inches below the
shoulder joint, and which  forms, as above mention-
ed, the anterior border of the  arm-pit.  This  pec-
toral is the chief muscle that carries  the arm for-
wards and inwards towards the chest.  Any undue
pressure on  the anterior  part  of the  chest will of
course interfere with, if it do not entirely  prevent,
the  contraction of this muscle and the motion  of
the  arm,  inwards and forwards.  As the female 
148
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 breast rests directly on the  pectoral muscle, it will
 also suffer in the manner already detailed,  from
 pressure.
  Antagonist to the pectoral is another broad and
 large muscle which covers the loins and the  back
 of the  chest, and which, when properly developed,
 gives a fulness  to  this region, below the shoulder
 blade and  between the back bone and a line run-
 ning directly downwards from the arm-pit.   This
 muscle, which  derives its name  from its great
 breadth, after covering all  the lower  part of the
 back and  loins, terminates  in a thin  but strong
 tendon which stretches to the arm and is implanted
 into  the bone, where it forms the outer border of
 the arm-pit, as the tendon of the pectoral or muscle
 of the  chest in front was shown to form the inner
 border. The office of this broad muscle of the
 back is to draw  the arm  downwards arid back-
 wards; whilst that of the pectoral is  to carry the
limb forwards and inwards, and somewhat upwards.
The  conjoined action of these muscles, by which
both tendons or borders of the arm-pit  are  made to
pull on the bone at the same time, is to draw the
arm either directly downwards or to keep it closely
applied to  the side of  the chest.
  It  must be very obvious that pressure on  this
 muscle, that is  on the  chest  and loins  which  it
covers, will prevent its requisite and healthy  con- 
           MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.        149

traction, and  of  course interfere with  its direct
office or with the aid which it gives to the muscle
in front.
  The muscle, by which the arm is raised  directly
upwards, so that the elbow  is on a level with the
shoulder, begins, in part, at the collar bone and, in
part, at the projecting portion of the shoulder blade
which  is  felt just  above the  joint.    Passing
downwards from a broad basis, its fibres converge
towards a tendinous slip which  is inserted about
midway down the arm-  This muscle contributes
much to the roundness and pleasing contour of the
shoulder. Its name is, technically, deltoid;  it might
be called the shoulder muscle.
 .  There is yet another muscle which merits notice
in this  place.  It has a tendinous origin on the
projecting points of the back bone or spinal  ridge,
from the head down to the loins.  Its thin fleshy
fibres  pass, some downwards, others directly out-'
ward,  and  some  upwards to be inserted  into the
ridge of the shoulder blade, the  tip of the project-
ing  part, and into the collar bone.  The first or
upper  portion of this muscle, in its course  from the
back part of the head to the point of the shoulder,
forms  a curve which is observable even  under the
skin and fat, and  which serves with its fellow of
the  opposite side  to give that fine undulating yet
well defined  outline of the back part of the neck,
and  rise at the region of the shoulders.  The border
                       13* 
150
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
of this muscle or rather  the prominence made by
its border is seen distinctly in front on each  side of
the neck terminating at the shoulder.
  It is evident, from the preceding description, that
the fulness and roundness, in a great measure, of the
chest  in front,  and below the  collar  bone,  and of
the chest behind and below the  shoulder blade, and
of the neck behind and  the continuous  region of
the shoulders, and of the shoulder at the joint and
beginning of the arm, depend  on  muscles which,
respectively, cover these regions, and the action of
which is displayed in  moving  the  arm, and in the
instance of the  thin and extended muscle from  the
head  and spine  .to the shoulder blade, in moving
this latter.
  It unfortunately happens that the  very  regions
specified, and notably the chest  in front and behind,
are those which  females, subject to  early and
continued daily pressure, by  corseting and pad-
ding,  in obedience to  the absurdities of fashion.
The muscles lose, in  consequence, their  powers
of contraction;   the arms cannot be  moved with
ease and freedom, and  the undulating lines, by the
gradual and alternate  swell of these  muscles,  and
the fine contour  of the bust are  all lost.
  The  shoulder blade is covered, as with a  soft
cushion, by  large  and fleshy muscles both above
and below its ridge or spine and on its under  sur-
face;  all directly adherent to it and  inserted  into 
         MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER BLADE.     151

 the arm a little below the shoulder joint.  As these
 are not so  readily recognisable, either by sight or
 touch,  I shall not speak of them separately as I
 have done of the more superficial muscles, or those
 directly under the skin and  adipose and cellular
 tissues. It  is sufficient for the present argument
 to say  that  these muscles, thus covering and ad-
 herent to the shoulder blade and whose bodies on its
 external side take off from the angularity of this bone
 by diminishing and in some cases concealing the
 prominence  of its  spine or ridge, are  necessary
 agents, in conjunction with  those before mentioned,
 for moving the arm  in different directions. The one
 which fills the space above  the spine of the shoul-
 der blade, or scapula, aids the triangular (shoulder)
 muscle  in raising  the  arm.  Another which fills
 up the  cavity below the spine,  and its neighbor
 at the  lower margin of the shoulder blade, turn
 the arm outwards and assist in raising it. Another
 again below  this last  turns the  arm inwards and
 draws  it backwards;  whilst  that  great muscle,
 which covers all  the  inner side of the shoulder
 blade, and from the smooth  membrane by which it
 is itself covered enables  this- bone to ride easily in
 the upper and back  part of the chest, turns the arm
 inwards, or when raised depresses it.
  One  immediate  lesson to be derived  from  that
which some may  consider  tedious and  needless
minuteness,  is this: If from want of exercise or 
152
HEALTH AND BRAITV.
from ligatures or bandages on the chest, and  over
and tying down the shoulder blade, all the move-
ments  of the arm, before  described, cannot be, at
any time, regularly performed,  we may  be  sure
that an inj ury has been done to some one  or more
of the muscles; analogous to fracture of a bone or
sprain of a joint;  and  that whoever has the super-
intendance  of the education of  young  persons,
whether  infants or adolescents, thus cramped and
impeded  in their movements, is answerable, before
a high  and solemn tribunal, for  the present weak-
ness and  future deformity which have been allowed
to take place by neglect, if not positively induced
by the  inculcation of mischievous practices.
  And again.  The various trials made to  perform
the complex movements at the  shoulder joint will
show very speedily, that these latter are incompati-
ble with any fashion of garment which  imposes
the least impediment by ligature or pressure, in any
way, on the muscles.   It will be  soon discovered,
also, that exercise  of  the arms  in the different mo-
tions of  which they are  susceptible, by rendering
the muscles  still more obedient to the will, enable
the individual to give  a graceful air and appropriate
expression to whatever attitude and movement these
limbs contribute their share.
   But  the  permanent expression, depending  on
ample  development of the region of the shoulders
and chest, and the undulating swell of the muscles 
         MUSCLES ENLARGED BY EXERCISE.      153

with  their covering of  cellular  and fatty tissues
and  skin, will be also  greatly improved by this
freedom of motion in every direction of the limbs;
for the remark made of one applies to all.  In pro-
portion as an organ is exercised, it not only acquires
strength but also bulk.  This  is especially true as
applied to the muscles.   During their action the
blood is brought to them in increased quantity and
subsequently retained  in greater proportion in their
tissue.  In  other words;  they are  enlarged and
acquire additional firmness and distinctness of out-
line.   No new  evidence of this  fact need be ad-
duced, after what has  been already said respecting
development of particular limbs, upper  or lower,
and  other parts of the body, under special or par-
tial  exercise,  limited  mainly  to  them.  But this
exercise to be useful  and to preserve  harmony in
the proportion not only of the different limbs  with
each  other, but  of the  different sides of a  limb,
must be such as  to call into  action, in succession
and alternation, all the different sets of muscles.  If
some are permanently quiescent  whilst others are
exercised there will necessarily result disproportion
and deformity.
   It has been stated in a  former  page that  the
muscles are divided into flexors and extensors.   For
our present  purpose  this  division is sufficient.
Were more precision of detail required  it might be
added, that there are still other muscles,  the  office 
154
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 of which is to  turn  the limb, especially the upper
 one, in directions  required by the part which the
 hand.has to perform.  Thus the forearm, whether
 half flexed or extended and kept at any given dis-
 tance from  the body, can be  made to undergo a
 motion of rotation, and the hand, by the action of
 certain muscles chiefly situated on the two edges
 of the forearm, be made to turn so that  the  palm
 shall be either directed to the ground or upwards to
 the  heavens.   The  first of these  movements is
 called pronation; the other supination.
  The counteracting power  of the  two sets of
 muscles; the flexors by which the trunk and the
 limbs  are bent, the  extensors by which  all these
 parts are straightened;  is termed their antagonism.
 By this antagonism the limbs, when at rest and the
 body reclining, are kept in a mid-position  between
 flexion and extension; although with  rather an in-
 clination  to  the former, as  if the flexor muscles
 were the stronger of the two.   When one set con-
 tract, as the flexors of the forearm, for example, so
 that  the elbow is bent, the resistance  overcome
 was  not only of the bones to be moved, .but also
 of the  extensor muscles on the outside of the arm.
  Paley's illustration  of  the  antagonist action of
 the two sets of  muscles is  familiar  but clear.
 " Every  muscle is  provided  with an  adversary.
They act like two  sawyers in a pit, by an opposite
pull; the nature of the muscular fibre being  what 
         UNEQUAL EXERCISE OF MUSCLES.      155

it i6, the purposes of the animal could be answered
by no other.  And not only the capacity for  mo-
tion, but the aspect and symmetry of the body are
preserved by  the  muscles  being thus marshalled
according to this order; e.  g. the  mouth is holden
in the middle  of the.  face and its  angles kept in a
state of exact correspondency, by several muscles
drawing against and balancing  each other.   In a
hemiplegia, when the muscles on one  side of the
face are weakened, the muscles on  the other  side
draw the mouth awry."  So in like manner, in this
palsy of one side or half of the body (hemiplegia),
the  muscles  of this side being weakened  and
powerless,  those  on the other  draw the parts  in
that direction, and the perpendicularity of the body
and its symmetry are lost.
   Similar deformity is produced by the long  con-
tinued  and disproportionate  action  of one set of
muscles,  or of  those of one  side.   The advanced
shoulder and halting step of the ploughman are to
be attributed  to one foot  being always in the fur-
 row; and to the inequality of soil on which he is
accustomed to walk, calling for an unequal activity
 of the muscles, which are  thus in consequence dis-
 proportionately developed.   In  sailors,  from the
 long habit of stooping on board the vessels owing
 to the lowness of the decks, the  flexor  muscles
have acquired  so much greater strength than their 
 156        .   HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

 antagonist  extensors  that  these persons  are un-
 able to walk erect when on shore.   Artisans gene-
 rally  contract some bend  or  twist  in  their back-
 bone or limbs, from this continued  activity of one
 set and torpor of another set of muscles, so charac-
teristic as to enable a practised eye easily to judge
of their respective pursuits, without any other in-
 formation than what is derived  from their appear-
ance.   Young persons of  both  sexes,  says Bam-
field,  are  liable to lateral  curvature of the spine,
from adopting a  habit of sitting before their paint-
ings and drawings, with an inclination of the body
to the left side, the left arm resting on the elbow or
hanging by the side, sometimes with the palette in
the left hand, whilst  the right  arm and shoulder
are raised, for the purpose  of  directing the pencil,
and the head is directed to the left shoulder.   In
this position the spine is kept  in a lateral curvature
for  a  length of  time, and the  practice  being con-
tinued daily, there is at last a  permanent curvature
or distortion in this direction.   To the  same point
is the following peculiarity.  "Among the male
aborigines of London,  the  practice of giving the
wall by the  left, and  taking it by the right shoul-
der, which  originated in  their  narrow crowded
streets, something less than a hundred years ago,
has given an advance to the right shoulder, and an
 obliquity  to the trunk, by  which they are easily 
STANDING.
157
distinguished  amongst other men, and which vain
new-comers often awkwardly imitate from an idea
of these positions being fashionable."*
  But we shall be  able to appreciate better these
and  other deviations  from the symmetry and pro-
portions of the human frame, after a brief descrip-
tion  of the more common postures and of the effect
of different familiar attitudes.

  Standing Position.—The tendency of the body,
so far as  gravity merely would act, is to fall for-
wards; and it is only by a continued, and, generally
speaking, conscious effort that the erect position
can be maintained.  The weight of the head is not
equally divided; that  is, its axis is not the line of
its  union with  the first bone of the spine.  A
greater portion  of  it being anterior to  this  line,
the head  naturally inclines  to  fall forwards.  The
weight of the organs in the chest, the lungs, and
the heart, indirectly connected with the spine, tend
to drag it forwards,  and to produce a stocp.  A
similar effect is produced by the weight and drag-
ging  downwards and forwards of the  liver, sto-
mach, and the other organs  in the  abdomen. By
what means or mechanism then does the head pre-

  * Duffjn,  On  the Influence  of Modern Physical
Education  of Females  in Producing  and  Confirming
Deformity of the Spine.
     11 
158
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 serve its balance on  the spine, and the spine ride
 straight like an elastic spring on the haunch bones,
 or pelvis?   It is obviously by agents under the con-
 trol of the will, and which require for their active
 display a  certain degree of growth and strength of
 the body.  That the effort  is a voluntary one, is
 evident from the fact, that a person with  head and
 spine erect, when either seated or standing, loses
 directly this perpendicular position  so soon as he
 loses his consciousness, and with that his volition,
by sleep.   He first nods, the head falling  forwards,
and if this motion does not rouse him,  the  other
weights acting  in the direction of their gravity un-
checked by any opposing influences, he falls down,
if he had  been  standing, or off his chair,  if he had
 been seated.
  That a  certain degree of  growth and strength for
 volition to act on is requisite, we have proof in the
 inability  of the infant  to raise its  head, and,  for
 some  time  after  it can do  this, to keep  its  spine
 erect on the pelvis, so as to  be able to stand.  In
 the other  extreme of life, viz: in advanced age, the
 head and  body  generally incline forwards, obedient
 to the common law  of gravity.   At any period, if
 the body  be weakened by disease, or the influence
 of volition suddenly  removed, as in apoplexy,  or
 epilepsy,  fainting, &c, this  forward direction and
 fall take place.
  The mechanism by which the forward and  bend- 
STANDING.
150
ing motions are prevented is of two kinds; passive
and  active.   The  passive consists  of strong liga-
ments which pass  from the lower and back part of
the skull to  the spine, and from one to another of
the posterior prominences of the latter.  But that
these alone are not sufficient is  proved  by the in-
stances just given.  The other kind of mechanism
is in numerous strong muscles, which pass from
the back part of the skull  to the bones or vertebra;
of the spine, and  from the  upper  to the lower of
these, and  from  the latter again  to the haunch
bones.  These muscles  are  called the extensor
muscles of the head and back; and  they  serve,
when made to contract and kept in contraction by
the emanation of the  will carried to them by the
nerves  from the  brain, to resist the tendency of
the head to  fall  forwards and of the spine  to be
curved, and of the  contents of  the  chest and
abdomen to  drag the body forwards  and  down-
wards.  This tendency is greater, also, owing the
weight  of the  upper extremities,  which, though
pendent at the sides, we will suppose, are articulat-
ed before  the direct  line  of gravity cf the haunch
bones or pelvis.
  By grasping the back part of the neck between
the fingers,  when the head  is erect or thrown a
little back, we feel the rigid bands of  muscles by
which this posture is preserved.   These are eight 
1G0
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 in number on each  side  the  median line or  that
 drawn over the projecting processes of the spine,
 to which by one end they are closely adherent.
   There are  other  muscles  which  connect  the
 shoulder blade with  the back part of the head, and
 which in common draw the former upwards  and
 backwards; or, on occasions, if the shoulder bone
 be fixed, they will draw towards it the head,  and
 thus contribute  to the  preservation of the erect
 position of this latter.
   The order in which the muscles at the back part
 of the neck are arranged is this.  Beginning with
 that which first presents itself after the removal of
 the skin and cellular and fatty tissues, we meet
 with the triangular muscle  before described,  and
 which, we may as well add, in  consequence of its
 insertion in one direction in the collar bone and tip
 of the shoulder blade draws these parts backward,
 and contributes to that movement  termed a shrug
 of the shoulders.  Beneath this muscle, again, are
 those which connect the back part  of the  head or
 the skull with the shoulder blade.  Under these
 and  resting on the spine and  its  projections,  and
 connected with the posterior region  of the head are
 the proper extensors of the head and  neck.  To
this distribution  of muscles, one under the  other,
the term layer is given.
  Some of these  extensors  have the power, when 
              MUSCLES OF THE HACK.          lOl

 the muscle of one side only is  active, to draw the
 head to one side, as well as backwards, and in this
 respect they are muscles of expression.
   Below these, and filling up the space between
 the angles of the ribs and the projecting or spinous
 processes  of the vertebral  column or  spine are
 strong fleshy muscles with long tendinous ends,
 by which the back is kept erect.  Beauty and use
 both  are  ministered to by this distribution of the
 muscles;  since  the  sharp  prominences of the
 spine and of the angles  of the ribs  and  the deep
 depression between them would be both unseemly
 and  render lying down or resting the  back on any
 surface uncomfortable and  painful.  Very thin and
 feeble persons, the muscles of whose back have
 become emaciated from want of exercise, suffer in
 this  way.  But not only is the  space between the
 ribs  and spine thus occupied by muscles, but, also,
 the region of the loins, those fleshy parts between
 the lower ribs and the haunch bones on each  side
 of the spine, is similarly filled up.
  There are other smaller muscles along the spine,
 some of which have the power, when they contract,
 of giving lateral motion to the neck and loins, and
 others a semi-rotation.
  Even this imperfect  sketch  of  the number and
 variety  of  the  muscles  ranged  on  each side
 along the spine, will  prepare the  most  unlearned
reader for Appreciating the great extent of muscular
                       11* 
162
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 action, and the necessary exhaustion  of muscular
 power from long standing, in which position they
 are, all of them, in a  state of strong  tension.   It
 will  be understood, of course, when  speaking  of
 a muscle  and its  connections, that  it  has  its  like
 and duplicate  on  the other side, in a similar loca-
 tion.  No set of muscles can be kept for any length
 of time in contraction  without a feeling of weari-
 ness; and if the contraction be prolonged  beyond
 measure,  feebleness and inability to  move  are the
 consequences.  Alternate contraction and  relaxa-
 tion are the  conditions  for  the healthy and  easy
 state  of the muscles; and it has been found that an
 individual will encounter less fatigue by a protract-
 ed exercise of the body in walking, in  which both
 flexors  and  extensors are  brought into  alternate
 action,  than by standing, in which only one set  of
 muscles,  the extensors, are required.  The right
 arm  will be less fatigued by varied  active move-
 ments, as in  fencing for example, or in some labori-
 ous handicraft employment, for an hour, than by an
 effort to keep it extended at a right angle  from the
body  for  a fourth  of that period.  In  the  former
cases there  is  alternate contraction and relaxation
of the different sets of muscles by which the arm
is moved; in the  latter case,  there is  a strain, by
continued  contraction, on one set of muscles alone,
the extensors.
  In  standing  there  is  a strain  on the  muscles 
EXTENSOR MUSCLES.
103
which  keep the head  erect on  the spine, and of
those which keep the spine erect on the haunches.
So far the chief weight of the body is felt at the
loins, the lower vertebra 'of which bears all those
above it and the head on them as well as the heavy
organs in the chest and abdomen indirectly con-
nected with  the  spine.  At  this region are the
strongest and largest muscles of the  back, passing
from the spine downwards on each side and attach-
ed by their other extremities to the haunch bones.
These muscles serve a somewhat similar purpose, in
keeping the spine erect, to that which the standing
rigging of a vessel does in preventing the mast
from swaying to  one or  other  side, as it  would
constantly be doing if  not steadied by this means.
  But  another large  class  of  extensor muscles
are active in  standing.   Those which  keep  the
haunches  fairly on the thigh bones  make up, to-
gether with the fat that covers them, the fleshy
prominences  at the  hips.   They  cover the  outer
part of the haunch  bones, from  which they arise,
and are inserted by tendons  into the  thigh bone in
the vicinity of the hip joint.  The thigh, again, is
kept from bending  at the  knee and preserves its
straight direction in the line of gravity by means
of the strong muscles on its anterior and outer part,
which  are inserted into the knee pan, and through
it act on  the great bone  of the leg.   This latter
is  kept  straight   by  the  great muscles,  whose 
IC1
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  fleshy bodies constitute  the  calf of the leg, and
  which terminate below in the  great tendon of the
  heel.
    Weariness  from long  standing  is partially re-
 lieved by throwing the  weight of the  body on
 one side, so that it rests mainly on the hip and the
 corresponding thigh and leg;  whilst the muscles of
 the other side are allowed, in a measure, to relax.
 After a little, the direction of the effort is changed
 and the side, the muscles of which were in a state
 of tension, is relieved.
   It can be understood  now why walking is  less
 fatiguing than standing, during the  same period of
 time.  In  the latter, one  set of muscles  are  in a
 state of continued contraction.  In the other,-  they
 are relieved by being allowed  to relax whilst the
 other set are in contraction.
   In standing, the basis of support  is  that space
 covered by and between the feet, the whole weight
 of the body being borne  by  the latter.   If, how-
 ever, we  can  enlarge  the basis  or  multiply  the
 lines  of weight, as by  leaning  against or on  any
 object, the  weight itself of the body is diffused
 over more surface, and in proportion as  the points
 of support are multiplied will the feeling of fatigue
 be less.

   Sitting Posture.—Before  speaking of the  me-
chanism of this posture, it will be proper to refer 
I'LKXOR MUSCLES.
165
briefly to the muscles by which the head is bent on
the chest and the trunk on the lower limbs.  These
are the flexor muscles, antagonist to the extensors,
which have been noticed in the preceding section.
   The head is  bent forwards by muscles which
pass  from it to  the vertebras below;  with which
they are closely connected, behind the throat, wind-
pipe, and  gullet.   There is  another larger  and
more superficial muscle, one  on each side, an ar-
rangement which by the way is to be understood
as universally the case  in all the accounts of the
muscles, which  is readily felt, and in thin persons
easily seen arising  from the prominence of the
skull behind the ear, and passing  obliquely down-
wards and  forwards to  be  inserted  in the upper
part of the breast bone.  When  both muscles  con-
tract the head is brought down towards the breast.
If only one contracts the head is  drawn obliquely
downwards and  to one side.
   The lateral or side flexion of the head and neck
is accomplished by the contraction of two muscles
which pass from the  lateral projections or transverse
processes  of the  upper vertebrae  to the borders  of
the first and second  rib.  Sometimes when the
neck  is fixed these muscles pull upwards the ribs,
and then they are muscles of respiration.
   We have seen in what volume  and number
are the muscles all along  the  back  part of the
spine, from the head to  the  haunches.  Anteriorly 
 16C           HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

 there is  not a  corresponding  arrangement in this
 respect.   Instead of the bony prominences jutting
 out from each vertebra, as we  see, and feel also, on
 the outside by running the fingers along the spine,
 the  inner or anterior  side  presents  rounded and
 convex bodies with the elastic matter or interverte-
 bral cartilage  between  them, the  whole  being
 covered  by  a smooth  shining ligamentous band.
 The only muscles on this anterior  region are the
few small ones high up on the bones of the neck,
arid a  few, larger  and powerful  ones indeed, be-
tween the lower bones of the  back  and the thigh
bone.  But in every instance, these muscles, as far
as they are connected with the spine, are  adherent
to the  lateral or transverse prominences.  It may
easily  be understood,  indeed, that any  mass of
 substance, like muscle, resting directly on the an-
terior face of the spine, and subject during its con-
tractions to sudden changes of size  would greatly
interfere   with  the ease  and functional  exercise
of  the  important  organs immediately  before  it,
such as  the lungs, liver, stomach,  pancreas, &c,
&c.
  We know, however, that not only are  the  head
and neck bent on  the  chest, but that this  latter is
bent on  the pelvis or haunch bones, and  the back
at the  same time  flexed.  These movements are
performed by strong and large muscles which pass
from the  lower part  of  the breast bone  and the 
SITTING POSTURE.
167
 borders and surfaces  of the lower ribs to  the an-
 terior border of the haunch bones.  These muscles
 called  abdominal constitute,  moreover, the  fleshy
 walls behind which are all the important  organs
 of digestion.   They,  when  they contract, draw
 the chest downwards and  forwards, and by  their
 action on the ribs and  breast bone necessarily draw
 the spine, to which the former are attached, forwards,
 and thus produce that forward inclination  known
 by the  term stoop or  bending, either directly for-
 wards or to one side, according as the muscles on
 both sides or on one side contract.  If, on the other
 hand, the chest be the  fixed point, they will raise
 the pelvis or haunches.  By their connection  with
 the ribs, the chest and back being kept erect, they
 pull these bones  downwards  during  expiration or
 the expulsion  of air from  the lungs.  They also
 perform an important part in other processes, the
 details  of which  are not necessary for an elucida-
 tion of  our present subject.
   The reader will now  better understand the  sit-
 ting posture and  the  attitudes of the  body when
 seated,  through the alternate  or  antagonist  action
 of  the  flexor and  extensor muscles.   The lower
 extremities, provided  the feet rest on the ground,
 are no longer tasked to the support  of the trunk.
 This last is done by the more extended surface of
the prominences of the  haunch  bones and under
surface  of the thighs.  But if the head is required 
168           HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

to be kept erect on the spine and this latter on the
pelvis, there is the same  strain and fatigue of the
muscles  of the back as  in  standing.  The two
modes of relief to which a person  thus  situated
has recourse are, 1. either to lean against something
which will extend  the  basis  of  support, as the
back  of  a  chair or  the wall, &c; or,  2.  to lean
forward  and by a contraction of the flexor to par-
tially rest  the extensor muscles, those along the
back of the spine, and which had been in a state of
continued tension.   The most  natural  and   easy
posture   is  midway between  these two;  that  in
which the   shoulders  are  supported  behind, and
there  is a slight bending of the back at the loins,
so that the chest falls and is inclined a little for-
wards.

WANT OF SYMMETRY AMD DEFORMITY FROM  CER-
                TAIN  POSTURES.

  Nearly all the  deformities of habitual stoop, of
inequality in the shoulders, of curved  spine, and of
flattened  chest are the consequences of certain pos-
tures unduly prolonged and of a deficient exercise
of the muscles of the  body.  To  the reader who
has attended  to the description of the bones and
muscles and of their connection and relative uses,
in the preceding pages of  this chapter, the propo-
sition will be very apparent. 
           NATURAL BEND OF THE SPINE.        169

   A due equipoise  of the head  on the  spine  and
 that of the spine on the pelvis  on which it rests,
 depend, as far as the bones and joints  are concern-
 ed,  on their proportionate adjustment to each other,
 and on there being a perfect  equality between the
 two halves, right and left, of the bones  of the
 spine  and of the elastic and intervertebral carti-
 lages which occupy the spaces between them.  If a
 single vertebra or bony  ring be thinner, or  less
 firm on one side than another, the whole of the
 column  above will lean  in the direction of  this
 deficient part.  There will be a slight hollow there
 and a projection at  the opposite side, in virtue of
 the  structure of the spine.   Were this column a
 solid one, the  fissure on one side would  merely
 make' an angle on the other; but being composed
 of  many bones and intervening elastic matter,  a
 break in one spot causes a gradual yielding and the
 formation of a curve.
  A natural and  the most gradual curve  is that
 produced in  the customary movements of leaning
 forwards, or to either side.  At  the moment when
 the flexor muscles draw the body forwards there is
 a greater strain on the anterior portion of the ver-
 tebrae and a tendency in them  to be approximated.
The effect of this is a compression and yielding of
the intervertebral  or elastic cartilage in front  and
its distension behind, owing to the diminished pres-
sure from  the now  separated outer halves of the
     15 
170
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
vertebrae.   So soon  as the  voluntary  effort, by
which the muscles were contracted and the body
bent, ceases, the bones of the spine are no longer
pulled, and  the  intervening cartilages, like all
elastics, promptly  resume their former direction:
they expand, and while the vertebrae are separated
to their former distance  in front they resume their
customary approximation  behind.   In fine, the ba-
lance is restored, and the body becomes straight by
the now moderate action of the  extensor muscles.
It is  possible, indeed,  though  only occurring in
cases of some violent convulsive disease and from
long and continued trials, as  in tumblers, for  the
extensors  to  act so powerfully  as to  produce a
backward curve, and thus to cause pressure on  and
diminution of the cartilage in this line.  There are
anatomical peculiarities in the articulations  of the
bones of the  spine, which prevent this  backward
inflection from being carried to  the same extent as
the forward one.
   Next to the evenness  and  healthy state  of the
bones and intervertebral cartilages for  preserving
the due equipoise, it is a necessary condition  that
the muscles  act  with regularity and proportionate
vigor. I  say  proportionate,  in reference  to  the-
flexors and  extensors;  but  it must be equal as re-
spects the muscles of the two sides which belong
to  either  series.  If,  for  instance, the  muscles,
whose office it is to keep the head and back erect, 
           POSTERIOR SPINAL CURVATURE.        171

be weaker on one side than another there will be a
lateral  inclination of the  body towards  the weak
side and an incurvation of the spine in that direc-
tion.
   The  condition,  therefore, for  entire symmetry be-
tween the  two sides  of  the  body,  the  line between
which is along the ridge  of the back bone,  is equal
strength of the muscles of each  side, including  both
those directly connected with the spine, and indirectly
through their attachments to the limbs.  But the exer-
cises and postures and most of the occupations of man-
kind are such  as to call into action the muscles of one
side more than the other.   Before speaking of these,
which are  causes of  lateral curvature of the spine,
1 shall  first advert  to the common variety of in-
curvation forward in  consequence of long continued
stooping.
  The habit of bending the head  and  neck over a
table or low desk whilst writing or drawing be-
comes,  in  many  young persons, whose  bones are
yet  tender and cartilages less  elastic than in after
life,  a  cause  of  permanent deformity or  direct
curvature of the  upper part of the  spine.   Various
occupations in doors, and even in the fields  and
garden, in  wrhich  the body is  habitually bent  for-
wards, also produce this deformity.  Often, where
the  muscles of both sides  of  the  body are fully
exercised the stoop is a habit which, with  suitable
training and by calling the extensor muscles on the 
172
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 back into play, may be readily  removed.  Thus,
 for instance, the youthful rustic, who had acquired
 this stoop, when put under the drill sergeant soon
 learns to hold himself and to walk erect.
   Different is the case, however, with persons of a
 delicate  frame,  females, for example, who spend
 most of their time seated and stooping over their
 needle-work.  In them the muscles  which flex the
 body are habitually exercised and the extensors or
 those which would   keep  the back straight are
 habitually inert.  The  bones of  the  spine are
 brought, at  least  during the day,  into constant
 approximation and their  intervening cartilage is
 compressed  in front; there is a permanent change
 in a portion of the vertebral column, with a falling
 in of the chest and elevation of the shoulders.   But
 as the pressure of  the  head on the vertebrae and of
 these on each other are seldom, under these cir-
 cumstances, equal on both sides, laterally,  there
 will often be added to the stoop, a curvature of the
 spine on one or other side, or a lateral curvature as
 it  is termed.  Of this I  am now to speak, as the
 most common, because its causes are in most fre-
quent operation.

   Lateral Curvature of the Spine.—There are
 few mothers  or teachers who have not seen the
 "jutting shoulder."   Few of these  unhappily are
aware of the  true  cause, and  still fewer have re- 
lateral spinal curvature.        173
 course to the  proper means of prevention, of this
 want  of symmetry.  The right shoulder projects
 more  than is natural and is in common parlance
 said to be " growing out."  The depression in the
 line of the back bone between  the shouldeT blades
 is  no  longer  at equal  distances from the latter; a
 greater space  being observable  between the ori-
 ginal  perpendicular spinal  line and the top of the
 elevated  shoulder  bone  than  between  the same
 point and the corresponding top of that of the left
 side.   But there is an approximation of the spine
 itself by its curve in that  direction, to the right
 shoulder.  For the case, we will suppose, is one of
 right  lateral  curvature.  These  appearances, to-
 gether with a remarkable prominence of the lower
 third of the shoulder blade of the distorted  side,
 alarm  the  parents,  who are the more  surprised at
 the extent to  which the deformity has  proceeded
 from its not having previously attracted much notice.
  The gait of the young person appears awkward
and shuffling;  her  clothes  cannot be made to  fit
 well upon her—they appear to be drawn  to the
right side.  The sash encircling her waist is ob-
served to  dip  towards the  same  side, while the
right breast presents a remarkable  fulness and the
corresponding collar bone displays a proportionate
elevation.  When the deformity is not noticed till
about the fourteenth or  fifteenth year, the state  of
                      15* 
171
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
the breasts most frequently first attracts attention,
one  appearing larger than  the other, and growing
so unequally as to lead to a suspicion that it  is
diseased.
  In proportion as a curved projection  takes place
in the upper  part of the back between the shoul-
ders, nature in order to counterbalance the evil,
and preserve the equilibrium of the body calls into
action the muscles of the lower part of the spine,
which operate with  proportionate power  on the
opposite side, so that in confirmed cases  there  is
in fact a double curvature produced.
  As the distortion advances, a  similar  counter-
balancing power is exerted by the muscles attached
to the spine in the neck, and a third or upper curve,
is then formed, so that the spine  presents, in fact,
a serpentine  appearance,  inclining  to  each side
alternately.   The ribs in consequence of the altera-
tion  in the  direction  of the spine, with which, as
has been shown, they are connected,  deviate  from
their true course and partake of the  change.  Fi-
nally, the basis, or the haunch  bones  (pelvis)  on
which the  spine  rests, becomes  involved.   The
lower part of the vertebral column is  thrown to the
left side;  and this  displacement being favored by
the disposition to rest  on the left foot, whilst the
young person is  standing to speak  or read, there
follows a permanent projection of  the left hip; and 
CAUSES OF CURVATURE.
175
 the whole body when viewed  from behind seems
 to be twisted on itself.*
   What  are the causes of curved spine and its
 associated deformities?   On a knowledge of the
 former, will  depend the  success of the means of
 prevention of the  latter.   The causes  belong to
 two classes.  Under the first,  we include what-
 ever interferes with the growth and firmness of the
 bones  and the requisite  fulness and  size of  the
 muscles.  Under the  second,  whatever  produces
 an inequality in  the action  of the antagonist mus-
 cles, the flexors, and the  extensors, or of the two
 sets of the same kind,  on opposite sides of the
 body.
  The causes of the defective growth of the bones
 and muscles, are a want  of  pure blood  circulating
 in the body, out of which the materials for  the
 formation and use of both bones and muscles  are
 obtained.  The requisite  supply of  blood is  not
 made if indigestible food or that which does  not
 furnish nutritive  matter  enough to be  converted
 into the fluid of chyle is taken.   Blood  will be
 impure if the process  of respiration,  by which
the blood undergoes the  necessary changes in the
lungs is not carried on.   In these cases, the bones
are soft and readily yield to any slight inequality,
that is temporary increase  of pressure;  and the
* Dcffin.—Op. citat. 
176
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
muscles are flaccid and  fail  to  contract with the
requisite energy.
  These causes give a disposition or proneness in
the body, particularly the spine and contiguous
parts, to be affected  by the second  series, viz: an
inequality in the action of the muscles and conse-
quent unequal  pressure or compression  on some
parts of the bones of the spine more  than on others.
  Now  it  unfortunately happens that the persons
who suffer most from the operation of the first series
of causes  or  of those which prevent the healthy
growth, firmness,  and fulness of the parts impli-
cated, are  they on whom the second series operate
with  most frequency and for the longest time.
But first let me enumerate the chief  of these latter.
  It may be laid  down  as a general proposition,
one of the highest importance, and using the very
words of  Donald Walker—"that the one sided-
NESS WITH WHICH ALMOST ALL THE ACTS OF LIFE
ARE  PERFORMED IS THE  GENERAL  CAUSE  OF  THE
GREATEST AND  MOST UNIVERSAL DEFORMITY;  AND
THAT ITS  PREVENTION  REQUIRES AN  EQUAL  AND
similar use of  the other side."  I have already
explained  how  parts much  exercised  acquire vo-
lume and  have shown by various examples how the
muscles in frequent action acquire a predominance
over those which  are less or but little used.   The
application of this principle  is seen in the  devia-
tion and  deformity primarily and  chiefly towards 
ONE SIDED ATTITUDES.
177
 the  right  shoulder;  for  it is the right side and
 especially the right  arm which is  preferably em-
 ployed in nearly all the acts  of life, whether  of
 the merely mechanical or those in which the  intel-
 lect is more  especially employed.  At school the
 predominance of the  right arm by the exercise  of
 its muscles is out of all proportion, or rather is in no
 proportion at all to the use of those of the left arm.
 Thus  in  writing, drawing, guitar-playing,  harp-
 playing, and even in  piano-forte playing, it is the
 right arm  which  is  either exclusively or chiefly
 occupied.   And   hence   the  deviations  from the
 straight line of the spine to  that side so greatly
 exceed those in   an  opposite direction;  being, as
 Mr. Shaw informs us, to  the latter, in the proportion
 of eight to one.   The muscles of the right arm
 act first on the shoulder  blade and the ribs which
 are connected with the  spine; and these  in turn
 pull the spine itself towards  the right side and
 thus cause the first curvature in that direction.
   Deformity will  be  produced in a delicate young
 person, even by what would be little suspected—
 lying always in the same posture in bed.  When
 the pillow is very high and the bed  soft, as in the
 case of its being of feathers or down, the posture
 into which the body falls is thus described: " the
 loins sink into the bed, the upper shoulder is push-
ed out of its natural place, the back is twisted and 
178
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
the neck is turned awry.   A girl wrho is accustom-
ed to lie in this false position for years together, as
is sometimes the case, can scarcely fail to have her
figure injured, particularly if she be weakly.   In-
stead of a soft bed, a hair mattress should be used,
with a rather low elastic pillow."
  Doctor  Darwin  says, that  young ladies should
be directed, where two sleep in a bed, to change on
alternate nights, or weeks, their sides of the  bed,
and thereby prevent  their  sleeping  always on the
same side.
  A young person when seated erect, and deprived
of any support to the back  for a length of time,
endeavors to alleviate the  discomfort and sense of
weariness by means of alternate efforts  at balanc-
ing.  Seated upon a stool or chair, a person  may
throw the weight  of the head, trunk, and extremi-
ties upon  either  of the hips, almost without any
apparent deviation of the spine from the perpen-
dicular.  This  is  effected by drawing the spine to
one side, and leaning the head  and neck  slightly
to the other.  Girls often rest themselves in this
manner, when  writing or when playing  upon the
piano and upon the harp,  though they are thought
to be sitting sufficiently upright.  The right  hand
being in all these occupations that which requires
most scope for motion, gives  rise to the right shoul-
der being raised, and in order to facilitate this, to 
BALANCE BY THE MUSCLES.
179
 the balance  of the body being  maintained on the
 left hip.  The curvature which arises from these
 habits, is thus directed to the right side.
   In standing, a weakly child  with the slightest
 inclination to lateral  curvature will increase it by
 resting, as  it habitually does,  on one  foot more
 than the other.  The spine and its  superincumbent
 and connecting weight are thrown on this side  and
 the intervertebral cartilages  losing their elasticity
 by the  undue  pressure become  less  thick  and
 allow  of a  concavity being formed  on the same
 side.
   We  infer,  then, from these  statements of  the
 effect of various postures, that any deviation of the
 body from  the  perpendicular  line,  whether   by
 stooping or leaning to one side, will, if long con-
 tinued, end  in that  deformity  called  curvature of
 the spine.  This bony column  with its interverte-
 bral cartilage and  ligaments is, we have shown,
 kept in its  erect position by numerous and strong
 muscles, which constitute the mass of flesh on each
 side in the cavity between it and the  angles of the
ribs  and in the region of the loins.  Obviously,
therefore, on  the health and  equal  strength of the
muscles thus  arranged on each side of the  spine
depends its preservation of the perpendicular line,
or of that straightness  and  symmetry which con-
sist in  an equal development  and proportion of
the two sides of the body.   By voluntary effort a 
180
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
person may  for a  while,  without inconvenience,
task the muscles of one side more  than those of
another as in the different postures above describ-
ed.  But there is generally a risk  unless these be
alternate from one to another.  Permanent exercise
of one side  gives, we have  seen, an  undue  pre-
dominance to it.  The corrective must be found in
equal exercise of the other side.
  There are two states induced by  different  causes
in which the inequality of support  is seen.  In the
first, by continued and excessive exercise the mus-
cles become weary and fail  to preserve the  equili-
brium;  in  the  second,  by deficient exercise or
where it has  not been used at all, they are unable
to act with any  power and  fail  to  keep, either the
head on the spine or the spine on  the pelvis.  An
instance of the one is seen in a person who has
been standing for a long time, or even seated on a
stool  or a chair without a  back.  The extensor
muscles of the back on both  sides are exhausted;
and relief is sought by bending the body forwards
and resting  the chest and  head immediately  on a
table  or  desk,  or mediately by the arms being
made props; the hands applied to the head and the
elbows resting  on the supporting  substance.  An
example  of the other state  or  that of prolonged
inaction of the  spinal and dorsal  muscles  is  wit-
nessed in those  who have preserved for a length of
time an entirely recumbent posture.   When these 
         TENDENCY TO LATERAL CURVATION.     181

 persons are required to sit erect, they cannot accom-
 plish their purpose in this respect at all, or if they
 succeed they must soon have  recourse to a prop of
 some kind to lean against.
   The great difficulty of keeping the  body erect,
 after  either excessive  exercise  or unmeasured in-
 action, gives  of  course  a  ready tendency to its
 leaning to one or other side; since there is nothing
 to resist the influence of  the slightest cause which
 should make  the body  deviate  from its  straight
 line.  The more prolonged the  weakness  of the
 muscles the greater the probability of this deviation
 persisting and of its becoming fixed.   How little
 chance must there be, then, of escape from a fixed
 deformity  of the  spine,  if the  muscles are per-
 manently  weak  and one cause' of unequal action
 of the two sides  of the  body is constantly pre-
 sent.   In this situation are all children  and young
 persons who are  compelled, when at school, to
 spend  hours  with head  and  bodies  erect, either
 standing or seated, and  whose  right arm is that
 which is chiefly if not solely in action.
  It has been proved to the reader's entire satisfac-
 tion, I may hope, that the strength and the size of
 muscles are increased  in proportion  as they  are
 exercised;  and that the  more evident these  proper-
 ties of size and strength the greater the  ability of
 the individual to  resist fatigue.   The converse is
equally clear and requires no enforcement.  It is
     16 
182
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
that which is seen in the cases of those children
and young persons who are confined  for so many
hours in a close and ill-ventilated school room, and
prevented from  taking that kind and variety  of
exercise  called  for  by their  growth and  health.
Without prior or concomitant training the muscles
of the back are tasked to exertions which would
tire those of a man accustomed to and strengthened
by  active sports and labor.   They soon of course
are wearied and fail  to support the body  equally
well on both sides.   A leaning to  one or other  is
followed by curvature of the spine and its associ-
ated symptoms.
  But if muscles, weak from defective exercise, are
unable to discharge their functions, what hope can
we have of better results from these same muscles
when  they  are  not only entirely quiescent  and
torpid, but in a measure  withered and diminished
in size.   Those of children of both sexes much
immured in the nursery or  the school  room or the
factory  are  in the first  state.  Those of young
females  daily subjected  to the cruelty of corsets
and consequent pressure are in the second.
  By the continued and prolonged use of corsets
the muscles of the back, and of the chest also, are
subjected to the  same  debilitating  and  almost
paralysing pressure  which  follows the protracted
application of long splints and circular bandage to
a limb.  In addition  to the  illustrations of this 
         CORSETS ENFEEBLE THE MUSCLES.      183

point already given, may be mentioned the practice
of some beggars, who, in order to excite the  sym-
pathy of the passers by, present to their notice a leg
or an arm apparently shrunk and  withered by dis-
ease, but which in  fact had been reduced purposely
to this  condition,  by  the persevering pressure of
bandages rolled tightly round the whole limb.
   Forbidden to lean against the back of a chair or
recline at intervals on  a couch,  and required to
walk and sit  erect for hours, young females gain
an artificial  support by their corsets; and  in  proof
of the necessity, if not propriety, of continuing to
wear this casement they allege the impossibility
after a  while of keeping themselves erect at all
when they  are deprived of it.  They have, they
say, a feeling of weakness and of sinking almost
amounting to faintness, which compels recourse to
the artificial support of corsets.   These very feel-
ings are proof  conclusive both  of  the  mischief
done and of the means by which it was accom-
plished.  The extreme feebleness of the muscles
of the back  which  prevents their keeping  the body
erect, is the  result  of the continued compression to
which they had been subjected.   But  it would
hardly be argued that  because these muscles had
become feeble from  long inaction,  as   where  a
person had been constantly in a recumbent posture,
the way to strengthen them would  be for him or 
184
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 her, as the case  might be, to  lie down again and
 continue the inactivity of the parts in question.  A
 limb reduced in size, and its  muscles small and
 wasted and unable  to move it, in  consequence of
 their having been long subjected to  pressure in the
 manner before indicated, could hardly be expected
 to recover its size and mobility by a renewal of the
 application which first caused  its weakness.   And
 yet either of these courses would be as natural and
 proper and  as justified by  experience  as  the re-
 newed use of corsets by a person who complains
 of inability  to support herself  without them.
  The law of nature which is  but  an exponent  of
 the intention of  the  Creator is clear  and without
 appeal.  It is:  that the  muscles  which  are the
 moving parts of  the animal economy, by which both
 locomotion proper is performed and the  various
 postures and attitudes of the body are taken, grow
 and  are strengthened by regular exercise,  and be-
 come smaller and enfeebled by inaction, and utterly
 powerless by pressure.   All  substitutes and con-
 trivances whatever to evade this law are not only
 ridiculous,  on the score  of their  impotence,  but
 impious in regard to  their opposition  to the plain
 intention of  the Creator.   This reflection suggests
 a notice  of  the  means for the prevention  and re-
moval of the deformities of which the chief causes
have just been enumerated. 
           PREVENTION of deformities.       185

   These latter have been shown to consist  in a de-
 fective  growth and  hardness of the  bones and
 weakness and unequal action of the muscles.

   Means of Prevention, and of Relief and Re-
 moval of Deformities.—As the morbid causes are
 early  brought to bear, we  must as early  look to
 their  avoidance, and to  the means  of counteract-
 ing their influence.  The requisite details with this
 view will constitute a short  code of what may be
 termed beauty-training.
   The infant whilst yet in its mother's and nurse's
 arms  is  subjected  to the disadvantage of unequal
 motion of the two sides of its body, if, as is the
 custom,  it be always carried upon the same arm, so
 that the side of it which is at liberty, being more
 exercised than the other, acquires a greater degree
 of development.  This habit of the nurse may, also,
 prove  detrimental to  her; and she becomes " side-
 bent"  or crooked at the same  time that her charge
 is suffering in  the back and limbs.   The relief in
 this  case is  obvious.  The alternate use of the
 arms will prevent either nurse or child from.suffer-
 ing in  the manner described.
  Parents and nurses, in their eagerness to show
 off a child  to what they suppose to be the best
advantage, and to give an idea of its rapid growth,
very early  make it sit erect.  A consequence of
this injudicious practice is to  bend  the weak  and
                      16* 
186
HEALTH AND BF.Al i\ .
yet flexible spine in  a wrong direction, which  is
apt to be maintained by the readiness  of growth of
the young bones.  The  instinctive  efforts  of the
little  being itself are the best index of the time
when its spine is able to  support the  head and  to
keep itself erect on the haunches.   Until these are
manifest and repeated, it should be kept in a recum-
bent posture with the head somewhat raised or after
a time of half recumbence,  so  that  it  shall resi
from time to time as on a kind of inclined plane.
  The support, on these  occasions, of a child, be-
fore it is able to  sit up with ease, and at any  period
afterwards when it lies  down, should be uniform
and equable, so that the head and  neck, the  region
of the shoulders and the  loins and hips may rest
on a continued surface of slightly elastic substance.
There  is  nothing more wearisome to a nurse nor
more apt to deform the child than holding it, as is
often done, for hours on the lap or on the arm.  Its
back is very unequally supported, and whilst one
side suffers from pressure the  limbs of the other
are partially hanging down.   Beyond the time re-
quired for giving a child  food and making the re-
quisite changes in dress, it should never, in doors,
be kept upon the knees or the arms of its parent or
nurse.  If placed on  a mattress or.on the floor and
its  limbs left  free, it soon assumes the posture
which is easiest and most conducive to its comfort;
and it can, at the same time, in turning or rolling 
1NEANT1LE MOVEMENTS.
187
about  give itself both exercise  and the requisite
variety of  posture,  whilst  it is  being prepared
for sitting up and for subsequently more extended
movements.
   Equally injudicious as the early  attempts  to
make the child sit up erect  ar*those  to  make  it
stand  before its  limbs have acquired  the needful
strength for  supporting the  weight of the  body.
Neglect of this caution will be productive of bend-
ing of the legs; and as one may yield more readily
than another a leaning to one side  and the risk of
spinal curvature  are to  be apprehended.  The in-
stinct in children for taking exercise is strong, and
early evinces itself by the little being, ere it is able
to walk or even stand, creeping  along the floor on
all-fours.   This preparation  for ulterior and more
extended  movements  should be freely indulged;
and in such a case the child will not be backward in
making spontaneous efforts to stand, by first taking
hold of some object, and  afterwards alone.  At first,
it  will' be  seen  sinking down on  the floor almost
immediately after having stood up,  as if astonished
at the novelty of its  position; but in reality be-
cause  its  lower limbs are unaccustomed  to their
new burthen and  soon give notice by peculiar feel-
ings of their weakness.   After a while the child
stands for a longer period, and  finally  volunteers
some movements  of progression.  All these efforts,
I  repeat,  ought   to  originate  with  itself;  due 
188
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
attention being paid, in the mean time, to directing
its  attention  and giving' it  inducements to move
about.  But in all cases the  mode should be left to
the young being, nor should it be forced by arti-
ficial support and fragging to walk before it evin-
ces, itself, both  trre inclination and the ability.
  It may seem  but little complimentary  to  the
boasted reason of man,  for us  to point out, as an
example for his  guidance, the instinctive habits of
animals  in the  treatment of  their  young.  In the
first period, warmth  and nourishment are all that are
given or required;  in the second, encouragement,
by example, to limited exercise  in  the movements
characteristic of the species.  The reference  is,
however, conformable with sound philosophy, since
the points to be enforced are,  how growth goes on,
symmetry of  structure  is  preserved, and  ready
movements made,  without  any artificial  aid  or
prop, bandage here or pressure there, in the young
of all animals.
  Infants and children  in a savage or  semi-barba-
rous state have advantages  over those in a more
highly civilised community, in  their comparative
exemption from feebleness of frame and deformi-
ties.  It is the characteristic of  half knowledge to
be always inventing, altering, and restraining un-
der the pretence  of amelioration.  In  this state is
mankind at the  present  time respecting physical
education.  It might seem   to learned ignorance 
        EARLY WEAKNESS AND DEFORMITY.      189

a cruel  wrong  to leave children totally untram-
melled in their dress and  carriage;  and if for no
other reason  than because  barbarian  nations  and
the poor and  the  illiterate  among their own peo-
ple, allow  them  this freedom.   These sophists
are not even convinced by  the results  of the  two
methods of treatment.  The weakness and  slight
deviation from  symmetry  in  a child maltreated
after the common  fashion, by its being constantly
nursed in its mother's or nurse's arms, twisted  and
tormented and imperfectly supported on  the  knees
of one or other of these persons when it is  being
dressed, is afterwards increased and the ready cure
prevented  by ill-fitting,  because tight, garments
about  the centre  of the body and the  chest  and
shoulders.  The free motion of the limbs in  every
direction and the equal exercise  of the  two  sides
of the body, which would soon restore the strength
and correct any slight deviation  from symmetry,
are either prohibited by parents as ungraceful ot
are prevented by the restraints of dress. Nor do
the evils stop  here: the machinery of shoulder
straps  and back boards, and the  more permanent
torture of corsets are soon superradded, in the case
of the  young female. Boys more fortunate,  be-
cause vanity is  not engaged to improve their per-
sons, escape these  cruel trammels; and yielding to
the instincts of their nature, or  in more impressive
language, we should  say obeying the  intention of 
190
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 their Creator, they indulge in various sports and pas-
 times, and find in these both exercise and strength
 for their bodies and recreation for their minds.
    Surprise is often  expressed  at the healthy and
 even  robust appearance and  fine free carriage of
 children who  have been in a degree neglected by
 their  parents or even  entirely  deprived  of them;
 and allowed to grow up in indigence, perchance in
 dirt and rags, with the  domestic animals  for their
 company.  The destitution of these  apparent  un-
 fortunates is for them a happy exemption  from re-
 fined cruelty; and whatever risk they run on  the
 score of moral obliquity, they are gainers  in their
 physical nature by the freedom which they have en-
 joyed.  Though their food be scant, it is at any rate
 eaten with avidity and well digested, and furnishes
 a fair proportion of good chyle  for the renovation
 of  the blood, which  itself is  freely  circulated in
 its  proper channels, and fully  exposed by ample
 respiratory movements to air in the lungs.  It is
 rendered florid,  vivified, and every way  fitted to
 nourish all the  organs, including,  of course,  the
 bones and the muscles, by its depositing in them the
 materials for their  structure and growth.   These
remarks would not apply to the children of squalid
poverty, who are deprived of wholesome  aliment,
but to those who receive enough for the wants of
the animal economy without  clogging  its  ma-
chinery, who exercise their bodies the live long 
            EFFECTS OF A BAD REGIMEN.        191

 day  without let  or hindrance,  and  who, tossed
 down on their hard pallet, sleep sound and awake
 cheerful and refreshed.
   What a  contrast does the child of wealth and
 luxurious indulgence present to this picture.  The
 stomach, even before the little being is weaned
 from its mother's breast, crammed  with various in-
 digestible matters, called sweets and  good things,
 or gross meats and  gravies, is irritated, and trans-
 mits its irritation to all the other organs,  including
 the  brain;  the sufferings  of which are shown in
 fitfulness, frequent cries and  outbreaks of passion.
 Even that  small  portion of  chyle  which  is made
 out of the crude mass taken into  the stomach, is
 imperfectly mixed  with the  blood, for this  fluid
 does not circulate with freedom, deprived as it is of
 the increased momentum which exercise gives, nor
 is it adequately changed in the lungs, poorly sup-
 plied as they are with  the necessary pabulum of
 fresh air.  Badly because overfed, confined to close
 rooms week after week, and not  of course exer-
 cised and having no inclination for exercise, tram-
 melled in the commonest movements, and prevented
 from yielding for a moment to its instinctive wants
 of locomotion, this  creature of false method and of
 criminal indulgence  has its digestion  and growth
 impaired and its disposition perverted: its organs
are feeble;  those  of support, the bones,  wanting
in solidity,  and those  of motion, the  muscles 
iy2
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 deficient in contractile power.  Prevented from run-
 ning it walks badly: and not even walking enough,
 its lower limbs are unable to perform their office of
 supporting the trunk.  The arms are for the most
 part passive, the chest becomes  narrow, and any
 sedentary employment will  suffice  to  give the
 now weakened spine a wrong direction.
   The only chance  of restoration, and  of  acquir-
 ing health with pleasing  personal appearance is in
 escape from this imprisonment and these trammels.
 We  sometimes see a boy  and a girl  of the same
 family, nearly  equal  sufferers  from  these  per-
 nicious influences to which  in their nursery life
 they had been  both equally subjected.   The boy,
 however,  is sent to a  school at  which  he  is
 allowed to mix in the sports of other  boys in the
 fields and play ground; he acquires vigor of frame,
 freshness and high color  of skin, and prompt and
 easy movements.   His sister  is retained  at home
 under her fond mother's eye, or she is sent to an ap-
 proved seminary in order  to be trained  up in all the
 accomplishments and graces of carriage  and man-
 ner befitting her  sex and the expectations  formed
 of her.  But, in fact, she is transferred from one
 prison  to  another,  from a primary school, to  an
 academy, of refined  torture of her  body and dis-
traction of her mind.
  Of the direct  effects of the fashionable  school
training on  the shape of the female form we can 
         INACTION OF THE SPINAL MUSCLES.     193

 take, as no bad exponent, the following opinions by
 Mr. Bampfield.
   " Thus the spinal muscles of young females are
 doomed to  inaction by the trunks of their bodies
 being imprisoned in stiff stays, or their movements
 abridged and confined by the use of collars, braces,
 back boards, or  by being  stretched motionless on
 reclining boards or school  room floors, or they are
 subjected to long continued exertion, and the use
 of one posture, which all  our muscles abhor, and
 soon become weary of; by being placed  in educa-
 tion chairs or stools, the long form of school rooms,
 or on the round stool, to practise for  hours on the
 piano-forte or harp, with strict injunction to  keep
 the  I>ody quite  upright, and  menaces of punish-
 ment if they stoop or bend  in  the  least.   But the
»muscles must sometimes  obey divine, instead of
 human laws, and when fatigued  or  weary in the
 erect posture, must  gradually follow  the  Creator's
 law, and seek repose by allowing the body to sink
 into an inclination to one side  or the other, and by
 laying  the basis of lateral curvature, produce the
 reverse of what human wisdom intended."
   The  remedies  for  these evils are thus  indicated
 by the same  author.   " Without digressing farther
 I would observe, instead of stiff stays, back boards,
 reclining boards, education chairs  without backs,
 military marching, &c, let the boys and girls have
 no clothes or apparatus to  limit their  movements,
     17 
194
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 and when weary, let them sit down on chairs with
 proper backs, to support the spine, or lay down for
 rest,  or, in  fact, seek  repose as they  find most
 agreeable, when they are fatigued or can  no longer
 maintain an  erect attitude conveniently.  Let the
 girls  have  a large field or play ground.  Let the
 boys, also, have the range of the country within
 the sound of the school bell.   Let the girls engage
 in the games of battle-door and  shuttlecock, skip-
ping,  dancing, and all that they can play at."
  Preliminary  to a( consideration  of any  other
means of obtaining a fine shape  and graceful car-
riage, and, short of these, of preventing deformity,
the question of suitable dress must first be  settled.
If a young girl at school  wear stays and corsets,
she is at once in the most unfavorable situation for
her health,  beauty, and even mental improvement.,
The evils of long sitting  and confinement  in the
school room are increased, and  any benefit that
would otherwise be derived  from  even  limited
exercise is rendered of no  avail.  The first and in-
dispensable condition, the sine qua non for physical
comfort and  well being  of the scholar is loose
 habiliments;  such as will  allow,  1.  Of the most
complete expansion of the  chest in the  fullest in-
halation or long drawn sigh; 2. Of the movements
 of the limbs  in every direction of which they are
 by their structure and articulation  capable; 3. Of
 the flexion of the body forwards and on either 6ide, 
           EDUCATION CHAIRS INJURIOUS       195

 and the semirotation both of the vertebrae  of the
 neck above and of those of the loins below.
   During  the period of school hours, and  these,
 especially for girls, should be  shorter than they
 generally are, the scholar is to avoid either the awk-
 ward stoop in which the head is sunk between the
 shoulders, and  the  latter  excessively raised, or
 an attempt to keep in a continuedly erect posture.
 A slight flexion of the spine at the  loins is natural
 and diminishes the fatigue from long sitting, whilst
 part of the weight of the upper portion of the body
 is to be taken from the spine and pelvis, by resting
 the middle region of the back or that of the shoul-
 ders against the gently curved back of a chair.  The
 seat must be broad and deep, and not so high  as to
 prevent the  feet from resting easily on the  floor,
 but allow  of the  legs and thighs forming a right
 angle.  It  will  be proper,  also, to have the seat
 either cushioned or made of elastic cane.
   The fashion of chairs with high narrow  seats
 and perpendicular backs, called Cooper's education
 chairs,  displays  ignorance  of  animal  mechanics
 and of the movements of the body.  Stooping is
 almost necessary to a person thus  seated, and yet
 the attempt to take this  posture  would  throw her
off her balance, as her feet do not reach the floor.
The lower  limbs being pendent drag the body and
increase the  feeling of fatigue  at the  loins.   The 
196
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 muscles of the back, both  those  in  common use
 and the accessory ones, are, kept  in excessive ac-
 tion and the tendency to spinal curvature is greatly
 increased.   When  the legs hang down during a
 long continued sitting, and  the  thighs  have not a
 sufficient  support,  the  latter acquire  a crooked
 form.  A celebrated German physician alleges that
 he  has seen this kind  of deformity of the limbs
 produced in the children of several families from a
 similar cause.
  If the young person is of a weakly frame, she
 should, so  far from  being compelled  to sit on
 straight back chairs or on forms or stools without
 backs, be allowed to sit on a chair made with a reclin-
 ing back and stuffed tolerably hard with horse hair.
 '• When there is an evident tendency to deformity,
 the back of the chair may be stuffed so as to fit the
 natural curves of  the spine, but it does not require
 to be  formed with this accuracy when used  as a
means of prevention."  By  the  aid  of  a hinge or
spring in the seat, the back takes any degree of de-
clination that may be thought  desirable;  so  that
the girl, after  the fatigue  during  school  hours,
may  be allowed to assume  a  reclining  posture
without altering much the relative position of the
spinal  column, and thus to  relieve the muscles
which  poise the body, without, at  the  same time,
hazarding the symmetry of the  form by allowing 
            RECUMBENT POSTURE USEFUL.        197

 it  to  fall into  an injurious or ungraceful attitude.
 When by such  means  rest has been obtained, the
 erect posture may be resumed.
   A mistaken  notion  prevails and is  too rigidly
 acted  on in seminaries of learning, and indeed, at
 home, by indulgent parents, that a reclining  pos-
 ture or lying down in the day, in the intervals be-
 tween study or after  active bodily exercise, is a
 sign of indolence and ought to be discountenanced
 and prohibited.   We  have shown that this posture
 is the one in which all the muscles of the body in-
 cluding  those  of the  spine  are at  rest; and it is
 that which after fatigue from protracted sports or
 labor  we most readily, one might say, instinctively
 seek.   The laborer in town or country will be
 seen,  after having taken his simple meal, to stretch
 himself out at  full  length during the noon-tide
 hour,  and perhaps sleep the while,  and  rise again
 refreshed and enabled to go  through his toil with
 readiness  and  ease for the remainder of the day.
 But other examples readily occur,  which will be
 regarded  as more  to  the  point, by  their showing
 that frequent reclining, in alternation with exercise,
 is neither unfavorable to symmetry nor to  a ready as-
 sumption  and easy preservation of the  erect atti-
 tude.  The Indian will spend most of his time not
 taken  up  with  war or the chase, in a reclining or
at least lounging posture; and yet we all  know that
when once up and in motion his figure seems to be
                       17* 
198
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
as straight  as  one of the arrows  in  his  quiver.
The people of the eastern world sit, not on straight
backed  chairs, but on their hams, on mats  and
commonly cushions  of some kind or other,  and
often recline on their divans, slightly supporting
themselves on their elbows and on cushions;  and
yet, as we see in the Turks, they are remarkable for
their erect standing and gait.  Among the ancients,
even at their repasts, the reclining posture was the
most common, and that too by men, who, in their
gymnastic games, could  display  an agility  and
grace of movements,  and,  in war, a strength in
bearing up under their heavy armor and in the use
of their weapons,  which  would shame  the most
practised martinet  of the present  day, who  con-
siders the slightest stoop at any time to be  a mark
of indolence, if not of childish weakness.
  Having indicated the preventive measures of a
negative  nature against the loss  of symmetry of
form, I shall next specify those of a more positive,
and  at the same time in a measure curative, kind.
It may have  been inferred from the tenor and actual
Eubstance of preceding remarks and admonitions,
that I regard machines of every description  for the
prevention  of deformity or for the cure  of  bad
habits as not merely useless for obtaining  the de-
sired  end, but  as  positively  injurious and to be
avoided accordingly.
  In every case of weakness of the nmscles of the 
         FRICTION AND THE SPOUT BATH.       199

back, and inability to maintain without discomfort
the erect posture, assiduous friction,  as a kind
of  passive  exercise,  should be  practised  over
and  on  each  side  of the  spine,  in  its  entire
course; first with the hand of an assistant, and then
with a flesh brush  or coarse flannel.  A momentary
impression  from a spout bath of cold or, in very
weak persons, of tepid  water may advantageously
precede recourse to friction.
  The hints and  advice which follow,  are given
under the supposition that we have to treat  young
persons with frames merely feeble,  or  in  whom
there may  be  evidences  of  incipient curvature of
the spine without fixed pain or decided constitu-
tional  disturbance.   If a  particular spot corres-
ponding with  the distortion  of the spine be per-
manently painful, and, still more  so to  the touch,
and there be fever, then the  cure demands a regu-
lar and  connected  medical treatment which it does
not comport with my present plan to introduce at
this time.   I refer to this  state of things now in
order to caution against any active exercise during its
continuance. Then rest in a recumbent posture will
be an appropriate precursor to the use of curative
means, among  which, however, we  must not in-
clude any of the various machines and mechanical
contrivances which  have  been at  different times
extolled for the purpose.
  The various  attitudes and  movements  demanded 
200
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  for health, agility and grace may be classed  under
  the  heads of, 1. Exercise  taken in the common
  sports, spontaneously engaged in by children and
  youth.  2. Methodical  exercise  by gymnastics  or
  callisthenics, and by dancing.
   The first class of exercises should be not only
 allowed  but  encouraged, by adequate  space and
 time being furnished for its  indulgence.   Boys,  in
 their different games of running, wrestling, play-
 ing ball, and hoop, &c, whilst  they amuse them-
 selves, call at the same time the several muscles
 of the  trunk and limbs into successive and  alter-
 nate action; a condition  this which  should be ob-
 served  in, every  system of bodily exercise.   Insi-
 pidity if possible is to be avoided;  for unless, the
 mind be  attentive to and interested  in the body's
 movements, these latter will  be productive of  com-
 paratively little  good.   Girls at school unhappily
 realise in their own case the truth of this maxim.
 Certain false notions of grace and feminine reserve
 prevent their  engaging  in more than the  most
 formal  and limited exercise, which is, therefore,
 monotonous and heartless.  The intervals of study
 are not recreations to them, where every movement
 must be graduated by a particular scale of a school
 supervisor. They are in continued exhibition, unless
 they be allowed  to  engage  freely and without  a
feeling of restraint in various bodily exercises for
amusement. 
PASTIMES OF THE YOUNG.
201
   Whilst  thus  recommending freedom from con-
 tinuedly oppressive and needless restraints, it does
 not come within the  scope of the  most liberal  in
 these matters to advocate, even by implication, any
 vulgarity in sports, any more than in language.   It
 has- been properly said, that vulgar exercises lead to
 vulgar  associations;  but  let it  be  added that un-
 graceful are in reality vulgar motions; and that the
 true nature of these  is not altered  by fashion nor
 by fashionable constraint.  The gambols of child-
 hood  can  never  be  called vulgar by  the  most
 fastidious; nor should the various sports of adoles-
 cence  in which every movement  of the  body  is
 practised be more liable to the imputation.  They
 cannot be if yielded  to under the influence of in-
 genuous feelings and  properly  regulated  minds.
 Superintendence on the part of the teacher is so far
 necessary  as  to prevent  continued or excessive
 exercise beyond  the  strength of the scholar, and,
 also,  to induce  the  latter to take  the  requisite
 variety.  Precautions in this respect and the want
 of space for play grounds in towns  for young per-
 sons at  school,  especially for girls, render a me-
 thodical exercise both proper and necessary.   By
 these,  also,  a tendency  to  deviations from sym-
metry  of form and  weakness of any  part of the
locomotive apparatus  are  more certainly prevented
than when exercise is irregularly taken, according
to the varying impulse and feeling  of the  scholar. 
203
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 Of late years, in various parts of Europe and in the
 United States, greater attention  has  been given to
 these methodical exercises, which have received the
 name of Gymnastics; and when modified to suit the
greater delicacy of frame  and  less  extensive and
active movements of the  other  sex,  that of Callis-
thenics.
  Details of the mode in which  these exercises are
taken cannot be expected here.   The reader should
be aware, however, of the fact, and it is an import-
ant one, that they can be directed in such a way as
to give strength and muscular  development to any
particular part, whether it be the chest or the back,
the upper  or the  lower limbs,  according to  the
series of movements and attitudes  regularly made.
The following account of the beneficial effects of
regulated gymnastic exercises  in imparting vigor,
strength, and  vivacity of  movement to a body,
early,  and  as it  would  have  seemed, incurably
feeble, will serve for illustration and  encourage-
ment.
  When three  years of  age, the subject of this
brief  history  could  scarcely  stand;  at five,  he
walked badly,  and supported by  leading strings;
and it was  only after dentition, at seven years old,
 that he could walk  without  assistance;  but  even
 then he fell  frequently and could not  rise again.
 Given up  by the physicians, he continued in this
 state  till the age of seventeen, when  the loins and 
        STRENGTH BY GYMNASTIC EXERCISES.    203

 lower extremities could scarcely support the upper
 part of  his body.  The arms were extremely weak
 and contracted, the approximation of the shoulders
 diminished the capacity of the  chest and  impeded
 respiration; the moral  faculties  were quite  torpid,
 and, " in  short, nature was at a  stand-still."  In
 the  month  of November,  1815,  this unfortunate
 youth was presented to Mr. Clias, the celebrated
 superintendent of a gymnasium, then at Berne in
 Switzerland, as he  afterwards  was of others in
 Paris and in London.  On being  admitted, his
 strength was tried, and his pressure on the dynamo-
 meter was only equal to that of children seven or
 eight years of age.  In ability  to  pull, ascend the
 ladder,  and jump, he  was  utterly deficient.  He
 ran  over  the  space  of a hundred feet, with great
 difficulty, in a minute and two  seconds, and could
 not  stand  when he   had   finished.  Carrying  a
 weight  of fifteen pounds  made him totter, and a
 child of seven years old threw  him with the great-
 est facility.
   A  person  of the  other  sex,  thus  enfeebled,
 would be thought by  a committee of crones and
 mantua-makers, to whom probably she would be
 consigned, to require,  of absolute necessity, the
support  and comfort  of corsets  and  busks.   Her
 physician would prescribe  tonics and  sea bath-
 ing, and  a  generous regimen;   no bad  things in
 their  place, and with  suitable  hygienic aids; but 
204
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 quite unfitted to prevent the increasing debility and
 superadded deformity from the use of tight lacing,
 and the want  of exercise.  But  to  return to  the
 poor feeble  youth.   Was  any  effort made  to
 strengthen his back by compression of its muscles
 or  to take off from the weight of his head and
 chest by various mechanical contrivances'? Captain
 Clias  did not put faith in the doctrine, that to give
 muscles strength, they must not be used at all; but
 he  believed  that  the  feeble and  imperfectly de-
 veloped  ones of  this young  invalid might  be
 made to grow  and acquire strength on the same
 principle as that by which the legs of a dancer and
 a porter, and the arms  of bakers and boatmen be-
 come full, muscular, and strong.   His scholar was
 subjected to the gymnastic regimen for five months;
 after which  period he could press fifty degrees on
 the dynamometer: by  the  strength of his arms he
 raised himself three inches from  the  ground, and
 remained  thus  suspended  for  three  seconds;  he
 leaped a distance of three  feet, ran a hundred and
 sixty-three yards  in a minute, and carried on  his
 shoulders, in the same space  of time, a weight of
 thirty-five  pounds.  Finally, in 1817, in the pre-
 sence of several  thousand spectators, he climbed
 to  the top of a single  rope, twenty-five  feet high;
 he  did  the same  exercise on  the climbing pole,
jumped, with a run, six feet,  and ran over five
 hundred feet  in  two minutes  and a half.  Subse- 
VARIOUS EXERCISES.
205
 quently when he became a clergyman, in a village
 near Berne, he could walk twenty-four miles on foot,
 without incommoding himself; and  the  exercises,
 which  he always continued, have  given  him, in
 place of his valetudinary state, a vigorous consti-
 tution.
   The  annals  of Fellenberg's school, at Hofwyl,
 abound with examples to the same  purport as the
 above.   The reader of  ancient  biography  need
 hardly be reminded  of the  steps successfully pur-
 sued, by both Cicero and  Caesar, who were each of
 them,  in  early  life,  of  delicate constitution and
 feeble body; but who were restored  to vigorous
 health by gymnastic and  other exercises persever-
 ingly employed.

   Various  Exercises.—Gymnastics,  or exercises
 methodically employed,  must be proportioned  in
 their duration and extent to the age, the sex, the
 constitution, and  the actual state of the perse n
 who is to become the subject of them.  The great
 ends proposed by their use are to increase the free-
 dom of the joints, to favor the play and develop-
 ment of the muscles, to  strengthen  the body, and
to facilitate standing and moving in any attitude
without a loss of equilibrium.   These  exercises
teach, also, at the same time to brave  danger and
to overcome obstacles which would deter the feeble
and induce timidity, because of feebleness.  They
    18 
206
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
have  been divided into  three; 1.  Of the Lower
Limbs; 2. Of the Upper Limbs;  3. Into Mixed
Exercises, in which  both the trunk or body  pro-
per and  the limbs  are all  brought  into  active
play.   This division,  of course, conveys the idea of
certain parts of the body being chiefly but not ex-
clusively  exercised.    Any  active  movements of
either the upper or the lower  limbs will  exert an
effect on the trunk, both by means of the  muscles
which connect them severally with this latter, and
also, by the jar and motion communicated to all the
internal organs.
   Walking, running  and jumping, and balancing
on  the  feet, come under the first division.  To
some  it might  appear as if  walking  "comes by
nature,"  and would  not require  the aid of the
gymnic teacher.   The differences pointed  out  in a
preceding page between the Irish and  the English
peasant, both  of them  walkers, will show  that
there  is a healthy and  graceful, as  well  as an
awkward, fashion in this kind  of exercise.   To
walk  well is, in fact, a great art, which  deserves-
the attention of  parents for  their  children, at an
early  age of these latter.  If any person will try
the different modes of walking, by putting the heel
first to the ground and then letting the sole down,
or by placing the whole surface of the sole at once,
or, by a tripping  step, resting mainly on the ball
and great toe, he  will be sensible of the great dif- 
WALKING.
207
 ferences in the degree  of  exercise given  to the
 muscles of the leg and  of their development, and
 also of the relative ease and gracefulness of carriage.
 In the first manner, the head and chest are thrown
 back;  in the last, the body inclines forwards .and
 the shoulders are slightly stooped.
   Compatibly  with  grace and  ease,  the foot, in
 walking, should be entirely raised  from the ground
 at each step, whilst the knees are straight and the
 toes slightly inclined  downwards:  the  fore part of
 the sole will then touch the ground first, but the
 whole sole must immediately afterwards rest on it,
 so as  to give  the requisite  support to the body,
 whilst the  other foot is  being raised and advanced
 in a similar manner.   The walk should be firm and
 forward, but not crawling, jumping, waddling, nor
 staggering; the knees and the ankles respectively
 must not touch each other.   The length of the
 steps will be  regulated by the size of the  body,
 and  particularly of the  lower limbs;  so  that the
 body may not lose its balance..
  Some  of the movements  of which  walking is
compounded, should  be practised  by  young per-
sons.  Of  these, standing on the  heels and step-
ping at first forwards and afterwards  backwards,
are a good  means of exercising the muscles in the
outer and  fore part  of  the  leg.  The backward
movement  has, also,  the additional recommenda-
tion of throwing the head and shoulders backwards 
208
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 and of expanding the chest;  and thus of correcting
 a tendency to a stoop or  anterior  curvature of the
 spine.  The other and antagonist movement, to
 which we tend in the  act of walking just before
 we raise the foot from  the ground, is to stand
 nearly on  the points  of the toes, and  then step
 either forwards or backwards, or laterally; an exer-
 cise which greatly strengthens the muscles of the
 calf of the  leg and  the joints of the toes, and is
 preparatory to that of running and  of jumping.  It
 also habituates one to preserve  an equilibrium on
 the narrowest basis.  In the  familiar and excellent
 exercise  with the skipping rope,  the body chiefly
 rests on the toes  and fore part of the sole of the
 feet.
  The double step and the triple step are movements
 of  progression made with greater rapidity than in
 the ordinary wTalk.
  The cross step, which is performed by alternate
 steps to  the right and to the left, sometimes one
 leg going before and sometimes behind  the other,
 serves to render  the joints of the knees and of the
 lower limbs generally flexible, to  fix the position
 of the body at any moment, and to give some grace
 to the shoulders.
  Confirming what has been said of the advantage,
 in exercise, of alternate motions  of the different
 orders of muscles, the  broken step  may  be  added.
It consists of three quick paces and three in a slow 
EASY FITTING CLOTHES IN WALKING.    209
 trot.  After  being a little  accustomed  to  it, one
 may travel, as a soldier does on a forced march, six
 miles an hour, and continue at this rate for several
 hours successively, without being much fatigued.
   After the stress so repeatedly laid on the neces-
 sity of freedom from  any restraint of dress, which
 can interfere with the contraction of the muscles
 and the motion of the joints, it may seem superflu-
 ous to say, that, for walking to  produce its good
 and pleasurable  effects,  and for the movements
 above described la be made with ease and utility,
 well fitting shoes  of soft  and flexible leather, and
 soles not  too thick, should be worn.  It may not
 seem equally evident to all, that walking cannot be
 performed gracefully, nor  without  risk even  of
 awkward carriage, if not deformity, being induced,
 unless both  the trunk of the body and  the  upper
 limbs be exempt  from any band  or ligature, either
 separate or forming a component  part of the dress,
 which might prevent, ever  so  little, the free play
 of the muscles.
   In walking, the arms should swing lightly, and
 without  any  visible effort, so  as to allow of their
 balancing as it were the body.  It is only when by
 any mischance one is  deprived  of their aid, that
 their importance in this way becomes fully evident.
 A walk in slow and measured pace may for a short
 time be taken, with the arms folded  on the chest,
but if prolongad or changed into  quicker step, the
                      18* 
210
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
feeling of awkwardness in movement and of fatigue
will soon be experienced.  Still more irksome and
even painful would be the rapid  progression, and
if rapid it must be compulsory, of a person whose
arms were tied  down  to the  sides.  A man thus
situated and compelled to walk far and at a brisk gait,
could not but excite our compassion, even though
we  knew that he was a criminal.  What must we
think then of the penalty of a like nature, which
fashion  imposes on her female votaries, who, by
the  compression  exerted on  the muscles of the
chest, which pass on each side to the arms, and by
the  ligatures of shoulder straps and  of the sleeve
at the arm pit and just below the joints, as effectu-
ally prevent the free exercise of the upper limbs as
if they were tied to the body by  cords similar to
those which bind the culprit.
  It is, also, necessary for easy and graceful move-
ment and, indeed, for  health  and  bodily  comfort,
that the back and loins should  not  be pressed and
their muscles either prevented  from contracting at
all or allowed to contract partially and unequally.
The spine, we have seen, is  not a rigid  and im-
moveable column;  but a pliant and elastic chain of
bones,  which at each step  must be allowed to un-
dergo some slight deviation from the perpendicular,
the more  especially when a person is walking on
uneven  ground.  The jar is likewise much greater
in walking, when the spine is  kept by the  mechan- 
             SPINE FREE FOR WALKING.         211

 »sm of dress in  a measure immoveable, and the
 vibration from the impulse of the feet striking the
 ground is communicated too readily along the bones
 to the head, which suffers accordingly.
   If the fingers, or more properly the thumb, of each
 hand be applied to any part of the spine, from be-
 tween the shoulders  down  to  the pelvis, this
 column will be felt to  undergo some motion from
 side to side, in a kind  of semi-rotation correspond-
 ing with every step made in walking. If the spine
 be not allowed to be  thus  moved by the muscles
 which pass from  it downwards to  the haunches,
 progression takes  place by the motion of the hip
joints alone, and walking is  both more wearisome
 and  awkward.  The gait is a rolling or rocking
 one; and  the body moves like  a mechanism, the
 parts of which are badly hinged, in place  of its
characteristic light and springy step.  To the most
unpractised and  uncultivated eye, the  difference
between the stiff and mincing gait of a fashionable
lady, whose body is incased  in stays, and the light
agile step, and  graceful and expressive movements
 of a girl, who  is  untrammelled in this way, and
whose muscles have  been freely exercised, is  at
once manifest and greatly to the  advantage of the
latter.
  Running and Jumping, though exercises more
especially calculated to strengthen the lower ex-
tremities, call the muscles of the trunk of the body 
212           HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

into active contraction and  increase the activity of
the circulation and of respiration.

  Exercises of the Upper  Extremities___These
are, also, numerous and diversified; viz.  the dumb
bells, which should not be of such a weight as to
cause  any  strain upon the  shoulders  or wrists
when they are held in the  hand and swung to and
fro; pushing, pulling, lifting.- the two latter should
be practised with great caution and under experi-
enced  guidance; battle-door and shuttlecock; throw*
ing quoits.- the left  and right arm  should be used
alternately in these  games.  The use of the tri-
angle is one of the best exercises for the  arms, be-
cause  both  are equally and simultaneously called
into action at the time:  it is, also,  one of the  best
preventives against lateral curvature of the spine,
because  it  calls into vigorous   contraction  the
spinal muscles  of  each  side.   The triangle is
made of a piece of firm wood, three or four feet in
length, and an  inch  or two  in diameter; to  each
end of which a rope is tied, the latter being secured
to the ceiling of a room on a hook  or staple.   The
height of this simple apparatus from the  floor will
be at  first  just  enough to  require the person to
stand on tip-toe, so as to be able to take hold  with
both hands, and with a firm grasp of the  stick, and
drag or pull on it.  Afterwards, it may be raised to
such a height as to require its being caught at by 
MIXED EXERCISES.
213
a slight jump or spring, and then to allow of the
body, thus suspended, swinging by the hands.
  Another exercise, well calculated to give strength
to the muscles of the arms and shoulders, and back
and  chest, is  that on the parallel bars.  Where
there is  already an elevation of one shoulder and
slight  tendency to curvature,  it is not, however,
equal to  the triangle in the beginning of a course
of gymnastic training.

  Of  the Mixed Exercises, we may  mention
wrestling, fencing, swimming, skating, the  skip-
ping rope, when  held by  the  person  skipping;
climbing, on the ladder, rope, mast, &c, carrying,
dancing, &c.
  In Paris, there are  swimming schools for young
persons of both sexes, which happily, also, are the
fashion.   A girl,  by  learning to swim, not  only
takes  a  wholesome exercise, both  calculated to
give freedom of motion to the limbs and to correct
tendency to spinal  deformity, but she also  acquires
an accomplishment which  may enable her to save
her  own life  from danger under circumstances
which no  human foresight  can  always guard
against.
  Dancing, as a means of exercising to  advantage
the body and  limbs, and  of giving to a certain
degree,  an  easy  movement and  carriage of the
body, is  properly  a part of good physical educa- 
214
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tion.  Learned with the aid of music, it contributes
to a general perception and  feeling of harmony,
and is an  aid  to  domestic sociability, by bringing
all  the  younger  members  of the family into a
pleased and joyous group.  But, dancing, to be use-
ful to the full extent  of  which  it is  susceptible,
ought to be taught  on a more extended plan  than
that  which makes  it  to consist  of formal move-
ments and strained and unnatural attitudes. Under
the guidance of a cultivated  classical taste,  and
with the examples of ancient art,  in groups of bas-
reliefs, and the paintings on Etruscan and Grecian
vases, young persons  might acquire an ease and
flexibility of movement, the utmost facility at as-
suming every variety  of posture  and  attitude ex-
pressive of the different emotions of the mind, and
a readiness  in combining a number of individual
figures so as to form the most picturesque groups.
  A knowledge of this kind of exercise and grace-
ful movements does not imply, nor need it lead to
those exhibitions at balls or parties, against which
so many estimable, and some by no means ascetically
disposed persons have a strong repugnance. Child-
ren may, and should learn to dance, as they would
learn correct elocution  and vocal music, without its
being supposed for a moment, that they must after-
wards lose their health and their freshness in danc-
ing at balls, any more than  they would become
professional declaimers and actors, or public singers. 
                    DANCING.                 215

   In fine, I would say, that without attaching any
 special importance to the mere art of dancing, it is
 highly desirable  that  the young of both  sexes
 should be induced to learn with  pleasure the vari-
 ous exercises by  which  they can walk and move
 with ease and  grace, spring if need be  from crag
 to  crag;  cross  on  a narrow  plank  over a  deep
 ravine  or rapid  stream  with steadiness, and jump
 with the promptness of instinct out of the way of
 any sudden impelling power  which  would  in  an
 instant more have crushed them  to  death.   What
 is called presence  of mind, in the hour of danger,
 can never be expected, unless from those who have
 the ready consciousness  of the complete subservi-
 ence of their bodily movements  to  their mental
 determination;  and this must have been  the  result
 of long and variously practised exercises.

          DEFORMITIES  OF THE CHEST.

  The  walls, as they have been called, or bound-
 aries of  the chest, which is technically  called
 thorax, were described at page  117.  In  order that
 the lungs  contained in this cavity should  be allow-
 ed the requisite expansion in breathing, full liberty
 must be given to  the  thorax to be dilated at each
inspiration or drawing  in of air.  The  spine be-
hind, the ribs on each side, and the breast bone in
front, must be in suitable proportion and connection 
216
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 to each other, and all of healthy firmness. of struc-
 ture and shape.   Of the muscles of the spine I have
 already spoken; also, of those expanded over  the
 chest.   In addition to these last, there are muscles
 which connect the  ribs together and pass in two
 layers;  one layer from above downwards, the other
 from behind forwards,  from edge to edge of the
ribs.  They are called  intercostal  muscles, whose
 function consists in either elevating or depressing
 the ribs, according as the movement is of inspira-
tion or of expiration.
  The shape of the chest is conical, each rib from
the first to the seventh constituting  an  arch, and
each in the order downwards as far as the seventh,
being longer  than  those  above it.  The chest is
flat before, at the breast bone, and  behind  at  the
 spine; and it is curved on its sides owing  to  the
convexity of the  ribs.  On a horizontal  section of
 this cone  the largest portion would fall  in  the
region of  the  seventh or  eighth  rib; and  conse-
quently the compression or expansion  of this  part
 would produce the most remarkable changes in the
decrease or increase of its contents.
  The change in  the size of the cavity of the chest
from behind forwards, is  by the  rise of the  ribs
and their protrusion, together with that of the breast
 bone, forwards.   The alternate widening and  nar-
rowing  of  the chest has   been compared  to  the
opening and closing of a pair of bellows.  But. the 
           ENLARGEMENT OF THE CHEST.       217

 most important change in the capacity of the chest
 in breathing, is  accomplished in  the direction  of
 its long diameter, from above downwards, by the
 agency of the great  muscular partition, the midriff
 or diaphragm, between the thorax and the  abdo-
 men, already  described,   (p.  117.)  When not  in
 action it forms an arch the convexity of which is at
 its upper surface and far up  in  the  cavity of the
 chest.  But during its contraction, in inspiration or
 drawing in air, it loses its  arched form, and pre-
 sents the appearance of an oblique plane.  By this
 change it descends from a line even with the fourth
 to that of the seventh rib; the lungs follow it, and
 by their greater capacity and enlargement  allow of
 the introduction  of more  air;  whilst the  contents
 of the abdomen below, as the stomach, liver, &c,
 are pushed downwards.  At the moment of the in-
 spiration of air, by the elevation  and projection of
 the ribs and breast  bone, and the  descent of. the
 diaphragm, if the hands be  placed over the region
 of the stomach, the organs beneath and the  mus-
 cles  covering  them and arranged  under the  skin,
 will   be  felt  to protrude.    A full  and regular
 healthy inspiration  is  impossible, unless there  be
 this movement of parts; descent of the diaphragm
and a change and some protrusion in the  position
of the stomach, liver, and other contiguous organs
of the  digestive  apparatus, by  which  they are
forced outwards and  somewhat downwards.   Dur-
     19 
218
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 ing expiration, again, or breathing out of the air, the
 great flat muscles in the front of the body contract
 and  push  back the organs behind them,  which
 rise upwards, whilst the diaphragm also retires and
 ascends into the cavity of  the chest?   The more
 laborious breathing and the oppression from speak-
ing aloud  or  singing,  after a  meal, can now be
readily understood.  These  are effects of the diffi-
 culty of enlarging the dimensions of the thorax
and the capacity of the lungs, owing to the resist-
ance which a full stomach offers to the  descent of
the diaphragm or midriff.
  In what respects does tight lacing, with corsets
and busks, alter the shape and  diminish the capa-
city of the chest?   The figure  of the" chest  is, we
have seen, that of  an irregular cone with a convex
projection  on  each side, and flattened before and
behind.  By compressing the chest with corsets,
the figure is changed to a cylinder; the  lower and
projecting part being forced  in, so as to make its
transverse diameter no  greater  below than above.
This compression being permanent, at least during
the day time, the  ribs cannot be  raised upwards
and brought outwards, as  in the common and na-
tural course of things  they  ought  to be  when air
is taken into the lungs during inspiration.  But the
lateral compression  acts injuriously, also,  by re-
ducing the convexity on each  side in such  a way
that  the figure  of  the  chest is that of a  remilar 
            OBSTRUCTED RESPIRATION.         219

circle; and its capacity in this direction  from side
to side is diminished, without any  compensating
augmentation  in  the diameter from front to back,
that is, from the breast bone to the spine.
   If the restraints imposed were restricted entirely
to the bony sides and muscles proper of  the chest,
respiration could still be performed  with tolerable
ease by the motion of the diaphragm in the man-
ner just detailed.  But, as the compressing and
binding apparatus extends  down over  the loins
behind, and in front over all the  soft parts, or the
organs below the  chest, it becomes like  a solid
and unyielding  wall, which, by its  resistance to
the  protrusion of  these organs,  prevents them
from yielding to the diaphragm above  in its at-
tempt to descend and  to  enlarge  the  cavity of
the chest.   If an additional resistance, by eating a
meal and filling the stomach, be  now  offered to
the  descent of the diaphragm, the oppression be-
comes intolerable  and alarming consequences oc-
casionally supervene.  Females, generally, if they
have been tightly  laced, are glad to procure for
themselves  relief after  a full meal, by  loosening
their corsets and the outer dress, which is some-
times equally tight.
   A person, then, who  is subjected to this kind of
torture, more prejuducial  to  health  than the Chi-
nese fashion of small and cramped feet, must ne-
cessarily  breathe  with difficulty, since  the  chest 
220
HEALTH AND BEAUTV.
 can neither be  enlarged  in  its diameter horizon-
 tally by the elevation and protrusion of the  ribs,
 nor longitudinally by the descent of the diaphragm.
 The blood cannot be freely circulated nor suitably
 changed in the lungs; and hence a train of evils which
 have been distinctly'  mentioned in former parts of
 this work.  The chest becomes deformed: it is flat-
 tened at the sides in place of being convex; it is a
 cylinder, as small below as above, in place of being
 greatly  enlarged  at the very part  where the pres-
 sure of  the corsets is greatest. The  ends  of the
 ribs which are connected  with the spine between
 its vertebrae are unduly driven inwards; and as the
 force can hardly be precisely equal on both sides,
 the spot at which the pressure from the end  of a
 rib  on the spine is  greatest will be that at which
 this latter will yield, and a slight curvature will be
 begun,  which the whole process  of tight  lacing
 will  singularly tend  to  increase,  in  the  manner
 specified in preceding pages.
  The  muscles  of the chest  being partially para-
 lysed by  the  prolonged  pressure  of  corsets, the
arms cannot be moved nor exercised with freedom,
nor the  chest itself expanded and  strengthened  as
 it is by  the exercise of the  muscles common to it
and the  arms.   The spine, owing to the inaction of
 its muscles by pressure, becomes weak and unable
to be maintained in the erect and straight position;
and it readily yields to any cause of curvature and
distortion. 
      VARIOUS DISEASES FROM TIGHT LACING.    02 i

   Nor are these all the grievous consequences  of
a  permanent  and wide  spread  fashion.  In the
space formed by the concavity of the diaphragm
above and the lower ribs on each side are situated
the liver, chiefly to the right, and the spleen and a
part of the stomach  on the left.  By the diminu-
tion of the transverse diameter of the chest below
from the pressure of corsets, the ribs of the two
sides are drawn towards  each other, and necessa-
rily compress with great force the liver, stomach,
and  spleen, causing  pain in  those  parts, and dis-
turbance of function.  From  this  fruitful source
come indigestion 'with discoloration of the  skin,
and  not unfrequently jaundice.   The blood not
allowed its free course nor to flow in suitable sup-
ply to some  of the organs just mentioned, is ac-
cumulated in the head, and gives rise to a sensation
of fulness, violent pain, and sometimes convulsions.
This fluid determined in other and different direc-
tions, there follow disorders of a serious and even
alarming nature, to which one can here but barely
allude; but which a  young person, who has any
regard to her usefulness  in subsequent  situations
in life, should, from a sense  of  duty, certainly en-
deavor to avoid.
   Another variety of lateral deformity of the chest,
in which the  sides are flattened,  is accompanied by
an anterior projection of the breast bone, which is
narrow  and  sharp, and  resembles this  part in a 
222
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
bird; hence a person thus mis-shapen is said to  be
chicken or pigeon breasted.  The spine at the same
time  is more or less  deformed, cither by lateral
curvature, which is the most common, or by a pro-
jection backwards.
  The anterior compression in which the breast
bone is sunk in or hollow, as it is termed, origi-
nates from a continued bent posture; and henco it is
common in  tailors, milliners,  and  seamstresses
generally, and  shoemakers.  The  pressure of the
last  against the breast contributes not a  little  to
this deformity in shoemakers.
  In declaiming, as we are prone to do, against the
excessive cruelty of keeping children, from six to
ten and twelve years of age, at work all day  in
factories,  on their  feet and stooping whilst thus
engaged, we forget the scarcely less reprehensible
practice of fixing children at school in a particular
posture for hours together.  In addition to the de-
formities of the spinal column, before described,
those of the chest are no uncommon results of this
tyranny.
  Students, clerks, and all  those  whose  occupa-
tions require them to stoop, and  who do not coun-
teract the effect of  this habit by  proper  exercise,
are subject more or less to the hollow  breast bone
(sternum.)
  The pressure of busks added to the general pres-
sure of stays or corsets, appears to be a great cause 
           INDIAN EXERCISES—BATHING.       223

 of this deformity among women.   "It is much
 more common than is usually supposed."
   The prevention and cure of  these deformities are
 the same  as of spinal distortion.  Regular  and
 varied exercise in the open air and that systematic
 kind by  gymnastics,  and good nourishing food,
 are the  chief means for the  accomplishment  of
 this end.  A perseverance in  these for a length of
 time has  been followed by a cure of cases of the
 most discouraging nature.  The Indian exercises,
 by the use of what is called the Indian sceptre or
 Indian club, have been found very serviceable.
   Reference  has been made to  the  exercise of the
 voice  as  a  means of  expanding  the  chest  and
 strengthening the lungs.  Among the means for ac-
 complishing  this object are the shouts of children
 in  their  favorite  sports, which ought  to  be  en-
 couraged   rather   than   prohibited,  during  their
 allotted and admitted period of amusement and re-
 creation.  Reading aloud and  singing  are useful
 on this score, independently of the  pleasure which
 a  well trained voice is capable  of affording to
 others and of ministering to  one's own comfort
 and advancement.   These ought not to be left, as
 they generally are, to the whim  or choice of the
 young person.  Reading aloud and measured de-
 clamation  and  singing should be  as essential  a
part of the daily  school exercises as writing and
recitations in grammar.   It may be asked, whether
    20 
224
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
a boy or a girl, who has not a musical ear, should
be required to sing.  For the sake of exercising the
lungs and improving the intonations of the voice
they certainly ought to learn to sing.  Subsequent
displays and practising.-*, after they leave  school,
will depend  on the degree of  talent or  taste with
which nature has endowed them for musical attain-
ments.
  In all the  cases in which active  exercise is had
recourse to,  either for the  prevention and removal
of deformity,  or  with  a view  to  augment the
strength of the body at large, methodical friction and
shampooing  and  bathing are  useful if not  abso-
lutely  necessary  adjuncts.  On these  subjects I
have had occasion to dilate  in another work, pub-
lished a few years  ago;  and to that I would refer
the reader who may be curious to learn the value of
the different kinds  of Baths, used as well  for the
purposes of  hygiene as for the cure of diseases.
  In the  preceding pages I have  not  given any
statistical returns, which would show the number
of young persons of the other sex, who  suffer from
curvature of the spine, in consequence of a neglect
of the laws  of growth and exercise.  On this point
the evidence  is  unhappily too conclusive.   Not
only physicians but persons of common observa-
tion and  experience are aware of the magi.ilude
and extent  of  the  evil.  It will  be sufficient,  in
conclusion,  for me to cite the experience of three 
       PROPORTION OF CASES OF DISTORTION.    225

writers in different countries  on the prevalence of
spinal deformities.   Dr. Warren, of Boston, a gen-
tleman  of enlarged experience and known surgical
skill, says:  "I feel warranted  in the assertion,
already intimated,  that, of the well educated fe-
males within my sphere of experience, about  one-
half are affected with some degree of distortion of the
spine."   Lachaise, in his work, on Curvatures of
the Vertebral Column, when  speaking of the lateral
curvature, expresses his belief; that, " out of twenty
young girls who have reached their fifteenth year,
there are not two who do not exhibit very manifest
traces of it."  Dr.  Forbes,  a learned  and distin-
guished English physician and writer, says; " We
lately visited, in a  large town, a boarding school
containing forty girls;  and  we learned, on close
and accurate inquiry, that there was not one of the
girls  who had been at the school two years  (and the
majority had been as long)  that  was not more or
less crooked!" 
226
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
                CHAPTER IV.

OF  EXPRESSION—THE  MUSCLES  GOVERNED BY  THE
   BRAIN ARE THE INSTRUMENTS OF EXPRESSION — ITS
  ADVANTAGEOUS DISPLAY DEPENDENT  ON A CULTI-
  VATED MIND AND FREE EXERCISE OF THE MUSCLES.

  In the last chapter I have spoken of the physical
impediments  to  a  proper exercise  of the locomo-
tive apparatus,  and  of  the consequent  injury to
health and beauty.   In the present one, it will be
my endeavor briefly to point out the animating in-
fluence of mind over the organs of motion, and to
show how far expression depends on health and is
itself a cause  of, and  a necessary  support to
beauty.   Vain will  be  the finest proportions of
form and face, and  rounded and symmetrical limbs,
unless there be a harmonious combination of move-
ment  in all the voluntary muscles concerned in
attitudes and  gestures, and  in  the play  of the
features.  Living beauty, even in repose, can never
be  entirely divested  of the irradiation  of mind
through the corporeal frame; it speaks by this out-
ward expression  a natural language, which is un- 
EXPRESSION.
227
derstood by all, and to copy which though imper-
fectly is the  constant aim of the  painter and the
sculptor.
  The material centre and origin  of these beauti-
fying impulses is  the brain  enclosed in its bony
case the skull.   The cords  for conducting these
impulses are the nerves; one series of which trans-
mits the orders of  the mind from the brain to the
muscles, as in all the voluntary  movements: an-
other series transmits impressions made  on the
surface  and at  the  several  senses to  the  brain,
where they are converted into sensations, percep-
tions,  and ideas, and   constitute materials for
thought and motives to future action.  Continuous
with the great nervous mass  constituting the brain
is a long  cord of a  similar  structure,  and called
the  spinal marrow, which fills up  the canal made
by the cavity in each of the bones that form the
spine, from the  first vertebra  above,  articulated
with the skull, down to  the  last,  which is joined
to the  sacrum.    Nerves like  so many whitish
cords pass out  through  different  orifices at the
basis of the  brain  to  the  senses,  as of sight,
hearing, &c, and to  the muscles of the  face;
others from openings between the vertebrae  com-
posing the spine, mentioned in the last  chapter,
both to the skin and to  the  muscles of the trunk
and limbs.
  Illustrative  of the governing influence of the
                     20* 
228
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 brain over the  voluntary muscles  are  the  facts of
 abolition of movement in consequence, 1.  of com-
 pression on the brain by  a depressed portion of
 the skull, after fractu-e of  this part; 2. of concus-
 sion of the brain by a violent blow on  the head, or
 by a fall or even jumping from  a great height,
 although the head may not  have struck the ground;
 3. of effused  fluid,  blood   or  serum, as  in apo-
 plexy, pressing on a portion  of the brain.  Con-
 trasted with this state  of the  brain, but still con-
 firmatory of the influence which it exerts over  the
 muscles, are the  strong  and  violent convulsive
 movements witnessed in various diseases, in which
 this organ is greatly irritated, either by an undue
 determination of blood  to  it, or by  its being  the
 recipient of irritation from another  part, as from
 the gums in teething,  the stomach from  unripe
 fruits,  &c.  Again, what a difference is exhibited
between the firm and quick step and varied mus-
 cular movements and  play of the  features in  a
 person of intelligence and  lively feelings, that is,
 of one whose brain is healthy and in  active exer-
 cise at  the time, and the  uncertain walk, vacant
look, and almost paralysed muscles of an idiot,
 whose brain is originally defective and incapable at
any time of healthy mental manifestations!
   Of the necessity of the  connecting chain  of
nervous matter between the brain and the  muscles,
 for the  performance of voluntary  muscular move- 
EXPRESSION.
229
 ments, even the uninitiated in anatomy and physi-
 ology  must  be  readily  aware.   Injury of  the
 spinal marrow, from a violent blow on, or fracture
 of, the spine, is  followed by palsy of  the limbs
 and of the voluntary muscles of other parts which
 are  supplied by  nerves  below the spot injured.
 Paralysis of one side of the face is sometimes the
 consequence of  a tumor  pressing  on  the nerve
 which  is distributed to the muscles of this side.
 An awkward posture, even, by which  protracted
 pressure has been exerted  on the chief nerve  of a
 limb will cause a temporary numbness and inability
 to move this latter.
   The conditions, therefore, for  the  requisite  irra-
 diations from the brain on the  muscles, in order
 that they should  be excited into motion, in other
 words, for the mind to call into exercise  the limbs
 and body generally according to  the determinations
 of the will, are a well formed and healthy brain,
 and an uninterrupted continuity of nervous cords
 from it to the muscles.
  From  the  first  step made by a child, in its at-
 tempts to walk, on to the  rapid movements in the
 foot race and the  varied  and complex ones in the
 dance and the exhibitions  on the tight rope, we find
 proofs of the  dominion   of the brain  over  the
 muscles, of  bodily movements being the  result of
mental exercise.   The concentration of  muscular
power under strong volition and mental excitement 
230
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
at times surprises us; as when we see men of a
rather  puny  frame display  strength in a given
effort,  prompted thereto by  violent emotion, of
which, in common, they are utterly incompetent.
  The continued attention,  which  implies con-
tinued exercise of the mind, necessary for a person
to go through a series of complex movements of
any kind is felt  and  admitted  by all who perform
them.  Let the attention be diverted,  or confidence
in their own powers diminished, so that the irradia-
tions from the brain on the muscles are interrupted
or rendered irregular, confusion follows; whether it
be in the master of legerdemain, the performer on the
tight rope, or the graceful follower of Terpsichore.
The fingers of a practised  player may still travel
over the piano; but if the mind be diverted ever so
little from its present purpose, the government and
direction of these fingers, they will  not  give the
assured though  delicate touch,  nor  procure  that
quick succession and alternation of notes requisite
for a finished  execution of the piece.
  Bodily movements are imperfect either  by want
of exercise of  the moving  powers,  the muscles
and joint3, or by positive  impediment and injury
to these parts.   The  first  is  owing to  deficient
mental activity;  there is no volition  displayed, no
irradiation  from the brain on the muscles.  The
indolent and lazy, and they who spend their days
at the desk or in study and  their  evenings in list- 
EXPRESSION.
231
 less lounging, suffer from this cause.  Others, and
 they are a large class, although they will muscular
 action, yet they  do it unequally, as  where  they
 bend  over  work  in their hands, which, together
 with their arms, are fully perhaps fatiguingly exer-
 cised, whilst  the  trunk  and lower limbs  are en-
 tirely quiescent, and it may be twisted into a con-
 strained and unnatural posture.  Under this  head
 come  a majority of  those engaged in manufac-
 tures  and the arts.  A  third  and all  important
 class  are they whose bodies  are  so compressed
 that the muscles cannot contract with freedom, and
 consequently  cannot obey  the commands of the
 will, even at a time, as when walking, running, or
 dancing, in which it is intended there should be an
 entire subservience  of these muscles to volition.
 The persons  thus suffering are a vast majority of
 the weaker sex from before the time in which  they
 enter their teens until fifty years of age.
   It follows from the premises briefly sketched,
 that there can  be no  regular  and methodical bodily
 movements without the mind having been first and
 continuing to  be during the period, exercised in
 guiding and urging the instruments  under its direc-
 tion; viz:  the muscles  and through them  the bones
 at their joints.  But not  only are the muscles all
 over the body, those of the trunk, limbs, and face,
the servitors of the  brain in its state of common
functional exercise,  that  is, for locomotion  and 
232
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
movements dictated by the  intellect merely;  but
they are, also, the exponents  of the varying condi-
tions of its other different faculties, as of its senti-
ments, emotions, and passions.  It follows, that if
the mind be exercised through its  faculties—intel-
lectual and moral, it will  of  necessity, during the
entire circle of such exercise  call into play, in suc-
cession and alternation, all the moving instruments,
or the muscles of the body;  and that the natural
language or expression evinced in the tones of the
voice, and in  gesture and locomotion, can never be
fully given unless  all the various powers of the
mind be developed and brought into play.  Every
feeling or emotion, every propensity when it  seeks
for its  gratification, gives its peculiar and charac-
teristic expression to the  individual under its in-
fluence: nor is it possible to simulate this outward
expression without a temporary imitation of the
frame  of mind  which originally begot it.   The
actor and the orator are never  successful, unless
by this double imitation.  Without it they become
buffoons.   The  artist  cannot embody the expres-
sion of character, whether of loveliness, of intense
passion, or high resolve, in marble, nor  transfer it
to canvass, unless he have studied the subject, and
for the time being transmuted himself, at least his
mind,  into the frame and  mood similar to  that
which he is  desirous of copying  for the  pleasure
and admiration of others. 
EXPRESSION.
233
  If  we  entertain  any doubt  on this  point, we
have  but to  watch  the movements of a child
whose body is not trammeled  by tasteless  dress,
nor whose mind is  weakened by fear.  We shall
see it, not only in its  looks, that is, in the expres-
sion of its eye, and in the contraction of the vari-
ous  muscles  of the   face,  by which  it frowns,
smiles, laughs, sorrows, and doubts, but also in its
gestures and attitudes, indicate  every passing emo-
tion and active state of mind.
  This necessary, natural, and  obvious  connection
and  co-relation  between mind  and motion  or ex-
pression,  which it  ought to be  one  of the great
purposes  of education to preserve and  to  extend
and strengthen, is by a series of strange and per-
verse efforts enfeebled and in a  measure broken, to
the detriment  of the health  and beauty both of the
mind and of the body.  These  two are  made  sub-
jects  of different and often opposite culture and
influences, in place of their acting in  constant and
pleasing harmony.  Slight  cognisance  is taken of
the strong instinctive  mental wants and impulses of
childhood, so  clearly  manifested in vocal utterance
and active  and varied locomotions and gestures.
The only standard admitted is a purely conventional
and arbitrary one;  and to this the tones, language,
and whole  deportment of the little being are sub-
jected.  Mental gymnastics  are overlooked in the
training which is begun; the mind is  forbidden its 
234
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
customary manifestations:  it is not addressed, is
not  cared for, provided the eye  and ear  of  the
parent be  not offended by loud noises and boisterous
movements.  It is left to  chafe and  fret;  and it
does chafe and fret the more, because  it is pre-
vented from sending forth  its wonted  irradiations,
its  effluences,  through the body.  These  take a
different direction, and, in place of going  to  the
limbs  and voluntary  muscles  generally, they  are
pent in on the  brain itself, or are directed  to  the
heart and  other internal organs, which  become dis-
ordered in consequence.  For, we may remark here
incidentally, that unless there be a certain degree of
exhaustion of the nervous power of the  brain on the
muscles, by the exercise of these latter, the indi-
vidual  suffers from what is vaguely called nervous-
ness, a general agitation, unhappinoss, a  feeling of
danger without known or  admitted cause, wake-
fulness, &c.
  The  movements and exercises of the body, few
in number and  limited in range, which are substi-
tuted for the more decided and active manifesta-
tions of intellect  and  feeling of the child and
youth,  are performed imperfectly and with distaste,
because they are  not the direct result of full and
energetic volition;  but  only of that weakened kind
which  comes from mere imitativeness.  How  far
this faculty alone, or even a cold sense  of duty will
carry a person forward in the various  accomplish- 
EXPRESSION.
235
ments, without other motives and faculties, is seen
in the indifferent progress in music and drawing,
for example, of thousands of young  persons, who
have not primarily a genius or even taste for these
arts.   Not less evident, if we direct our attention
to the  subject, are the failures in the acquisition of
bodily strength, and of a display of a graceful and
easy carriage,  if the  exercises  of the mind and
body be severed, and the  former not  allowed to
call into play the mobile instruments of the latter.
   Were beauty alone the  subject of our study we
should have to inquire into what is its standard,
what  the proportions of the  several parts of the
human body  which  constitute a beautiful  form.
We might, in advance, show the great  differences
both in the development and consequent proportion of
the fixed or bony parts of the animal frame in the
different races of mankind, as evinced in the con-
figuration of the skull,  of the  cheek  bones and
chin, and of the actual and relative size of the chest
and shoulders, and  of the  pelvis, and the straight-
ness or  gibbousness of the legs.  For the most
part, the color of the skin is  that characteristic of
race  which most  fixes the attention of the  casual
observer: but though marked, it is far  from being
so conclusive as the  peculiarities just mentioned
of the  bony structure.  Next to this are differences
in the  development of the brain and of  the propor-
     21 
236
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tion between this organ  and the  organs  of the
several senses.
  But as my aim is to give practical instruction, and
to exhibit evils and the means of their  prevention
and to a certain extent removal, it is  not  neces-
sary that I should point  out primary and  natural
peculiarities of form and feature, which cannot be
altered or removed.  There  is undoubtedly, if not
an absolute standard, in this respect, to  which we
would all gladly conform, certain general propor-
tions, which, as they imply health  and vigor, or
ready and varied movements  and  adaptation of
structure to function, are looked upon with satisfac-
tion by nearly all mankind.  We find, it is true,
both amongst  the savage  and  civilised nations,
notable exceptions  to the doctrine of unity, start-
ling by their extravagance and irreconcilable with
the  commonest principles  of taste  and  utility.
Such, for instance, are  the flat heads, or depressed
foreheads among certain  tribes  on the north-west
coast and among the Caribs of the  West Indies;
flat noses among some of the African tribes;  small
and deformed feet among the Chinese;  black teeth
amongst the Malays and others; and last and worst
of  all, if we consider the extent of the evils grow-
ing out of the fashion and the presumed know-
ledge, intelligence, and  refinement of the people
among  whom  it is practised;  compression and 
EXPRESSION.
237
flattening of the chests in a majority of the women
of Europe  and North America,  in  civilised and
Christianised Europe and North America!
  In general, however, it will be conceded that the
size and relative proportions and prominence of the
several parts of the bony structure, viz: of the skull
and face, the  length of the limbs, and the size of
their  extremities,  the hands and  feet,  and the
stature of the individual, are  innate and hereditary,
though in part dependent on the attention subse-
quently paid to the laws  of  growth and exercise.
They are nearly fixed and but little moulded by art
or education.  The extent of covering which the
bones  shall receive is, also, in part, fixed and  deter-
minate, as far as respects the number of the mus-
cles which envelop them.  In size,  there are great
modifications resulting from the activity of nutrition
and from exercise,  points to  which I have already
adverted.  In the  proportion of fatty and cellular
tissues interposed  between the muscles and dis-
tributed under the skin, the differences are also
most manifest.  Of this I have also taken notice in
a former chapter.   The color of the skin both in a
particular race, and the shades of it in individuals
of the  white race are fixed from birth.  The white,
yellow, and black, are terms applied to designate
the three great varieties  of mankind, the Cauca-
sian, the Mongolic, and  the African.  In our own
race, there are, from birth, individual differences of 
J.18           HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

hue; as of fair and brown, on  which together with
the corresponding color of the  hair and eyes, and a
favorable  style of features, is  founded the division
into blonde and brunette beauties.
  Although we might see before  us a being, who
in stature, symmetry, and  roundness of form, un-
dulating lines in the trunk and limbs, and  in the
proportion of all the parts, and in the  polish and
clearness  of skin, should be  a model  of beauty;
and near  this one, another with disproportioned
features and limbs, and  whose skin was more of
the hue of the olive than of alabaster; yet,  it may
so happen that the first shall weary, and the  second
win attention and  insure general  favor.   That
which gives attraction to the latter, and the absence
of which deprives the other of abiding interest, is
expression, itself the  evidence of  a sentient and
thinking being, and which impresses the spectator
and raises his  admiration, as a sentient  and  think-
ing being.  Men may and do differ in their esti-
mate  of what shall constitute beauty.   The fair
ample forehead will be lauded by all; but the low
and retreating one will not prevent admiration, any
more  than the short and upturned  nose, the large
mouth, and long chin, or too protuberant lip:  the
eye of hazel  is  that  of  the  idolatry of one;  the
blue  of another; the black of a third.  In fine,
whether the face be  long or round or oval,  the
skin fair  or brown,  the stature  high  or low,  of 
                   EXPRESSION.                239

Juno's or of Venus' height, there will be many to
extol it; an evidence this of contrariety of opinion in
the fixed and stable character of face and form.  But
in regard to expression there is no  such difference.
An  easy and  graceful  carriage, a  countenance
beaming with intelligence and benignity are recog-
nised and admired by all.   The signals furnished
by expression are appreciated by children and  ani-
mals both wild and domestic.  They indicate the
disposition, the habitual  feelings of the individual
with more force and  distinctness than the conven-
tional language of vocal  utterance;  for they are the
direct result of the operation of the mind on the
body by  means  of the  brain and nerves  on the
muscles, which last are at once the organs of mo-
tion and of expression.   The absence  of all ex-
pression implies, and is proof of the want of mind.
But there is a composed state of the  features indi-
cative of tranquillity and  of quiet thought  and
subdued emotions, which is a necessary accompa-
niment of beauty, and which will often be received
as  a substitute  for  the harmonious proportions
deemed requisite to this  latter.  Just as there is,
also, a play of the features which constitute the
expression of  benignant cheerfulness, short  of
animated good nature, which borders on grace  and
makes us forget the previous ugliness of their pos-
sessor.
                      21* 
210
HEALTH \ND BEAUTY.
  The instruments of expression, in the face, are of
the same class with those of expression in the rest
of the body. They are voluntary muscles which, by
their contraction under the stimulation of the mind,
in a manner already explained, alter the size and
figure  of  the  apertures  of the eyelids, nostrils,
and  mouth, and by  their alternate  and succes-
sive action give endless variety  to the  human
countenance.  They are less evident in woman from
their being more covered and imbedded in cellular
and  fatty tissue than  in man, and hence a softer
expression in the former.
  These muscles are,  with few exceptions, con-
nected to  the  bones by one extremity and to the
softer and moveable  parts by the other.  By their
contractions, frowning, scowling, smiling, are per-
formed; and scorn, contempt, sorrow, pity, pride,
humility,  and a crowd of emotions and passions
are indicated.  But although always put in motion
by the stimulant from the brain conducted to  them
along the nerves, they  contract at  times  in  states
of the system in  which the mind is, to a certain ex-
tent, passive; as when the individual  suffers from
violent  bodily pain.   Even   here, we  often see
the controlling power of  the mind, in its refusing
to pass, as it were, to the muscles  the painful im-
pressions which  the brain received from the suffer-
ing organ.  Still, pain or  any irritation of the body, 
EXPRESSION.
241
whether external  or internal,  by  disturbing the
mind will, also, more or less disturb  tiie harmony
of expression of the face.
  The most expressive parts of the face, those to
which the greatest number of its  muscles  tend,
are between the eyebrows, at the external wings of
the nostrils, and at the angles of the mouth.  There
is scarcely an emotion experienced,  a change of
expression however  slight,  which will   not  be
evinced by some change  caused  by contraction of
the muscles, or a slight tremor even, at one or other
of these parts.  As  yet, the absurd and cruel in-
trusiveness of false  fashion has  not  attempted to
control or rather to destroy the movements of these
muscles, as it has those of the chest and back and
of many of the limbs; although there would be just
as much wisdom, as  respects grace displayed, in
putting a piece of adhesive plaster across one angle
of the mouth,  or between the eyebrows, with  a
view of giving  an improved appearance  to  these
parts and adding to the expression  of the features
as there have been  in corsets, girds, &c, to the
back and breast.
  They take a very limited and imperfect view of
expression who regard it as confined to, and evinc-
ed in the face alone.   The mind, the source of ex-
pression, sends, as I have repeatedly stated, its ir-
radiations through all the voluntary muscles, which,
by their movements become exponents of its inten- 
242
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
tions and feelings.  Consentaneous with  the con-
traction of the muscles of the face, and consequent
change of the  features, under mental emotion, is
that of the  muscles of  the  trunk and limbs, by
which  attitudes and gestures are assumed, and of
those at the opening of the windpipe, by which
the  modifications of  voice, or  intonations,  are
formed.
  To the mind, then, and its proper cultivation should
we look for for the source of appropriate, varied, and
correct expression.  But  it must be a healthy mind
by which we can  obtain this desired result.  Intel-
lect alone will  not give it;  nor will all the aids of
science and  letters.  In  fact, the imprint on the
face of nearly every individual, and  the  carriage
and manner are made by the disposition, and the
moral character.  There is  no look, nor walk, nor
gestures, indicative of genius; but all these may
become clear signs of pride and  self confidence,
firm resolve and ardor  in  pursuit  of  a favored
object, or of diffidence, humility, and  deference to
the opinions of others.
  Under the genial  influence of a well disposed
and well trained mind, which implies of necessity
a healthy brain, the blood courses freely under the
skin and imparts  to its texture the desired color,
fulness, and softness; the  eye  is  lustrous; the
features animated, and  the  muscles in that state of
readiness, or mid-tension,  which  makes  them fit 
EXPRESSION.
243
instruments for  expressing the emotions of  the
speaker and for enabling her to persuade, charm,
and  sway  by  this natural  language.  Under this
influence, the  voluntary  muscles  concerned  in
speech are brought into action, with a distinctness
and impressiveness which give weight to the opin-
ions of the speaker; and  from the  same  source
comes the final  and irresistible charm of the in-
tonations of the voice, which seem at times to be the
very vibrations of the feelings.
   Commonly, the education of  the mind is as un-
favorable as that of the body to  beauty.  The laws
of hygiene are perverted or entirely neglected in
their application to ethical,  as they are to physical
training; and the consequence  has been weakness
and often deformity in both.  " Do not  frown so,
my dear!" exclaims a fond mother to her daugh-
ter.  The wrinkles are smoothed  for a moment;
but no attention being paid  to the cause, they soon
return.  If the question  had been asked, " what
makes you frown, my"dear?" or if the parent had
asked herself, whence this look of discomfort, or of
discontent in my child, which mars her good looks
and  may, if continued, become  a  fixed  trait;  she
might set about detecting and perhaps remove the
causes.   There may be such a compression  of the
chest as prevents  free breathing;  or a fit of indi-
gestion  brought on by  the same  cause, or tight
shoes, or some band, or  ligature which  interferes 
244
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  with freedom of movement.  Or the frowning look
  may be the effect of languor, from a want of exercise
  and fresh air, and of proper mental occupation.
    Composure  and placidity  are  necessary  condi-
  tions for beauty of expression, even of the highest
  order, the intellectual.   Their display presumes, of
  necessity, a mind at ease—a brain free from irrita-
  tion  either directly in  itself by  perturbing  emo-
  tions, or indirectly by pain  or disorder in any other
  organ. The brain, as the recipient of impressions
  made  on any part of  the body, promptly transmits
  the  result of the sensations  which follow  to the
  voluntary  muscles.   If the  sensation be unpleasant
  or painful, its  nature is evinced in the language of
  complaint; or, this being restrained, in the play of the
  voluntary muscles, both of  the face and of the body
  at large.   By a strong  mental effort ot from habits
  of endurance, a very startling external manifesta-
  tion may be prevented;  but it will be impossible to
  assume the appearance of entire ease and tran-
  quillity, and to give the face  an expression corres-
  pondent with or indicative  of this state, so long as
  the brain is irritated by  pain or disturbance in any
 part of the body.
   How little, therefore,  can we expect to see the
 full charm or even quiet ease of expression, and
 frank  and  yet  placid air in a young person of the
 other sex who is exposed to a torture enjoined by
fashion, which,  under other circumstances,  would 
EXPRESSION.
245
be called the extreme of barbarity.   We will  sup-
pose that her toilette  is complete, and that she is
arrayed agreeably to the requirements  of fashion,
and the implied sanction of her affectionate mother,
her considerate teacher, and her pious pastor.  Her
hair, in place of falling in ringlets and curls, is
parted on the middle  of the head and  drawn tight
on  either side and secured by combs;  whilst the
larger portion is twisted, also, tight, and secured on
the top and back of her head.  The skin covering
the skull  is stretched  by these  contrivances, and
that of the face is prevented from  following  with
freedom the movements of the muscles, in the
different changes of features.  These latter cannot be
natural and pleasing under the  feeling  of the con-
tinued  tension of the scalp by  the overstretched
hair.   But this is only a small part of the sacrifice
made at the shrine of folly.  In  order to exhibit a
genteel if not a very  thin waist, the chest, which,
naturally, is more expanded below than it is above,
is drawn in and compressed  by corsets so as to
convert this  cavity from a conical  to a cylindrical
shape,  with  the effect of compressing the lungs
and rendering it utterly impossible for the respira-
tion to be free and  easy.   The process of breath-
ing, which would be scarcely perceptible to another
person, if all  the organs concerned in  it were al-
lowed  to perform their parts  conjointly, is  now
labored and panting under the  least exercise; and 
246
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 not only are the heavings of the chest at the upper
 portion painfully manifest, but there is a spasmodic
 raising of the shoulders, in order to compensate as
 much as possible  by a forced, unnatural, and un-
 seemly expansion  above  for the compression and
 stricture  of the lower part of the  chest.  The
 breathing of a young woman thus corseted and a
 little excited, either  by exercise  or emotion, is, in
 fact similar to that  of a  person  suffering  from
 pleurisy or  from inflammation  of the lungs.  The
 appearance of the countenance is nearly the same
 in the two  cases:  the  cheeks are  preternaturally
 flushed and  of  dark red hue, which is not confined
 to them but is more or less diffused over the whole
 of the face.   The lips  and nostrils undergo occa-
 sional twitches, in  consequence of the instinctive
 sympathy between the beginning  of  the  respira-
 tory tube at the mouth and  nose  and the lungs
 themselves.  There is, also, perceptible to even a
 casual  observer  a  contraction between the eye-
 brows, approaching to a frown, and  which is, also,
 an instinctive movement of the muscles after  any
 disorder or disturbance  by which the brain is un-
pleasantly impressed, as it must be from the causes
 now in action.  Receiving blood imperfectly elabo-
rated, owing to the impeded respiration, the brain
cannot perform its  functions with  readiness, even
 were  it not disturbed by  the  painful causes just
described; and the mind is in consequence crippled; 
                  EXPRESSION.               247

and its manifestations are constrained and artificial.
The affected smile and forced laugh but illy con-
ceal this discord of the features.  To one who is
not aware of the cause of the constrained  air and
carriage  of a candidate, in full  dress, for fashion-
able fame, the transformation, on  the  following
morning, into a plainly  attired personage, whose
movements are natural and graceful, and the expres-
sion of whose countenance is cheerful and pleasant,
must appear to be miraculous.   The difference is
explained  by the removal in the latter  period  of
the instruments of torture to which  she  had been
subjected the evening before.   An enumeration of
the causes would be incomplete were we to omit
tight shoes, which so often  compel their wearer to
fidgetiness and changes of place of her feet, even
when she  is seated, and greatly interfere  with, if
they do not entirely prevent, a free and graceful step
and carriage when she is walking or dancing.  As
ranking among the causes of painful sensations, tight
shoes, also, contribute their full share to disturb
the quiet expression of the features, so essential to
a character for beauty as  well as for good nature.
No candidate for admiration of her beauty,  or for
charm of expression or witchery of manner, would
hope to be successful, she would forego indeed the
attempt, if she were suffering from the irritation of
tooth ache or  of a whitlow; and yet, by a strange
inconsistency,  she will habitually, day after day,
     22 
248
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
 and  evening after  evening, exhibit  herself with
 compressed and  of course  deformed chest,  hair
 twisted  and stretched,  and  shoes  pinching her
 feet; circumstances more disturbing to the desired
 expression of beauty and grace than a  diseased
 nerve in her tooth or a pained finger.
   It is hardly necessary to be more explicit by ad-
 ducing more numerous  facts  to prove the position
 already advanced, viz: that deviation from health,
 in a disorder of any organ  or  tissue  of the body,
 by disturbing the brain deranges more or  less the
 harmony  of expression,  besides the impediments
 which it offers to nutrition, the formation, elabora-
 tion, and  distribution of the blood; and the conse-
 quent injury to the color, fulness, and roundness of
 the forms in the different  regions of the body and
 limbs.
   Poor is the substitute offered by the professed
 teacher of  the  graces for  the  expression  of face
 and carriage of a person whose mind  is pleasingly
 and healthfully occupied.   The affected smile, the
 measured step,  the  stiff  and erect attitude when
 seated, are  so  many  positive and violent inroads
 upon beauty, because they are destructive of grace.
 No proportional differences  in the size of the body
 and  limbs of individuals are  admitted  any more
 than in the character  of their minds.  The waist
 must be made small at all hazards;  the feet pinch-
ed into a shoe half the proper size, and  the arms 
EXPRESSION.
249
 tied down to the sides by the shoulder-bands of the
 frock.   Of course, the light and springy step, the
 gentle flexion of the body, and the easy play of
 the hands and arms, so essential to, and indicative
 of true grace, and without which, beauty is cold as
 a statue, cannot be executed.  The muscles of the
 face sympathise with the suffering muscles of the
 trunk and limbs, and they act irregularly and un-
 equally, and either  destroy entirely the beauty of
 countenance or greatly diminish its  attractiveness.
   Not only the hands, but the feet  too, should be
 allowed, without  contraction or  cramp, to join in
 action with the head; a thing impossible if they
 are squeezed, as  by a vice, into disproportionately
 tight shoes.  For a person  so punished to  walk
 with ease is not to be expected; to walk with light-
 ness and grace is impossible.
   The cause of beauty not less than that of health
 and of  sound  ethics,  requires that  the  mind
 and the body should  be left to exert, untram-
 meled, a reciprocal influence; the one aiding and
 giving vigor to the  other.  Guidance but not co-
 ercion, protection but not imprisonment,  are the
 requirements for a suitable education;  in  which it
 is  not enough to repress what is injurious, but we
must also nurture and aid the development of the
beautiful, the fair,  and  the good.   One of the
first, as it is a continued craving of every animated 
250
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
being, is exercise, which, in all the lower orders of
animals is  safely taken  in  conformity with the
calls of instinct; and  which no  fiction of reason
ought to cause to be withheld in the human spe-
cies. In animals, no movements  which they make
of themselves  are awkward; many are absolutely
graceful, because free and natural,  though  with
specific purpose and  intent.  If the members of
the  human  family were allowed the  same unre-
stricted use  of their muscles which the  animals
below them  enjoy,  together  with the added and
peculiar and  distinctive  advantages  of proper
mental  culture,  expression  would   give  dignity
to wisdom, and  grace and charm to beauty, and
render  even  ugliness a  matter of speculation
rather than of positive perception and knowledge.
In   the light  and  easy  step  and  carriage we
would  cease  to regard with much  scrutiny the
size  of the  foot and  tum of the ancle.  In the
movements  and attitudes of the body generally
when  it is  covered  with  a  light  and  flowing
drapery, adapted in a  degree to  its undulations of
outline, we  would gladly forget slight differences
in the  size of the  waist; certainly  would  never
wish to see  it  reduced  to  the  shape of a mere
cylinder; and the dress made in imitation of certain
figures  in geometry, in straight  lines and angles,
to the  exclusion of the  waving line of beauty. 
EXPRESSION—DRESS.
251
The advice  given to the painter ought to guide
woman in the arrangement of her dress.

  " Free o'er the limbs the flowing vesture cast,
    The light broad folds with grace majestic plac'd,
    And as each figure turns a different way,
    Give the large plaits their corresponding play;
    Yet devious oft, and swelling from the part,
    The flowing robe with ease should seem to start,
    Not on the form in stiff adhesion laid,
    But well relieved by gentle light and- shade."

  The necessary harmony between the expression
of the face and that of the body generally is incul-
cated on the artist who would  picture beauty.   Is ,
its observance less necessary in real life ]

" Nor can such forms with force or beauty shine,
  Save when the head and hands in action join.
  Each air constrained arid forced, each gesture rude,
  Whate'er contracts or cramps the attitude,
  With scorn discard."

  The  Romans,  it is known, did  not  allow  the
manly  robe  to  be  put on,  until  the youth  had
reached a certain  age,  and  was prepared to  per-
form the  duties  required  from a useful citizen of
the  state.   With us, a  different  practice  prevails,
and  we are eager to invest even children  with  the
garments and garnitures of adult folly.  Could we
not take a hint from the Romans, by refraining to 
252
HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
  impose  the  bands  and  badges of  fashion on
  minors  and those  of tender age, and wait until, of
  their own accord, at least, they should enrol them-
  selves in the same  list with  their fantastically at-
  tired seniors.
    Let us, in mercy, not deprive childhood of its
  gambols nor youth  of its sports, by pinioning their
  bodies  with tasteless  garments  insufficient  even
  to protect them from  the  inclemencies of the sea-
  son.*   Let us rather allow them to  yield  to those
  instinctive calls for  exercise, by which their frames
  grow and  are strengthened  and  their limbs  gain
  that development of form and the  free and varied
  movements which  fit  them, in  after life, for a dis-
  play  of agility and an easy  carriage and deport-

   * Mothers ought to be made aware of an important
 truth which most physicians are backward to inculcate.
 It is, that the young of all animals have less bodily heat
 and require  more protection from external cold than
 adults.  The application of this  truth should work sun-
 dry  reforms in the dress of children  by giving  their
 breasts and shoulders that covering  of which they are so
 often deprived, in order that they may be dressed in the
 fashion. The mother's vanity is gratified by dressing her
 child in the latest fashion; and in return  the child has
 catarrh, or croup, or inflammation  of the lungs, which
 often prove fatal; or, escaping these, its l.ealth is under-
mined by the progress  of scrofula, evinced in glandular
swellings on the neck,  dry scurfy skin, &c. 
EXPRESSION—DRESS.
253
 ment.  The body divested of girths and bands and
 casements, and clothed in loose vestments, will
 obey the suggestions of the mind and assume the
 postures and attitudes conformable with  the  dic-
 tates of grace, and indicative, at the same time, of
 health and well being.
   The  cause of health, of  beauty,  of education,
 and of humanity even, requires that we should study
 the human body, with its proportions, outlines, and
 inflections,  its powers of movement and expres-
 sion.   The remark of  the celebrated Canova,
 when comparing ancient and modern art, respect-
 ing  attention to drapery, is  strictly  applicable to
 the  antique and modern fashions  of attire.  The
 ancient artists, said he, threw all their energies into
 an endeavor to make the countenance and attitude
 expressive, with but  little  regard to  the dress;
 whereas, the moderns  place  all  their skill in  the
 expression and  movement as it were of the gar-
 ments.   Hence the different impressions on  the
 mind of the spectator.   The  figure in  the former
 case  is all speaking; the dress  is silent.   In  the
 latter, the  clothes are  all eloquent, or arrogant
rather; and  the figures cold and expressionless as
the unquarried marble itself.
THE END. 
 
 
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