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 BEAU Y 
 
 JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, LL.D.,M.D. 
 
 Professor of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical 
 Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the 
 Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia ; Physician to the 
 Medico-Chirurgical Hospital ; President of the American 
 Therapeutic Society; Member of the American Med- 
 ical Association, the American Academy of Medi- 
 cine, the British Medical Association ; Fellow 
 of the Medical Society of London, etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 F. A. DAVIS COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1908, 
 
 BY 
 
 F. A. DAVIS COMPANY. 
 
 [Registered at Stationers' Hall, London, Hug.] 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A. 
 
 Press of F. A. Davis Company, 
 
 1914-16 Cherry Street
 
 2 5 9 S 5 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HEALTH and beauty are closely allied, and nowhere so 
 clearly as in the condition of the skin. A pure skin, being 
 an important element of human beauty as well as of health, 
 should therefore be a subject of much interest to mankind. The 
 fundamental laws of health apply to this envelope of the body, 
 the skin, with as much stringency as to parts that lie beneath it, 
 all nourished by the blood coursing through every part of the 
 body with greater or less efficacy according to whether or not 
 they are in good condition from diet, ablution, and many other 
 circumstances. The life of no organ can be considered apart 
 from other components of the body. The skin is quick to reflect 
 disorder of other portions of the organism. No wonder that 
 this is so, for, as Herbert Spencer remarks, it is that surface by 
 which we come in contact with the universe! A large element 
 in personal beauty consists in the nature and condition of the 
 skin. Excellence in these, associated with elegance of form and 
 sprightliness of action, can even dispense with regularity of 
 features in the production of harmonious and attractive bodily 
 attributes, so it becomes apparent that, to some degree, we all 
 have our looks under command. 
 
 In consequence of this and other facts, the author pur- 
 poses, in successive chapters, to point out to the reader the vari- 
 ous methods by which health may be influenced by climate, diet, 
 clothing, ventilation, bathing, and exercise. He will incidentally 
 call attention to the deleterious effects of certain habits, and 
 include brief descriptions of diseases that frequently invade the 
 skin, not neglecting, in this connection, mention of the eruptive 
 diseases of childhood. The diseases to which the hair and nails 
 are subject will here also receive attention. Finally, the legiti- 
 mate employment of cosmetics will be defined, and choice for- 
 mulae given for their preparation. 
 
 2052706
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add what should seem to every- 
 one a matter of course, that the author is indebted for some 
 of his material to distinguished writers on the above-mentioned 
 themes, and to medical and pharmaceutical authorities of the 
 highest class. This work, although written from a medical 
 standpoint, will not overlook, but will expressly include aesthetic 
 considerations, which nature itself presents in connection with 
 the subject. In consequence, some space in it will be found 
 devoted to discussion of the principles of beauty in various de- 
 partments of art. As artists have seen beauty, they have 
 depicted it, and in so doing, have aided the mass of men in recog- 
 nizing its principles. As closely related to beauty, not in the 
 abstract, but in the concrete, a chapter will be devoted to the 
 influence of beauty in human society, illustrated, in the case of 
 literature, by quotations drawn from works of poetry and fic- 
 tion recognized by the whole world as standard.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION i 
 
 Description of the physical and physiological character of the skin. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE APPENDAGES OF THE SKIN, 
 
 The hair and nails. Difference of the hair in the Caucasian and other races. 
 Description of the growth and the constitution of the hair. The color of 
 the hair as affected by climate. Description of the constitution and 
 growth of the nails. Beauty of the nails when properly treated. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND OF THE HAIR 13 
 
 The uses of the superposed skins described the true skin, scarf-skin, and 
 the skin as a whole. Their relation to- atmospheric conditions in main- 
 taining equableness in the temperature of the body. The effect of moist 
 heat upon the bodv. The normal temperature of the body. The excre- 
 tory function of the skin. Death produced by its artificial stoppage. 
 Perspiration. The oily matter of the skin, known as sebum. Respiration 
 by means of the skin. Its tactile sensibility. Highly developed tactile 
 sensibility in the blind and among persons following certain occupations. 
 Insensibility and perversions of the sense of touch. Appreciation by the 
 skin of various degrees of temperature. Difference in susceptibility to 
 pain among different races and in different conditions among mankind. 
 Occurrence among the insane of insensitiveness of skin. The influence 
 of mind upon perception of physical injury. Excessive itching indicative 
 of functional derangement of the nervous system. Electric currents 
 generated in the skin. Odor of the human body. Light emanating from 
 a human body. The advantage of the hair simply as a covering of 
 certain portions of the body; considered as a protection to the head, 
 and, as beard, to the throat. Its elasticity somewhat protective against 
 blows. Its profusion on the head protective against the bites of insects 
 In tropical regions, and its distribution on the eyelashes protective against 
 fine particles of foreign matter. The hair's function of a certain degree 
 of elimination of effete products of the body. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE COMPLEXION 31 
 
 The various factors upon which beauty of complexion depends. The skin's 
 variable thickness and texture in different individuals. The prime con- 
 dition of a good complexion lies in the condition of the blood and the 
 nervous system. The translucency of the scarf-skin. The scarf-skin's 
 dependence for color upon the pigment derived from its lowest layer. 
 The abundance or sparsity of pigment is what makes the difference of 
 coloring among the various races of mankind. The influence of climate 
 upon the color of the scarf-skin. The effect of the richness of the 
 arterial and venous circulation below the scarf-skin is to illuminate 
 It by means of their final capillaries. Nerve fibers accompany every 
 secreting gland and blood-vessel. Description of the nervous system of 
 the body as a whole. The vasomotor system of the body. Its function 
 In the nutrition of every portion of the body's tissues. The higher 
 vasomotor centers connected with emotional manifestation. 
 
 (V)
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. PAGE 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE 4 
 
 Early associations largely contributive to lifelong standards of beauty. The 
 entirely different idea of beauty among savage as compared with that 
 of civilized peoples. Even when no such diversity of opinion as this 
 exists, racial conceptions of beauty are clearly differentiated. Difference 
 of conception regarding them perceptible even among people of the same 
 race, the same education, and the same social position and surroundings, 
 but manifestly, to a much slighter degree. Female loveliness especially, 
 the favorite theme of the poetic, plastic, and pictorial arts. The shape 
 of the head. The height of the forehead. The size and shape of the 
 nose. The typical forms of the nose. The position and fringing of the 
 eye. Its various capacity of expression. The shape of the perfect mouth. 
 The teeth as contributive to the pleasant expression of the mouth. The 
 ear as an important adjunct to the symmetry of the head. The chin 
 as sightly or unsightly, as indication of weakness or of strength of 
 character. Expression, however, of features somewhat independent of 
 regularity of features. Removal of deformities in eyes, nose, ears, and 
 mouth. The human form. Curved spine and remedial measures for it. 
 Leanness to the point of emaciation. Mere leanness compatible with 
 great beauty. Fatness. Practices capable of reducing excess of adipose 
 tissue. Physical loveliness as seen through the eyes of poets and artists. 
 Refinement of expression a beauty in itself. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 WORLD-INFLUENCE OF WOMAN'S CHARMS 58 
 
 Folly of the assumption that if women ruled, the earth would be the best 
 of all possible worlds. The truth about the matter from experience. 
 The Trojan Paris and the Grecian Helen. Pericles and Aspasia. Cleo- 
 patra, the Serpent of the Nile. The Duke of Marlborough and his wife, 
 Sarah Jennings, Madame de Stael, the literary; and Madame Recamier, 
 the lovely. The celebrated Theodora, about whom opinions vary greatly. 
 Women's influence upon the world's affairs has been very various, some- 
 times good, sometimes bad. Beauty alone in them has not always been 
 the most potent factor in women's influence on the world. They are 
 subject to the same influences for good and evil as is man. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK 68 
 
 Physiognomy a trustworthy indication of character. The studies of the 
 great physiognomist, Lavater. Mantegazza, the Italian writer, quotes 
 Lavater, and gives his own idea about the aspect of genius. Shake- 
 speare's recognition of the value of physiognomy in determining char- 
 acter. Keen perception of mental attributes from inspection of a por- 
 trait. Mental habits of mind impress their states upon the countenance. 
 Illustration from George Eliot's "Romola." Hawthorne's contribution to 
 the same effect in his "Septimius Felton." The expression of Madame 
 de Sevigne, corresponding with her character, testified to by Madame de 
 Lafayette, her intimate friend. The poet Wordsworth's testimony to the 
 discernment of badness by purity of soul. Vulgar beauty and refined 
 beauty. The impress that care and vice make on the face. Unconscious 
 imitation of one person by another, leading to likeness between them. 
 Qualification of Lavater's view regarding this imitation. Culture indi- 
 cated by the expression of countenance. Temperance in all things indi- 
 cated by It. Goodness clearly indicated by it. The blindness of first 
 love between the opposite sexes. The low plane of recognition that 
 women occupied even among the most advanced nations of antiquity, 
 as compared with their present status wherever Christianity prevails. 
 The absurdity of some aristocratic pretensions. Women's rivalry for 
 the attention of men. Dr. Samuel Johnson's touching affection for his 
 homely and vulgar wife. Burns's hallucination about the last one of 
 the beau KCXC whom he admired. Dante's romantic love for Beatrice. 
 The hereditariness of certain diseases which are destructive of beauty. 
 The desirability of ascertaining before marriage if any of these are 
 present in the constitution of the would-be contracting parties. Self- 
 denial should be practiced where persons are aware that they may trans- 
 mit disease. Weak will-power, derived from a faulty nervous system, 
 inherits various tendencies, to drink, and to its concomitants. The 
 physical, mental, and moral deficiency of the human beings born during 
 the terrible sufferings in the siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War.
 
 CONTENTS. Vii 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. PAGE 
 
 How TO CULTIVATE AND PRESERVE A GOOD COMPLEXION 89 
 
 The expression of the face and the complexion largely under command. The 
 influence upon the expression was pointed out in the preceding chapter. 
 The complexion depends, of course, to a certain degree, upon the treat- 
 ment of the skin. A skin well nourished by blood must be at least a 
 healthy skin. Personal habits in mode of life and in ablution promote 
 the healthiness of the skin. Inborn inferiority in the texture of the 
 skin cannot be remedied, but it can be modified. By protecting the 
 face, for instance, from undue exposure to the sun, abnormal pigmen- 
 tation of it is prevented. Obedience in every respect to the laws of 
 hygiene is indispensable to purity of the complexion. Mental conditions 
 affect the complexion and beauty generally. A rational life in all respects 
 is conducive to what the body can accomplish in. the way of good looks 
 as to every particular. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE BATH 91 
 
 The health-giving and beautifying effect of cleanliness of person. The 
 removal of the watery and oily secretions of the body from the skin. 
 The indisputable advantage of soap and water for this purpose. Con- 
 sequences of the non-removal of those secretions. An unclean skin the 
 best field for the nourishment of microorganisms. The by-product of 
 those microorganisms, known as ptoinaina. Pellicles of scarf-skin are 
 detached continuously from the body. The various effects produced in 
 the body by different degrees of the temperature of water. The cold 
 bath as compared with the warm bath. Popular misapprehension about 
 the health of poor children; growing out of superficial observation and 
 no examination into the subject. The badly nourished children of the 
 siege of Paris in 1870. Baths, as general and partial, discussed. The 
 temperature of baths considered with reference to the season of the 
 year. Absurdity of bathing in ice-cold water. Shower-baths and douches. 
 Low vitality of many persons of which they and their acquaintances are 
 unaware. The course of life in bathing and other practices which such 
 persons should pursue. Bathing appliances for use and comfort. The 
 benefit of sea-bathing, with caution against indulgence in it to excess. 
 Interval of time between eating a meal and bathing. Description of the 
 cleanliness of some savage tribes. The tendency of civilized people of 
 the earliest known times to bathe constantly. The law of Moses regard- 
 ing purification. Bath-houses in Palestine. Bathing practiced among 
 the Egyptians. The bathing and swimming of the Greeks. The private 
 bathroom of the wealthy Athenians. Immoderate use of the warm bath 
 regarded by the Greeks as a sign of effeminacy. The luxurious baths 
 of ancient Persia. The elaborate bath-houses of Rome real palaces, con- 
 structed for bathing and many other diversions. The scientific regula- 
 tion of heated rooms in the Roman baths. The stupendous public baths 
 of Antoninus Caracalla. Bathing among Turks and Arabs. The Turkish 
 bath introduced into Europe by the crusaders after their return from 
 Palestine. The Russian bath described. The vapor-bath of the North 
 American Indians. The bathing of the Japanese. Warm water compared 
 with cold as a clearser. The necessity for the use of soap with water to 
 produce perfect cleansing of the body. The various kinds of soaps dis- 
 cussed. The more delicate, perfumed soaps. The good effect of bathing 
 for alleviating torpidity of the liver. Removal of pimples by the appli- 
 cation of hot water. Hot-water baths used for derangement of the 
 perspiratory function. The hot-bath and the hot-douche useful in cases 
 of excessive perspiration of the body as a whole or in part. A domestic 
 substitute for a public Russian bath. How hot vapor treatment can be 
 administered to a bed-ridden person. The operation called "the cold, 
 wet-pack." The water-douche. Treatment of the summer diarrhoea of 
 children by cold water application. The warm bath used for them when 
 seized with pain or spasms. The celebrated "Kneipp Cure." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION 114 
 
 The process and order of digestion. Albumen the physical basis of Life. 
 Fats and oils. Starch. The two types of sugar. Generation of scurvy. 
 Illustration of the fact from Dr. Kane's Arctic Expedition. Water in its 
 function of dissolving food. The constitution of the blood, apart from
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION (continued). 
 
 certain other of its attributes. The first process of digestion. The 
 saliva begins and the small intestines end it. The habit of bolting food. 
 The course that food takes in ingestion. The ferment called pepsin. The 
 time that elapses for perfect digestion. How opportunity has been occa- 
 sionally afforded for observing the processes of digestion. The villous 
 coat and the follicles of the stomach. The gastric juice. The contribu- 
 tion to digestion by the liver and the pancreas. Bile and pancreatic 
 fluid. How they differ from the gastric juice. How the final products 
 of digestion eventually enter into the circulation. Waste products car- 
 ried off by the liver and the kidneys. The properly trained man must, 
 according to Plato, be careful of his diet. Both as to quantity and 
 quality food should be eaten with discretion. Detriment to good looks 
 arises from indulgence in over-eating, as well as from too much drinking. 
 Sluggishness of mind and body are also the consequences of such indul- 
 gence. The intimate relation between virtue, health, and beauty. The 
 effects produced by athletic training. Disorders arising from functional 
 derangement of the liver. Fat, to a certain degree, desirable for the 
 rounding off of bodily irregularities of the skeleton. Fat as a reservoir 
 of heat and energy. Pure water a necessary for health. The question 
 of whether or not water should be drunk at meals. The usefulness of 
 coffee. The question of tea considered. Tea-drinking in its domestic 
 aspect. The nutritive value and pleasantness of chocolate as a bev- 
 erage. The old question as to whether or not alcohol is food. The 
 danger of forming the habit of taking alcoholic stimulants. The exces- 
 sive use of meat in the United States. Franklin's story about the old 
 lady whom he knew, who ate almost nothing. The idiosyncrasies of 
 certain persons in eating. Women's idiosyncrasy more fastidious in 
 eating than men's. Women's liking for kickshaws. Dietetic distastes 
 from prejudice. The various tastes throughout the world. The relative 
 goodness of digestion among different classes of people. Regularity of 
 meals an important factor in good digestion, and also disengagement 
 from business cares. The best judgment is that which makes for the 
 greatest satisfaction in life in the long run. Cheerfulness at meals con- 
 ducive to good digestion. Digestibility and nutritive value in foods. 
 Abstinence from exertion of body and mind after a hearty meal is 
 indispensable to good digestion. The flesh of young animals not so 
 digestible as that of older ones. Fish compared with meat as to nutri- 
 tive value. The injuriousness of a diet which lacks variety. Vege- 
 tables compared with meats as to nutritive value. Various vegetables 
 regarded as to their respective culinary merits. Hypochondriacal watch- 
 ing of the digestion. Poor cooking responsible for much indigestion. 
 The necessity for weak stomachs of carefully prepared food. Manner of 
 serving important in stimulating to appetite. Infectious diseases dis- 
 seminated by water, ice, and milk. An outbreak of typhoid fever traced 
 to ice-cream peddled in the streets of London. In such ice-cream glue 
 has been found to be substituted for gelatine. Great precaution to be 
 taken in large cities to secure pure water, ice, cream, and milk. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY 146 
 
 Muscular superiority in ancient times regarded as the highest attribute. 
 The athletic contests at Olympia. The late revival of athletic contests 
 at Athens. The runner from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens. That 
 feat of his still preserved in memory by a race over the same ground 
 by numerous competitors. The difference of vie\ between the Romans 
 and the Greeks with regard to public games. The tournaments and 
 jousts of the knights in the Middle Ages. The introduction of gun- 
 powder in warfare the cause of the following neglect of athleticism. 
 The revival of athleticism in the Napoleonic wars. The English devo- 
 tion to exercise in the form of field- sports. The difference of opportu- 
 nity among different classes for open-air exercise. The English practice 
 among professional men of pedestrianism and mountain-climbing. The 
 advantage of this kind of exercise for the constitutionally strong who 
 have run down in health from sedentary occupations. Walking to some 
 degree the kind of exercise at most persons' disposition. The raising of 
 the physical standard of British recruits for the army by means of 
 physical exercises. The treatment of many chronic disorders by the 
 Greeks through the instrumentality of exercise. The modern medical 
 profession has, perhaps, neglected too much the value of exercise in 
 prescription for health. The present tendency to associate athletic exer- 
 cises with institutions of learning of all sorts. The occasional injudi- 
 ciousness of mothers about fresh air and exercise for their children. 
 The necessity of making exercises attractive. The desirability of less 
 strenous exercise for the female than for the male sex. Physical culture
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Important to good eyesight. The great desirability of learning to swim. 
 The best way in which to learn to swim. Boating and sailing. Precau- 
 tion to be taken against loss of life in aquatic sports. Fishing as a quiet, 
 pleasurable sport in the fresh air amid pleasant scenes of nature. Skat- 
 ing. Curling in Canada. Coasting with the double-ripper. Running. 
 Wrestling. Quoits. Archery. Croquet and lawn-tennis. Base-ball. 
 Golf. Bicycling. The effect of athletics upon the mental faculties and 
 the disposition. Boxing. Fencing. Health, agility, and strength the 
 three qualities that should be sought in athletics among men. Among 
 women, it should be sought through athletics to promote health and 
 grace. The Delsarte movements in calisthenics. People who contribute 
 to or make their invalidism by unhygienic modes of life. Judicious 
 treatment that may be adopted for weak children. Dancing with music. 
 The male, and child, as compared with the female portion of country 
 people. The hard time that the women have for health as compared 
 with their husbands and children. The extraordinary strength of San- 
 dow. The physical history tff Dr. Winship, muscularly strong, organic- 
 ally weak. Leon Javelli, of the Ravel troupe of pantomimists. Rupture. 
 Bone broken by muscular contraction. Sleep the regenerative agency of 
 the body. Functional condition of the skin dependent upon health. The 
 heart's structure and .methods of activity. Injury to the heart. Injury 
 to the lungs. Exercise for the lungs in consumption. Massage in its 
 efficacy in producing functional activity. Massage in removing certain 
 skin affections. Relative strength, agility, and endurance among dif- 
 ferent races and among different individuals of the same race. The 
 climate and topography of different countries as affecting physical con- 
 dition. The question of health of the greatest importance. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND 187 
 
 The child's early education. Education at a later period of life than child- 
 hood. Citation of the cases of various celebrated persons in the acquisi- 
 tion of knowledge. The injudieiousness of indulgence for children in 
 amusements which entail late hours and social excitement. Children's 
 Innate capacity to amuse themselves when together. The Drexel Insti- 
 tute of Philadelphia. Its various subjects of instruction. Philadelphia's 
 Indebtedness to certain men of science mentioned. The Scotch physician, 
 John Hunter. The career of Benjamin Franklin. Michael Faraday. 
 What constitutes real, available food for the mind. The usefulness and 
 the danger of imagination. Different kinds of literature. Good and bad 
 methods of reading. The relative strength of men and women. The 
 higher education for women. Co-education of the sexes. Discovery gen- 
 erally made by men. Men's and women's general difference and modes 
 of thinking. The intellectual distinction of Sapho, Zenobia, Jeanne 
 d'Arc, Queen Elizabeth, Victoria Colonna, Mary Somerville, Hypatia, 
 Madame de Stael, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett 
 Browning, Harriet B. Martineau, Marion Evans (George Eliot), Madame 
 Curie. The circumscribing facts of life that give for the two sexes 
 tendencies to divergent careers. The physical effect of college life upon 
 the health of young women. The connection between intellectuality and 
 longevity. Chevreuil, Baron Liebig, Galileo, Flamsteed, Jeremy Ben- 
 tham, Leibnitz, La Grange, Laplace, Alexander von Humboldt, William 
 Cullen Bryant, Wieland, von der Vondel, Calderon, Metastasio, Lope de 
 Vega, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Horace Binney, Benjamin Franklin. 
 So-called "Muscular Christianity." The relation between cultivation of 
 the mind and physical beauty. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS 221 
 
 Clothing from three essentially different points of view. The permanency 
 of the style of dress among the Greeks and the Romans. Description 
 of the articles of dress worn by the Greek men and women. The dress 
 of the Romans and the Etruscans. The articles of dress worn by the 
 Roman men and women. The dress of the Anglo-Saxons. The dress of 
 the Norman nobility and of the Norman peasantry. The beginning of 
 modern styles of dress in the sixteenth century. The fashion in early 
 Tudor times. The fashions in Queen Elizabeth's time. Fashions in the 
 reign of James I of England. Fashions in the times of Charles I of 
 England. The costume of Charles II of England. Fashions in England 
 in the last half of the seventeenth century. Fashions in the time of 
 William III of England, in that of Queen Anne, and that of George I. 
 The new style in France at the beginning of the French Revolution. 
 The plainness of costumes everywhere among the male sex shortly 
 after that time to the present flay, Clothing not in itself warm, but
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. CLOTHING AND DRESS (continued}. 
 
 worn merely because retaining heat generated by the body. The proper 
 character of underclothes. Linen, cotton, silk, as related to clothing. 
 The first knowledge of silk in European countries. Leather and fur as 
 used for clothing. Color of goods with reference to absorbing and radiat- 
 ing heat. Constant renewal of underclothing judicious. The injurious 
 effects of some dyes for underclothes. The importance of always keeping 
 the feet dry and warm. Shoes as a protection for the feet. Caution 
 against wearing shoes that are too small or too high-heeled. Recom- 
 mendation about the garter. Consequences that have been known to 
 arise from wearing garters too tight. The tight corset and the ana- 
 tomical horrors that it produces. The veil protectively and aesthetic- 
 ally. Difference among people in the amount of clothing required for 
 \varmth. The beginning of the use of gloves. The knightly significance 
 of the glove in love and combat. Modern constant change of fashion 
 in dress among women. The long train for street wear now finally 
 discarded in the interest of cleanliness and health. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH 243 
 
 Where climate affords the best advantages for the flourishing of the human 
 race. Apparent relative immunity of some tribes from disease. Climates 
 the best which afford most open-air occupation. Cold and moist climates 
 compared. The influence of swamps and of irrigation. The complexion 
 as influenced by climate. Temperate climates produce the highest forms 
 of civilization. Climates as differentiated in mainland and insular 
 regions. Ideal marine climate. The three classes of marine climate. 
 Marine climate appropriate to many persons. Land climates differ from 
 the latitude and elevation of ground. Mental and physical advantages 
 often arising for invalids from change of climate. Unhealthy surround- 
 ings a stimulus for scrofula. Description of the symptoms of scrofula. 
 The favorable influence of certain climates upon bronchial affections. 
 Checking of consumption through judicious change of climate. Various 
 modes' of travel and places of sojourn. Diabetes, chronic rheumatism, 
 chronic malaria, liver complaint, as climatically treated. Mountain air 
 and sea voyage beneficial for insomnia, but the seashore better than 
 mountainous regions. A sea voyage beneficial in cases of nervous depres- 
 sion, neuralgia, etc. Climates that are detrimental to health. Many 
 present characteristic tropical diseases removable by sanitary measures. 
 What characteristics of climate chiefly hinge upon. Equable climates 
 and extreme climates. Rainy, partially rainy, and rainless climates. 
 The Gulf Stream of the Atlantic and the Black Current of the Pacific 
 as warmth-bearing streams. The heat of the sun at different periods of 
 the year. The temperature of a country not referable solely to its lati- 
 tude. The various causes that contribute to the kind of climate in any 
 particular region of the earth. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 VENTILATION 267 
 
 The composition of the atmosphere. The part that nitrogen plays in the 
 composition of the atmosphere. The solid, liquid, and gaseous forms 
 of matter. Liquid air. The composition of water. Aquatic and am- 
 phibious animals. Why air is caused to move as wind. Knowledge of 
 the fact implies knowledge of ventilation. The presence of an abnormal 
 amount of carbonic-acid gas in unventilated rooms. The necessity for 
 having plenty of atmospheric outlet and inlet by way of getting rid 
 of this poisonous gas. The use of windows, doors, and air-shafts, 
 depending upon what season it is, for getting rid of carbonic-acid gas 
 in dwelling places. Provisions for fresh air during sleep, with avoidance 
 of draughts. Transoms, air-shafts, doors, windows, gratings. Air as 
 received into the lungs and air expelled from them compared. The 
 closeness of unventilated rooms. Foul air good atmosphere for the 
 production of microbes. How persons suffer who habitually live in 
 stuffy rooms. Charles Dickens's graphic description of a close school- 
 room. The death of prisoners held in the "Black Hole" of Calcutta. 
 The dwellings of Icelanders. The disease of trismun associated with poor 
 ventilation. The symptoms of asphyxia from breathing plentifully of 
 carbonic-acid gas. Pure air, desirable in health, indispensable in illness. 
 The present treatment of consumption by pure air. Ventilation in the 
 cases of severe fever. Cleanliness in air, house, body, dress, food, work, 
 habits of all kinds, the whole field of sanitary life.
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. PAGE 
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH SOME TREATMENT OF IT 279 
 
 What complexion stands for in the healthfulness and constitutional fiber 
 of the skin. Pallor caused by anaemia. The green sickness of young 
 women. Biliousness, which arises from torpidity of the liver. The best 
 medicines and exercises for its treatment. Jaundice, and the various 
 colors which under its influence the skin assumes. Gall-stones. Malaria 
 and constipation as causes of jaundice. Prescriptions for the affection. 
 Jaundice caused by emotion. Acute yellow atrophy of the liver, of 
 nervous origin. Its symptoms and dangerous character. The symptoms 
 which characterize diabetes. The sources of contagious diseases to be 
 found in the presence of microbes. Diseases of the skin may be caused 
 by mental excitement making nervous disturbances. The distinctive 
 symptoms of nettlerash. So-called "cold sores" or "fever blisters." 
 Description of the disease medically known as pemphigus, for which 
 there is no popular name. Redness of the skin described. The various 
 causes which produce the affection called "glossy skin." The appear- 
 ance of the skin when so affected. Diffuse inflammation of the skin 
 accompanied with blisters, a rather uncommon disease. The symptoms 
 of the disease and its origin. The appearance 1 of psoriasis or dry tetter. 
 Its occasional hereditariness and origin. The appearance of dropsy of 
 the skin. Hysterical conditions causative of it. The appearance of the 
 rare disease of hardening of the skin. Fish-skin disease characterized 
 by a covering of scales. Colorless patches that sometimes appear upon 
 the skin. White pimples which may be generated by nervous derange- 
 ments of the skin. The causes of ulcers. The affections with which 
 they may be associated. The death of certain areas of skin which is 
 known as gangrene. Scrofula a constitutional disease. The difficulty 
 of treating certain skin diseases if the children having them are consti- 
 tionally tainted with scrofula. The liabilities to which persons with 
 scrofulous taint have to suffer from catarrhal attacks. Medical prescrip- 
 tions for scrofula. The necessity in some cases of surgical interference. 
 Liver spots, yellow spots, and blotches. Medical prescriptions. Tinea 
 versicolor a parasitic disease. Recommendations for treating it. Oily 
 skin, scurf, and dandruff considered under the head of seborrhosa. Med- 
 ical prescriptions for it. Its dry variety. Medical prescription. The 
 nutrition of the scalp promoted by massage. Treatment for threatened 
 baldness should begin early. The disease of acne characterized by red 
 and white pimples. Acne is a constitutional disease. Black heads in the 
 skin, medically known as comedones. A trivial but disfiguring affection. 
 Medical prescriptions. Rosacea, or red nose and cheeks. The great dis- 
 figurement which it may reach in extreme cases. Constitutional treat- 
 ment for it required. Medical prescriptions for its treatment. Recom- 
 mendation for the second stage of the disease. Galvanism useful for it. 
 Tetter, salt-rheum, milk crust, is what physicians call eczema. More 
 prevalent in the male than in the female sex. It may be acute or 
 chronic. The symptoms of the acute and of the chronic kind. Appro- 
 priate local applications in it are serviceable. Medical prescriptions for 
 local treatment of it. Ointments for it sometimes preferable to powders. 
 Medical prescriptions for ointments for it. Bathing, medicated soaps, 
 etc., recommended for it. Medical prescription. Recommendation how 
 to relieve its itching symptom. The liability of very young children to 
 attacks of tetter. Why it differs in character in attacking children and 
 adults. Advice to call in a physician as soon as possible in the case of 
 children's diseases. What is medically known as erythema. The various 
 causes that may produce it. The difference between burns and scalds, 
 and the difference in their treatment. The first object is to relieve from 
 pain and nervous shock. The kinds of dressing used for treatments. 
 Description of the mode of skin-grafting. The causes of chilblains. 
 What should be done to relieve and to cure sufferers from an attack. 
 The medicaments that are useful for the purpose. Medical prescription 
 for lotions and ointments found I'seful in the affection. The nature of 
 the ulcer. Rest an essential in the treatmpnt of ulcers. Internal treat- 
 ment. External treatment. Lotion, powder, and ointment for local 
 application. What constitutes a boil. Ordinarv boils and blind boils. 
 Recommendations to persons attacked by boils. Lotions, ointments, 
 lunar caustic, depending upon circumstances, used in their treatment. 
 The symptoms accompanying the advent of carbuncle. The character of 
 carbuncles. How the system must be supported during a carbuncular 
 attack. A paste well adnpted to their treatmmt. The use of warm 
 poultices as final applications. Urticaria is the medical name for nettle- 
 rash. How the affection generally originates. The foods that may cause 
 an outbreak of it in certain persons. Its appearance. It may be symto- 
 matic of some other affection of the general svstfm. It may become 
 chronic. The best means to meet an attack. Medical prescription for 
 it. Treatment of the affection by mineral waters. Recommendation of 
 jnborandi. Other things that may allay the itching. Prescription for 
 local treatment by lotions and by an ointment recommended. Prickly-
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, ETC. (continued). 
 
 beat is medically shown as miliaria. Whence it comes, and the kind 
 of persons whom it attacks. Simple treatment all that is necessary in 
 this affection. Lotions and ointments are all that are necessary for it. 
 Ivy-poisoning from varieties of ivy and sumach. Lotions used in this 
 kind of poisoning. Parasites belong to both the animal and the vege- 
 table kingdoms. In the case of itch, it is an insect that produces the 
 disease. Where the disease is most prevalent. The regions of the body 
 which by preference it attacks. Treatment of the disease directed to 
 killing the parasite and relieving the irritation of the skin. Lousiness, 
 too, arises from the insect parasite well known among physicians and 
 the poor, and sometimes coming to the knowledge of the most cleanly 
 travelers. There are two kinds of lousiness. The best way to remove 
 bead-lice. The best way to remove body-lice. The large class of skin 
 diseases coming under the head of ringworm is due to fungus growth 
 of parasites. How the disease looks when it appears upon the bod/. 
 Lotions and ointments used in its treatment. Medical prescription for 
 a useful application in the form of an ointment. The form of ring- 
 worm known as "barber's itch" is so called because it has often been 
 caught from the barber's implements. The disease is contagious. Its 
 appearance in the beard. Procedure to be adopted for cure. Medical 
 prescription of a good lotion for its treatment. Safeguard against com- 
 municating the disease by contact with another person. How ringworm 
 of the scalp begins. Its production of baldness. It, also, is a con- 
 tagious disease, sometimes spreading through families, children's asy- 
 lums, and schools. Measures for relief. Sycosis, as the affection is 
 medically termed, resembles "barber's itch" in the singular particular 
 that it, too, attacks the hairy portions of the face of adult men; but 
 it, unlike "barber's itch," is not a parasitic disease. How it first shows 
 itself. The pain accompanying the eruption. Its pimples very unlike 
 those of "barber's itch." Diet necessary for its treatment. Solution 
 used. Ointment used. Herpes is the medical name for an affection which 
 presents itself in the form of groups of blisters. A good application for 
 the affection. The form of herpes known as shingles. The eruption 
 consists of little blisters upon a reddened skin. Its duration. It some- 
 times attacks the face and eyes. How to relieve the pain. Medical 
 prescription for a paste as an application. Medical prescription for a 
 lotion. The disease of erysipelas, known popularly as "the rose" and 
 as "St. Anthony's fire." How it begins. Its serious depression of 
 strength. The invasion of underlying parts in certain cases of ery- 
 sipelas. It is a parasitic disease. The parasite enters through some 
 break in the skin. It is only slightly contagious. Internal as well as 
 external treatment is to be used. A medical prescription for an oint- 
 ment. A great many antiseptic substances used of late years by physi- 
 cians in the treatment of erysipelas. Some of them mentioned. Albinism, 
 which is an affection where the natural pigmentation of the skin is 
 absent. It may be partial or it may include the whole body. The partial 
 kind is more common among the dark races than among the light ones. 
 Partial albinism makes, of course, white spots. Several conditions rec- 
 ognized under the title of "mother's marks." The mole and the claret 
 or port-wine stain. Their great disfigurement when on the face. The 
 four processes by which they may be removed. The affection more com- 
 mon in the male than in the female sex. The mode in which warts may 
 appear. The localities which they may invade. The medicine for inter- 
 nal treatment generally used. Local treatment for the affection. Lunar 
 caustic, strangulation, galvanism. The popular misapprehension about 
 the constitution of corns. Their treatment by the removal of pressure 
 and by local application. The growth of horns as an extraordinary modi- 
 fication of the scarf-skin. Pigmentation, that is, abnormal coloration 
 of the skin, is sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent. Causes that 
 bring it about. Methods to be employed for its removal by absorption. 
 A physician's treatment indispensable for nervous affections of the skin 
 which evidence some serious constitutional disorder. Neuralgia of the 
 skin accompanied by pricking, burning, or shooting pain. More com- 
 mon among women than among men. Constitutional and local treat- 
 ment both needed. Some few recommendations made for its treat- 
 ment. The various sizes, situations, and positions which scars may 
 assume. The surgical treatment of scars. Their treatment by massage 
 and by galvanization. Various causes which may produce itching of 
 the skin. Creeping, tingling, and burning sensations may also be experi- 
 enced by the skin. These perversions of sensibility may be the only 
 manifestations present of disease of the skin. What the physician does 
 in case he cannot find the special cause of the disease. The applications 
 that are good for local treatment. Bites and stings inflicted by numerous 
 kinds of insects. The effect of these upon persons of very delicate skin. 
 The bed-bug. The tick. Remedial measures for extirpation of bed-bugs 
 and ticks and for treatment of sufferers from their bites. The disease 
 of cancer. Removal of the superficial kind by means of surgery. The 
 age at which cancer of the skin generally appears. The diet for patients
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 suffering from cancer. Medical internal and external treatment for it 
 when the disease is superficial. The deposition of the coloring matter 
 of the skin in the form known as freckles. Four medical prescriptions 
 given for lotions for the skin so affected. Galvanism recommended. The 
 tumor known as a wen. It may occur anywhere on the body. The cause 
 whence wens arise. Their favorite location. Their characteristics. Their 
 growth. How they must be removed. The cutaneous disorder of exces- 
 sive perspiration. Description of its external and internal treatment. 
 Various lotions, dusting-powders, and ointments to be used for the 
 affection. The treatment of odorous perspiration. Local treatment by 
 soap and water and various chemicals. Prescription tor lotion and oint- 
 ment for the purpose. The treatment for suppressed perspiration. Its 
 consequence as seen in the condition of the skin. The affection may 
 . be derived from or complicated with diseases of the skin. The proper 
 mode of treatment for this affection. Diet, bath, fresh air, exercise, 
 massage, certain drugs, all enter into the treatment of it. Persons 
 of certain complexion and facial habits most liable to wrinkling prema- 
 turely. Counsel to avoid the habit of grimacing productive of wrinkles. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS 346 
 
 Characteristic eruptions of eruptive fevers. The times of year in which 
 measles generally occur. The symptoms attendant upon the appearance 
 of an attack of measles. The possible complications that may occur 
 during a case of measles. The peculiar relations subsisting between 
 measles, scrofula, and consumption. Where a patient should be placed 
 upon being attacked, and how treated. Medical directions for treatment. 
 What should be done when pneumonia enters as a complication of 
 measles, and what should be done when bronchitis enters as a compli- 
 cation. Medical directions for this particular case. Malignant or so- 
 called "black measles." How its onset should be met. The great dif- 
 ference in the severity of attacks of scarlet fever. A disease always 
 to be dreaded on account of the uncertainty attending the degree in 
 severity of its development. The interval between contagion and the 
 appearance of the disease. Light scarlet fever described. Appearance 
 of the rash in different localities. The second and more intense variety 
 of the disease described. The character of the third and most severe 
 variety, known as malignant scarlet fever. Relapses in scarlet fever. 
 The after-effects of fever upon convalescence. The complications that 
 may occur in the disease. The interior of the ear may become inflamed. 
 Diphtheria may supervene in malignant scarlet fever. Disease of the 
 joints may follow scarlet fever. Pleurisy sometimes follows it. Dropsy 
 also may follow it. This shows the kidneys are affected. The procedure 
 that should be adopted for treating a child for scarlet fever. The very 
 marked character of the symptoms appearing with an attack of scarlet 
 fever. Some directions for procedure. Various formulae for ointments 
 to be used on the skin. The use of ice and of gargles. Formulae for a 
 good gargle. Preparation for spraying the throat when in unhealthy 
 condition. The cleansing agent chlorine. What to do when the tonsils 
 are swollen. Inflammation between the back of the throat and the inside 
 of the nose. What to do for it. Invasion of the ear by inflammation 
 needs careful medical treatment by a physician. Some alleviation of the 
 distress from it. Internal treatment for scarlet fever. No specific exists 
 for arresting the disease. Advice for mild cases. Formulae for a dose 
 to be given to a child. Chlorate of potash. Tincture of iron. Looseness 
 of bowels. The treatment of severe cases of scarlet fever substantially 
 the same as that for mild ones. The best method for reducing the tem- 
 perature of the body. In the most severe cases the poisonous action of 
 the disease is profound. What is essential to do in cases of the malig- 
 nant variety of the fever. Medical prescription for cases of great pros- 
 tration. The possible sequel of the disease even for convalescents. 
 Advice as to procedure when the kidneys have been affected. Medical 
 prescription related to convulsions of scarlet fever in its early stage. 
 Prescription for a liniment useful in scarlatinal rheumatism following 
 scarlet fever. The summoning of a physician for the treatment of scarlet 
 fever is all-important, so dangerous is it in character. German measles, 
 known also as French measles, sometimes puzzling to diagnose. Its 
 first symptom. Its progress in manifestation and time. Really, so trivial 
 an affection as to need scarcely any medical treatment. The loathsome 
 and disfiguring disease of smallpox. Known to the Chinese a thousand 
 years before the Christian era. Four varieties of it recognized: vario- 
 loid, discrete smallpox, confluent smallpox, and malignant smallpox. 
 Varioloid described. Discrete smallpox described. Confluent smallpox 
 described. Malignant smallpox described. Genernl directions for the 
 course to pursue to meet the onset of smallpox. What to do when it 
 begin* Prescription for a mixture to be used in case of the complication 
 with bronchitis. The best measures to adopt to prevent scarring.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. ERUPTIVE FEVERS (continued). PAQE 
 
 Watching of the eyes important. Disinfection of discharges. Vaccination 
 regarded as important for securing perfect immunity from the disease. 
 The contagious but mild affection of chickenpox. Almost wholly con- 
 fined to young children. Description of its symptoms. Occasional dif- 
 ficulty of at once distinguishing it from varioloid. The doubt, however, 
 soon resolved by observation. Little or no medical treatment is required 
 by the disease, on account of its being so mild. The main treatment for 
 it merely retention in the house and a light diet. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES 380 
 
 The fashion of the hair among various peoples of antiquity. The fashion of 
 the hair in the middle ages. The fashion of the hair in modern times. 
 Baldness, whether partial or complete, discussed. Affections which cause 
 baldness. Various recipes for pomatums and washes for the head. 
 Dusting-powder for the hair. Directions for examining hair for the 
 purpose of detecting inferior growth. The dry shampoo and the wet 
 shampoo. Acute and chronic baldness. The various disorders of the 
 scalp which cause baldness. Recommendations for treating the affected 
 scalp. Measures for treating its condition. Nine formula? for removing 
 dandruff and stimulating the growth of the hair. Circumscribed bald- 
 ness. How it may be distinguished from ringworm of the scalp. How to 
 treat it. Three formulas for application. Grayness of hair. Grayness 
 as arising from age. Freaks of grayness in the hair in youth. Single 
 tufts of gray hair sometimes hereditary. Grayness from fright. Occa- 
 sional change from gray to dark hair in old persons. Sudden change to 
 grayness from strong emotion. The hair of albinoes. Administration used 
 to remove the cause of grayness. Dyes for the hair are mineral and 
 vegetable. The application of hair-dyes. A simple formula for a hair- 
 dye. The use ot nitrate of silver as a hair-dye. How to apply it. For- 
 mula for a hair-bleaching mixture. Two formulae for hair-curling fluids. 
 Excessive hairiness. The disfigurement that it causes. The celebrated 
 case of a family excessively hairy as to some of its members. Two other 
 cases that are well known. The growth of moustaches in women. How 
 the blemish can be removed. Excessive hairiness as sometimes arising 
 from disease of mind or body. Hairiness in males. The ease with which 
 superfluous hairiness can be removed by galvanism. Removal of the 
 hair by caustics. Formula for a depilatory. Atrophy of the hair. Its 
 appearance under those circumstances. It may be owing to constitu- 
 tional or local conditions. Directions how to treat it. Formula for an 
 application for the scalp. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE NAILS AND THEIR DISEASES 410 
 
 The nails appendages of the scarf-skin. Appearance that the nails assume 
 in the condition of atuemia, and in the diseases of chlorosis and leu- 
 kaemia. Their not unusual loss in diabetes mellitus. Their liability to 
 become thickened in pernicious anccmia. Serious organic diseases may 
 cause shedding of the nails. The strange shapes which they sometimes 
 assume in disease. The marking to which they are subject. Malignant 
 onychia, a serious inflammation of the bed of the nail. Its painfulness 
 from ulceratipn. Its appearance. Its treatment. Disease of the nails 
 caused by injury. Caused by parasitic invasion. The affection of in- 
 growing nail. Its consequences. Inflammation of the nail as leading to 
 alteration in its intimate structure. Varieties of it attack artisans and 
 confectioners. Strange localities for growths of nails sometimes occur. 
 Overgrowth of nails most common in old age. Remedies to be adopted. 
 Atrophy of the na'ls makes them small, brittle, and easily destroyed. 
 Whence tetter of the nails generally proceeds. The best of application 
 for atrophy of the nails. The parasite of ringworm of the body some- 
 times penetrates the substance of the nail. Directions for treating 
 atrophy of the nail. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS 417 
 
 Ointments and pomatums. Three recipes for cold cream. Cold cream (vase- 
 line). Two recipes for cold cream. Cream of nuts (cream de nouveaux). 
 Cold cream (violet). Camphor cold cream (camphor-ice). Camphor-ice.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE: 
 
 Cream shampo. Cold cream (honey-and-almond). Cream (Recamier). 
 Cream (quince-seed). Cream-balm. Cold cream (cucumber). Cold cream 
 (pornmade-divme). Camphor-paste. Creain or marrow pomade. Per- 
 fumes, soaps, colognes, etc. Compound essence of orris-root. White- 
 lilac extract. Jonquille-extract. Two recipes for verbena-extract. Win- 
 tergreen-extract. Lily-of-the-valley extract. Mignonette-extract. New- 
 mown-hay extract. Stephanotis-extract. Orange-nower extract. Musk- 
 extract. Marie Stuart extract. Violet extract. Wood-violet extract. 
 Three recipes for inexpensive perfumes. Sicilian essence. Handkerchief 
 perfume. Essence of Peruvian balsam. Heliotrope bouquet. Mixed scent. 
 Compound essence of Tonquin-bean. Heliotrope-water. Christiani's 
 volatile essence. New-mown hay. New garden nosegay. Powder of a 
 thousand flowers. Lavender-powder. Rose-powder. Verbena-powder. 
 VioleUpowder. Heliotrope-sachet. Geranium-sachet. White-rose solid 
 perfume. Lavender solid perfume. Bouquet solid perfume. Cologne 
 solid perfume. Rose-soap. Vanilla-soap. Frangipanni-soap. Lavender- 
 soap. Orauge-flower soap. Cedar-soap. Shaving soap. Persian bouquet. 
 Three recipes for Florida-water. Eau-du-Portugal. Eau-du-botot. 
 Orange-flower-water. Violet-water. Two recipes for Lavender-water. 
 Geranium-water. Two recipes for Hungary-water. Triple espnt-de-rose. 
 Eucalyptus-water. Magnolia-sachet. Rose-sachet. Verbena-sachet. Vio- 
 let-sachet. Two recipes for violet-sachet. Rose-sachet. Sachet-powder. 
 Two recipes for first-quality cologne. Two recipes for second-quality 
 cologne. Thum's cologne. Farina-cologne. Two recipes for cologne. 
 Graves's white-rose cologne. Antiseptic cologne. White-rose cologne. 
 Christiani's ammoniated cologne. Myrtle-cologne. Narcissus-cologne. 
 Pink-cologne. Sweet-pea cologne. Polyanthus-cologne. Toilet prepara- 
 tions. Antiseptic solution. Bay rum. Bleach (Madame Ruprpert's face- 
 bleach). Two recipes for blonde powder. Complexion-wash (lait-vir- 
 ginal). Complexion-wash. Dentifrice. Tooth-powder (quinine). Denti- 
 frice (antiseptic). Dentifrice (French). Dentifrice (camphor-chalk). 
 Tooth-powder (sepia). Tooth-powder (Peruvian bark). Tooth-powder 
 (borax and myrrh). Tooth-powder (rose). Dentifrice (Reid's antiseptic 
 liquid). Dentifrice (Rushmere antiseptic liquid). Dentifrice (Rushmere 
 liquid). Tooth-powder (Peruvian bark). Dentifrice (East India liquid). 
 Tooth-paste (ruby). Dentifrice (tannin). Tooth-paste (soap-bark and 
 areca). Dentifrice (wild cherry). Cream (antiseptic dental). Two recipes 
 for emulsion (rose). Eyebrow-pencil. Eye-wash. Eye-lid paste (kohl). 
 Two recipes fcr glycerine-balsam. Glycerine fragrant cream. Glycerine- 
 balsam. Glycerine-lotion. Glycerine-cream. Glycerine or boroglyceride 
 cream. Glycerine-jelly (plain). Glycerine-jelly (carbolated). Glycerine- 
 jelly (solid). Glycerine-lotion (borated). Glycerine-cream. Glycerine 
 cold cream. Hair-lotion (quinine-and-glycerine). Hair-oil (lemon). 
 Three recipes for hair-lotion. Hair-lotion (quinine). Hair-lotion (crown). 
 Hair-lotion (quino-jaborandi). Hair-curling fluid. Hair-lotion. Lanolin- 
 milk. Four recipes for lanolin-cream. May-dew milk. Milk of elder- 
 flowers. Milk of dandelion. Three recipes for milk of bitter almonds. 
 Milk of cucumber. Magnolia-balm. Nail and lip pomade (rosaline). 
 Mouth-wash (disinfectant). Mouth-wash (horse-radish). Mouth-wash 
 (honey). Mouth-wash (mentholine). Mouth-wash (cosmos). Mouth-wash 
 (violet). Five recipes for mouth-wash. Mouth-wash (disinfectant). Two 
 recipes for perfumed powder. Violet-powder. Rose-powder. Pearl-pow- 
 der. Face-powder (white rose). Face-powder (red rose). Face-powder 
 (Cuban belle). Face-powder (fleur-de-lya). Face-powder (Nile-lily). 
 Face-powder (rice). White complexion powder. Pink complexion pow- 
 der. Face-powder (swansdown). Complexion-powder. Hand-powder. 
 Whitening skin-powder. Nail-powder. Seven recipes for infant-powder. 
 Perfumed talc. Borated talc. Tannated talc. Salycilated talc. Carbo- 
 lated talc. Aromatic vinegar. Hygienic vinegar. Cosmetic vinegar. 
 Cologne-vinegar. Toilet vinegar. De Bully's vinaigre-aromatique. Wig- 
 paste. Baldness. Boils. Three recipes for burns. Carbuncle. Chapped 
 lips. Cracks or fissures of hands, feet, and lips. Three recipes for 
 chapped hands. Chapped and inflamed hands. Chapped and inflamed 
 skin. Corns and bunions. Dandruff. Dry ekin. Falling of hair. 
 Freckles. Freckles or liver-spots. Freckles, blackheads, tan, etc., 
 Freckles and tan. Two recipes for frostbite. Itching of the skin. 
 Itching piles or haemorrhoids. Mosquito-powder. Oily or greasy skin, 
 especially of the face. Odorous or stinking sweat, especially of the hands, 
 feet, armpits, and other parts of the body. Pimples, blotches, tetter, 
 and irritation of the skin. Pimples on the face. Protection against 
 insect bites. Redness of skin, sunburn, chafing. Red nose and cheeks. 
 Sores or ulcers of the skin. Stings of insects. Stye-lot'on. Sunburn. 
 Sweating of bands, feet, and other parts of the body. Tetter. Warts 
 and corns. Wax in the ear. 
 
 INDEX 471
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 
 
 THE skin, although dense and firm, is, at the same time, a 
 highly elastic membrane. It covers and protects the 
 parts immediately beneath it, and is effective in maintain- 
 ing bodily temperature equably, and also in preventing excessive 
 evaporation from the interior of the body. Were it not for the 
 presence of the skin, the loss of the watery constituents of the 
 body would be excessive, its tissues would dry up, their vitality 
 would be lost, and death would ensue. So, the health of the 
 skin is intimately connected with the health of the general sys- 
 tem. On the other hand, the normal activity of the body is 
 essential to the proper nutrition and activity of the skin. 
 
 The nerves that enter the skin terminate in bulbous expan- 
 sions, by means of which the individual is brought into one 
 relation with the external world, that through the sense of 
 touch. The skin is furnished with many glands, some of which 
 render it soft and pliable, while others remove from il^effete 
 fluid and solid matters from the blood. It is divided into various 
 layers. One of these is known as the derma, cutis vera, or true 
 skin. Superposed on this are several thin layers, known collec- 
 tively as either the cuticle, scarf-skin, or epidermis. The true 
 skin is composed of a substance known to anatomists as connec- 
 tive tissue, because of its function of binding together other 
 parts, as demonstrable by examination under the microscope. 
 Connective tissue is universally distributed throughout the body. 
 But it is modified in different parts as to its structure, so as to 
 meet different conditions; all the time, however, retaining its 
 
 (i)
 
 2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 essential characteristics of structure. In the true skin, its fibers 
 are so disposed as to form little bundles crossing one another 
 obliquely, leaving between them interstices filled with a soft, 
 fatty tissue, constituting the site of little blood-vessels, glands, 
 and the roots of hairs. 
 
 It is now generally believed by physiologists, that some 
 papillae, or little protuberances of the skin, contain nerve-fibrils 
 devoted exclusively to the sensation of touch and recognition 
 of heat, cold, and pain. Other papillae contain, instead of nerve- 
 ends, the ends of blood-vessels. The blood-vessels of the body, 
 exclusive of the skin, have no termination; they begin and end 
 at the heart. The system prevails throughout the body. It is 
 essentially the same in bone, brain, and all internal structures. 
 Arteries diminish in size proportionately to their distance 
 from the heart and the number of branches given off by them. 
 Everywhere they are continuous with veins and the smallest of 
 blood-vessels, known as capillaries, because they are hair-like 
 in size. The blood from the head and upper extremities becomes 
 impure from waste-products of the body, goes to the right side 
 of the heart, after having departed from the left, by a single 
 large blood-vessel; and that from the exterior and interior 
 of the body, and from the lower limbs, by another large blood- 
 vessel. Thence it passes through the lungs for purification, parts 
 with its carbonic acid, returns to the left side of the heart as 
 pure arterial blood, and again continues its round through all 
 parts of the body. Some impurities, however, are removed by 
 the lungs, liver, kidneys, and skin. 
 
 Papillae are especially numerous upon those portions of the 
 skin that are most closely connected with the sensation of touch, 
 as on the tips of the fingers, the palms of the hands, the soles 
 of the feet, and the toes. It has been computed, from micro- 
 scopic examination, that, in some of these situations, there are 
 about sixty thousand papillae to the square inch. 
 
 In addition to the connective tissue, already described, is 
 found with it a certain amount of substance known as yellow
 
 THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 3 
 
 elastic tissue. This is composed of fibers, thicker than those of 
 connective tissue, having a faint yellow tint. As implied by its 
 name, this tissue serves to communicate to the skin a notable 
 elasticity. 
 
 Muscular fibers are also present in the skin. Some of these 
 lie parallel with, and others obliquely to, the surface. These 
 little muscles begin near the upper surface of the true skin and 
 pass downward to the hair-follicles, the bulbs containing the 
 root of the hair. When they contract, the papillary layer of 
 the skin is pulled downward; the hair-follicles and contained 
 hairs themselves are then necessarily forced to protrude above 
 the surface. So comes about that occasional roughness of the 
 skin, known as goose-flesh, produced from cold or from fear. 
 Referred to fear, the hair is said to stand on end. Another con- 
 sequence of the action of the cutaneous muscular fibers may 
 manifest itself in the compression of the glands of the skin, 
 resulting in the cold sweat of fear. 
 
 A gland is an aggregation of cells which has the power 
 of forming from the blood-vessels matter known as secretion, 
 or of modifying the constitution of the blood. The skin con- 
 tains two kinds of glands, the sebaceous, or oil-glands, and the 
 sudoriparous or sweat-glands. The oil-glands are imbedded in 
 the substance of the skin. They are present in most parts 
 of the surface of the body, but there are regions of it from which 
 they are absent, the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, 
 and the ends of the fingers and toes. They are particularly 
 numerous upon the hairy portions of the body, consequently very 
 numerous on the scalp. 
 
 The sudoriparous or sweat-glands are of simpler construc- 
 tion than are the oil-glands. They consist of twisted tubes, 
 situated in the connective tissue. These glands, much more 
 numerous on some portions of the body than on others, are 
 about a quarter of an inch in length, and reach the surface of 
 the skin in undulating lines. They are most abundant on the 
 palms of the hands and soles of the feet, there numbering from
 
 4 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 twenty-five hundred to three thousand to the square inch; 
 whereas, upon the back, the skin contains only about four 
 hundred to five hundred sweat-glands to the square inch. It 
 has been calculated that the aggregate length of these glands 
 on the human body is over nine miles. Both sebaceous and 
 sudoriparous glands are modified in structure and function in 
 certain situations. A variety of the sudoriparous glands is 
 found in the outer passage of the ear. In this region they become 
 ceruminous glands, that is, glands secreting and excreting 
 cerumen, or wax. 
 
 The lowest stratum of the scarf-skin is, owing to its con- 
 stitutional softness, called the mucous layer. It is that in which 
 the coloring matter is deposited. The color of all races of man- 
 kind depends upon the character and amount, of the granules of 
 pigment, or coloring matter, deposited in this layer. When this 
 cuticle is removed, it is observable that even the color of the 
 darkest race, the negro, is just like that of the white races. 
 Passing by the two layers that are immediately superposed on 
 the mucous layers, the fourth layer from the bottom, that is, the 
 surface of the skin, deserves particular mention. It, the most 
 superficial of all, the one that appeals to the eye with fineness 
 and color, consists of a network of large, dry, hard, closely con- 
 nected cells or scales. When they reach the surface, for they 
 are generated by gradual modification from below, these cells 
 or scales have lost most of their moisture by evaporation, and 
 have also undergone chemical changes through which they have 
 been converted into a substance similar to horn. This layer is, 
 therefore, known as the corneous, or horny, layer of the skin. 
 The horny layer of the scarf-skin plays the most prominent part 
 in the production of the distinctive characteristics of a fine skin. 
 As light strikes upon its surface, the rays are refracted and 
 reflected, so as to produce what we know as brilliancy of com- 
 plexion. 
 
 The scarf-skin varies in thickness in different parts of the 
 body, in accordance to the various development of its layers in
 
 THE SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 5 
 
 those situations. It is thinnest upon the lips and face and thickest 
 upon the palms of the hand and the soles of the feet. The horny 
 layer notably varies in thickness according to its localities on 
 the body. The development of the horny layer does not, more- 
 over, always correspond with that of the softer layers below. 
 Habitual manual labor thickens and hardens this outer horny 
 layer, so that laborers have often been, in strict accuracy, called 
 horny-handed sons of toil. 
 
 The true skin is very closely associated with the soft tis- 
 % sue below it, called subcutaneous connective tissue. Connective 
 tissue has been here already sufficiently noted as to its loose 
 structure. Subcutaneous connective tissue is still more loose in 
 structure, its meshes are larger and contain more fat than does 
 the connective tissue. Its fat is particularly abundant in certain 
 situations. It is more developed in children and women than in 
 men. It usually diminishes with advance of age, except, of 
 course, in persons of an obese tendency. It is rapidly lost in 
 severe fevers and in certain other wasting diseases. 
 
 The structure of the true skin differs in no essential particu- 
 lar from the tissues immediately beneath it. They all blend 
 imperceptibly into one another, showing between them no strict 
 lines of demarcation. The outer skin may therefore be justly 
 regarded as a special modification or condensation of connective 
 tissue. Thus modified, it finally contains muscular and elastic 
 fibers and numerous glands, covered with a protective membrane 
 furnished with hair and nails. 
 
 The mobility of the skin is dependent upon the size, abun- 
 dance, and elasticity of the underlying fatty meshes. In cer- 
 tain situations, as around joints, where mobility of the skin is 
 indispensable, the connective tissue is loose, and contains but 
 little or no fat. The adaptation of the skin to its requirements 
 is well expressed in the words of the ancient physician, Galen, 
 who wrote, "Try if you can imagine a shoe made with half the 
 skill that appears in the skin of the foot."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE APPENDAGES OF THE SKIN. 
 
 THE hair and the nails are appropriately called the appendages 
 of the skin, because they are merely modifications of its 
 uppermost layer, variously called the epidermis, the scarf- 
 skin, and cuticle. The cross-section form of the hair varies some- 
 what among different races. In that of the Caucasian race it is so 
 slightly oval in form as to approach the circular. Straight hair 
 is indication of the fact that the tube which constitutes a hair 
 has everywhere throughout its length a cross-section of the 
 same size and form. The crinkly constitution of the hair of the 
 Negro is owing to the fact that its cross-section varies continu- 
 ally through its length, 'causing it to bend sharply on itself 
 throughout its course. The hair of the Indian, on the contrary, 
 presents the opposite appearance, and for the reason already 
 indicated, that its cross-section is singularly the same throughout 
 its whole length. What is here said is clearly indicated by the 
 microscope, which, with high power of magnification, exhibits 
 not only this feature of the hair, but the granules of pigment 
 contained in its tubes, and also the scales in it, with which its 
 surface is so completely covered that it looks as if carefully 
 tiled. 
 
 Hair-roots are lodged in bulbs called hair-follicles. These, 
 of the form of a flask, are situated obliquely in the true 
 skin. At the bottom of the hair-follicle is an oval body, called 
 the hair papilla, which is the germ of a hair. Its structure is 
 identical with the papillae of the true skin. Hair, as well as the 
 scarf-skin, is not furnished with blood-vessels. Its nourish- 
 ment is derived chiefly from the capillaries contained in the 
 hair-papillae. 
 
 A hair consists of a free portion, called the shaft, extending 
 beyond the surface of the skin; an embedded portion, or root, 
 (6)
 
 THE APPENDAGES OF THE SKIN. 7 
 
 contained within the hair-follicle; and an expanded portion, 
 which rests upon and encloses the hair-papilla. The root is 
 formed of a soft, central substance, known as the medullar, or 
 pithy, and an outer layer, known as the cortical, or corklike 
 substance. These two, in turn, are enclosed in an exquisitely fine 
 membrane, known as the cuticle of the hair. This cuticle is com- 
 posed of a single layer of scales slightly overlapping at their 
 edges, and presenting the appearance, under the microscope, 
 which has been already described. 
 
 Hair grows upon nearly every part of the body, the excep- 
 tions being the upper part of the eyelids, the lips, the palms of 
 the hands, the soles of the feet, and a very few other situations. 
 The hair is, especially on the crown of the head, arranged in 
 spirals. When the cross-sections of the hairs differ through- 
 out its length, they will, as already indicated, be curly or wavy. 
 A striking instance of the effect of climate upon hair is men- 
 tioned by Sir Erasmus Wilson, taken, as follows, from Mr. 
 St. John's "Travels in the Valley of the Nile :" "The effect of 
 the climate of Egypt upon the hair is remarkable. My own 
 beard, which, in Europe, was soft and silky, and almost straight, 
 began, immediately upon my arrival at Alexandria, to curl, to 
 grow crisp, strong, and coarse, and before I reached El-Souan, 
 resembled horse-hair to the touch, and was all disposed in ring- 
 lets about the chin.." 
 
 The fact is that hair is highly hygroscopic; that is, affect- 
 able by moisture. Every hair-dresser knows this. Mr. St. John 
 experienced a singularly dry climate on the occasion mentioned. 
 When he returned, by the way of Malta, his curly beard resumed 
 its normal state, in the moist air of the Mediterranean. 
 
 The character of the hair evidently depends upon climate. 
 When this influence has been asserted through thousands of 
 years, its type becomes established as one of the characteristics 
 of race. The inhabitants of northern climates have generally 
 long, straight hair ; those of southern and equatorial ones, wavy 
 or wooly hair. Associated with this difference of condition in
 
 8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 hair is found difference in pigmentary constitution in it and in 
 the color of skin and eyes. Northern peoples, as compared with 
 southern peoples, are relatively blond. Where exceptions are 
 found, it is doubtless owing to racial intermingling. After a 
 few crosses, even the complexion and wool of the negro become, 
 in the quadroon and octoroon, almost lost to sight. 
 
 A very great difference exists both in the abundance and 
 the nature of the hair among different races. The Malays and 
 the American Indians are distinguished by straight, black, coarse 
 hair, abundantly growing upon the top of the head, but very 
 scantily upon the face. Coarse, black hair, however, is common 
 to the Indians of North and South America, of those inhabiting 
 cold, temperate, and tropical regions. They are all, probably, 
 immigrants from the Eastern continent. Microscopical examin- 
 ation has shown that the former Indians of Mexico, Central 
 America, and Peru had the same kind of hair that the North 
 and South American Indians of the present day possess. The 
 natives oi Australia have either straight or curly hair. A strik- 
 ing contrast presents itself between the scanty locks of the Mon- 
 golians and the hairiness of the Ainos, supposed to be descend- 
 ants of the indigenous population of Japan. The Ainos are dis- 
 tinguished for their hirsute condition, but it has been much 
 exaggerated. The scalp of the Bosjesman, of South Africa, 
 exhibits the peculiarity of being covered by tufts of hair, stand- 
 ing apart like the little tussocks in a marsh. The hair is wiry 
 and harsh to the touch, and bristles up on the head like a shoe- 
 brush. 
 
 When the hair has reached the natural term of its exist- 
 ence, it falls out of the sheath formed by its follicles, and one 
 to replace it immediately sprouts from the germ of the papilla. 
 The thickness of the hair depends upon age and sex; its color, 
 upon health and cutting. Repeated cutting increases the diameter 
 of hairs, but decreases the length of their growth. So it is, 
 naturally, in the process of dwarfing plants. Flaxen hair is 
 the finest, and black hair the coarsest of all in constitution. The
 
 THE APPENDAGES OF THE SKIN. 9 
 
 usual term of the hair's extreme growth in length is from 
 two to six years. Including both sexes, the length attained is 
 from twenty to thirty-six inches. There are, however, cases in 
 the female sex where the length attained is between five and 
 six feet. The beard grows, on the average, at the rate of six 
 and one-half inches per year. 
 
 The color of the hair depends upon the character and amount 
 of the pigment deposited in the tubes which constitute its shafts. 
 White hair is destitute of coloring matter. Grayness of hair 
 is produced by the presence in hair-shafts of bubbles of air. The 
 elasticity of hair is one of its remarkable characteristics. It 
 can be stretched with care to considerably more than its normal 
 length. If the tension be not maintained too long, it will, more- 
 over, afterwards contract to nearly its former length. The num- 
 ber of hairs on the head varies indefinitely. Some examinations 
 have placed them from eighty thousand to one hundred and 
 twenty thousand in number. The hair is highly susceptible to the 
 influence of static electricity. In a dry climate, friction will pro- 
 duce in the hair a crackling sound. Indeed, in a dry time, in an 
 ordinary climate, this effect is frequently seen in combing the 
 hair, when it is also observed to tend to stand on end. 
 
 The covering of the finger- and toe-tips, which \ve call nails, 
 is formed of dense, horny plates. It grows out of a source 
 called the matrix, and is lodged, at the back and sides, in a fold 
 of the skin called the nail-groove. The depth of this groove is 
 about the twelfth of an inch for the most of the fingers and 
 toes, an eighth of an inch for the thumb, and a sixth of an inch 
 for the great toe. The groove is deeper at the back than in 
 front. The part of the nail that is contained in the groove is 
 called the root, the surface upon which the nail rests is called 
 the bed. The whitish half-moon at the base of the nail is called 
 the lunula, or little moon. 
 
 The nail is nourished chiefly by its matrix, but also by its 
 bed, and as it pushes forward with growth, it becomes thicker 
 and thicker as it approaches its free edge.
 
 IO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The nails grow more rapidly in summer than in winter, and 
 in childhood than in old age. The time requiied for the growth 
 of the thumb-nail from the matrix to the free edge is about 
 five months. It takes about four times as long for the great-toe 
 nail to attain its full length. The white spots sometimes 
 observed upon the finger-nails are indicative of blows which have 
 affected injuriously the nourishment of the structure. Trans- 
 verse grooves in the nails are produced by fevers and other seri- 
 ous illnesses. 
 
 A severe blow on a nail may cause it to become dark, and 
 eventually to fall off, wholly or in part. If the matrix has not 
 been seriously injured, a perfect nail will, in this case, be eventu- 
 ally produced, but when the matrix has been actually destroyed, 
 the nail cannot be regenerated. The nail has the appearance, 
 upon critical examination, of being composed, as it really is, 
 of alternate columns, red and white in aspect. The forms of 
 these correspond with longitudinal depressions of the nail-bed, 
 the latter with the ridges of the nail-bed. "The quick" of the 
 nail, as it is popularly called, is the nail-bed, so known on account 
 of its exquisite sensitiveness. 
 
 The nail is translucent, and for that reason is of a rosy 
 appearance when the Wood of the bed is rich and abundant. 
 When the blood becomes thin, in consequence of any disease, or 
 of a low state of the system, the nail becomes pallid. The white 
 color of the lunula is owing to the fact that the capillary blood- 
 vessels are less abundant there than elsewhere in the bed of the 
 nail. In a state of perfect health, the nails tend to be beautifully 
 smooth and rosy. Both color and luster are either impaired or 
 destroyed by many diseases. 
 
 The likeness of the scarf-skin to horn (for the nails, as 
 has been said, are but a modification of the scarf-skin) is well 
 exemplified both in its chemical constitution and consistency. 
 Horn contains a good deal of sulphur, and burning nails emit 
 a very suggestive odor of that substance. The longitudinal 
 folds of the nail-bed correspond with the papillae of the true
 
 THE APPENDAGES OF THE SKIN. II 
 
 skin. As the nails grow in length, they increase also in thick- 
 ness, by the addition of cells derived from the nail-bed. 
 
 The free borders of the nails require continual trimming 
 with knife and scissors, and the thin layer of scarf-skin which 
 is dragged forward by their growth upon the lunula, should, at 
 the same time, be removed by pressing it back towards the roots 
 of the nails; it should never be cut off. The surface of the 
 nails should never be cleaned with anything harsher than the 
 nail-brush. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary here to mention the desirability of 
 constant care of the nails, in order to prevent the accumulation 
 of foreign matters beneath their ends ; "wearing them in mourn- 
 ing," as it has been appropriately called. Neglect in keeping 
 them nicely trimmed, cleaned, and polished gives the hand the 
 appearance of a most unsightly claw. Strange though it seems 
 to us now, yet the Roman Emperor, known as Julian, the Apos- 
 tate, actually rebuked the prevalent foppery of his day by his 
 own evil practice of neglect in the particular just mentioned. 
 Says Gibbon, the historian, "In a satirical performance, the 
 emperor dwelt with pleasure, and even with pride, on the length 
 of his nails and the inky blackness of his hands." 
 
 A habit which is utterly destructive of the beauty, and par- 
 tially of the usefulness, of the nails, is that of biting them. The 
 habit is most common among persons of a highly nervous tem- 
 perament. These easily acquire the habit in moments of anxiety, 
 perplexity, or distraction while reading. Bitten to the quick, 
 with ragged shreds of skin surrounding them, as is usually the 
 case, the nails, which, well shaped and cared for, crown the 
 beauty of a well-shaped hand, make it wholly unpresentable. 
 This habit, like all others, good or bad, is difficult to break, but 
 it can be done under the influence of resolution supported by 
 mortification from the knowledge of how all the refined world 
 regards the practice. Comely young girls have been known to 
 say that they could not stop it. Ah, if they had but been aware 
 how it depreciated their value in the eyes of the opposite sex !
 
 12 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The healthy, rosy hue in the nails makes them beautiful. 
 The reddish stain, however, with which the professional mani- 
 curist sometimes bedecks them, being a hue unnatural to them, 
 gives an unpleasing effect to the cultivated eye. It reminds one 
 of the prevalent custom throughout Asia, of staining the finger- 
 nails and finger-tips with an orange-colored paste, called henna. 
 The practice seems to have been common in the East from the 
 remotest period known. Perfect nails, those inclining to filbert- 
 shape, and to rosiness in hue, add greatly to the beauty of sym- 
 metrical hands, although they have been less discussed in 
 poetry, romance, and daily life, than the feminine crown of 
 glory in profuse hair. Among the Romans, the free edge of the 
 nail became the criterion of smoothness. If it be pushed across 
 any surface, such as that of a piece of sculpture, it detects the 
 slightest roughness. Hence they spoke of a thing's being ad' 
 imguem (true to the nail) when it reached perfection.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND OF THE HAIR. 
 
 uses of the skin are various. Some depend upon the 
 skin as a whole, others upon the true skin, others upon the 
 scarf-skin, while others, again, are referable to the fatty 
 tissue below the skin. The use of the true skin, as being the 
 most important of all, will be first considered here. 
 
 Just as the scarf-skin is exactly fitted upon the upper sur- 
 face of the true skin, so the latter is closely associated with the 
 parts beneath it, and adapts itself perfectly to their movements. 
 The elastic and firm true skin, and the pad of fat upon which it 
 rests, afford great protection against blows and falls. Their 
 resistant power is well exemplified, for example, in the impunity 
 with which the base-ball is caught. If imperfectly received, how- 
 ever, its impact may cause a dislocation or fracture of bones. 
 This same protective property permits us to stand or to walk 
 for hours, without harm to the sole of the foot. One of the 
 most conclusive evidences of the fact of the elasticity of the 
 skin is that bones are sometimes broken, or internal organs rup- 
 tured, by injuries that do not lacerate the skin. Dr. P. S. Con- 
 ner, of Cincinnati, wrote, in an article upon gun-shot wounds, 
 referring to the Crimean war: "Macleod, for example, reports 
 that at the Alma, a round-shot, en ricochet, struck the scale from 
 an officer's shoulder and merely grazed his head as it ascended. 
 Death was instantaneous. The scalp was found to be almost 
 uninjured, but so completely smashed was the skull, that its 
 fragments rattled within the scalp as if loose in a bag." 
 
 The temperature of the body tends to be kept at the proper 
 standard for health by the presence and action of the skin. 
 Bodily heat is generated by the various chemical and vital pro- 
 cesses constantly going on in all parts of the frame. The skin, 
 being a poor conductor of heat, may be likened to a screen 
 
 (13)
 
 14 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 interposed between the interior of the body and the outer world. 
 This screen keeps the heat 'formed within the body from being 
 too rapidly dissipated. On the other hand, it tends to prevent 
 external heat from raising the temperature of the body to a 
 dangerous point. The natural temperature of the outside of the 
 body is ninety-eight and a half degrees, Fahrenheit. The tem- 
 perature of the blood and the inner organs somewhat exceeds this 
 degree. The average heat of the blood is about one hundred 
 degrees, Fahrenheit, subject to slight variations at different 
 times and in different parts of the body. 
 
 The principal sources of animal heat are muscular and 
 glandular activity. Heat is one of several modes of motion, 
 convertible into other forms of motion. Therefore, when heat 
 is converted into energy, it, for the time being, disappears as 
 recognizable heat. As heat is lost, it is, of course, continuously 
 reproduced. So admirable are the physical adaptations to con- 
 ditions, that the temperature of man differs but slightly in the 
 arctic and the torrid zones. 
 
 Let us examine the mechanism by which this wonderful bal- 
 ance tends to be maintained. It is evident that the blood con- 
 tained in the capillary vessels of the skin is in much closer prox- 
 imity to the atmosphere than is that which circulates in the 
 large and deeper vessels. It follows, therefore, that, although 
 the skin is an imperfect conductor of heat, a certain portion of 
 it must be dissipated by weather conditions. When the tem- 
 perature is high, approximating or exceeding that of the body, 
 the skin becomes relaxed and its blood-vessels expanded. The 
 presence of elastic and muscular tissue renders it easily capable 
 of expansion and contraction, and the elastic character of the 
 blood-vessels renders them capable of change in caliber. If the 
 atmosphere be lower in temperature than that of the blood, 
 some of the body's heat is dissipated by radiation, precisely as is 
 that of any inanimate object placed in the open air. But, if the 
 heat of the atmosphere be above that of the body, it is mani- 
 fest that it will gain in heat instead of losing it. When the
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 15 
 
 activities of the body are so disarranged that heat in it is pro- 
 duced more rapidly than radiated, illness ensues. A permanent 
 increase of ten degrees Fahrenheit in the temperature of the body 
 is incompatible with continued life. 
 
 What, then, is the method by which the body is maintained 
 at what we call its normal temperature? It is by the conver- 
 sion of heat into energy as manifested in work, and the special 
 work by which heat is extracted from the body lies in the pro- 
 duction and evaporation of perspiration. The office belongs to 
 the sudoriparous or sweat-glands, and they, like all other glands, 
 tend to be in constant activity. Perspiration is either sensible 
 or insensible. At all times, even in the pleasantest and most 
 equable temperature, the body is giving off heat by means of 
 insensible perspiration. Under the opposite condition, it pours 
 from the sweat-glands profusely. As heat is used in evaporating 
 perspiration in either form, it is converted into what is termed 
 "latent heat," that is, heat engaged in the performance of work, 
 and whilst thus engaged is not perceptible in its own usually 
 observed quality. 
 
 The air always contains some watery vapor. The higher 
 the temperature, the more watery vapor is the air able to 
 absorb. With every increase of twenty-seven degrees, Fahren- 
 heit, above the freezing point of water, the. capacity of the air 
 to receive a watery vapor is doubled. When there is much mois- 
 ture in the air at a high temperature, the sense of discomfort 
 greatly exceeds that experienced at the same temperature when 
 the air is comparatively dry. This is because the evaporation 
 of perspiration is then slow, and its cooling effect thus lessened. 
 When, on the contrary, the temperature of the air is low, but 
 it is at the same time laden with as much watery vapor as it 
 will hold, the heat of the body is rapidly radiated, as everyone 
 must have noticed by fingers tingling with cold at a tempera- 
 ture by no means so low as when the atmosphere has been cold, 
 but relatively dry. 
 
 This provision of nature for the body's regulation of heat
 
 1 6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 enables man to endure hot climates as well as cold ones. It 
 permits workmen to endure, for long periods, an exceedingly hot 
 atmosphere in machine-shops and on steamships. Dry air has 
 been borne for from eight to ten minutes at a temperature ranging 
 from two hundred to two hundred and seventy, Fahrenheit. The 
 amount of perspiration poured out under these circumstances has 
 been known to amount to from one to four pounds in an hour. 
 A case is on record of a girl who remained for several minutes, 
 without any ill effect, in an oven where the temperature was 
 three hundred and twenty-five, Fahrenheit. Men have become 
 used to entering furnaces for drying moulds, where the ther- 
 mometer ranged from three hundred and twenty-five to four 
 hundred, Fahrenheit. A person who called himself the "fire- 
 king" was once in the practice of exposing himself for a short 
 time to a temperature of from four hundred to six hundred, 
 Fahrenheit. But in all these cases the air was dry, and the 
 amount of perspiration so enormous as to render the exposure 
 possible. 
 
 The depressing effect of moist heat is strikingly shown in 
 the description, given by a French physician, of life in Tonquin. 
 He says "drowsiness is unintermitting. The skin is constantly 
 covered with perspiration, and, spite of drowsiness, sound sleep 
 can be obtained only after repeated cold baths." Our own offi- 
 cers of the navy can feelingly testify to their experience of heat 
 when on the Samoan Islands station. Extreme heat produces a 
 rapid, tumultuous, and irregular action of the heart. The 
 respiration is proportionately quickened, the blood-vessels of the 
 various organs are distended, and the secretions are either 
 diminished or suppressed. Chemical changes in the principal 
 solid tissues and in the blood take place, incompatible with 
 prolonged life. 
 
 Let us now consider the effect of cold upon the higher 
 animal life. Contact with a cold atmosphere causes the skin 
 to shrink. Its muscular fibers react in response to lowering 
 temperature. As the skin contracts, the blood is expressed from
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 1 7 
 
 it and driven to deeper parts of the body. Much less blood being 
 present in the superficial vessels, much less heat exists in the 
 skin. The glands of the skin are comparatively inactive. Little 
 perspiration is produced, and that little immediately evaporated. 
 Muscular exertion is stimulated, and the result of its exercise 
 is an increase in the body's consumption of oxygen and excre- 
 tion of carbonic acid gas, the effete matter of the system. Thus 
 the body is heating itself. Arctic explorers experience tempera- 
 tures of from fifty-five to seventy degrees, Fahrenheit, below 
 zero. In the frigid regions, near the pole, the Eskimo manage 
 to exist. Their exercise and fatty food generate heat. Their 
 furs and close dwellings economize it. 
 
 Knowledge of the degree previously mentioned as the 
 healthy or normal degree of heat for the human body is obtained 
 by placing the bulb of a specially constructed thermometer in 
 the mouth. The heat of the interior of the body is thus obtained. 
 As, however, the skin, even when clothed, is somewhat in con- 
 tact with the atmosphere, it must part with some of its special 
 heat. Different regions of the skin have, in fact, different tem- 
 peratures. The touch of the hand informs us that the usual 
 temperature of the skin of the forehead is higher than that of 
 the skin of the feet. The temperature of those parts of the body 
 usually clothed is slightly higher than that of the parts usually 
 exposed. The face is generally half a degree warmer than 
 the covered parts of the body. The temperature over great 
 blood-vessels and over bulky muscular masses is greater than 
 over different formations of the body. 
 
 The perspiration serves another useful purpose besides that 
 of removing heat from the body and cooling it by evaporation. 
 It is one of the means by which harmful agents are removed 
 from the system. The manifold processes of life cannot pro- 
 ceed without constant destruction of effete matter, as well as 
 of generation of new. The activity of the various organs 
 brings about constant change in their tissue. As the result of this 
 change, chemical substances pass into the blood which are really 
 
 2
 
 1 8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 waste products, from which the system must be cleansed. They 
 are often, in fact, of a distinctively poisonous character. Some 
 of them are removed by the perspiration. 
 
 The story has often been told of the young girl who, in one 
 of the triumphal processions of the French Revolution, was 
 gilded to represent some mythical figure. Thus exposed for 
 hours, coated with an impermeable skin, perspiration was sup- 
 pressed and death ensued. Death follows, in from six to twelve 
 hours, the application of varnish to the skin of one of the lower 
 animals. Extensive burns on the skin are fatal because, exclu- 
 sive of the pain and nervous shock produced by them, the excre- 
 tory function of the skin where they lie has ceased. When burns 
 involve more than one-third of the general surface of the body, 
 the death of the patient is inevitable. 
 
 In certain morbid conditions of the body, perspiration is 
 immensely increased, diminished, suppressed, or variously altered 
 in composition. In some cases, it is freely produced on one 
 side of the body, while the other remains perfectly dry. A 
 strange phenomenon, in some cases, presents itself in the altera- 
 tion of the color of perspiration. It may be changed to green, 
 blue, red, brown, or black. Some of these changes are caused 
 by its absorption of substances previously absorbed by the blood 
 from the intestinal canal. The color of red perspiration is owing 
 to the presence in it of a certain microbe. Some diseases of the 
 nervous system are occasionally associated with the escape, 
 through the sweat-glands, of a liquid containing blood. 
 
 The natural lubricant of the skin is called sebum, matter 
 of an oily character, secreted and excreted by the sebum glands ; 
 that is, formed there and expelled thence. It renders the skin 
 .soft and pliable. It also acts protectively to the skin in extremes 
 of heat and cold. It is particularly abundant upon those parts 
 which are exposed to great fluctuations of temperature, the 
 nose, the ears, the face generally. As a lubricant, it serves a 
 useful purpose at the joints, preventing chafing. It communi- 
 cates gloss and pliability to hair, and aids its growth and preser- 
 vation.
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 19 
 
 The skin has hitherto been considered as an organ that pro- 
 duces and gives out matter. But it is also capable of absorbing 
 matter. The matters which chiefly enter the skin are water, vapor 
 of water, and oxygen gas. The proof that even water can enter 
 the skin is constituted by gain in the human body's weight, and 
 relief from thirst, after immersion in water, or even after 
 exposure to the vapor of water. Dr. James Currie, an eminent 
 English physician of the latter part of the last century, relates 
 the case of a patient who was unable to swallow either solid 
 or liquid food, and who was kept alive by nutritive injections 
 and immersion in milk and water baths. Oleaginous substances 
 have the power of penetrating the skin, and physicians are daily 
 in the practice of making use of them in the case of infants and 
 little children whose nutrition is imperfect. It has been found 
 that cod-liver oil, rubbed into places where the skin is thinnest, 
 is readily absorbed by the blood-vessels, and its administration 
 through the stomach avoided. Ointments containing medicinal 
 substances are similarly employed by physicians of the present 
 day. 
 
 Respiration, although, of course, to a very limited degree, 
 takes place through the skin. The essential characteristic of 
 breathing is the absorption of oxygen and the elimination of 
 carbonic acid gas. This, as the main process, does not take place 
 through the skin, but through the lungs. The capacity, however, 
 which the skin possesses in the same direction, in a limited 
 degree, is useful on occasions of unusual physical exertion. 
 Horse-dealers know that when the skin of a horse has a rosy 
 hue, the animal is likely to have both speed and bottom. This 
 is because the capillary circulation is active and the action of 
 the lungs is assisted by that of the skin. 
 
 The skin is of inestimable importance as the organ of sen- 
 sation by which we become acquainted with some of the physical 
 properties of the external world. It performs this office, of 
 course, by means of its terminal nerves. Nerves are broadly 
 divided for our conception of them into nerves of sensation and
 
 2O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 nerves of motion. The former terminate in surfaces which may 
 receive the impression of pain, of temperature, or of mere resist- 
 ance. These nerves are distributed to all the tissues. Even the 
 most insensitive tissues are susceptible to pain. The nerves, 
 however, that are distinguished as motor nerves, penetrate the 
 muscles for the purpose of exciting them to action. If a motor 
 nerve distributed to a certain muscle be divided, that muscle 
 cannot contract, that is, act, for it is paralyzed. Similarly, if a 
 nerve of sensation that supplies a certain tract of skin be divided, 
 loss of sensibility results. 
 
 Motor nerves descend from the brain through the front part 
 of the spinal cord. Sensory nerves ascend to the brain through 
 the posterior portion of the spinal cord. The province of the 
 sensory nerves is to report sensations to the brain. The skin 
 is necessarily the tissue in which the sensory nerves are most 
 abundant. They begin in peculiar bulbous expansions situated 
 in papillae. It is in expansion* of nerve-fibers that impressions are 
 received from the outer world. The impression is transmitted 
 along the trunk of the corresponding nerve to the brain, where it 
 becomes a specialized perception. 
 
 The sensibility of the skin varies in quality. The most 
 important variety of it is tactile sensibility, the special sense 
 of touch in the hand. By the exercise of this we become 
 acquainted with certain properties of matter, as hardness, soft- 
 ness, roughness, smoothness, extension, etc. The impressions 
 from the sense of sight are by it modified. As in the case of 
 other faculties, the sense of touch is capable of a high degree 
 of development. The most conspicuous instance of the high 
 development of tactile sensibility is among the blind. Professor 
 Saunderson, who taught mathematics at Cambridge, during the 
 early part of the eighteenth century, lost his sight from small- 
 pox when he was about a year old. He, however, received a good 
 classical and mathematical education, and manifested a special 
 liking for the study of mathematics. His sense of touch was 
 extremely delicate. He could perfectly distinguish not only
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 21 
 
 ordinary money, but could recognize Roman coins and medals, 
 distinguishing spurious from genuine ones more easily than 
 many persons could, endowed with sight. Dr. Carpenter, the 
 physiologist, mentions the case of a blind friend of his who had 
 acquired comprehensive knowledge of conchology, both fossil 
 and recent, and who was able not only to recognize numerous 
 specimens from his own cabinet, but to discover the closest 
 alliances of a shell, previously unknown to him, after having 
 thoroughly examined it by touch. 
 
 The blind are able to familiarize themselves with the faces 
 of strangers by passing their fingers over the unknown features. 
 So precise is the knowledge thus acquired, and so tenacious their 
 retention of it, that they can recognize persons whom they have 
 not met for a long time. The celebrated Laura Bridgman lost 
 sight and hearing when she was but three years of age, and was 
 also deficient in the senses of taste and smell. She was, however, 
 gifted with a fine mind. Her education, undertaken by Dr. 
 Howe, necessarily depended entirely upon her sensitiveness in 
 touch and to being touched. She learned to recognize persons 
 by touching them, and could remember them for an indefinite 
 time afterwards. She was sometimes able to detect the relation- 
 ship of sisters in the same manner. A Dr. Kitto relates the 
 case of an Italian who lost his sight when twenty years of age. 
 He had previously manifested no taste for sculpture, and for ten 
 years after the beginning of his affliction remained entirely 
 ignorant of that art. At the end of that period, however, he 
 having, in the meantime, educated his tactile sensibility, began to 
 take an interest in statuary. He then began to reproduce in 
 clay models from works of art which he had carefully studied 
 by feeling. Soon thereafter, becoming expert in knowledge of 
 form, he learned to reproduce his clay models in marble, and 
 eventually was able to make statues from the living human 
 subject. 
 
 The strangest circumstance in connection with the condi- 
 tion of the blind is that they are sometimes able to distinguish
 
 22 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the color of surfaces. At the first blush, this seems, to the 
 unscientific, incredible. But it is not, when one comes to know 
 that the color of an object depends upon the reflection to the 
 eye of a predominant ray of the prismatic colors. Surfaces must 
 be (we know that they are, for, otherwise, they would all be 
 of the same tint) differently affected by this selective characteris- 
 tic of light. Therefore, the exquisite sensitiveness of touch 
 among some of the blind is able to detect the peculiarity of sur- 
 face which is associated with a certain color, and no other. It 
 stands to reason, however, that such surfaces must always be 
 smooth. An interesting example of this ability among a select 
 number of the blind is given by Dr. Kitto. He says, in hi's work 
 on "The Lost Senses:" "A family tailor, in the Scotch High- 
 lands, was blind during the last fifteen years of his life. Never- 
 theless, he continued to work at his trade, and could execute his 
 tasks as well as, though less rapidly than, before his loss of sight. 
 Garments of tartan plaid are difficult to make, even by those who 
 have the use of their eyes, because every stripe and color must fit 
 exactly at the seams. The blind tailor succeeded in doing this 
 work perfectly well, and he seemed to acquire the capacity of 
 recognizing colors by the touch." 
 
 Even among those persons who have the advantage of sight, 
 proficiency in certain manual occupations communicates a won- 
 derful degree of delicacy of touch. "The female silk-throwers 
 of Bengal," to quote again from Dr. Carpenter, "are said to be 
 able to distinguish by the touch alone, twenty degrees of fine- 
 ness in the uncovered cocoons, which are sorted accordingly; 
 and the Indian muslin-weaver contrives, by the delicacy of his 
 touch, to make the finest fabric in a loom of such simple construc- 
 tion that European fingers could at best propose to make a 
 piece of canvas at it." Another excellent illustration -of culti- 
 vated delicacy of touch is presented by the wonderful facility 
 with which the women employed in the U. S. Treasury Depart- 
 ment recognize counterfeit coin or bank-notes. 
 
 Perversions of the sense of touch and insensibility in its
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 23 
 
 organs are often witnessed in unhealthy conditions of the 
 nervous system. In hysterical attacks, the sufferers sometimes 
 seem entirely to lose the perception of contact. They have also 
 been seen to experience injury without giving any sign of con- 
 sciousness of the fact. 
 
 A special modification of sensibility is the ability to dis- 
 tinguish various degrees of heat. It is probable that this office 
 is served by nerve-fibrils different from those that serve the 
 sense of touch, for, in certain cases of paralysis of the limbs, 
 the perception of touch is abolished, and yet the surfaces in- 
 volved are sensitive to temperature. 
 
 The apppreciation by the skin of different degrees of tem- 
 perature varies in different individuals. It also somewhat varies 
 in different portions of the body among the same individuals. 
 The left hand is more sensitive than the right in the matter of 
 sensitiveness to temperature, whereas, the reverse is the case as 
 regards touch. The fingers, the elbow, and the face are capable 
 of recognizing very slight differences of temperature. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that cold substances seem to be 
 heavier than those of equal weight at a higher temperature. 
 Beyond a certain degree, heat is converted into a sense of pain 
 experienced by the body. The pain is of the same kind, 
 whether produced by extreme heat, extreme cold, or by pressure. 
 The sensation produced by touching frozen mercury is not to 
 be distinguished from touching red-hot iron. 
 
 The sensibility of the skin to temperature, as well as to 
 other impressions, is modified by the condition of the central 
 nervous system. Fear produces a sensation of cold, and may 
 also produce an actual reduction of temperature through its 
 influence on the nerves that control the blood-vessels of the 
 skin. Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, 
 tells of a case of a young farmer, who, lying out all night, to 
 detect a thief, was so appalled by the cursing of an old woman, 
 who turned out to be the culprit, that he suffered with cold for 
 many hours afterwards. The man's nervous system was, in fact,
 
 24 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 so shocked from the outdoor exposure and experience with the 
 old woman, that he took to his bed within a fortnight and kept 
 it until his death, twenty years later. 
 
 Exaggeration of normal sensibility constitutes pain. Pain 
 differs in character and degree according to many circumstances. 
 It is produced, as already noted, by the application of extreme heat 
 or cold, by severe pressure, and by wounds and disease. There 
 is, however, great difference among individuals in regard to 
 susceptibility to injury. Some persons can bear, without winc- 
 ing, injury which to others is almost intolerable. The extreme 
 sensibility of the first constitutes a real difference. It does not 
 always depend upon the courage and fortitude of the individual, 
 although sometimes it does. Every hospital physician knows 
 of the relative composure with which the humbler class of 
 patients bear pain. A workingman of rude health, of iron nerves, 
 appears to suffer, and, doubtless, does suffer, less than educated 
 men who have followed some sedentary occupation. On the other 
 hand, it is a matter qf everyday experience that, as a general rule, 
 nervous, highly organized women bear pain more patiently than 
 any men. This may, in a measure, depend upon the fact, that, 
 excluding pain from accident, women are, more than men, habit- 
 uated to bearing it. A celebrated Italian physician has come to 
 the conclusion that women are less sensitive to injury than 
 men are. 
 
 Difference in susceptibility to pain is observable among dif- 
 ferent races of men. Some are, under its infliction, compara- 
 tively stolid; others are extremely agitated. It has been stated 
 that the Chinese can composedly bear wounds that would cause 
 expression of great suffering among Europeans. They can sit 
 or lie for hours without any sign of discomfort ; but much of this 
 ability is, no doubt, owing to habit. 
 
 The action of the mind largely controls recognition of 
 injury. In the heat of battle or other conflict, serious wounds 
 are sometimes not perceived; whereas, when injury occurs in 
 cold blood, pain is immediately suffered. The Spartans of old
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 25 
 
 were trained from childhood to bear ills, including pain, unflinch- 
 ingly, whence comes the expression "Spartan fortitude." The 
 same trait is characteristic of the North American Indians. 
 With them, it is a matter of pride to undergo torture without 
 manifesting any emotion. Francis Parkman, the historian of 
 French Canada, uses the following language in describing the 
 Indian: "Over all emotion he throws the veil of an iron self- 
 control, originating in a peculiar form of pride, and fostered 
 by vigorous discipline from childhood upward. He is trained 
 to conceal passion, and not to subdue it. In the torturing fires 
 of his enemy, the haughty sufferer maintains to the last his look 
 of grim defiance." And yet, we have been informed, those very 
 same people, when confined to reservations, so change that they 
 clamor for ether whenever it becomes necessary for the post- 
 surgeon to perform the slightest operation upon them. 
 
 In certain mental states there is apparently entire abolition 
 of a sense of pain. In well-marked hysterical cases, needles can 
 be thrust into the skin without producing the slightest evidence 
 of suffering. In the great hysterical epidemics which history 
 records, there were marvelous instances of indifference to injur- 
 ies, often self-inflicted. On the other hand, sensitiverfess, asso- 
 ciated with certain diseases, is enormously increased, so that the 
 slightest contact is agonizing. 
 
 Alteration in the sensitiveness of the skin is not uncommon 
 among the insane. Dr. D. Hack Tuke, in a life devoted to the 
 study of mental diseases, cites many examples of this condition 
 among the insane. He mentions, in his book on the subject of 
 insanity, the investigation of a French physician who had stated 
 that, in an institution containing six hundred melancholy idiots, 
 he found that more than half of them presented different degrees 
 of cutaneous sensitiveness. Most of those afflicted with melan- 
 cholia, especially those whose disease was of religious origin, 
 and manifested a suicidal tendency, were said to be remarkably 
 insensitive to injury. Cupping-glasses and other irritants could 
 be applied to their skins without exciting the least complaint.
 
 26 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The history of religion, not only of Christianity, but also of 
 pagan forms of belief, affords numerous illustrations of the 
 effect of religious ecstasy in producing insensibility to discomfort 
 and injury. In the first half of the fifth century of the Christian 
 era, St. Simeon Stylites passed thirty-seven years of his life 
 upon the top of a tall pillar, or tower, engaged in devotional 
 exercises, and apparently indifferent to weather. In the Middle 
 Ages, nervous epidemics spread through many countries. Per- 
 sons under the influence of the frenzy indulged in the most 
 extravagant contortions until they fell flat upon the ground from 
 sheer exhaustion. 
 
 On the contrary, the influence of mind may give rise to the 
 sensation of pain when there has been no injury. Professor 
 Bennett has related a case of a butcher, who, trying to hook 
 up a heavy piece of meat, slipped, was suspended by the arm, 
 and when rescued, declared that he suffered agony. But the 
 hook had penetrated only his coat. A French writer, Gratiolet, 
 tells of a law student who, when for the first time in his life 
 he witnessed a slight surgical operation, was so deeply affected 
 by the sight, that he felt at the same time an acute pain in his 
 ear, sympathetically engendered by his having seen the small 
 tumor that was removed from the ear of the patient. 
 
 Slight itching is occasionally experienced by everyone, and 
 generally has no particular significance. When, however, it is 
 severe, and more or less constant, an unhealthy condition is indi- 
 cated, either of the blood or of the nervous system, or is caused 
 by the presence of some disease of the skin. Whatever origin- 
 ates it, the immediate cause of itching is the irritation of the 
 ends of cutaneous nerves. Its most violent phase sometimes 
 attends certain functional derangements of the nervous system, 
 while not a symptom can be seen in the skin itself, unless injured 
 by scratching. In some inflammatory diseases of the skin, itch- 
 ing is an almost intolerable symptom. 
 
 Electric currents are generated in the tissues of the body. 
 Where there is life, there is chemical action: the development
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 2/ 
 
 of heat and also of electricity. The electrical condition of the 
 skin is generally opposite in sign, plus or minus, to that of most 
 of the internal organs. Some persons are so charged with elec- 
 tricity that sparks are generated from their persons simply by 
 removing clothing that has been worn next the skin. In some 
 others the manifestation may be produced by rubbing the skin 
 lightly and quickly with a linen cloth. An Italian physician 
 relates the case of a lady from whose limbs "sparks of fire flew 
 out plentifully as often as they were lightly rubbed with linen." 
 Physical experiments have proved that slight causes, such as a 
 shout, determine the production of electric currents in the skin. 
 The state of the mind has also been found to exercise a decided 
 influence upon the development of such currents. A tranquil 
 state is not associated with their action in great degree, but a 
 mental effort, as for instance, the attempt to solve a difficult 
 problem, creates a current strong in proportion to the difficulty 
 of the task. 
 
 The human skin, however healthy and clean, exhales an 
 odor, which, if not always perceptible to fellow-beings, never- 
 theless exists. The fact is demonstrated by the well-known 
 capacity of dogs to follow their masters when not in sight. No 
 reference is here included to the unpleasant scents due to neglect 
 of personal cleanliness. The purest bodies will sometimes emit 
 a perfume so delicate that it has been likened to the odor of 
 violets. Ability to recognize individuals by their odor has been 
 observed. Instances are known where the sense of smell was so 
 acute that, by it alone, difference between the sexes and between 
 youth and age was detected. The case of a Scotch boy has often 
 been cited, whose whole knowledge of the external world was 
 derived solely from his abnormally developed senses of touch 
 and smell. 
 
 Light has been observed to emanate from a living human 
 body. The generation of light by organisms low in the scale of 
 nature is a familiar phenomenon. It is seen in the phosphor- 
 escent animacules of the sea, the glow-worm, the fire-fly.
 
 28 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Luminous exhalations in grave-yards have given rise to much 
 superstitious fear. In some cases of lingering, exhausting dis- 
 ease, phosphorescent illumination of the body has presented a 
 very extraordinary spectacle. There is a well-authenticated case 
 of a man who had been in a decline for years. As death drew 
 near, visiting neighbors were awestruck at the light proceeding 
 from his body. A celebrated Irish physician describes a cancer- 
 ous ulcer whose light was perceptible by night, so vivid and 
 steady that it could be seen at the distance of twenty feet. 
 
 Having now sufficiently considered the action and the use- 
 fulness of the skin, let us proceed to the attributes of the hair, 
 but not in its aesthetic aspect, simply 1 in that of its action and 
 usefulness. 
 
 Excluding then, for the present, the consideration of the 
 hair as an ornamental appendage, let us confine ourselves to dis- 
 cussing its usefulness as a protection. In the first place, sharing 
 with the skin, of which it has been here demonstrated that it is 
 derived, the properties of the skin itself, the hair is a poor conduc- 
 tor of heat. It follows that hair protects the parts which it covers 
 from the effects of both heat and cold. It would be much better 
 for the health, not only of the scalp, but of the body at large, if 
 the wearing of head coverings were less common than now. In 
 mild climates, during the warmer portion of the year, the hair 
 was once, undoubtedly, the only covering used for the head. 
 The use of headgear, even at the present day, is unknown among 
 many wild tribes of mankind. Certain tribes of Arabs make 
 use of no turbans, relying entirely upon their abundant growth 
 of hair for protection against the sun. The same practice pre- 
 vails among many tribes of Africans. 
 
 The hair contributes to the protection of the head in both 
 hot and cold weather. In hot weather, it so contributes through 
 its non-conducting property, by shielding the head from exces- 
 sive outer heat, and in cold weather, from excessive loss of heat, 
 by its radiation from the scalp. On account of women's profuse 
 covering of hair of the head, they are less liable than men are
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE SKIN AND HAIR. 2Q 
 
 to cold from being bareheaded. The efficiency of this, nature's 
 headdress, is clearly shown by this relative immunity from 
 exposure. 
 
 The beard is an excellent protection for the throat, and 
 is generally worn by the natives of, and travelers in, cold climates. 
 Not infrequently it happens, that men subject to sore throat are 
 cured by allowing the beard to grow. Walter Savage Landor, 
 the distinguished writer, was, in this way, relieved of suscepti- 
 bility to sore throat. Not only does the beard protect its wearer 
 from cold, but it also protects him from the inhalation of dust, 
 which is in many trades a very important consideration. Gritty 
 particles are by the beard intercepted and thus prevented from 
 reaching the lungs, in which their presence excites a peculiar 
 form of disease. The beards of blacksmiths may be seen to be 
 discolored by the accumulation of iron rust. Travelers in Syria 
 and Egypt find it of great advantage to wear full beards as pro- 
 tection against the heated sands of deserts. 
 
 The remarkable elasticity of the hair affords considerable 
 protection to the head from blows. Instances are on record in 
 which this quality of the hair undoubtedly modified their force. 
 Again, the hair protects the scalp from the bites of insects, no 
 mean office for the inhabitants of hot countries swarming with 
 poisonous insects. The hairs of the eyebrows and eyelashes 
 protect the eyes from insects and fine particles of many sorts. 
 The fine hairs at the entrance of the nostrils and the ears accom- 
 plish the same purpose. In addition, the growth of the hair is 
 not without a certain influence upon the constitution of the 
 blood. It is influential to some degree in the nutrition of highly 
 organized tissues. Blood is a fluid of wonderfully complex con- 
 stitution. It contains the elements with which every part of the 
 body is nourished. Every part of the body has its selective 
 action, through which it assimilates only just what it needs from 
 this vital fluid. Equilibrium must be maintained, in order that 
 every tissue and organ may possess neither more nor less than 
 what is requisite for its proper sustenance. If this balance be
 
 3O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 disarranged, the proper nutrition of some part or parts suffers. 
 All parts are indissolubly joined together. The hair, which 
 eliminates lime, sulphur, manganese, and iron from the blood, 
 must play its own, if comparatively unimportant, part in the 
 human economy, by influencing the maintenance of the normal 
 standard of the blood. The nails, too, exercise in this direction 
 a similar influence to that of the hair, but so slight, owing to 
 the smallness of their surface as a whole, that their influence in 
 this respect may be regarded as quite negligible.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE COMPLEXION. 
 
 COMPLEXION depends upon a number of conditions; 
 upon the general health, the quality of the blood, the 
 quality of the true skin and of the scarf-skin, the dispo- 
 sition of the capillaries and their corresponding nerves. 
 
 The skin, like every other structure of the body, differs with 
 regard to the delicacy of texture in different individuals. This 
 natural covering of the body is also organized of variable thick- 
 nesses in the same individual, to meet corresponding needs. 
 Although, however, this individuality obtains, there is also, as 
 indicated, special difference among individuals. These remarks 
 apply to the true skin, but the same are applicable to the scarf- 
 skin, especially to its outermost, or horny layer. The glandular 
 system of the skin has much to do with a good complexion. 
 Excessive amounts of perspiration or of sebaceous matter ren- 
 der the surface of the skin unduly moist and oily. On the con- 
 trary, an insufficient supply of these renders it dry and harsh to 
 the touch. 
 
 The principal conditions, however, of a good complexion, 
 relate to the blood and nervous system. Coarseness of skin is 
 not perceived as a decided blemish if both blood and nerves are 
 in a healthy condition. In the body, the different parts act 
 and react upon one another intimately and incessantly; it is a 
 great factory, elaborating matter and discharging its waste. 
 There can be no healthy skin without healthy blood. If the 
 blood be disordered, the nutrition of the nervous system suffers, 
 nervous force is depressed, and digestion fails to proceed. 
 Continued failure of digestion easily to assimilate food, results 
 in impoverishment of the blood. There is wonderful sympathy 
 between the condition of the digestive system and that of the 
 
 31
 
 32 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 skin, a sympathy that will be clearly demonstrated in the course 
 of the following pages. 
 
 The scarf-skin is a very thin membrane. By reason of this 
 fact, and also by reason of the fact that its outermost layer is 
 a horny structure, it is translucent. It therefore only partially 
 conceals the quality of the true skin upon which it rests. The 
 color, the ridges, and the furrows of the true skin are discern- 
 ible through the scarf-skin. Reference is, of course, here being 
 made to the scarf-skin of the white races of men. The word com- 
 plexion is used in two senses. In one it expresses the difference 
 of color observable between Europeans or descendants of 
 Europeans on the one side, and Africans and Asiatics on the 
 other. In the other sense, which is that to which it is here at 
 this moment confined, the word relates to greater or less degree 
 of purity in complexion among persons belonging to the white 
 race. 
 
 The scarf-skin depends for color upon the pigment derived 
 from the lowest layer of the four thin layers of which the scarf- 
 skin is composed. This pigment has been called melanin, from 
 the Greek word signifying black. This matter contains iron, and 
 is supposed to be a derivative of the hatniatin of the blood, which 
 also contains iron. The abundance or the sparsity of melanin 
 in the scarf-skin accounts for the widely different shades of skin 
 found among different races, from the white race to the darkest. 
 The color of the skin is one of the most conspicuous of the 
 differences that characterize mankind. The terms Asian, Mon- 
 golian, Malay, Negro, and American Indian, have come down 
 to us from the eighteenth century, and have become so familiar 
 that they can hardly be discarded. Nevertheless, they imply a 
 fallacious distinction. It is impossible to classify mankind pre- 
 cisely, either by color or the form of the skull. The evidence of 
 language furnishes us with a more trustworthy criterion with 
 relation to descent. We now know that tribes and peoples may be 
 allied, though they may differ as to both color and the shape of 
 the skull. Conversely, they may agree as to color and the shape
 
 THE COMPLEXION. 33 
 
 of the skull, and yet differ much in other attributes. For in- 
 stance, there can be no doubt that pure Hindus belong to the 
 same race as the Latin, Germanic, and Celtic peoples. Yet the 
 Hindus have dark skins and are sometimes jet-black, while their 
 hair is straight and their features as clear-cut as those of 
 Europeans. Arabs seem to belong to an entirely different race 
 from the Caucasian, and yet they are generally characterized at 
 present by the same form of skull, features, and hair. The old- 
 est settlers among the Arabs, in Africa, however, exhibit every 
 gradation of color, from the swarthiness of Southern Europeans 
 to the blackness of Africans. Mongolians generally have a yel- 
 lowish tinge of complexion; Malays, a brown one; and the 
 North American Indian, a reddish-brown one, generally called 
 copper-colored. 
 
 The color of the scarf-skin is obviously influenced by 
 climate. The descendants of Europeans long settled in hot 
 countries acquire a swarthy complexion. When this tendency is 
 transmitted through many generations, one can readily see that 
 it is sufficient to account for the various shades of complexion 
 observed in different countries. Life-long exposure to the sun 
 browns the faces of seafaring men. If a person has been origin- 
 ally a light-complexioned man, associated with light hair and 
 eyes, the change to a dark complexion contrasts oddly with those 
 attributes. The rays of the sun make an increased deposit of 
 coloring matter in the scarf-skin. Once formed, it is never en- 
 tirely lost. This refers, of course, to constant exposure to the 
 sun, not to that which belongs to an occasional outing. Even 
 the influence of that, however, slight though it is, is never en- 
 tirely lost. It has been of late a fad among some women to 
 allow themselves to become somewhat sunburned, partly as evi- 
 dence of having been in the country, and partly from the notion 
 that by it an appearance of health is presented. But good cir- 
 culation of the blood ensures a better sign of health than do the 
 most delicately tanned cheeks. Men, women, and children need 
 sunlight, just as much as do plants, but, in the interest of a
 
 34 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 good complexion, direct and prolonged exposure of it to the 
 sun's rays had better be avoided by women if they wish to pre- 
 serve their good looks. The same remark holds good, of course, 
 for the hands. A well-formed and white hand is certainly a 
 beautiful object, decidedly marred by discoloration. Briefly, 
 while the female sex should be encouraged to out-door enjoy- 
 ment, it should not neglect one of its highest attributes of beauty 
 in the complexion. In speaking generally of complexion, it is to 
 that of the female sex to which reference is now made. If a 
 man's face be free from profuse freckles and blotches, the world 
 seems to care little if it be light or dark. Of course, there are 
 types of masculine, as well as of feminine beauty, but departure 
 from the former affects our aesthetic sense far less than does 
 departure from the latter kind. 
 
 An abrasion of the skin shows the bright red color beneath 
 it, of the surface thus exposed. This red surface is the true 
 skin, from which the scarf-skin has been forcibly detached. 
 This color of the true skin is owing to the large amount of 
 blood that it contains. No blood-vessel enters the scarf-skin, 
 which obtains its whole nutriment from this true skin, to which 
 it is intimately attached. The soft, young cells of the lowest 
 stratum of the scarf-skin imbibe the watery portion of the blood 
 from the true skin for their sustenance. The true skin and the 
 subcutaneous- connective tissue upon which it rests are rich in 
 blood-vessels. One of the functions of connective tissue, where 
 found, is to support blood-vessels. 
 
 Arteries lying beneath the skin send upward numerous 
 branches which penetrate the meshes of the skin. From these 
 branches smaller vessels divide, and the process of subdivision is 
 carried on indefinitely, until every portion of the true skin is 
 supplied with its own little artery. An artery, however minute, 
 is too thick-walled to supply nutriment directly to the cells of 
 the tissue to which it is to be distributed. The wall of every 
 artery is composed of three layers, or coats. The inner layer, 
 that through which the blood flows, is an exceedingly thin,
 
 THE COMPLEXION. 35 
 
 smooth, delicate membrane. The middle layer is composed of 
 muscular fiber. The outer layer is composed of fibrous tissue. 
 The two outer layers give strength, elasticity, and contractile 
 power to the artery. 
 
 As arteries become smaller and smaller as they approach 
 the cells of the skin which they are destined to support with 
 nutriment, their two outer layers grow thinner and thinner until 
 they finally disappear. The vessels now consist of but a single 
 layer, and in this condition they are called capillaries. The ele- 
 ments of the blood are capable of passing through their mem- 
 brane, by which alone they are separated from the enclosing 
 tissue. An artery becomes broken up into an immense number 
 of capillaries. It has been calculated that the average number 
 of the smaller blood-vessels is nearly four hundred times that of 
 the trunks from which they depart. They are so minute, that 
 the blood necessarily flows very slowly through them. The cells 
 which their contents nourish are thus afforded plenty of time for 
 the absorption of their nutriment. It is while the blood is thus 
 relieved of a portion of its elements, that the change takes place 
 from arterial to venous blood. But little need be added in this 
 connection about veins, inasmuch as, before the blood reaches 
 these vessels, nutrition of the tissue has already taken place. 
 Veins, as well as arteries, have three coats, but in them the mus- 
 cular layer is considerably thinner than the muscular layer of 
 arteries is. They are entitled to distinct mention in connection 
 with the complexion, on account of their delicate lines of blue, 
 which everyone must have observed to enhance the beauty of the 
 red and white tint of the skin. 
 
 The highest manifestations of life take place through the 
 agency of the nervous system. The brain and the spinal cord 
 preside over the manifold activities which are carried on within 
 the body. Nerve-fibers go to every secreting gland and accom- 
 pany every blood-vessel. Nervous matter consists of two kinds, 
 gray and white. The white kind is arranged in the form of 
 filaments. The function of this variety, commonly known as
 
 36 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 nerves, is to conduct impressions to or from the brain. The gray 
 kind of nervous matter forms collections of various sizes in vari- 
 ous situations. Its function originates and modifies impressions. 
 It consists of aggregations of cells; but although white nervous 
 matter also consists of cells, they are arranged in filaments, 
 whereas the gray matter is arranged in masses. Collections of 
 gray matter are found upon the walls of blood-vessels, upon 
 muscular masses, in the neighborhood of important glands, and 
 in other situations. The nerve-filaments are connected with these 
 collections of gray matter, and they in turn are connected with the 
 spinal cord and the brain. The spinal cord is composed internally 
 of gray matter and externally of white matter. The white mat- 
 ter of the spinal cord consists of innumerable white fibers on 
 their way to or from the brain. Those bearing messages to the 
 brain pass upward .along the posterior portion of the cord. 
 Those bearing mandates for action from the brain, descend along 
 the anterior portion of the cord. 
 
 In the brain itself, these two kinds of nervous matter are 
 disposed in the reverse manner, the gray substance being ar- 
 ranged upon the exterior, and the white substance in the interior. 
 Within the brain there are, besides, other collections of gray 
 matter. The white substance connects the different masses of 
 gray matter with one another throughout the whole brain and 
 body. It is through this arrangement by which a mechanism is 
 formed which controls the whole organism. Masses of gray 
 matter are called ganglia, from a Greek word meaning knots, 
 because they bear some resemblance to knots. The gray matter 
 within the spinal cord, and upon the outer surface of the brain, 
 being expanded and continuous, has not the appearance of being 
 knotted. Nevertheless, both brain and cord are properly re- 
 garded as containing a service of ganglia consolidated, for it is 
 known that different areas are devoted to the performance of 
 different functions. The human brain constitutes the highest 
 development of the nervous system.
 
 THE COMPLEXION. 37 
 
 The nervous centers, both high and low, may be justly com- 
 pared, in a functional way, to an army. Each subaltern com- 
 mands a certain number of units, but his orders are taken from 
 a superior officer. The privates come into immediate relations 
 with the officers of their own company. The regiment is under 
 command of a colonel, who, in his turn, is under command of 
 a general, and he, under the command of a general-in-chief. 
 The general-in-chief, although controlling everything, ordinarily 
 comes into little immediate contact with the lower ranks of which 
 companies, regiments, brigades, and corps are composed. We 
 may, in some such fashion, regard the functional constitution of 
 the brain. It has virtual dictatorship over all the nervous system, 
 but every individual portion has its own specified duty. 
 
 There are two chains of ganglia stretched along the front 
 of the spinal column, one upon each side. The branches sent 
 off from these chains join nerve-fibers that emerge from the 
 spinal cord, and, in certain places, form an intricate network 
 called a nervous plexus. In the abdominal cavity there are sev- 
 eral large plexuses, one of which is of so great size and import- 
 ance, that it was denominated by Professor William H. Pancoast 
 "the abdominal brain." From these plexuses proceed branches 
 to all the great organs of the chest and abdomen. This system 
 is collectively known as "the sympathetic nervous system;" so 
 called because it serves those organs which may be sympathetic- 
 ally disturbed by derangements occurring in other organs, or 
 brought about by affections of the mind. The nerves under dis- 
 cussion, which issue from the spinal cord, are called "cerebro- 
 spinal nerves," cerebrum meaning brain. Each set of fibers of 
 which the two sets are composed, exhibits individual peculiarities 
 of structure, but they are closely connected by branches which 
 pass between the two systems. 
 
 The reader is now scientifically prepared to understand the 
 action of the nervous system upon the blood-vessels of the skin, 
 and therefore as influencing the complexion. Upon the exte- 
 rior of all blood-vessels, of whatever kind, and wherever situ-
 
 38 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ated, minute nerve-fibers run. Blood-vessels are not rigid tubes. 
 They dilate and contract, and these actions are accomplished 
 through the agency of the nervous system, called "the vasomotor 
 system," vas meaning a vessel or vein. At certain points upon 
 the wall of a vessel, small ganglia are situated. The office of 
 the vasomotor nerves is to contract and dilate the blood-vessels. 
 Irritation, followed by activity of the supreme nervous centers, 
 is followed by change in the caliber of the blood-vessels. 
 
 The importance of the vasomotor nerves is immense. The 
 varying caliber of the blood-vessels is intimately associated with 
 nutrition of the tissues. In the skin, it is apparent in its fluctu- 
 ations of color. The higher vasomotor centers are peculiarly 
 susceptible to emotional influences. It may be shown in the 
 blush that mantles the cheek from modesty, confusion, or shame. 
 When the mind is swayed by powerful emotions, alternate flush- 
 ing and paleness may occur. Fear, as already elsewhere men- 
 tioned, causes blanching of the skin. Under powerful emotion, 
 evidenced by these signs, the circulation of blood through the 
 brain may become so enfeebled that the person affected may 
 faint. The effects of emotion upon the skin are usually transi- 
 tory, but there are cases where anger or fear or other strong 
 emotion has given rise to jaundice which discolored the skin for 
 some time. 
 
 What has been heretofore said regarding the complexion is 
 easily summarized. A smooth, clear skin, and a healthy color, 
 are its prime constituents. The color depends upon the amount 
 of pigment contained in the scarf-skin and upon the quantity 
 and quality of the blood circulating in the capillaries of the true 
 skin. In a state of health, the arteries are not visible in the 
 skin. The large veins that course beneath the skin are visible 
 as blue lines, their color being due to refraction and reflection 
 of the rays of light. It is the horny layer of the scarf-skin 
 that produces its exquisitely smooth surface. The general tint 
 of the complexion, whether fair or dark, is of minor import- 
 ance to beauty, provided that the hue of health be not absent.
 
 THE COMPLEXION. 39 
 
 It is not indispensable that the color should be habitually high. 
 A translucent skin, in which color readily comes and goes, in 
 response to emotional bidding, is preferable to one in which the 
 tint never varies. A pure, white skin, upon which a rosy tinge 
 is seldom seen, may, however, be very beautiful. If the eyes be 
 bright and lips vermilion, we may be sure that paleness in a face 
 is not indicative of ill health. Poverty of red corpuscles in the 
 blood, two of whose elements are red and white corpuscles, is 
 incompatible with proper nourishment, incompatible with all out- 
 ward attributes of health and beauty.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 
 
 ESTIMATE of the relativeness of beauty varies among dif- 
 ferent races of mankind, in accordance, to a large degree, 
 with their own prepossessions acquired in early life. We 
 find, even among artists, whose training makes them, of all per- 
 sons, the least prejudiced in views of beauty, a universal ten- 
 dency to regard as the highest types of human and of inanimate 
 beauty, those to which they have been accustomed from birth. 
 It is the same with artist views as to all forms of beauty; the 
 inspiration to carry them into being through action proceeds 
 along lines of both racial and natal development. We see this 
 conspicuously in the architecture of different races. 
 
 Savage tribes, unlettered, uneducated in the higher sense of 
 the word, are unable to give expression to anything that is 
 deemed beautiful by the civilized peoples of the world. As they 
 are without architecture, painting, and sculpture, or the rudest 
 success in those arts, we are justified in thinking that they are 
 even destitute of a sense of the beautiful in those departments 
 of human conception which would lead to execution in art, and 
 that they are, therefore, probably even destitute of sentiment 
 for those works when produced by others. When we come to 
 consider the ideas of these people regarding personal beauty and 
 adornment, we find them not only crude in both particulars, but 
 often positively offensive to the taste of more highly organized 
 races. Let us consider briefly cases of these conditions, by 
 way of showing the depth of aesthetic degradation in which some 
 peoples of the earth still live. In some places in Africa, the most 
 beautiful female form is considered that in which the posterior 
 is monstrously developed. There are tribes that insert, in holes 
 bored in their noses, pieces of stick, pebbles, or rings. The ears 
 are sometimes so treated as to be drawn down in great flaps. 
 40
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 41 
 
 Among the Guaranis, of South America, it is customary to slit 
 the upper lip, in order to expose the front teeth. The African 
 Kaffirs train their lips to project like snouts. Sir Samuel Baker, 
 the great African traveler, informs us that some native idea of 
 facial beauty is the visage of the dog-faced baboon. It has been 
 reported that the Dyaks, of Borneo, think beautiful the nose of 
 the monkey. The Tasmanians consider a tattooed skin as not 
 only elegantly adorned, but a requirement of decency. The 
 Flathead Indians, of Northwest America, force the bones of the 
 skull from infancy into a distorted growth. There are peoples 
 who blacken their teeth. According to an article written by Dr. 
 Magitot, of Paris, it is customary in Japan, China, and the Indo- 
 Chinese Peninsula, for a girl, upon the occasion of her marriage, 
 to administer to her teeth a black varnish. He also tells us, that 
 among various African tribes the central upper teeth are ex- 
 tracted. In the Malayan archipelago, filing of the teeth prevails. 
 
 We know what were the ideas of beauty entertained by for- 
 mer civilized peoples, from the study of their sculptures and 
 architecture. Distinct racial conceptions of beauty are recogniz- 
 able, as Chinese, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, and Saracenic, upon 
 each of which is stamped impress of the special point of view as 
 to beauty. The partially buried ruins amid the forests of Central 
 America, and what remains of Aztec and Peruvian civilization, 
 point in the same direction. From historical knowledge, locality, 
 and remains of objects of art, modern art has been most pro- 
 foundly affected by that of Greece. In the best Greek sculptures, 
 modern artists find superb representations of beauty of face and 
 form. They prove to us, not only the high degree of artistic 
 genius and talent among the Greeks, necessary for their exe- 
 cution, but also that the living models from which these ideals 
 were formed must have been of exquisite beauty of their highly 
 developed race. 
 
 Estimation of beauty differs even among individuals of the 
 same race, as well as among races themselves, although not to 
 the same degree, as ought to be recognized from what has
 
 42 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 already been said. To persons of artistic sensibility, the con- 
 templation of human beauty, or of beauty in landscape and ocean- 
 shore, affords the most exquisite pleasure. The uncultivated, 
 rude minds of persons living even among those of the highest 
 civilization are wholly inappreciative of the beautiful in any 
 form. The glory of sunset, the landscape adorned with hills, 
 woods, and streams, the field of grain, the purple mountains with 
 snow-capped tops, the grazing flocks and herds, excite, if any, 
 only feeble perception of the beautiful. The poet or the artist, 
 on the other hand, roams through hills and valleys, and there 
 finds in every shining cloud, every shadow, every rippling 
 stream, in the very herbage beneath his feet, the flowers by the 
 wayside, unending sources of gratification. The boor often 
 moves among the same scenes and scarcely looks to find any- 
 thing to admire. To him 
 
 "A primrose by the river's brim 
 A yellow primrose is to him, 
 And nothing more." 
 
 It follows that, upon the basis of race as the fundamental 
 condition, education, in its highest sense, is indispensable to the 
 perception and enjoyment of beauty. Of all human beings, poets 
 and artists are those wht are most keenly alive to its manifes- 
 tations. The critical faculty is common to a much larger num- 
 ber of mankind. To be able, however, not only to perceive, but 
 to express the sense of the beautiful must be regarded as proof 
 of deeper understanding of it. Much fruitless discussion has 
 taken place as to whether beauty belongs to objects in themselves, 
 or lies wholly in the mind of the beholder. But, as we have 
 already seen, beauty must exist independently; and just as a 
 purblind person sees objects only indistinctly, so one of aesthetic 
 mind has vision of the beautiful in proportion to his mental and 
 artistic capacity and culture, some persons being to it pur- 
 blind, and others living perceivingly in its fullest radiance.
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 43 
 
 Female loveliness has ever been the favorite subject of the 
 poetic, plastic, and pictorial arts. It dominates the world of 
 fiction and romance. Who can compute the value in influence 
 for good that follows the appeal of beauty allied with goodness 
 in a heroine ; who underrate the lessons taught where beauty is, 
 on the contrary, allied with base passions? The whole civilized 
 world is in accord in thinking that feminine beauty allied with 
 nobility of soul is the highest type of creation. Without virtue, 
 however, it shrinks, even in the estimation of the crowd, to the 
 level of the pedestal upon which it might stand peerless. 
 
 In the study of anatomy, we begin with the bones of the 
 human frame; first considered separately, and then as articu- 
 lated in the skeleton. To the bones the muscles are attached. 
 
 It ought to be evident that beauty of head and face largely 
 depends upon the contour of their bones. A head gently curved 
 from side to side, and lengthwise, constitutes the basis of other 
 pleasing symmetry. The forehead, whether high or low, should 
 deviate but little from the perpendicular. Beauty of face depends 
 most largely upon the size and shape of the nose. The substruc- 
 ture of the nose consists of bone and cartilage. Two thin, flat 
 bones are connected with each other in the middle line of the 
 nose; and above with the bone of the forehead. The apertures 
 of the nostrils are surrounded by flexible cartilages, which 
 become continuous with a similar plate dividing the cavity of 
 the nose into two corresponding halves. A nose out of propor- 
 tion to the size of the face seriously mars the effect of the 
 brightest eyes and best possible mouth, teeth, and complexion. 
 Too small, it gives insignificance to the expression of the face; 
 too large, it presents the grotesqueness of a mask. Two typical 
 forms of nose are recognized as noble the Greek and the 
 Roman. The former leaves the forehead at only a slight angle, 
 and continues straight to the tip; the latter boldly curves from 
 the forehead to the tip. Between these two, which are never 
 broad, lie an infinite variety of nasal forms in curve and breadth, 
 from the comic snub-nose to that which the French call retrousse,
 
 44 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 slightly curved inward and turned up, appropriate to the liveli- 
 ness of the soubrette, but not to the highest elegance and nobility 
 of the female face. Pug and snub noses always possess the 
 comic element. A slightly tilted nose is, however, not displeas- 
 ing, when otherwise well formed, and this is the typical nc% 
 retrousse of the French, the nose that Tennyson calls "tip- 
 tilted." 
 
 A very common defect in the expression of the face is the 
 bending of the tip of the nose towards one or the other side of 
 the face. Obviously, a very important factor in the general 
 expression of the face lies in the nose being neither too long nor 
 too short. From its prominent position, it is, of all the features, 
 the one most liable to injury, especially in the "male sex, which, 
 from fights of school-boy days, through more out-door experi- 
 ence than that of women, incurs more than they this liability, 
 which, in women, is in much less degree chiefly reserved for 
 accidents of various sorts in carriage, automobile, and car. 
 Michael Angelo's nose was broken by a hammer in the hands of 
 an irate fellow-student of art. Thackeray's nose was badly 
 broken. During his visit to this country, one of his literary 
 entertainers who was similarly afflicted once held forth on the 
 subject of love, when Thackeray exclaimed, "Why should two 
 broken-nosed old fellows like you and me talk about love?" 
 
 The eye must be esteemed the most striking and beautiful 
 feature of the face. Placed, by internal relations, in close con- 
 nection with the brain, it has been well called the mirror of the 
 soul. The eye well seated in its socket, neither sunken nor un- 
 duly prominent, the lids well fringed with lashes, expresses every 
 emotion, is capable of kindling or softening with every thought 
 that passes through the mind. It is beautiful alike in the expres- 
 sion of meditation, mirth, pity, and love. It not infrequently 
 anticipates or contradicts the spoken word, and has its own 
 laugh, independent of the general expression of the face. Its 
 sparkle illuminates the jest, its gaze expresses sternness or reso- 
 lution, its gleam betokens anger, and may betray a disordered
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 45 
 
 intellect. In persons of lively temperament, it glances in quick 
 response to the emotions. In persons of sluggish temperament, 
 it is comparatively unresponsive. Persons of undaunted reso- 
 lution are characterized by eyes which enforce obedience. They 
 reveal immediately the habit of command. The numerous epi- 
 thets that have been applied to this feature testify to the general 
 recognition of variety in its expression penetrating, hawk-like, 
 eagle, sparkling, cunning, dove-like, and a host of others. A 
 person possessed of fine eyes has at least one attribute of beauty. 
 They may not be noted on all occasions, but, when animated, as- 
 sert their value in expression. 
 
 The mouth certainly comes next to the eyes as an expres- 
 sive feature. The lips should meet gently and evenly to form 
 the angles which have been likened to Cupid's bow. Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes says, that a gentleman should be calm-mouthed. 
 It follows, of course, that a gentlewoman also should be. 
 Nothing can be more distasteful in manners than a girl's mouth- 
 ing in conversation so as to show her palate, or than her chew- 
 ing gum in public. The natural color of the lips, when the gen- 
 eral system of the body is perfect, is vermilion. Attempts to 
 imitate this natural hue by artificial coloring are always discover- 
 able by daylight. The upper lip should be short, and less full 
 than the lower one. Both should be neither distinctly full nor 
 thin; too much fullness gives an effect of grossness, and too 
 little, of pinched meanness. The Bourbon lower lip, of Europe, 
 has been transmitted for many generations in that family, and 
 is recognized by its excess of fulness. 
 
 The teeth contribute essentially to the beauty, of the mouth, 
 and thereby to the expression of the whole face. Decayed teeth 
 ruin the appearance of a face which might otherwise be very 
 presentable. Although fine teeth are not in themselves suffi- 
 cient to constitute beauty, they contribute largely to comeliness. 
 A most unfortunate protrusion of the upper jaw may, however, 
 neutralize the good effect of the handsomest teeth. Another 
 unpleasant effect is sometimes produced by the recession of the
 
 46 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 upper lip in smiling, to so great a degree that the gums are un- 
 covered to their base. Of eighteen hundred and sixty-one school 
 children lately examined in London, only one in eighteen was 
 found to possess sound teeth. Sir James Crichton Browne has 
 directed attention to the necessity of giving children harder food 
 than that with which they are generally furnished in England. 
 It is the law of nature, that the parts of the body which are 
 habitually exercised become of greater size and strength; and 
 that those which are but little exercised become diminished in 
 size and efficiency. It is suggested that the soft food upon which 
 we are so largely living in modern times has, by demanding less 
 work of the teeth, checked their development, and that this con- 
 dition tends to be transmitted by inheritance. It has been as- 
 serted that brown bread, on account of its containing bran, is of 
 much more nutritive value for the teeth than white bread is. 
 The enamel of the teeth contains fluorine, and this element is 
 present in the outer envelope of grain. To preserve the teeth, 
 they should be carefully brushed and have passed between them 
 a silk thread. Thus, accumulation of tartar and incipient decay 
 may be largely prevented. 
 
 Ears, important as they are in function, are usually of less 
 beauty than other features, and are sometimes partially or 
 wholly concealed by fashion in the headdress of women. At the 
 same time, although the rarest of fine attributes, they are, when 
 perfect, very beautiful. To be so, they must be small, sit close 
 to the head, be finely curved on their outside edges and in their 
 whorls, and end with a tiny drop. Nothing can be more vulgar- 
 izing to the appearance than a huge, long flap of flesh, with little 
 modelling, ending with a great lobe or drop. The ideal ear, on 
 the contrary, gives the most high-bred effect. In the New York 
 Dusseldorf Gallery of painting there was once a picture where 
 Desdemona sat near a casement, the light from which shone 
 through her translucent ear, making it look like some delicate 
 pink shell of the ocean.
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 47 
 
 Well-shaped features, of course, form the basis upon which 
 personal beauty depends, but this advantage is either decreased or 
 lost entirely if they are covered with an unhealthy skin. A 
 good complexion is so charming an attribute, that it goes far 
 to compensate for irregularity of features. Both blonde and 
 brunette have their distinctive charms, and it is impossible to 
 decide between them as to which is preferable on the score of 
 beauty. Fair beauty is associated in the popular mind with 
 gentleness and purity, and also, to some degree, with fickleness. 
 Dark beauty is, on the contrary, associated in the popular mind 
 with brilliancy and force, and with greater stability. There is 
 a type known among hair-dressers as ash-blonde. The skin is 
 fair, the color good, but not high, the hair and eyes light, having 
 a certain tawny tint. In the various types of female beauty at 
 their best, the observer may well find himself perplexed to de- 
 cide which is supreme, and will conclude at last as to their compe- 
 tition, that a verdict is impossible. The color of the skin is 
 generally associated with the color of the eyes and hair. There 
 are exceptions, but they are rare. Preference is frequently 
 directed by admiration of opposite traits. The Latin races show 
 marked predilection for persons possessed of fair attributes in 
 skin, hair, and eyes, far removed from their own correspond- 
 ing darker traits. 
 
 The chin cannot be regarded as one of the principal ele- 
 ments in comeliness, and yet upon its size and outline depends 
 a good deal in the matter of looks. A great, heavy, elongated 
 chin and a short, meager one are, each in its way, unsightly. 
 The chin-bone consists of two bones which have become con- 
 solidated in the middle. At each side of the face, about an inch 
 below the lobe of the ear, can be felt the angle of the jaw. The 
 line in the middle of the chin, at which the two halves of the 
 jaw join, is called the symphysis, from two Greek words which 
 signify coalescence. The angles of the bones on each side, as 
 they reach the symphysis, form the contour of the face as seen 
 from the front. In some persons, the lower border is almost
 
 48 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 a straight line, producing a somewhat square outline, expressive 
 of determination, but too harsh in expression for female contours. 
 Sometimes the end of the chin has a decided protrusion, which 
 is not amiss in a man, but is certainly not pleasing in a woman. 
 On the contrary, the line of the chin may slope backward, which 
 always gives an appearance of weakness of character. More 
 rarely, the chin is peaked. 
 
 The expression of the face may atone for great irregularity 
 of features. Expression is so far superior to regularity, that it 
 may prevent us from perceiving the defect of irregularity. 
 Traits of beauty are not, in some countries, more freely be- 
 stowed upon those whose ancestors have been long socially well 
 placed than upon those who have but just made their way in 
 the world. In the United States, owing to many causes, differ- 
 ence in personal attributes among different classes of society 
 has become obliterated. The progeny of people of moderate 
 circumstances and social position are as likely to be handsome 
 and well formed as that of the richest and most highly placed. 
 
 A good figure, which is the fashionable name for form, 
 having originated from the social idea of dress, depends pri- 
 marily upon the symmetry of the skeleton, and secondarily 
 upon the proper distribution upon it of muscular and fatty tis- 
 sue. Strong muscles are needful for maintaining the spinal 
 column and shoulders erect, thus giving a good carriage to the 
 head. A weak condition of the muscles ensures round shoulders 
 and awkwardness of movement, which together seriously detract 
 from any graces of countenance. 
 
 The conformation of head and features may be correct, 
 the hair luxuriant, and the complexion pure, yet a squint may 
 mar the general effect of all these. When the defect is slight, 
 it hardly deserves the name of deformity; it may, in fact, even 
 lend to the face a piquant, not unpleasant expression. But when 
 it is extreme, it is very disfiguring. To allow a child to grow up 
 with so serious a blemish, easily corrected by surgical interfer- 
 ence, is very reprehensible. To the skilled oculist, the removal of
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 49 
 
 this defect, which is known to him as strabismus, is attended with 
 scarcely any danger, and with the employment of very little time. 
 
 Very ingenious operations have been devised in surgery for 
 the improvement of deformed noses and ears. If it should prove, 
 in any case, not possible by artificial means to remedy their 
 defects entirely, the result is always satisfactory when compar- 
 ing previous conditions of the organs with those succeeding the 
 surgical interference. 
 
 The mouth is sometimes afflicted with a cleft known as 
 hare-lip. The fissure is usually situated a little to one side or 
 the other of the middle, a defect due to failure in the complete 
 development of the upper lip. Sometimes a fissure is present 
 on both sides of the lip, separated by a central piece of flesh, 
 which varies in size, shape, and direction in different cases. In 
 some cases a cleft is correspondingly present in the upper jaw- 
 bone as well as in the lip. Fortunately, these complicated cases 
 are rare. The single hare-lip is of not infrequent occurrence, 
 and is more common in the male than in the female sex. Hare- 
 lip occasions so much mortification to its possessor, it is almost 
 incomprehensible that children should be allowed to become 
 adults without having the defect removed. Simple cases can be 
 relieved by an operation which ought to be performed during 
 infancy. Eventually nothing is to be seen, in place of the yawn- 
 ing fissure, but a perpendicular scar. The puckered appearance, 
 just after the operation, soon smooths away, and improvement 
 in the appearance of the face is extraordinary. When the sub- 
 ject, if a boy, reaches manhood, he can grow a mustache, and all 
 trace of the defect becomes imperceptible. Double hare-lip is 
 nearly as amenable to treatment as is the case of single hare-lip. 
 In that deformity, where the upper jawbone is implicated, the 
 defect in the lip may be rectified in infancy, but that in the jaw- 
 bone is better left untouched until the subject has attained the 
 age of twelve or fourteen years. As soon as the child is old 
 enough thoroughly to appreciate the usefulness of a metallic 
 plate adapted to the place, it will, when inserted by a skillful
 
 5O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 surgeon, effect a very marked improvement in the otherwise 
 imperfectly articulated speech of the patient. 
 
 Deformity sometimes occurs in weakly schoolgirls from the 
 habit of slouching over their desks. Not only do they thus be- 
 come round-shouldered, but, being right-handed, the muscles 
 of the right arm soon become unduly better developed and 
 stronger than those of the left. The muscles which pass between 
 the upper part of the right arm, shoulder, and spinal column 
 overcome the opposition which the corresponding structures of 
 the left side should exert, as a consequence of which the vertebral 
 bones of the upper part of the back are gradually drawn towards 
 the right side. This deviation is surgically known as lateral 
 curvature of the spine. It is seen in various degrees, from an 
 almost imperceptible deflection to a decidedly curved and humped 
 shoulder, so manifest that it cannot escape the observation of 
 the most careless observer. 
 
 The production of curved spine is promoted, if the bone 
 and muscular system is below the normal standard of health. 
 About two-thirds of bone consists of mineral matter in the form 
 of various salts of lime, with a little magnesia. In the disease 
 of rickets, these earthy salts are so notably diminished that the 
 solidity and consequent firmness of the bones are sensibly im- 
 paired. It is a disease which indicates insufficient nutrition, not 
 only of the bones, but of other parts of the body. The muscular 
 system is correspondingly weakened, and for this reason, addi- 
 tional tendency is given to the production of lateral curvature of 
 the spine. Weak bones and lax muscles together conspire to the 
 same end. Poor blood, from poor quality of diet, lack of exercise 
 in the open air, sitting with a stoop for hours daily, tight lacing, 
 may eventually produce lateral curvature of the spine. What- 
 ever interferes with the proper growth of muscles may be a 
 source of the affection, and, on account of general difference of 
 habits in exercise, girls are vastly more than boys subject to this 
 disease.
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 51 
 
 When the disease exists to a moderate degree, it is evi- 
 denced chiefly by general debility. Symmetry of form is lost, 
 and recourse is had to the art of the dressmaker to conceal the 
 defect. This is the stage at which appropriate treatment should 
 be instituted. The most efficient treatment consists in system- 
 atically training the weak muscles of one side to oppose more 
 vigorously their stronger fellows of the other side. The physi- 
 cian can outline a course of calisthenics by which the form of 
 the opposing muscles may tend to be equalized. In case a rick- 
 etty condition be present, medicinal preparations containing lime 
 are indicated, as well as tonics to improve the appetite and diges- 
 tion of the patient. If allowed to proceed unchecked, the rota- 
 tion of the spinal column to one side results in sad distortion 
 to the figure. It likewise produces serious impairment of the 
 general health and ultimately destroys beauty in facial expres- 
 sion. The malposition of the spinal cord affects its nutrition and 
 its influence upon the heart, lungs, and digestive organs. The 
 face becomes pale and assumes an anxious expression. 
 
 Well-developed muscles hold the body erect and render its 
 movements easy. Muscular masses, admirable in the athlete, 
 must, in the interest of beauty of form in the female sex, be 
 concealed by fatty tissue. As a well-proportioned female form 
 is largely dependent upon the amount of adipose tissue that it 
 possesses, it is important for women to know how they can con- 
 trol the amount of that tissue in the interest of their looks. The 
 activity of childhood generally prevents any undue accumula- 
 tion of fat during that period. The materials capable of pro- 
 ducing that tissue are then generally consumed in the production 
 of energy. The sports of youth strengthen, enlarge, and solidify 
 the muscular system. At the approach of womanhood, the bony 
 protuberances and irregular muscular masses of the person are 
 overlaid by a cushion of soft, elastic fat. To maintain shapeli- 
 ness, the amount of this deposit must have nice relation to the 
 size of the person. Superabundance of adipose tissue is more 
 destructive of personal beauty than is any amount of leanness;
 
 52 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and, besides, the lean generally have the advantage over others 
 of sprightliness of mind and activity of the body. The posi- 
 tively corpulent of either sex are often sluggish in mind, un- 
 graceful and even clumsy in movement, and the features, sur- 
 charged with fat, heavy in expression. 
 
 Leanness is more compatible with health, even extreme 
 leanness, than is fatness far short of corpulence. Leanness, how- 
 ever, should be carefully distinguished from emaciation, which 
 is evidence of waste in both muscular and fatty tissue. There 
 have been fashions in female beauty. In the early part of the 
 nineteenth century the fragile beauty was in vogue, who fainted 
 at an odor, who played, and sometimes it was only played, the 
 part of a creature of sweet sensibility. That day is past, and we 
 now have in her stead the woman of reasonable muscular de- 
 velopment and vigor. It is from the standpoint of her needs 
 that all is said herein written. Macaulay says, in one of his 
 essays, that he once amused himself by counting how many times 
 the heroine of a certain old-fashioned novel fainted. He might 
 have gone farther, and have counted how many times she said 
 "La, Mr. Jones!" when she was terribly shocked. But she is 
 dead now, peace be to her ashes, if she was material enough to 
 make any! The present one is of a very different type, afford- 
 ing, moreover, pleasant variety. So great is it now that it is 
 reconcilable with Lord Houghton's lines: 
 
 "And from beauty passed to beauty 
 Constant to a constant change." 
 
 Features, in themselves amenable to criticism, may be com- 
 bined with unexceptional expression. In George Eliot's "Daniel 
 Deronda" we have presented a description of a fascinating 
 woman with long, narrow, green eyes, retrousse nose, and sway- 
 ing neck, and withal, thin. Those who are decidedly thin natur- 
 ally wish to gain flesh; those who are too stout, to lose it. 
 Brillat Savarin says that to possess just the right amount of 
 embonpoint is the thought of women's lives. It is not, however,
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 53 
 
 so difficult to attain this as many of them believe; but, alas, in 
 the case of reducing fat, it requires some resolution and self- 
 denial ! If a woman who has too much adipose tissue will per- 
 sist in inertness and addiction to certain kinds of food, her case 
 is hopeless of remedy. 
 
 Habits of exercise, diet, and bathing may be so regulated 
 as to reduce the amount of fatty tissue in the body, or, on the 
 other hand, to increase it; although the former is by far the 
 easier task, and may, indeed, be regarded as relatively quite 
 simple. Strenuous activity of body and mind, and constant 
 anxiety, prevent accumulation of fat. Therefore, those who 
 wish to gain flesh should cultivate, as far as possible, serenity. 
 In real trouble, this is, of course, impossible as to results, but 
 there is a large margin in the occupation of human mentality 
 which is pure waste in the form of worry. This unnecessary 
 strain 'avoided, and due regard being had to proper food and 
 sleep and exercise, all is done for the lean that can be effected. 
 But it is very different as to the fat. 
 
 Obesity, fatness beyond certain bounds, is really a disease. 
 It is not that degree of fatness to which reference is chiefly 
 made here. Excessive deposit of fat which we perceive upon 
 the exterior of the body is also present in the interior, and me- 
 chanically embarrasses the action of various internal organs. 
 The heart is surrounded by a mass of fat, and its function is 
 signally impaired. Respiration is retarded, and thus the process 
 of oxidation of the blood is impeded. The liver is inactive, and 
 substances which it should excrete remain in the organism of the 
 body to its detriment. Exertion becomes laborious. The me- 
 chanical compression of the heart by a fatty cushion is finally 
 succeeded by a diseased condition of the organ, known as "fatty 
 degeneration." This tendency to obesity should be checked by 
 increased exercise, careful selection of food, and massage. 
 Massage removes fat to a certain extent, and strengthens the 
 muscular system. The practice consists of four movements: 
 friction, percussion, pressure, and movement. When pressure
 
 54 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and movement are combined, the action is known as deep knead- 
 ing or rubbing. Each move produces its own specific effect, so 
 that the best results are produced by a combination of the move- 
 ments. Hearty eaters should place a curb on their appetites as 
 to amount and quality of foods. Saccharine and farinaceous, 
 that is, sugary and starchy foods, are to be avoided. Fat meat, 
 cream, unskimmed milk, butter, vegetables, oils, nuts, fat fish, 
 sweet fruits, should be taken in diminishing quantities. The use 
 of malt liquors and chocolates must be entirely abandoned. The 
 diet should be composed of lean meat, poultry, game, eggs, 
 green vegetables (but not green peas, which are very fattening), 
 acid fruits. The effect of such a diet, following an unrestricted 
 one, is very evident within a short time ; a person of a hundred 
 and eighty pounds weight adopting it sometimes loses two 
 pounds within twenty-four hours. Mr. Banting, of England, 
 who was a very short man, and who was so afflicted with obesity 
 that he had to go down stairs backward, reduced his weight, 
 in about a year's time, from two hundred and two to one hundred 
 and fifty-six pounds. There has been difference of opinion 
 about the use of many liquids. According to some authorities, 
 liquids generally are disallowed. Free allowance of water may, 
 however, be looked upon as useful in the treatment, by pro- 
 moting digestion and the oxidation of the blood. 
 
 Persistent care of the person, aided by due attention to the 
 toilet, can effect wonders for personal appearance. Many a 
 girl in the first bloom of youth, endowed with charming physical 
 attributes, has speedily, under the influence of hard work, coarse 
 food, and unrefined surroundings, lost all her physical charms. 
 Prosperity and satisfied affections tend to promote and main- 
 tain beauty in both sexes. 
 
 When we use the term personal beauty we usually think 
 of female attributes, although there are exceptions to that in 
 both nature and art. The statue of the Apollo Belvidere is con- 
 sidered as beautiful for the male sex as the Venus de Medici 
 is for the female one. The years between the eighteenth and
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 55 
 
 twenty-fifth are those during which, in this country, female 
 loveliness is usually considered to be at its height. In warmer 
 climates the range is between earlier years. The truth is, how- 
 ever, that each period of life has its characteristic charm, unless, 
 indeed, persons of the opposite sexes reach the condition of the 
 crone or the lean and slippered pantaloon. 
 
 In infancy, at the dawn of life, the child, when perfect in 
 infantile form and features, has a signal beauty of its own. The 
 skin of a well-nourished, healthy baby is so fine and soft, its flesh 
 so firm, its face so delicately dimpled, its hands and feet so dainty, 
 that no well-constituted mind can deny it the meed of beauty 
 of its special kind. The great artists of religious paintings have 
 shown in their works thorough appreciation of its loveliness. 
 The first few years of childhood have also their special charm, 
 from the toddling creatures to those grown to prattling in the 
 newness of their world. The animated faces and gaiety of 
 youth come in turn to gladden the eye. The maiden especially 
 has been the theme of poets for generations, to none appealing 'in 
 her innocence more than to Wordsworth, where he says: 
 
 "She was a phantom of delight 
 When first she gleamed upon my sight; 
 A lovely apparition, sent 
 To be a moment's ornament; 
 Her eyes as stars of twilight fair, 
 Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; 
 But all things else about her drawn 
 From May-time and the cheerful dawn: 
 A dancing shape, an image gay, 
 To haunt, to startle, and waylay. 
 A perfect woman, nobly planned, 
 To warn, to comfort, and command; 
 And yet a spirit still and bright, 
 With something of an angel light." 
 
 Tennyson, too, among modern poets, has given us a pic- 
 ture of a maiden when, amidst flowers, a shadow falls about 
 her waist :
 
 56 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 "Ah, happy shade and still went wavering down, 
 But, ere it touched a foot that might have danced 
 The greensward into greener circles, dipt, 
 And mixed with shadows of the common ground! 
 But the full day dwelt on her brows and sunn'd 
 Her violet eyes, and all her Hebe bloom, 
 And doubled his own warmth against her lips, 
 And on the bounteous wave of such a breast 
 As never pencil drew. Half light, half shade, 
 She stood, a sight to make an old man young." 
 
 Mother Eve we always seem to think of, because one of 
 the progenitors of the race of men, exclusively as a matron in 
 age and dignity of carriage; but she is not so portrayed in 
 Milton's picture of her: 
 
 "Under his forming hands a picture grew, 
 Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, 
 That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now 
 Mean; or in her summed up, in her contained, 
 And in her looks, which from that time infused 
 Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before, 
 And into all things from her air inspired 
 The spirit of love and amorous delight. 
 She disappeared, and left me dark ; I waked 
 To find her, or for ever to deplore 
 Her loss and other pleasures all abjure. 
 Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, 
 In every gesture, dignity and love." 
 
 But beauty of form and face is not reserved for maiden- 
 hood. Matronly beauty is also recognized by artists as being 
 sometimes of the highest type, and even old age, short of decrep- 
 itude, may present a beauty of its own in nobility and majesty 
 of countenance, or in the expression of the serenity which befits 
 the decline of life. 
 
 The mistake sometimes, but rarely, committed by men, but 
 frequently by women, is in attempting by dress and other devices 
 to look younger than they really are. If such could only be
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AND GRACE. 57 
 
 brought to realize that no devices are possible to conceal the 
 changes of time, they would save themselves much labor and 
 mortification. If they would only realize that each age has its 
 own best manner and dress, that the changes brought about by 
 time are not necessarily ravages, but are as natural as being born, 
 and are those to which they should extraneously conform, they 
 would feel younger, be younger, and would be happier, than in 
 attempting false pretences which never deceive 'themselves or 
 others. A matronly face surmounted by a girl's hat, or a 
 matronly form corsetted in an attempt to imitate a girlish figure, 
 are as perceptible in their pretense to even the casual observer, as 
 anything that may arrest his glance, and not less the affectation 
 of youthfulness accompanying the dress. On the contrary, 
 the matron as the old lady, appropriately gowned and mannered, 
 has charms especially belonging to her time of life, which not 
 even youth can exceed or more than rival. A refined face of 
 either sex, grown mature amid the lessons of life in hope, love, 
 sorrow, duty, has a beauty bordering on the supernal, and therein 
 lies its charm.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN'S CHARMS. 
 
 TT has been reserved for one of the follies of modern thought 
 * to assert and to maintain that, if women should come to rule 
 
 the world, it would be better than ever heretofore. Such a 
 belief is one of the wildest assumptions, not only not borne out by 
 everyday experience, but positively contradicted .by the history 
 of ancient, mediaeval, and modern times. The exact truth, known 
 from experience, is, that men and women are equally capable of 
 virtue and of depravity; that virtue and vice lie in the indi- 
 vidual, irrespective of sex; that they tend to be promoted, re- 
 tarded, or checked, as the case may be, by the myriad circum- 
 stances involving life through the influences which pervade it 
 from the cradle to the grave. 
 
 Homer, who lived at least nine centuries before the Christian 
 era, takes us back, in his epic poem of the Iliad, to the earliest 
 known history of an illicit love that affected the course of 
 empire. The Trojan, Paris, one of King Priam's sons, carried 
 off the Greek, Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. The 
 poem is, of course, fable, but based on fact. In the territory of 
 the Troad, forty miles long by as many broad, overlooked by Mt. 
 Ida, in the northwest angle of Asia Minor, the Greeks' long siege 
 of Troy, for ten years, was pushed, until the city, with the faith- 
 less wife, was captured. A duel occurred between the wronged 
 husband and Paris, a duel between Hector, a brother of Paris, 
 and Achilles; and other single combats and various battles, in 
 which some of the gods had so intimate an interest as often to 
 take part. The site of the comparatively late excavations of Dr. 
 Schliemann, revealing an ancient town which he supposes to have 
 been Troy, do not agree with Homer's account of the beetling 
 loftiness of the city. But the question is apart from the matter 
 here, which simply is, that, in the earliest times, the flight of a 
 58
 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN S CHARMS. 59 
 
 beautiful woman with her paramour was the cause of the band- 
 ing together of the various sovereignties of Greece, under 
 Agamemnon, the so-called "king of men," the brother of Mene- 
 laus, to recover the unchaste woman, and to wreak vengeance 
 on her abductor and protectors. 
 
 At a much later date, when we come within the distinctively 
 historical period, the age of Pericles, in the fifth century before 
 Christ, the time when Athens, under the wise administration of 
 Pericles, rose to the highest point of her greatness, we find that 
 he divorced his wife in favor of the hetaira, Aspasia, with whom 
 he lived for the rest of his life. She was the most intellectual 
 woman and one of the most beautiful of her time; but one who, 
 not being Greek, was to the Greek of the period, a barbarian, 
 and, as such, unmarriageable by a Greek. She was so wonder- 
 fully gifted in mind, and so well-informed, that even Socrates 
 did not disdain intercourse with her among the persons who 
 thronged to the house of Pericles to acquire knowledge from 
 her lips. To the class of hetaira, the nearest modern approach is 
 that of the demi-monde, of Paris. The demi-monde, however, 
 has not with it equal excuse for dissolute life, for the hetaira 
 were recognized in those heathen times as forming a class to 
 which was attached no particular disgrace. Highly endowed 
 physically, and cultivated in mind and manners, their mission 
 was ministration to the amusement of men; slaves they were, 
 one might almost say, to circumstances over which they had not 
 full control, and, as such, they may be regarded as comparatively 
 innocent. 
 
 Coming to an episode closely bordering in time upon the 
 Christian era, we reach the most remarkable influence of a 
 woman upon men generally to be found in history. Cleopatra, 
 the Serpent of the Nile, as she has been called, was a woman 
 intellectual, highly educated, and sensual. With a lot cast in 
 Egypt, amidst depraved family surroundings, and internal as 
 well as external difficulties of reign, so consummate were her 
 talents, her acquirements, and her personal charm, so unscrupu-
 
 60 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 lously did she use all means at her disposal for the maintenance 
 of herself in power, that nothing but untoward circumstances, 
 which she could not control, led at last to her overthrow and 
 suicide. When it is said that she had charm which only one 
 man, Augustus Caesar, seems to have resisted, it does not imply 
 that she was beautiful. There is reason to believe that, although 
 handsome, she was not beautiful. What she possessed in the 
 supremest degree, is what the French aptly call le charmc, the 
 wholly unanalyzable power of attraction with which some few 
 mortals are gifted. Shakespeare best explains its manifestation 
 in her when he says that "age could not wither nor custom stale 
 her infinite variety." Caius Julius Caesar first met her when he 
 was in pursuit of Pompey in flight to Egypt. But he was too 
 great a man to come under her dominion. He took her to Rome, 
 to the great displeasure of its citizens. Much later, after the 
 assassination of the great Caesar, Marcus Antonius, or, as we call 
 him, Mark Antony, who was of entirely different fiber, became 
 her veritable slave. After the assassination of Caesar, Octavius, 
 afterwards known as Augustus Caesar, Mark Antony, and 
 Lepidus divided the Roman Empire among them, Mark Antony 
 marrying Octavia, Augustus Caesar's sister. Antony, however, 
 within his apportionment, the Empire of the East, soon fell 
 away from Augustus, and deserted Octavia in favor of Cleo- 
 patra. Long before that, Cleopatra had made his acquaintance, 
 rowed up the river Cyndus, in Syria, reclining in a gorgeous 
 galley of many banks of oars, amidst music and flowers, a scene 
 which has often been pictured. At the sea-fight of Actium, one 
 of the turning battles of the world, Cleopatra fled in her galley, 
 followed by Antony, when the result of the control for the 
 world's supremacy was still doubtful. The scene soon afterwards 
 closed on both. Cleopatra, faithless even to Antony, vainly 
 attempted to subdue Augustus to her charm, and the curtain fell 
 upon the scene by the suicide of both ignoble lovers. 
 
 John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, A. D. 1650-1722, 
 is recognized as among the very highest of the second order
 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN^S CHARMS. 6l 
 
 of great generals: Hannibal, Caesar, and Napoleon being of 
 the first. His wife, the Duchess, was Sarah Jennings, a woman 
 of remarkable talent and energy. The times were politically 
 scheming and traitorous, and both were not among the least 
 who plied the acts of treachery to their own aggrandizement. 
 So great ascendency was acquired and long maintained by the 
 Duchess over Queen Anne, of England, that it amounted to 
 tyranny, which she, at last, carried to so great lengths, that she 
 lost place and power at court. To the Duchess's talents and 
 imperious conduct are justly ascribed much as to both the rise 
 and the fall of the Duke of Marlborough's ambition. She was 
 true to him to and beyond the end, spending the last days of 
 her life in seeking to vindicate his memory. 
 
 In the reign of Napoleon two women appear, of very differ- 
 ent stamp from those previously mentioned; of influence, but 
 of no direct influence with the ruling power quite the re- 
 verse. Madame de Stae'l and Napoleon heartily disliked each 
 other. Madame de Stae'l was exiled, and her intimate friend, 
 Madame Recamier was also exiled. Of Madame de Stae'l, as 
 thinker and writer, Napoleon did not approve. When Napoleon 
 sought to give his imperial surroundings the brilliancy of good 
 society, he tried to attach Madame Recamier as lady-in-waiting 
 to the court, but she declined the honor. She was the most 
 beautiful woman of her day, and in addition to the charms of 
 her person had so amiable a disposition that she attracted every 
 one who came within range of her acquaintance. Nothing is 
 more frank and outspoken than the verdict of the typical boy 
 upon everything within and beyond his comprehension, and 
 Madame Recamier herself tells us, that when her beauty was 
 on the wane, she knew it well, because the gamins of Paris no 
 longer crowded near to gaze upon her. Madame d'Hautefeuille 
 says of Madame Recamier : "To be beloved was the history of 
 Madame Recamier. Beloved by all in her youth for her aston- 
 ishing beauty; beloved by all for her gentleness, her inexhaust- 
 ible kindness, for the charm of a character which was reflected
 
 62 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 in her sweet face; beloved for the tender and sympathizing 
 friendship which she awarded with an exquisite tact and dis- 
 crimination of heart; beloved by old and young, small and 
 great ; by women, even women, so fastidious where other women 
 are concerned ; beloved always and by all from her cradle to the 
 grave, such was the lot, such will be the renown, of this charm- 
 ing woman!" 
 
 One might go on indefinitely with citation of cases where 
 women have influenced, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, 
 the course of society, of politics, and the destiny of empires. 
 The most flag-rant of modern times, in the direction of evil, was 
 that during the reign of the mistress-ridden Louis XV, where 
 Madame de Pompadour, one of his many female satellites, even 
 brought about war, because Frederick the Great of Prussia had 
 characterized her by the name which she deserved. The evil 
 of that reign did not, indeed, cease with the death of the King, 
 but went ever onward to its culmination in the French Revolu- 
 tion. It was not always, as has been intimated, that the influ- 
 ence of woman has been injurious to government. Let us look 
 back for a moment to the wonderful woman, Theodora, who 
 lived in the fifth century of the Christian era, and reigned, con- 
 jointly with her husband, Justinian, for many years over the 
 Byzantine Empire. 
 
 Theodora was a daughter of Acacius, a bear-feeder of the 
 amphitheatre at Constantinople, of the faction of the city called 
 "the blues." Doubtless her early life was dissolute, it could 
 hardly have been otherwise on the stage of the Byzantine Empire. 
 Procopius gives her a bad character in this respect, but there 
 is reason to believe that his account of her is exaggeratedly 
 malicious. Anyhow, whatever may be the truth about her 
 earliest years, surrounded by tainted influences, she seems to 
 have entirely redeemed herself. At the death of her father, 
 Acacius, he left a widow with three daughters, of whom Theo- 
 dora was one, at that time five years of age. The widow, re- 
 marrying, thought her second husband should be appointed to
 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN'S CHARMS. 63 
 
 the place which her first had held. The appointment, however, 
 went to another man. In the hope of having the decision 
 changed, the widow sent her three little daughters to the Amphi- 
 theatre to seek the support of "the blue faction. That faction 
 received them with favor, but their opponents in politics, "the 
 green faction," treated them with contempt. This occurrence 
 made so profound an impression on the mind of Theodora, that 
 it contributed, in the course of time, to serious consequences. 
 
 When old enough, Theodora went upon the stage, but as she 
 had nothing but her wonderful beauty and some comic ability 
 to attract in that sphere, no histrionic talent, and could neither 
 dance, sing, nor play upon the flute, she made an impression 
 confined to pantomimic performance. "Theodora," says Gib- 
 bon, the historian, "was the subject of more flattering praise, 
 and the source of more exquisite delight. Her features were 
 delicate and regular; her complexion, though somewhat pale, 
 was tinged with a natural color; every sensation was instinc- 
 tively expressed by the vivacity of her eyes ; her easy motions dis- 
 played the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love 
 or adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were 
 incapable of delineating the matchless excellence of her form." 
 
 The reader probably inquires, why, with all these graces and 
 temperament, Theodora failed as an actress. But it is a matter 
 of history that she did so fail, and it is that with which we must 
 here be content. In a few years she abandoned the stage and, 
 it is reported, made her livelihood by spinning; perhaps, as 
 suspected, with the intention of reformation of her life. She 
 Seems to have had some premonition of her future greatness, and 
 managed in some way or other to attract the attention of Jus- 
 tinian, the heir-apparent to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. 
 Her extreme beauty was a fact that no one could doubt, but, 
 additionally, she had ability of the first order, and she completed 
 the infatuation of Justinian for her by her conduct and under- 
 standing. Her influence over him was so deep and lasting, that 
 he resolved to marry her. Two difficulties presented themselves
 
 64 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 to this: the opposition of Justinian's aunt, Euphemia, and the 
 law, which forbade the marriage of a senator with one who 
 had been an actress. However, upon the death of the aunt, the 
 ruling monarch, Justin, yielded to the solicitations of Justinian, 
 his nephew and heir, and the law was repealed, and Theodora, 
 who had been previously elevated to the patriciate, was married 
 to Justinian. After the death of Justin, Justinian became 
 Emperor in his stead, and conferred the imperial dignity upon 
 Theodora, announcing her to the world in the following terms : 
 as "an equal and independent colleague in the sovereignty of the 
 Empire." She had, among her high attributes, the inestimable 
 quality of courage, as appeared later on a signal occasion. 
 
 Justinian carried on several wars, adorned Constantinople 
 and other principal cities of the Empire with many beautiful 
 buildings; he improved harbors, built bridges, executed forti- 
 fications, and to his initiation the modern world owes the con- 
 solidation of Roman law known as the Justinian Code. Yet, 
 with all the advantages of birth, education, and personal char- 
 acter, Justinian might not have stood so high in history as he 
 does, but for his extraordinary wife, Theodora. Beginning 
 almost from the time of the death of Christ, heresy had been 
 rife, and theological controversies carried on with the greatest 
 acrimony, and they, of course, were complicated with the poli- 
 tics of both the Eastern and Western Empires, into which the 
 Roman one had become divided, whilst rj&ganism had by no 
 means ceased to be a power. Since the severance between the 
 East and the West, barbarians had constantly assailed the bor- 
 ders of the two Empires, and had even penetrated the interiors 
 of both. The ancient martial spirit and military skill of Greeks 
 and Romans seemed to have almost departed, and the tottering 
 Empires depended upon the most precarious of supports, on the 
 arms of mercenary barbarian soldiers. The leaders of these, 
 with their hordes, had sometimes settled in the country, and by 
 conquest or election ascended the thrones of the East and the 
 West. The inhabitants of both capitals were given up to ener-
 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN^S CHARMS. 65 
 
 vating luxury. Foreign conquest and domestic tyranny were 
 secondary in their minds to ease and publicly provided amuse- 
 ments. In Constantinople, the center of popular interest was 
 the amphitheatre. In the chariot races of the Greeks, it had 
 become customary to distinguish competitors by different 
 colored ribbons, white, red, blue, and green. Spectators were 
 divided into factions about the contestants. The strife of "blue" 
 and "green" was not confined to the arena; it divided friends 
 and families, whose enmity sometimes broke out in riot and 
 assassination. This is the world into which, it may be said, 
 Theodora was born, and in which, at five years of age, she re- 
 ceived her greatest rebuff. 
 
 In A. D. 532, about five years after her marriage to Jus- 
 tinian, factional hatred blazed forth in Constantinople in a terri- 
 ble insurrection. Unforgetful of the contempt with which she 
 and her sisters had been treated by the faction of "the greens," 
 when they had appeared as supplicants in the amphitheatre, 
 Theodora had always since favored the faction of "the blues." 
 There was great destruction in the city, and enormous loss of 
 life. For a time, indeed, it seemed as if the Empire were to be 
 lost to Justinian and Theodora, for the Emperor and Empress, 
 the Court and Belisarius, the greatest general of the age, were 
 hemmed in the palace by the mob, and there was talk of flight 
 by the waters of the Bosphorus. But the resolute Theodora 
 said: "If flight were the only means of safety, yet I should 
 disdain to fly. Death is the condition of our birth, but they who 
 have reigned should never survive the loss of dignity and 
 dominion. I implore heaven that I may never be seen, not a day, 
 without my diadem and purple ; that I may no longer behold the 
 light, when I cease to be saluted with the name of queen. If 
 you resolve, O Caesar, to fly, you have treasures ; behold the sea, 
 you have ships ; but tremble lest the desire of life should expose 
 you to wretched exile and ignomonious death. For my own 
 part, I adhere to the maxin of antiquity, that the throne is a 
 glorious sepulchre." Reassured by the tone of Theodora, braver
 
 66 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 resolutions prevailed, means were taken through which the fury 
 of the rival factions was entirely directed against each other, 
 Belisarius placed himself at the head of some royal troops, and 
 surprised the forces of the malcontents in the amphitheatre, and 
 the fires of the insurrection were quenched. 
 
 Theodora's views seemed to have had much to do with 
 moulding Justinian's policy. There were times when dissension 
 arose between them, but those who sought to part them did it at 
 their cost. Her health, always delicate, at last became critical. 
 Her medical advisers recommended her resorting to certain 
 famous baths. She set forth, accordingly, with a splendid reti- 
 nue, upon roads that had been specially prepared for her easy 
 progress, lavishly distributing gifts on the way to churches, mon- 
 asteries, and hospitals. She died in the twenty-fourth year of 
 her marriage and the twenty-second year of her reign. Jus- 
 tinian deeply deplored and grieved at her loss. He survived her 
 fourteen years. His long reign was brilliant, but added no 
 strength to the Byzantine Empire. He is now chiefly remem- 
 bered by his Code of Laws. 
 
 Is it asked why the present writer has dwelt so long upon 
 the history of Theodora? The question is easy to answer. She 
 seems to him, considering the obscureness of her birth, her un- 
 favorable early training, her intellect and spirit, her rise to the 
 responsibilities of supreme power and its exercise for many 
 years, to have been the most extraordinary woman whose deeds 
 history records. She was, whether with truth or not, charged 
 with having been unscrupulous and even cruel, but those accu- 
 sations were made by Procopius, upon the truthfulness of whose 
 account modern historians have thrown doubt. But, even as- 
 suming that his accusations are true, and not inspired by malice, 
 she still remains a most extraordinary woman for excellent 
 traits of character fitting her for the station which she occupied 
 in most troublous times. Cite another, who may, who is her 
 equal. 
 
 Of comparatively very recent years, the province of history
 
 WORLD INFLUENCE OF WOMAN'S CHARMS. 67 
 
 has been much extended, through recognition that the life of 
 peoples, more particularly than that of rulers, ought to be its 
 principal theme. Macaulay states this modern point of view 
 with great precision and force. It is now perceived that accounts 
 of the lives, occupations, aspirations, and literature of the mass 
 of any people are of more importance to their history than are 
 narratives upon which the name of history was formerly exclu- 
 sively bestowed. The life of a nation does, in truth, depend upon 
 its component parts; that is, more particularly upon the per- 
 sons who go to form the people as a whole, than upon their 
 rulers. The power and stability of a nation depend at bottom 
 upon the principles by which, good, bad, or indifferent, the mass 
 of the people are actuated. The policies of all governments must, 
 as a finality, depend upon those principles which actuate the will 
 of the people. 
 
 Accordingly, the physical, mental, and moral gifts of woman 
 have had, among other things, a widespread influence upon the 
 affairs of the world. Beauty alone, it will be observed from con- 
 sultation of history, has rarely achieved success in great affairs. 
 It is when beauty has been associated with high, sometimes the 
 highest, intellectual and moral attributes, that it has worked 
 the wonders of which history is full. It is one of the most 
 admirable of possessions, it is by its nature so captivating that the 
 observer, despite experience, is always inclined at the first glance 
 to associate with it intelligence and other worth. But, alas, by 
 another law of our nature, when it is found that other fine attri- 
 butes are absent, it not only palls upon us, but even excites in the 
 mind most unreasonable contempt ! The women, in a word, who 
 have commanded and command the admiration of a society, or 
 of the world, through their gifts of mind, have been even plain. 
 She, however, who has been prominent in mind and virtue, and 
 has been, additionally, beautiful, has had the best opportunity 
 to touch the summit of power, whether as a leader of society or 
 one ambitious of a throne.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 
 
 FROM the time of Aristotle, and probably long before, to that 
 of Lavater, the great physiognomist, the expression of the 
 human face has been considered as significant of character. 
 The science of expression is not a spurious one, like that of phren- 
 ology, which pretends to mark off the skull into little lots indica- 
 tive of particular attributes of the underlying patches of brain. 
 It is based upon experience of life; for, although even a virginal 
 face may be falsified by sensual character, yet, if its owner lives 
 long enough, the true history of feeling and action will become 
 indelibly written on its once pure lineaments. In vain does the 
 professional gambler reach maturity without his calm, watchful 
 face, and quiet, shark-like eye betraying his occupation; in vain 
 does the thief try to conceal by frank look, his furtive eye and 
 ways. That we may all be sometimes mistaken in judgment 
 from expression is well known and by every truthful person con- 
 ceded ; but it is our own fault or misfortune when we fail. 
 
 Lavater, who studied the subject more intimately than any 
 other man who ever lived, tells us that when, on a certain occa- 
 sion, a man was announced to him whom he had never before 
 seen, the stranger, upon appearing, was believed by him, at the 
 first glance, to be a murderer. Censuring himself, however, as 
 he says, for what he persuaded himself must be an unjust 
 thought, he entered into conversation with his visitor. The 
 stranger turned out to have been implicated in the assassination 
 of the King of Sweden, and was obliged to flee from Zurich. 
 Lavater gives the following as an incident coming to his know- 
 ledge. A friend of Count F's one day was about to go, at the end 
 of a visit to him, when the Count locked the door to prevent 
 his egress, telling him that he was meditating a crime. The 
 
 friend, astonished and unnerved, confessed that the Count had 
 '68
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 69 
 
 guessed right, surrendered his concealed weapon to him, and 
 elicited his pity by the sad tale he told of what had inspired his 
 intended crime. Time was when physiognomical traits were 
 resorted to for divination, but, since the decline of superstition, 
 that practice has almost fallen out of memory. It is, neverthe- 
 less, true that all men who have acted great parts on the world's 
 stage have been gifted beyond their fellows in the diyination of 
 the character of their subordinates, through their capacity of 
 reading the significance of facial traits. The whole world is 
 addicted, consciously or unconsciously, to the same divination, 
 but with less skill in interpretation of the signs. 
 
 Lavater writes : "For the rest, whatever genius may be, its 
 character and nature will always be best revealed by the eye. 
 Search for it in the look, properly so called, in the fire which 
 animates it, but above all, the drawing of the upper eyelid, con- 
 sidered in profile. All other distinctive signs being absent, I 
 shall always hold to that which has never deceived me. I do not 
 consider that I have looked at a man until I have noted this con- 
 tour. If this single feature is positive and decisive, all the rest 
 matters very little to me. If sometimes it so happens that I have 
 not the time or the opportunity to study a physiognomy well, 
 
 I at least observe the upper eyelid One word more on 
 
 the look of a man of genius. First, I shall point out a peculiarity 
 which is neither very frequent nor very marked, and which is the 
 more difficult to reproduce in drawing, on account of its rarity. 
 In addition to those gleams of fire, those penetrating and rapid 
 flashes, which may be explained in a certain manner by the con- 
 formation of the eye, that of the man of genius has emanations. 
 
 I do not speak of substantial emanations, which would 
 
 be an absurdity. I still less pretend to determine the nature of 
 these emanations; but I refer them to a circumstance of fact 
 which has become proverbial, which is confirmed by experience, 
 and which can only, again, be called into doubt if we admit a 
 
 difference between colors I find, again, the evidence of 
 
 this look in the portraits of Cardinal Retz, of Van Dyck, and of
 
 70 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Raphael. The look of genius, with all its fire, is irresistible, 
 miraculous, divine." 
 
 Mantegazza, a very modern Italian writer, when referring 
 to this passage from the works of Lavater, remarks : "For my 
 part, I dare affirm, after long experience, that men of genius 
 may have existed as ugly as ^sop, and beautiful as Raphael or 
 Goethe ; but all have had a fiery, indefinable look which is never 
 met with in an ordinary man, and in which seem to be concen- 
 trated all the enthusiasms of life, all the splendor of light, all the 
 energy of thought and of will." 
 
 These remarks of Lavater and Mantegazza, on the subject 
 of the expression of the eyes of the man of genius, are well 
 confirmed lately by a particular case cited by Monsieur Paul Vil- 
 lars, a French journalist, who has lived twenty years in London. 
 Speaking of an occasion when he went to Scotland, during Mr. 
 Gladstone's Midlothian electoral campaign there, and was placed 
 only two seats away from him at luncheon, Monsieur Villars 
 writes in "The Cornhill Magazine," July, 1906: "Two things 
 especially struck me in Mr. Gladstone: his voice and, most par- 
 ticularly, his eyes. In no one else have I ever seen anything to 
 compare with his brilliant, piercing, black eyes, so full of fire and 
 energy, with that searching look of his which seemed to pene- 
 trate to the very soul of the person he was addressing." 
 
 How evil passions, as well as good, write their history on 
 the face, is well illustrated by the story of an Italian painter 
 who long sought a perfect form from which he might paint an 
 ideal type of Innocence. He at last discovered one in whom was 
 found, in form and feature, all that could be desired. Years 
 later, wishing to paint, in turn, the very opposite type of human 
 being, representing Vice, he discovered his villainous subject in 
 the depraved man who, as a little child, had posed as Innocence. 
 
 The effect of intellectual thoughts and pursuits in ennobling 
 expression is well condensed by Shakespeare's single line, 
 "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." What a contrast 
 is afforded in Europe between the faces of the educated and
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. Jl 
 
 those of peasants and boors! It is a transfiguration through 
 which persons sometimes go in emerging from low to higher 
 estate. Features may be, in any man, structurally the same 
 among their component parts, but what a vast difference there 
 is between the expression of intellect and refinement of some, 
 contrasted with the stupidity and brutality of others, between 
 gentility and vulgarity, between nobility and coarseness. And, 
 when it comes to genius, who that looks dispassionately, free 
 of the prejudices of life, upon the living face of greatness, 
 or upon its counterfeit presentment in portrait, can doubt that its 
 possessor holds or held transcendent superiority to the mass of 
 mankind. 
 
 It is told of Monsieur Kubisee, who, passing with some 
 friends through a house, was so struck by the portrait of a beauti- 
 ful woman, that he was found an hour afterwards still gazing 
 at it intently. "What do you think of the picture," said his 
 friend, Monsieur Langes, who had returned to find Monsieur 
 Kubisee, "is it not that of a beautiful woman?" "Without 
 doubt," replied Monsieur Kubisee, "but if it is like, the person 
 that it represents has a very black soul she must be a demon." 
 It was a portrait of Madame de Brinvilliers, a woman of station, 
 but one of the most dreadful criminals who ever lived. She 
 had poisoned her father, brothers, sisters, and others, to glut 
 hatred and acquire means for profligacy. She was executed 
 in the reign of Louis XIV. 
 
 Pride, anger, cunning, serenity, doubt, anxiety, courage, 
 cowardice, resolution, weakness, cheerfulness, all emotions and 
 passions that are habitual, gradually set their seal upon the 
 expression of the human face. Even modes of life have 
 their influence on character and appearance. Most persons recog- 
 nize at a glance the expression of the soldier, the sea-captain, the 
 common sailor, the priest, the sister of some religious order. 
 These effects are produced by the influence of diverse habitual 
 thoughts and impressions upon the small muscles of the face. 
 These, although, upon certain occasions, controllable by the
 
 72 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 will, are not generally so controlled. They are habitually moved 
 by the play of unrestrained emotional habit on the part of 
 the individual. Small as the muscles are, compared with the 
 muscular masses of the body, they are large enough to be 
 separated from one another and their action demonstrated by 
 the teacher of anatomy. All muscles contract in response to 
 impulses transmitted to them by nerves, and nerves receive their 
 impulse from the emotions conveyed from the brain. The facial 
 muscles are, of course, controlled by the facial nerves, of which 
 there is a main branch on each side of the face. From these 
 main branches numerous smaller ones ramify to all parts of the 
 face. The nerves, connected directly with the brain, are there- 
 fore fitted to transmit with rapidity the impulses of the mind 
 known as emotions and passions. 
 
 Hence comes the influence of the mental condition, or, if 
 it be habitual, the mental state, upon the countenance, when cer- 
 tain trains of thought are either temporarily present, or else 
 habitually reign in the mind. Upon these nerves are thus im- 
 pressed habits of thought transmitted to their corresponding 
 muscles, which, in turn, mould the face to certain contours 
 which mankind have learned to recognize as wanted affections, 
 which, summarized, mean character. We can scarcely ever, in 
 judging from a face as to character, make so egregious a mistake 
 as not to discern whether or not the person is kindly, cross, gen- 
 erous, mean, or possesses other salient traits. In persons of 
 pleasant temperament, the expression is so marked that even 
 children recognize it. The mere glance of a well-bred man is 
 more effective than any play of features of his imitator. There 
 is a noodle portion of mankind, among both men and women, 
 but especially among men, which cultivate the nil admirari aspect 
 of inane fixity of look as well as curtness of speech, but, being 
 of spurious refinement, it has no influence upon the world save 
 to excite its ridicule. The theatre of its small existence is 
 insular, provincial, or in cliques in big cities where the actors 
 have no recognition but their own. Men and women may be
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 73 
 
 properly reserved among chance acquaintances, but anything like 
 assumption of aloofness is vulgar. 
 
 Just as the artist, whether sculptor or painter, has the 
 power, through nature and practice, to portray characters 
 through form and color, so the gifted novelist possesses the same 
 kind of power in the sphere of literature, and both of them so 
 far transcend, in observation and skill in delineation, the mass of 
 mankind, that mankind recognize in themselves but worshippers 
 at shrines to which they can make no contributions. The novel- 
 ist possesses in high degree, not only the gift of expression, but 
 that of discernment of character beyond the capacity of the mul- 
 titude. In "Romola," by George Eliot, the portrait which Piero 
 Di Cosimo makes of Tito Melema is inspired by a single transient 
 expression of Tito's which the artist has casually caught on the 
 villain's face. This expression had been produced by the un- 
 expected appearance before him of one whom he had wronged 
 and had thought dead. "His face," said Piero, "will suit my 
 traitor. A perfect traitor should have a face which vice can 
 write no marks on, lips that will lie with a dimpled smile, eyes of 
 such agate-like brightness and depth that no infamy can dull 
 them, cheeks that will rise from a murder and not look haggard. 
 I say not this young man is a traitor. I mean he has a face 
 that would make him the more perfect if he had the heart of one." 
 
 Tito was young and handsome. Length of days had not 
 
 yet had time to write permanently on his face the record of his 
 villainy, one fleeting glimpse of which he had accidentally re- 
 vealed to the artist-eye of Cosimo. 
 
 The rapid improvement in character and expression, brought 
 about by participation in great events, is well portrayed by Haw- 
 throne in his posthumous unfinished romance, "Septimius Fel- 
 ton." "Septimius," he writes, " looked at Robert Hagburn in 
 surprise, so much was he altered and improved by this brief ex- 
 perience of war, adventure, and responsibility which he had 
 passed through. Not less than the effect produced in his loutish, 
 rustic air and deportment, developing his figure, seeming to
 
 74 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 make him taller, setting free the manly graces that had lurked 
 within his awakened frame, not less was the effect on his mind, 
 giving freedom of ideas, simple perception of great thought, a 
 free and natural chivalry, so that the knight, the Homeric war- 
 rior, the hero, seemed to be here in the young New England 
 rustic, and all that history and fiction have given and hearts 
 throbbed and sighed and gloried over, of patriotism and heroic 
 feeling and action, might be repeated, perhaps, in the life and 
 death of this familiar friend and playmate of his, whom he had 
 valued not over-highly Robert Hagburn." These transforma- 
 tions, or rather developments of character, of expression and of 
 hearing, were abundantly exemplified during our Civil War. 
 Bumpkins who went to the front often reappeared after drill, 
 discipline, and the fiery ordeal of battle, with well-set figures, 
 confident looks, resolute eyes, and modest but martial bearing. 
 Under the stress described, the whole mental and bodily organ- 
 ism is stimulated to development. It searches out and protects 
 manly traits, and weeds out the ignoble from fellowmen. The 
 fact is one of the chief compensations for the many horrible 
 realities of war, for long peace has its victims of the sordid kind, 
 in greed of money and all that that entails. 
 
 Refinement and kindliness indisputably create an attrac- 
 tive expression of countenance. The complexion, as has here 
 previously been said, depends upon a fine skin, good health, and 
 cleanliness. Therefore, as was also said at the beginning, good 
 looks depend, to a considerable extent upon our own wills. In per- 
 sons of highly nervous organization, the lines of the face are con- 
 stantly changing in response to thought and emotions. If, upon 
 the basis of natural faculties, these be directed in wider channels 
 than those which minister to vanity and undue pursuit of amuse- 
 ment, which does not always prove to be pleasure, an air of dis- 
 tinction becomes inevitably stamped upon the features. Mobile 
 features then possess a charm largely independent of mere sym- 
 metry. So endowed, both men and women are handsomer in 
 mature years than they ever were in extreme youth. Many
 
 EXPRESSION,, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 75 
 
 pretty, frivolous girls, who spend most of their thought and time 
 in gaities, and sacrifice rest to excitement, disappoint in looks 
 the promise of their early years. They may have had, at the 
 beginning of life, what is called "la beaute du diable," the devil's 
 beauty, only the beauty of youth. They fade rapidly, and reveal 
 at twenty-eight years of age the vapidity of expression that had 
 been masked in them at eighteen by youth. On the other hand, 
 dispositions that lead, unchecked, to the perfection of indifference 
 in pose of features, do not invite admiration or love for the 
 underlying character of the possessor. Tennyson writes : 
 
 "But a cold and clear-cut face, as I found when her carriage 
 
 past, 
 
 Perfectly beautiful : let it be granted her : where is the fault ? 
 All that I saw (for her eyes were downcast, not to be seen), 
 Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, 
 
 Dead perfection, no more." 
 
 Madame de Sevigne, one of the handsomest women of her 
 time, the time of Louis XIV, would not have had the remark- 
 able social and political influence which she exercised, but for 
 her charms of mind, heart, and manners. Her daughter, 
 Madame de Grignan, although considered beautiful, had but 
 indifferent success at Court and elsewhere, and long before she 
 died, was well known for her cold, thoroughly selfish nature. 
 Of Madame de Sevigne, her intimate friend, Madame de Lafay- 
 ette wrote to Madame de Sevigne herself: "Your varying ex- 
 pression so heightens and adorns your beauty, that there is nothing 
 so brilliant as yourself ; every word you utter adds to the bright- 
 ness of your eyes, and while it is said that language improves 
 only the ear, it is quite certain that yours enchants the vision." 
 It was said of Madame de Stael, of the time of the first French 
 Empire, a brilliant woman, but no beauty, that her knowledge, 
 wit, and vivacity so shone in her face as to excite admiration. 
 Sismondi wrote of her : "To hear her one would have said that 
 she was the experience of many souls mingled in one. I looked
 
 76 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and listened with transport. I discovered in her features a charm 
 superior to beauty, and if I do not hear her words, yet her tones, 
 her gestures, and her looks convey to me her meaning." Yet 
 Madame de Sevigne was not perfectly beautiful, she had a rather 
 blunt nose, and Madame de Stae'l was decidedly plain from the 
 point of view of pleasant symmetry of features. 
 
 We insensibly classify faces as tender, merry, arch, thought- 
 ful, amiable, and in many other ways, with reference to the gen- 
 eral impression that they make upon us. In the presence of de- 
 cided beauty we do not analyze its charm. We judge of its 
 attributes collectively. Later, we may become aware of some- 
 thing in it faulty in form or color. Indeed, it sometimes hap- 
 pens that a defect, such as a slight cast in one eye, presents itself 
 as an attractive expression. As for the simultaneous and instan- 
 taneous attempt at insight into character, we must be aware that, 
 from time immemorial, men, women, and children must instinc- 
 tively have sought knowledge of character from the expression 
 of the face. Faulty as the judgment often is, yet even very little 
 children often guess aright from the signs who are the friends 
 of childhood. Even the dog seems to divine who is a lover of his 
 kind. That is the general truth, notwithstanding that all, at 
 times, make mistakes, that one may justly come to like another 
 who was at first repugnant, and as justly come to dislike another 
 for whom at first was felt great attraction. The true signs are 
 always present, but he who runs does not always read aright. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, in "Peveril of the Peak," speaks of a 
 "feeling in the human mind, allied, perhaps, to that sense of 
 danger which animals exhibit when placed in the vicinity of the 
 natural enemies of their race, and which makes birds cower when 
 the hawk is in the air, and tremble when the tiger is abroad in 
 the desert." Goethe makes Margaret have an intuitive appre- 
 hension of Mephistopheles. In one of his poems, Coleridge 
 writes :
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 77 
 
 "And yet Sarolta, simple, inexperienced, 
 Could see him as he was, and often warned me! 
 Whence learned she this ? Oh, she was innocent ! 
 And to be innocent is Nature's wisdom. 
 The hedge-dove knows the prowlers of the air, 
 Feared soon as seen, and flutter back to shelter. 
 And the young steed recoils upon its haunches, 
 The never-yet-seen adder's hiss first heard. 
 Oh, surer than suspicion's hundred eyes, 
 Is that fine sense, which, to the pure in heart, 
 By mere oppugnancy of their own goodness 
 Reveals th' approach of evil." 
 
 Beauty is an attribute which we mentally refer more to the 
 female than to the male sex. Man, no less than woman, how- 
 ever, may possess beauty; but whether devoted to active or to 
 sedentary mode of life, what is chiefly valued in men by the 
 whole world is not beauty of features, but strength of body and 
 mind coupled with corresponding looks. Mere symmetry of 
 features in man, without expression of energy in face, is a 
 reproach to manhood. The curled and perfumed barber's block 
 and darling of the vulgar girl, excites the contempt of all manly 
 men and refined women. What is, in a man, known as effemin- 
 acy is an attribute out of place in man, and makes of a man 
 as much a monster, as manly traits in a woman make her among 
 the most forbidding of her sex. Character, strength of body, 
 are what, rightly constituted, women most admire in men; ten- 
 derness, beauty, grace, sprightliness, what men most admire 
 in women. The noblest artists whom the world has seen knew 
 how to represent manhood, with its beauty of form and expres- 
 sion of energy. The impress of thought upon the male counte- 
 nance is recognized as more than mere animal beauty appropriate 
 to man. The facial muscles surround the eyelids and the mouth, 
 are attached to the corners of the nose and lips, to the forehead, 
 cheeks, and skin. According to their action, they raise the skin 
 of the upper forehead and of the upper eyelid to an expression of 
 expectancy or surprise, contract the brows into a frown, draw
 
 78 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 up the lip in a smile of pleasure, or contempt or sneer, pull 
 down the corners of the mouth, giving an air of dejection or of 
 melancholy to the face. It ought to be readily seen why, if cer- 
 tain movements become habitual to the exclusion of others, the 
 face eventually acquires an expression that is indelible. 
 
 It is care and worry or disease and vice that make the 
 greatest ravages in the human face. No one can pass through 
 life without his or her nervous system being heavily burdened 
 by unavoidable afflictions. But, besides legitimate care, which 
 none but those without conscience can escape, there is spurious 
 care, the outward sign of which is known as worrying, which, 
 however illegitimate from the highest point of conception of 
 duty, leaves its traces in a discontented countenance. As for the 
 brand of vice, it sears slowly but deeply the human face, until its 
 victim, whether man or woman, stands revealed to the humblest 
 observer, not only as to the fact, but as to the very kind of moral 
 deformity present. 
 
 Human expression of face is moulded to a certain extent 
 by the influence of surrounding expression. The writer once 
 saw a boy, the son of American parents, who had been born 
 and lived in China, and who, when he arrived in this country, 
 had a Chinese expression of face that did not leave him for 
 several months. Habits of life, diet, pursuits, beget similarity 
 of expression and manner. We are seldom at a loss to identify 
 an Englishman, Frenchman, German, Italian. Individual 
 features may vary among these and among those of other nation- 
 alities, but we settle the nationality of the persons with the 
 utmost confidence before we hear their speech. Among happily 
 married persons, the resemblance between husband and wife 
 often becomes so marked that they are taken for brother and sister. 
 This influence of human expression was noticed by Lavater. He 
 says : "It happens to all to acquire the habits, the gestures, the 
 face of those that they see familiarly. We assimilate ourselves 
 in some degree to all that we love; and of two things, one;
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 79 
 
 either it is the loved object which moulds us to himself, or it 
 is we who seek to mould him to us. All that is without acts 
 upon us and suffers some reciprocal action from our side; but 
 nothing reacts upon our individuality so efficaciously as that 
 which pleases, and nothing, indubitably, is more lovable or 
 more fitted to move us, than the face of man. That which makes 
 it lovable to us is precisely its harmony with our own. Would 
 it be able to influence and attract us if points of attraction did 
 not exist which determine the conformity, or at least the 
 homogeneity, of its forms or its features with our own ? I shall 
 not essay to penetrate the profoundness of this incomprehen- 
 sible mystery. I do not pretend to resolve the difficulty of the 
 how; but the fact is certain, there are faces which attract, as 
 there are others which repel; the conformity of features be- 
 tween two individuals who sympathize together, who are often 
 together, corresponds with the development of their particular 
 sensations. Our visage keeps, if we may thus express it, the 
 reflection of the loved object." 
 
 The only qualification necessary to make to these views of 
 Lavater's is that the assimilation of which he speaks is rarely, 
 instead of commonly, as he seems to think, a conscious one. 
 Affection or admiration, as the case may be, are almost univer- 
 sally the unconscious agencies which bring about likeness. The 
 action, moreover, cannot be called reciprocal ; it comes from one 
 side stronger than from the other, so efficiently to the exclusion 
 of effect from the other, that we may justly consider one side 
 as relatively the one loved or admired, so much does it pre- 
 dominate in efficiency. Il-y-a tonjours im qui baise, et I'autre qui 
 tonrne la joue, says the French proverb. There is always one 
 who does the kissing and the other who permits it. There is no 
 such thing as perfect equality in the universe. A wife has been 
 known to acquire penmanship so much like her husband's that 
 it was almost impossible to tell their writing apart. It is the 
 dominant being in any association among mankind, regardless 
 of sex, who is unconsciously imitated, from either love or ad-
 
 80 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 miration. Intentional imitation is comparatively rare. That it 
 occasionally takes place, is all that can be truly said. The law 
 that we have been discussing goes much deeper than that con- 
 sideration. A case of unconscious imitation which ought to be 
 recognized, so plain it is, by even the least observant, is that of 
 manners. Manners, not manner (for that belongs to tempera- 
 ment), are chiefly, almost wholly, derived from unconscious imi- 
 tation. We find, throughout' all social spheres, different expres- 
 sions of the face, different forms of speech, different tones of 
 voice, different subjects of interest and conversation. The ex- 
 tremes of society do not readily understand each other's moods 
 at all, unless the highest happens on occasion to hold philoso- 
 phers; the lowest never does hold philosophers, and understand, 
 except in the vaguest way, the others. 
 
 The human face indicates at maturity, not only the char- 
 acter, but the degree of culture of an individual. The blended 
 effects of intellectuality and morality in the individual form the 
 highest attribute to which the human face can attain. Yet, 
 blended as they may be, and often are, they are inseparable to ob- 
 servation. The most unlettered, ignorant person may give evi- 
 dence in looks of high morality in character. Some persons are 
 by nature more strongly drawn to contemplation of morality, and 
 others by the same initial impulse to intellectual exercise. The 
 constant contemplation of duty, the exercise of beneficence, give 
 an air of serenity to the countenance, while exercise of thought 
 on the various problems of life gives a loftiness of expression 
 not otherwise attainable. The celebrated French author, 
 Diderot, remarks that there is scarcely a moral maxim which 
 may not also serve as a medical aphorism, and that there are 
 very few medical aphorisms which cannot readily be converted 
 into moral maxims. This dictum of his merely means, in effect, 
 that the law of life for the well-being of humanity pervades both 
 the bodily and moral elements of mankind, that one cannot be 
 injured but at the expense of the other. The complexity of 
 human life involves intellectual, moral, and bodily being, acted
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 8 1 
 
 upon and being reacted upon by the individual's surroundings 
 in life. 
 
 Moderation, temperance in the use of all things, is one of 
 the highest laws of life. When not by nature endowed with 
 tendency to practice it, one should sedulously school himself to 
 follow it as the only safe guide for mental, moral, and bodily 
 welfare. We should study ourselves, morally, intellectually, and 
 physically. We differ in evil propensities, and differ in strength 
 of mind to control them. Some persons are so happily consti- 
 tuted by nature that they scarcely realize, as compared with 
 others, the meaning of temptation. Such pure beings, when they 
 happen to realize it, shudder at the thought of doing wrong, 
 and have a horror of committing positive sin. They have no 
 ill-regulated desires through which temptation may assail them. 
 From the face of a thoroughly good man or woman seems to 
 beam an expression recognizable by the most corrupt, who, like 
 the fallen angels, "believe and tremble." Spenser has, in his 
 "Faerie Queene" typified, in Una and the Lion, the influence of 
 simple goodness and innocence over passion. 
 
 A fatal blindness to physiognomical signs may grow out 
 of sexual attraction. Anyone who has lived to even very mod- 
 erate length of life cannot but have observed that love at first 
 sight is a very uncertain guarantee of permanent passion for the 
 objects of affection. The whole being, taken off its guard, as it 
 were, finds perfection, although perfection is nowhere visible 
 on earth. Such an emotional attitude of mind cannot last in the 
 same degree of intensity. It may, in truth, sober down to a 
 condition of real insight, with appreciation and lifelong affection, 
 but that is an accident most fortunate for those involved. The 
 emotion^ itself is blindness, and fortunate is he or she who, hav- 
 ing experienced it, awakes to find that a prize has nevertheless 
 been drawn in the lottery of life. 
 
 Putting this blindness or temporary madness out of ques- 
 tion, different circumstances of birth and training, differences of 
 disposition, different habits of thought, and many other things 
 
 6
 
 82 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 relating to life, in themselves perfectly blameless, will often pre- 
 vent the realization of extravagant hopes in marriage. Love 
 may be at bottom true, but it cannot fail sometimes to be put 
 to a severe, and sometimes intolerable test, by constant jars 
 about trifles. These little things are, in fact, those which make 
 life miserable. In the presence of great grief or calamity, the 
 mind springs vigorously to meet the emergency. Even in pros- 
 perity, both men and women need all exercise of patience and 
 forbearance to meet jointly, in complete unison, the petty annoy- 
 ances of life. Unthrifty housekeeping, bad cooking, irregular 
 meals, extravagance, will ruin the comfort and happiness of any 
 household. Love may, indeed, survive diminished, but ever 
 growing less and less amid the daily grind of petty cares, but at 
 least sweet tranquility of domestic life has no part in such a 
 household to soothe existence. It sometimes happens that there 
 has been, through conventionality, but slight intimate acquaint- 
 ance between the parties to marriage. If true love, however, 
 really inspires each party to it, they become in time assimilated 
 from due regard for one another's character. 
 Coleridge says : 
 
 "All thoughts, all passions, all delights, 
 Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 
 All are but ministers of Love, 
 And feed his sacred flame." 
 
 If this be not so, however, in any particular case, the enter- 
 ing wedge exists which may shatter all domestic happiness. 
 Who can separate selfishness and unselfishness, to make them 
 stand apart with well-defined boundaries? Everything outside 
 of ourselves must appeal to our perception in one way or in 
 another, as a certain thing or its opposite. Whatever does not 
 appeal to us as right, is practically non-existent so far as we 
 are personally concerned. In giving himself into the keeping of 
 a wife, does not a man purpose the purest satisfaction for himself 
 of which he is capable? Do not good women love self-sacrifice 
 for their husband's sake ? The sentiment of love, as now known
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 83 
 
 among civilized peoples, is a highly refined conception compared 
 with that simpler, ruder one among savages, from which it has 
 been, in the course of time, gradually evolved. Even among the 
 most advanced nations of antiquity, woman occupied a very 
 low plane compared with that upon which she now stands 
 through the influence of Christianity. Woman, through its in- 
 fluence, came to be regarded, not as the mere plaything, but as 
 the serious life-partner of man, the blessed spirit of home life. 
 It is from the mass of the people that generally spring those 
 who either inaugurate or else lead great movements for the 
 betterment of mankind. It is generally from the so-called ranks, 
 that those rise who elevate the thoughts of their fellows and 
 widen the boundaries of human knowledge. In this country, 
 where no artificial distinction of rank is known, and where every 
 one is more untrammeled than elsewhere, the artificer of his or 
 her fortunes, every generation has produced fine men and good 
 and beautiful women. Every separate, smaller community con- 
 tains its thousands of simple, virtuous, and happy households. 
 Do not be misled into thinking that the Smart Set represents, 
 amidst the sterling worth of the country, more than the froth 
 of wealth, idleness, and vanity of mind. Aristocracy, aped in 
 their hands, would sometimes be known as slum-born, if it were 
 poor. Yet a female writer has lately had the folly to repre- 
 sent it as leading the social van in America, when, in fact, it 
 trails behind in most disreputable guise of vulgarest pretence. 
 
 "A simple maiden in her flower 
 Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms. 
 
 Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, 
 From yon blue heavens above us bent 
 The gardener Adam and his wife 
 Smile at the claims of long descent, 
 Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 
 'Tis only noble to be good. 
 Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
 And simple faith than Norman blood."
 
 84 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The admiration which the opposite sexes intuitively feel for 
 each other is of a distinct kind. It is entirely different from that 
 which men feel for men and women for women. Men esteem 
 and honor, and like, but rarely love their fellows, unless rela- 
 tions. Women view each other with more critical eyes than 
 those with which men regard each other. Women have more 
 rivalry among themselves regarding men, than men have among 
 themselves regarding women. Anyone who has ever been^ at a 
 watering-place where women are expecting the advent of men in 
 numbers with the season, men perfectly unknown to them, has 
 seen their previous carelessness of attire and ways, and the sud- 
 den revolution that takes place in their appearance and manners, 
 when the men appear, can testify to the fact which indicates a 
 species of rivalry wholly unknown among men. 
 
 One of the most remarkable instances of the power which 
 a lover's fancy has of imparting charms to homeliness is found 
 in Dr. Johnson's relations to his wife. Of them Macaulay says 
 that: "While leading this vagrant and miserable life, Johnson 
 fell in love. The object of his passion was Mrs. Elizabeth Por- 
 ter, a widow who had children as old as himself. To ordinary 
 spectators, the lady appeared to be a short, fat, coarse woman, 
 painted half an inch thick, dressed in gaudy colors, and fond 
 of exhibiting provincial airs and graces which were not exactly 
 those of the Queensberrys and Lepels. To Johnson, however, 
 whose passions were strong, whose eyesight was too weak to dis- 
 tinguish cerise from natural bloom, and who had seldom or 
 never been in the room with a woman of real fashion, his Titty, 
 as he called her, was the most beautiful, graceful, and accom- 
 plished of her sex. That his admiration was unfeigned cannot 
 be doubted, for she was as poor as himself. She accepted, with 
 a readiness which did her little honor, the addresses of a suitor 
 who might have been her son. The marriage, however, in 
 spite of occasional wranglings, proved happier than might have 
 been expected. The lover continued to be under the illusions of 
 the wedding-day until the lady died in her sixty-fourth year.
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 85 
 
 On her monument he placed an inscription extolling the charms 
 of her person and of her manners; and when, long after her 
 decease, he had occasion to mention her, he exclaimed with a ten- 
 derness half ludicrous, half pathetic, 'Pretty creature !' ' 
 
 Of the poet Burns it was once written : "When he selected 
 anyone, out of the sovereignty of his good pleasure, to whom 
 he should pay his particular attention, she was instantly invested 
 with a sufficient stock of charms out of the plentiful stores of his 
 own imagination ; and there was often a great disparity between 
 his fair captivator and her attributes." 
 
 Dante thus describes his first sight of Beatrice, who was 
 to be so intimately associated with his own intellectual and emo- 
 tional elements of being: 
 
 "Already, nine times after my birth, the heaven of light 
 had returned, as it were, to the same point, when there appeared 
 to my eyes the glorious lady of my mind, who was by many 
 called Beatrice, who knew not what to call her. She had already 
 been so long in this life, that in its time the starry heaven had 
 moved towards the east the twelfth part of a degree, so that she 
 appeared to me about the beginning of her ninth year, and I saw 
 her about the end of my ninth year. Her dress on that day was 
 of a most noble color, a subdued and goodly crimson, girdled 
 and adorned in such sort as best suited with her tender age. 
 At that moment I saw most truly that the spirit of life which 
 hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart began to 
 tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook there- 
 with; and, in trembling, it said these words, ecce deus fortior 
 me, qui veniens, dominabitur mihi" (behold a god, stronger 
 than I, who will rule me). 
 
 Petrarch enriched literature by his sonnets to an idealized 
 woman, Laura. Referring to those effusions, Mr. J. Addinglon 
 Symonds remarks, that Laura "was not so much a woman as 
 woman in the abstract; and, perhaps, on this very account, the 
 poems written for her by her lover have never been taken to the 
 heart by countless lovers who came after him (Petrarch). The
 
 86 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 method of his art is so generalizing, while his feeling is so 
 natural, that every man can see himself reflected in the singer, 
 and his mistress shadowed forth in Laura." What noble loves 
 are these idealized ones of Dante and Petrarch, compared with 
 those of sensual men who would despoil woman of her greatest 
 worth and grace in purity, without which the rest is dross. 
 
 Having now touched at sufficient length upon Expression 
 and all that is mentally and morally connected with it, it behooves 
 us to enter upon some considerations concerning the union of 
 the opposite sexes from an entirely medical point of view, as 
 intimately connected with health and general well-being. 
 
 There are certain prevalent diseases, often destructive of 
 mind as well as of body, which are markedly hereditary in char- 
 acter; and which it is extremely unfortunate should be perpetu- 
 ated in offspring. These are syphilis, scrofula, consumption, 
 epilepsy, and insanity. Although consumption is not hereditable 
 directly, that is, hereditable as a disease, it is hereditable indi- 
 rectly, through the fact that its physical concomitants of weak 
 chest, narrow shoulders, low vitality, and other conditions, sig- 
 nify that their possessors become an easier prey than other per- 
 sons to the disease. A person may, in a word, not have the dis- 
 ease in even an incipient form, but may have what physicians 
 call a consumptive diathesis or predisposition from nature to 
 acquire it. 
 
 It is hardly to be expected that the ardor of youth contem- 
 plating marriage will study the medical history of the families 
 represented by the scions who desire to join their fortunes in life. 
 At the same time it is not too much to expect that they would 
 take at least a cursory view of the situation before leaping into 
 the dark. Not their progeny alone is sometimes involved in the 
 situation. It has happened that they themselves have been parted 
 soon after marriage by the disease, insanity, which they would 
 have had every reason to believe, upon investigation, should and 
 would have forbidden the banns. 
 
 There is warrant for calling the attention of parents and
 
 EXPRESSION, SEXUAL ATTRACTION, WEDLOCK. 8/ 
 
 young people to this important subject. Those of inferior 
 physique, in whose families consumption has been rife, should 
 beware of marriage. Most children who inherit a tendency to 
 consumption and scrofula are doomed to physical and mental 
 suffering. They may be able to do little or nothing for their own 
 support, the victims of spinal disease, lameness, glandular affec- 
 tion, unsightly scars. The fate of such children is sad, even if 
 their parents are in easy circumstances and able to afford them 
 every alleviation. As, however, it is among the poorer classes 
 that these diseases are most common, the condition of those 
 among whom they occur is most pitiable. 
 
 It would be best for the health and vigor of any race or 
 nation if self-denial in marriage were to be practiced by members 
 of families in which serious nervous disorders, epilepsy, insanity, 
 or idiocy have occurred. These diseases are strongly hereditary, 
 appearing and disappearing in successive generations. The radical 
 imperfection of nervous organizations, which is the cause of 
 these serious disorders, may manifest itself in different forms 
 in successive generations. Among the poorer and uneducated 
 classes this radical imperfection is often associated with mor- 
 bid impulses to drunkenness and crime. Melancholy it is to 
 every close observer among medical men, to witness the transmis- 
 sion of evil traits of mind and body to progeny. The abuse of 
 alcohol is frequent in families that have an hereditary taint in 
 the direction of stimulation of the nervous system. St. Vitus's 
 dance, hysteria, paralysis, imbecility, are found in the same class 
 of subjects. Intemperance is, in many cases, owing to the in- 
 stability of the nervous tissue of the body. Weak will-power 
 is characteristic of weak people, and naturally, anything can 
 become of one of these who has the predisposition to indulgence 
 through promptings of the mind, and little or no power to resist 
 them. Between, on the one hand, a faulty nervous system, in- 
 herited tendency to drink, and deficiency of will power, and on 
 the other, the obligations of the duty of life, a person is really 
 between the devil and the deep sea. Excess aggravates the spe-
 
 88 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 cific nervous disorder and strengthens the tendency of such per- 
 sons to transmit evil constitutions to their children. An imper- 
 fect nervous organization, poverty, ignorance, perpetuate the 
 criminal class. The effect of depressed vitality alone was well 
 exemplified on a large scale during the siege of Paris, in 1870, 
 in the Franco-Prussian war. The consequent famine brought 
 into existence in Paris a stunted population which came to be 
 known as "children of the siege." These miserable creatures 
 came into the world physically, mentally, and morally defective. 
 The population, too, known up to that time as one of the most 
 temperate in the world, became addicted to inordinate stimulation 
 from the drink called absinthe, the direct consequence of general 
 disorder of the nervous system, brought about by the exertion, 
 hunger, anxiety of days and nights passed in strenuous defense 
 of the city from the surrounding German hosts.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 How TO CULTIVATE AND PRESERVE A GOOD COMPLEXION. 
 
 TWO important elements of comeliness, if not of positive 
 beauty, are somewhat under our command. These are the 
 complexion and the expression of the face. Of the expres- 
 sion enough has been said in the preceding chapter. The condi- 
 tions upon which, from nature, a good complexion depends, have 
 also been previously described. It remains, therefore, only to 
 mention briefly how it may be preserved. 
 
 The skin is, as has already been pointed out, much more 
 than a mere protective envelope for the parts beneath it. It does, 
 in fact, besides being a highly protective organ, serve a greater 
 variety of purposes than any other portion of the body. When 
 the complicated offices of the skin are perfectly performed, 
 it is in the best possible condition of healthiness. A skin well 
 nourished by blood must be at least a healthy skin, and so far as 
 its physical structure admits, at least a sightly one. It stands to 
 reason, that the personal habits which promote the nutrition of 
 other organs, favor also the good condition of the skin. All 
 parts of the body, being indissolubly bound together, when any 
 one part suffers, the health of others is impaired. The skin is 
 peculiarly susceptible to influence from the internal parts of the 
 body. It is also necessarily liable to injury from external causes. 
 It must, therefore, be frequently and thoroughly cleansed, for 
 ablution has a beneficial effect, not only upon the skin itself, 
 but upon every other portion of the body. Wholesome blood 
 is attainable only by temperance in all things, temperance in eat- 
 ing and drinking, rational exercise of mind and body, judicious 
 clothing, ventilation, with avoidance of draughts, resolute absten- 
 tion from petty worrying. The condition of the blood and that 
 of the nervous system are the chief factors producing a good 
 complexion. 
 
 The skin is in some persons of a more delicate texture 
 than it is in the case of others, the scarf-skin is softer and 
 
 89
 
 90 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 smoother. An inborn inferiority in the texture of the skin cannot, 
 of course, be overcome; it can only be modified. The amount 
 of coloring matter in it cannot, by artificial means, be either 
 increased or diminished. We are able, however, to prevent, by 
 protecting the face from undue exposure to the sun, an increased 
 deposition of pigment, which nature throws out, with oily mat- 
 ters, in protecting the skin from excessive heat. The health and 
 beauty of the skin depend primarily upon the general constitution 
 of the body. Strict obedience to the laws of hygiene, which 
 have just been detailed under the counsel of temperance, is the 
 indispensable requisite for the production of a pure and pleas- 
 ing appearance of the complexion. Those largely constitute, 
 independent of regularity of features, personal beauty. 
 
 There is a close connection among the conditions of health, 
 virtue, and beauty. Healthy people enjoy the great blessing of 
 steady nerves. They are, in consequence, able to bear, as petty, 
 what are great annoyances to persons otherwise constituted. 
 They are thus better able than others to control sudden impulses. 
 Composure of spirit is expressed in their faces. On the con- 
 trary, those who, from whatsoever cause, suffer from a low con- 
 dition of the nervous system, ail, not only in body but in mind. 
 A discontented, often peevish expression, is stamped upon their 
 faces. The complexion inevitably suffers; if they once had a 
 healthy one, it is succeeded by sallowness. The eyes become sur- 
 rounded by dark circles, and the habitual action of certain mus- 
 cles of the face develops premature lines and wrinkles. 
 
 A rational system of bodily education, from the earliest 
 years of life, fortifies the general system, and in many cases 
 prevents the development of predisposition from congenital 
 causes. Thus, when any person has, early in life, an unwhole- 
 some, muddy complexion, or an eruption upon the skin, it 
 becomes advisable for a physician to examine minutely into the 
 condition of all the organs of the body. Should he be employed, 
 he inquires closely into the past and present habits of the patient, 
 and in addition to purely medicinal treatment, outlines with 
 great care a regimen of diet, exercise, bathing, and recreation.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE BATH. 
 
 THE cosmetic that is, the beautifying and the hygienic 
 that is, the health-giving effects of cleanliness are closely 
 allied. If the watery and oily liquids which are secreted 
 and excreted by the glands of the skin are allowed to accumulate 
 upon its surface, they soon undergo decomposition. Evaporation 
 of the perspiration is retarded. These liquids, therefore, need 
 removal, especially in summer, by means of pure soap and water. 
 If allowed to remain upon the surface of the body, these cutane- 
 ous secretions create in the course of time an obstruction to the 
 escape of similarly formed matter and also emit, under the in- 
 fluence of heat,' most unpleasant odor. From the interior of the 
 body comes this waste; but, additionally, from the exterior, the 
 body receives foreign matter, called dirt, which should be con- 
 stantly washed away in the interest of health and of decent ob- 
 servance of social propriety. A dirty skin is not only unsightly, 
 but it is unhealthy to the owner, and offensive to the sense of 
 smell. 
 
 Among the substances deposited on the skin are the micro- 
 scopic organisms called microbes, the fertile source of specific 
 diseases. Scientific studies of the last twenty-five years have 
 proved that very many of the disorders to which humanity is 
 subject, proceed from the growth of these germs. Most of 
 them belong to a low class of vegetable life, called fungi, and 
 are parasitic in their nature. A skin that is seldom bathed 
 affords them the best possible field for growth. As they multiply, 
 and they do so with exceeding rapidity, they insinuate themselves 
 into the glands, and may even obtain entrance to the blood- 
 vessels. 
 
 It is obvious that the skin must be peculiarly liable to 
 invasion by these parasitic organisms. Like seed, they cannot
 
 92 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 germinate except in favorable soil. An unclean body affords 
 them the best, a clean one none at all. If the skin be kept per- 
 fectly pure by frequent ablution, and is abundantly supplied with 
 rich blood, it is fortified against the encroachment of bacteria. 
 If, on the contrary, cleanliness be neglected, the skin, as already 
 said, affords the most favorable conditions for their reception 
 and growth. It has been discovered by most elaborate experi- 
 ments and observations, that these minute organisms effect dis- 
 turbance, not only by their presence and infinite numbers, but 
 also by their yielding a by-product of a poisonous sort, known 
 as ptomaine. Doubtless every reader of these lines has read of 
 fatal cases of ptomaine poisoning. Those relate to large amounts 
 of ptomaine taken into the stomach. But the same poison, in 
 lesser degree, has instant action upon the skin where pathological 
 bacteria, as they are called, disease-creating bacteria, are present 
 there, and they give rise to white pimples, abscesses, boils, car- 
 buncles, erysipelas, and other affections of the skin. Choked 
 glands always have a tendency to disease. An unclean skin is 
 exposed to morbific influences from within and without. 
 Through bathing, the germs are removed, the surface is freed 
 from accumulations of all sorts, the glands of the skin are en- 
 abled to perform their functions perfectly, and there is but little 
 danger of attack by those affections which are so destructive of 
 the skin and indirectly injurious to the body. 
 
 A crust composed of pellicles of scarf-skin (called, on the 
 head, dandruff, but falling everywhere from the body) mingled 
 with secretions and foreign impurities, embarrasses that portion 
 of respiration which the skin performs. This respiration, rela- 
 tively small as it is, is still worthy of consideration on account 
 of the part that it plays in conveying oxygen to the blood and 
 removing from it carbonic acid. Furthermore, by virtue of the 
 intimate sympathy among all parts of the body, ablution excites 
 a real influence over it in its entirety. A layer of foreign matter, 
 whencesoever derived, acts as a mechanical and chemical irritant ; 
 through the effect of which substances which should find their
 
 THE BATH. 93 
 
 natural outlet through the skin burden the lungs and kidneys to 
 their great detriment. 
 
 Apart from the agency derived from its mere chemical 
 nature, water produces different effects according to its tempera- 
 ture, the manner of its application, and the constitution of the 
 individual. At a temperature from seventy-five to eighty-five, 
 Fahrenheit, water has no specific effect upon the human system, 
 either as a stimulant or a depressant. When the temperature is 
 raised to one hundred, the first effect experienced is stimulant; 
 but if the application be much prolonged, the effect becomes pro- 
 foundly depressant. The impression produced by warm water 
 on the nerves of the skin causes dilatation of the cutaneous 
 blood-vessels, and therefore an increased flow of blood to the 
 surface of the body. Then radiation of heat from the distended 
 vessels (if the surrounding atmosphere, upon getting out of the 
 bath, be lower), produces a reduction of the temperature of the 
 body. 
 
 On the contrary, speaking of a cold bath, its first effect is 
 the contraction of the surface blood-vessels, and the consequent 
 repelling of heat from the surface of the body to its interior. 
 Subsequently, when getting out of such a bath, occurs, in the 
 case of the healthy and robust, not in those of the opposite con- 
 dition, what is called reaction. The blood which had been re- 
 pelled from the surface rapidly returns to it, and a pleasant 
 sensation of warmth and exhilaration is experienced. With this 
 sensation are immediately combined increased respiration and 
 general circulation and the nutritive, glandular, and muscular 
 organs receive stimulus. It follows, from what has been said, 
 that the distinctively cold bath is adapted only to the robust. 
 The weakly are depressed by it; they have no reaction, they 
 emerge from it shivering, with livid lips. 
 
 The benefits of the cold bath are obtained in the highest 
 degree in the ocean's surf. A number of circumstances generally 
 contribute to this: the stimulation of the skin, owing to the 
 chemical constitution of sea-water; the impact of the waves
 
 94 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 upon the person of the bather; the freedom of movement in 
 exercise; and, generally, chosen companionship. Besides these, 
 is the influence of brightness, sea-air, and the view of the ocean's 
 expanse. To derive perfect benefit from this kind of bathing, 
 however, the water should be left before the stage of immersion 
 has been reached when the possibility of reaction of the system 
 from cold has passed away. Even to some persons of tolerable 
 health, but delicate physique, reaction is tardy in taking place, 
 or wholly absent, and to these ocean-bathing is never advan- 
 tageous. 
 
 Struck by the combination of the apparently rude health and 
 the bedaubed skins of some of the children reared in squalid por- 
 tions of large cities, people have sometimes asked what detri- 
 ment from dirt these children have suffered. Their immunity 
 is not so real as it may seem. In so far as it exists it is attribu- 
 table solely to the influence of the relatively out-door life of these 
 children as compared with that of many other children. But 
 be not deceived by casual observation of such children. It is the 
 select few who are really lusty as children. Others near by are 
 bedridden, in small, ill-ventilated and dirty rooms, suffering 
 from hip-disease, abscesses, affections of the bones, what not; 
 the consequences of unhealthy surroundings, innutritive or in- 
 sufficient food, and general unhygienic modes of life. The lusty 
 children seen upon the streets have many sick brothers and 
 sisters ; and some of those now upon the streets are liable in time 
 to encounter their temporary or permanent fate. These are 
 the kind of children upon whom scrofula often sets its disfigur- 
 ing marks. Scrofula runs riot in the dirty, narrow alleys of large 
 cities. Yet its outbreaks may often be prevented, and are always 
 mitigated, by ventilation, food, exercise, and cleanliness. 
 
 A very striking illustration of the consequences of insuffi- 
 cient food and anxiety was afforded by the physical condition of 
 children born in Paris during its siege by the Germans in the 
 Franco-Prussian war. Mention has been made in a previous 
 chapter of the stunted generation of Paris following the siege,
 
 THE BATH. 95 
 
 called "the children of the siege;" but this now relates to the 
 diseases to which they were heirs at birth. Monsieur Legrand 
 du Saulle published the results of his observation of ninety-two 
 children born during the siege. Of this number, sixty-four 
 were deficient, either in mind or body. He divides these sixty- 
 four into three groups. In the first, numbering thirty-five, he 
 found children with retreating foreheads, scrofula, strabismus 
 (cross-eyes), club-foot, incontinence of urine, and rachitis 
 (rickets). In the second group, numbering twenty-one, were 
 presented moroseness, apathy, inability to fix the attention, semi- 
 imbecility, and idiocy. In the third group, numbering eight, 
 were observed wilfulness, viciousness, quarrelsomeness, and 
 egotistical qualities. 
 
 Baths are called general or partial, according as the whole 
 body, or only a portion of it, is immersed. The general bath 
 may be taken in a tub, or if, for any reason, this method is 
 not practicable, by what is called the sponge-bath, because the 
 whole body is bathed with a wetted sponge. In any case, the 
 water itself should be regulated in temperature according to the 
 season of the year, the physical condition of the bather, and the 
 object for which the bath is taken. For purposes of cleanliness, 
 the bather being in good health, the water should be tepid. 
 In winter, the bath may be taken somewhat warmer than in 
 spring or autumn, and in summer may be advantageously taken 
 cold. For those to whom the shock of entering cold water is 
 unpleasant, it is a good plan to fill the bath-tub with lukewarm 
 water, and when the body is immersed in that, gradually to 
 lower the temperature by the cold water faucet, until the water 
 becomes of the degree of coolness indicated by experience for com- 
 fort. In summer it is very refreshing, and also conducive to 
 sleep, to take a cool bath just before going to bed. In winter, a 
 slightly warmer bath just before retiring, is conducive to sleep. 
 Warm baths are soothing to the nervous system; so much so, 
 that children taken squalling with colic out of bed and plunged 
 therein are often instantly relieved of pain by the process.
 
 96 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 There may be some slight danger among extremely deli- 
 cate persons in taking general baths in winter, unless they adopt 
 the following simple precautions, which, knowing, they would 
 be foolish not to adopt. Bathe in tepid water, dry the skin 
 thoroughly with towels, take a little calisthenic exercise to pro- 
 mote circulation, pass from the bath, if through cooler atmos- 
 phere than that of its room, protected by a morning-gown, or by 
 something thrown around the shoulders; and then, before ven- 
 turing into the cold street, wait for the acquisition by the body of 
 about the same surrounding temperature as that before the 
 bath was taken. These remarks apply, of course, only to the 
 bathing of persons of an extremely feeble habit of body. 
 
 There is no recommendation here of bathing in ice-cold 
 water. The writer well remembers the braggadocio of a young 
 man who plumed himself upon breaking a skim of ice prepara- 
 tory to taking his daily morning bath. He proved to be con- 
 stitutionally a very weak young man, whose early death must 
 have been hastened by his imprudence. The sensations of the 
 bather are a much safer test than the thermometer, of the tem- 
 perature at which a bath should be taken. It should never be 
 forgotten, however, that when the constitution is good, its 
 resistant power is increased. Its reaction is evidence of the fact 
 that it is invigorated by the administration of moderately cold 
 water : that is, by what we call cool water. 
 
 Shower-baths and douches are sometimes very beneficial to 
 the system. They arouse reaction by the force with which the 
 water strikes against the skin. The douche is best applied by 
 means of a rubber hose attached to a faucet, terminating in a 
 broad nozzle. By it, a heavy stream can be directed against any 
 part of the body. Some nozzles are so constructed as to change 
 the jet from a single stream to a spray; and, again, there are 
 manufactured nozzles of different calibers. The influence of the 
 douche is to increase the depth of breathing, strengthening the 
 action of the heart, and augmentation of the secretions. 
 
 There are many persons, especially in large cities, who,
 
 THE BATH. 97 
 
 although they may not be looked upon by themselves or by others 
 as distinctively invalids, are nevertheless, in a very low condition 
 of health. They go about, transact business, take part in social 
 affairs, but at considerable stress upon their small vitality. Too 
 often their persistence in enforced activities proves the forerun- 
 ner, the entering wedge, of their collapse. Slight functional de- 
 rangements gradually become converted into severe organic and 
 irremediable maladies. Much can be accomplished even in such 
 cases, by strict regulation of habits, the observance of perfectly 
 hygienic modes of life. They should be instructed as to the 
 best mode to pursue for securing all the strength and elasticity of 
 body of which their constitutions are capable. The employment 
 of water, for example, is most desirable in the treatment of dis- 
 ease. When circumstances do not admit of total immersion of 
 the body, an advantageous procedure is found in the application 
 to it of the wet sponge. The sponge is pressed upon and rubbed 
 along the body and the little streams trickling from it produce 
 a most grateful sensation. Benefit from the sponge-bath is in- 
 creased by sitting or standing in the hip-bath tub or in the ordi- 
 nary bath-tub. After the body has been liberally flooded with 
 water, the lather of soap can be pleasantly applied and finally 
 washed away with plain water. An incidental advantage of the 
 sponge-bath for delicate persons is that it may be applied upon 
 different parts without exposing the whole body at the same 
 time. 
 
 When the general bath is used, and, above all, the shower- 
 bath, women should protect their hair from wet by an oil-skin 
 cap. After bathing they should thoroughly dry the skin with 
 a rough towel, and stimulate it by the use of the flesh-brush. 
 It is not, however, desirable to employ towels so harsh as to 
 rasp the skin, or flesh-brushes that are exceedingly stiff in their 
 bristles. A huckaback or a Turkish towel makes a very good ap- 
 pliance for the bathroom. The good effect of the bath upon the 
 secretions and circulation of the skin, its nerves and respiratory 
 function, and the general nutrition of the body is attested by the 
 
 7
 
 98 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 pleasurable sensation accompanying and following its admin- 
 istration. 
 
 By reason of the exercise and other features of sea-bathing, 
 already enumerated, prolonged enjoyment of it may eventuate in 
 a frame fatigued, chilled, and weakened. While it is admitted 
 that sea-baths are highly beneficial if taken with prudence, that 
 they promote appetite, digestion, and general health, it must 
 also be confessed that they are generally abused. It is too much 
 the practice of persons to remain in the water long after the 
 stage of possible reaction has passed. The skin has become 
 cold and shrunken ; that is easily seen on the finger-tips, and the 
 lips have become either pale or livid. It is only with reasonable 
 self-control that surf-bathing is advantageous, and then only to 
 those who are either without any actual disease, or who have 
 not been debilitated by long, continuous labor of some sort. 
 Violent diarrhoeas have been known to occur from long and 
 repeated immersions in sea-water. Cases have been known 
 where women went into the ocean three times in a single day. 
 Sea-bathing is, nevertheless, beneficial, if judiciously employed, 
 even in the cases of persons who have recently risen from an 
 exhaustive illness, and consumptives are often invigorated by 
 it. The persons who are most improved or relieved by it are 
 those whose disease is either quite stationary, or, at least, seems 
 to make little progress. When lungs, however, are actually 
 undergoing degeneration, as evidenced by cough and expectora- 
 tion, afternoon fever, and night-sweats, surf-bathing is most 
 scrupulously to be avoided. 
 
 Persons should not bathe in tubs, river, or sea, while the 
 act of digestion after a meal is going on. It is best to allow 
 an hour, better, three hours, after eating, before entering the 
 water. Without this precaution the digestion is seriously dis- 
 turbed. The fashionable hour at the seaside, unless on shores 
 where low-water makes that time impracticable, is eleven o'clock 
 in the morning. It is an hour which well accords with what is 
 prescribed by physiology; the stomach, by that time after the
 
 THE BATH. 99 
 
 usual hour of breakfast, having mainly digested and absorbed 
 its food and being comparatively empty. 
 
 As mankind must have had its rise in tropical, semi-tropical, 
 or, at least, in warm climates, the cosmetic and the hygienic 
 advantages of bathing must have been early discovered by the 
 human race. Savage tribes, although not always punctillious 
 regarding cleanliness, generally recognize the tonic and pleasur- 
 able effects of bathing in moving water. An observer, of some 
 forty odd years ago, saw that some of the Indian women of the 
 Northwest Pacific Coast daily retired to sequestered spots on 
 the shore, and there bathed. He also observed that they then 
 put on again their soiled and greasy garments; but, poor 
 creatures, that is not to be set down to their discredit, for they 
 had no other clothes than those which they were wearing. So it 
 has been with many other savages. The people of the Hawaiian 
 Islands have been known, from the earliest time at which their 
 acquaintance as pure savages was made, to be extraordinarily 
 addicted to bathing and swimming. It surely is greatly prefer- 
 able to put on dirty clothes over sweet skins, than to cover dirty 
 skins with fine clothes, as is well known to physicians to be 
 a condition not infrequent in the midst of the highest civilization. 
 
 Savages who dwell near the margins of rivers and the sea- 
 coast become expert swimmers. The proximity of alligators, 
 crocodiles, hippopotami, and sharks does not always deter them 
 from entering the water. They even become so familiar with the 
 element in such places, and with the habits of the dangerous 
 creatures that frequent it, that they therein wage war with them 
 with nearly as much confidence as with the ferocious animals that 
 inhabit the land. The Polynesian Islanders, men, women, and 
 children, almost live in the ocean, tireless in swimming, and take 
 the greatest delight in tossing through a heavy surf. 
 
 Civilized people always did, but do so now more than ever, 
 recognize the value of water as serving the purposes of cleanliness 
 and health. The laws of Moses mention conditions in which 
 bathing shall be performed as a religious rite, associated with
 
 IOO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 moral purification. The influence of constant bathing in pro- 
 tecting the ancient Jews from prevalent diseases of the skin 
 must have been great. It was the custom in Palestine for the 
 wealthier classes there to have private bathrooms in their homes. 
 Public bath-houses were furnished to the poor. Other races of 
 antiquity associated personal bodily purity with moral purifica- 
 tion. Bathing was a consecrated ceremonial, as well as a mode 
 of securing personal cleanliness, practiced among the Egyptians. 
 Mention is made of the bath in their earliest written records. 
 In the Biblicial account of the discovery of the infant, Moses, 
 in the bullrushes, we read that "the daughter of Pharaoh came 
 down to wash herself in the river." Ancient East Indian litera- 
 ture refers to bathing in the river Ganges as a common practice. 
 The Greeks were early addicted to bathing and swimming. 
 References to the practice are found in Homer. The houses 
 of the wealthier Athenians, in later times, were furnished with 
 bath-rooms, and subsequently public baths were established. 
 The immoderate use of the warm bath was regarded by the 
 Greeks as a sign of effeminacy. The great luxury of the baths 
 of Persia excited the admiration of Alexander the Great when 
 he invaded that empire. 
 
 The elaborate development of the bath, at the time of Rome 
 under the Empire, can never be surpassed. In the early days 
 of the Roman Republic, bathing in the river Tiber was the usual 
 practice among Rome's citizens. Shakespeare, it will be remem- 
 bered, represents Caesar as swimming across the Tiber, and, fail- 
 ing in strength, calling upon Cassius to save him from drowning. 
 When the city of Rome had greatly extended its bounds, and 
 great quantities of water were brought into it by the immense 
 aqueducts constructed, and then distributed through pipes, pri- 
 vate and public bathing apartments were built. At first cold 
 water was exclusively used, but as the people gradually lost their 
 hardiness, luxury grew, and the warm bath became popular. 
 Magnificent bathing establishments were erected, not only in 
 Rome, but in the principal cities of the Roman provinces. The
 
 THE BATH. IOI 
 
 public baths became resorts for people assembled, not only for the 
 purpose of bathing, but for that of social intercourse and political 
 discussion. Some of the structures were of immense size, and 
 within their enclosure were sometimes gardens, rows of trees, 
 lounging and reading-rooms, theatres, spaces for games, etc., 
 and admission to their palatial establishment was charged for 
 at very low prices. At times, an Emperor, in order to ingratiate 
 himself with the populace, would make the bath free to all with- 
 out cost. Immense amounts were lavished on their establish- 
 ments, which contained not only swimming and warm water 
 baths, but hot air and vapor baths. There were dressing-rooms 
 from which the bathers passed successively into a cool apartment, 
 thence into a moderately heated one, and finally into the hot 
 room situated immediately over the furnaces. These contained 
 both water and vapor baths. 
 
 An ingenious and effective system was in use in the Roman 
 baths by which water was heated and the temperature of separate 
 rooms regulated with precision. The body of the intending 
 bather was annointed before entering the water, and the trans- 
 ition from hot to cold rooms was arranged so as to be scarcely 
 perceptible to the feeling. The rooms were furnished with seats 
 at different elevations, and it was customary, for the sake of 
 exercise, to engage in various games, especially that of ball, in 
 passing from the dressing-room to the bathing-room. Whenever 
 hot natural springs were found within their territories, the 
 Romans were accustomed to utilize them and thus save the 
 expense of heating bathing-water. Besides these great public 
 baths in the cities, were smaller ones where private bathing- 
 rooms could be hired. And then, as already mentioned, there 
 were the strictly private bath-rooms in the homes of citizens 
 of Rome. 
 
 Gibbon, the historian, gives the following brief description 
 of the bath-houses of ancient Rome: "The stupendous aque- 
 ducts, so justly celebrated by Augustus himself, replenished the 
 Thermae, or baths, which had been constructed in every part
 
 IO2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of the city with imperial magnificance. The baths of Antonius 
 Caracalla, which were open at stated hours for the indiscriminate 
 service of the senators and the people, contained about sixteen 
 hundred seats of marble; and more than three thousand were 
 reckoned in the baths of Diocletian. The walls of the lofty 
 apartments were covered with curious mosaics, that imitated the 
 art of the pencil in the elegance of the design and the variety 
 of colors. The Egyptian granite was beautifully encrusted with 
 the precious green marble of Numidia; the perpetual stream of 
 hot water was poured into the capacious basins through so 
 many wide mouths of bright and massy silver ; and the meanest 
 Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily en- 
 joyment of a scene of pomp and luxury which might excite the 
 envy of the Kings of Asia." 
 
 So enormous was the size of these edifices that the enclos- 
 ing walls of the baths of Caracalla made an area of about 
 a sixteenth of a mile square ; that is, of about a quarter of a mile 
 long on each side. A single room became there converted, in 
 Christian times, into a large church. A Latin writer of the 
 fourth century speaks, in describing the visit of the Byzantine 
 Emperor to Rome, of "the spacious baths spreading around like 
 provinces." 
 
 After the fall of Roman power, these immense bath es- 
 tablishments could no longer be financially maintained. On ac- 
 count of the abuses with which they were often connected, they 
 were discountenanced by the early Christians, who practiced 
 ablution, not for pleasure, but solely for the sake of cleanliness 
 and health. Baths were, however, continued at Alexandria and 
 other large cities. 
 
 Scrupulous cleanliness being enjoined by Mahomet, Arabs 
 and Turks adopted the bathing practices which were prevalent 
 in Egypt. The transitions of the Turkish bath from warm to 
 hot apartments, in copious perspiration, cold affusions, and mas- 
 sage, are familiar to most readers. This species of bathing was 
 introduced into mediaeval Europe by the Crusaders, after expe-
 
 THE BATH. 103 
 
 rience of Eastern customs when seeking to recover the Holy 
 Sepulchre. The Russian bath is of well-defined character. The 
 undressed bather is escorted into a room surrounded by a wooden 
 platform that rises in steps nearly to the ceiling. He lies down 
 upon one of the lower degrees just made, and gradually ascends 
 to the higher and hotter ones; the heat of the room becoming, 
 of course, greater and greater towards the ceiling. Vapor for 
 the apartment is produced by throwing water upon glowing hot 
 stones. The temperature is between one hundred and forty and 
 one hundred and forty-five degrees, Fahrenheit. At the first of 
 its administration, a slight sensation of suffocation may be ex- 
 perienced; but, if so, it soon passes away with the flow of 
 profuse perspiration. A much simpler and more agreeable 
 mode of the administration of the Russian bath the writer 
 once saw in San Francisco, California. The greatesjt objection 
 to a common apartment for all bathers, indiscriminately, is that 
 they are enveloped in the same cloud of vapor, which must, 
 therefore, hold microscopical particles from the skin exposed to 
 it, which particles must, therefore, be taken in with the breath 
 of the bathers. It is not an agreeable idea to have so promiscu- 
 ous a bath, even if it be not, in the feature mentioned, deleterious. 
 But apart from the question, supposing the hot vapor to be per- 
 fectly pure, it is neither agreeable to breathe it, nor is breath- 
 ing it conducive to more efficacy in the vapor bath. The appli- 
 ance in San Francisco was simply a roomy box which opened 
 with folding doors up to the height of about four feet, whence 
 it slanted off towards the apex. The bather stepped inside, after 
 the folding doors were opened, and took his seat on a bench at 
 the back of the box ; the doors were then closed, a wooden cov- 
 ering applied to the slant of the box above them, and finally, 
 at the apex, two light boards, each reamed out to a half circle at 
 its end, were slid in position to enclose his neck, between the 
 edges of which and the neck a towel was neatly tucked. So the 
 bather sat, secure from the fumes of vapor, whether plain or 
 medicated, with his head out in the pleasant atmosphere of the
 
 IO4 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 room, while his right hand controlled the stop-cock for vapor, 
 which he could administer to any degree of heat that suited 
 the fancy. This, followed by massage, and a most soothing nap 
 under a blanket in a cool spot, made such an enjoyment as would 
 be fit for the gods. 
 
 Both the Turkish and the Russian baths (the Turkish one 
 not being vaporous) are valuable, not only as a means of cleanli- 
 ness, but on account of the luxurious sensations by which they 
 are followed. Discreetly used, they are conducive to health, and, 
 indeed, have the power to put a sudden stop to some forms of 
 illness. They are, however, inappropriate and even dangerous 
 to persons with weak hearts, or with tendency of blood to the 
 head. In the former, they may cause collapse, and in the latter, 
 apoplexy. There is another qualification, too, regarding their 
 use, mention of which should not be omitted. They raise the 
 temperature of the cuticle to so high a point, and leave it so 
 acutely sensitive, that the bather cannot, without a long period 
 of gradually cooling off, after indulging in either of them, go 
 into the winter air without incurring the greatest risk. The 
 benefit of the vapor bath was discovered even by the savage 
 Indians of North America. They built air-tight ovens close to 
 the margin of a stream, filled it with vapor from water thrown 
 on red-hot stones ; and when they were in the most profuse per- 
 spiration, threw themselves into the river and vigorously swam. 
 Had they not exercised violently, their baths would have done 
 them more harm than good, would perhaps have been fatal. 
 
 The Japanese are fonder of bathing than are any people 
 of modern times of whom we know. They are much addicted 
 to the use of hot baths. To this practice of theirs some writers 
 ascribe their remarkable immunity from rheumatism. But this 
 is not a legitimate conclusion. Hot baths do sometimes relieve 
 the pains of chronic rheumatism, but climate and idiosyncrasy 
 of the individual have more to do than any practice in bathing 
 with susceptibility to rheumatism. There are other diseases 
 from which the Japanese and other Asiatics are notably free.
 
 THE BATH. IO5 
 
 Scarlet fever is unknown among the natives of Japan and Hindo- 
 stan. 
 
 Cold water is much less efficient than warm water for se- 
 curing cleanliness. It is, however, more tonic than warm water, 
 and, with facilities for bathing of the modern sort, warm water 
 can be used for its cleansing and cold water, following it, for its 
 tonic quality. The film, of which we have previously spoken 
 here as tending to form on the body, consisting of a mixture 
 of pellicles of dead scarf-skin and fatty matter and various de- 
 posits from within and without, composed of organic and inor- 
 ganic substances, cannot all be dissolved by cold water. But some 
 substances do not readily dissolve even in warm water. There- 
 fore, for a perfectly cleansing bath is needed a substance capable 
 of making a solution of any foreign substances, especially oily 
 matters, present on the skin. This substance is a properly pre- 
 pared, pure soap. 
 
 Soap is a combination of fatty substance with alkali, such 
 as soda, and, as such, is soluble in water. In addition to its re- 
 moving dirt, the friction accompanying its application stimulates 
 the circulation and tone of the skin. The water used should not 
 be very hot nor the soap be too frequently nor lavishly used. 
 Good soap should be of neutral reaction; that is, it should con- 
 tain but little free alkali alkali combined with fat. An exact 
 combination of fat and alkali, by chemical skill, produces a soap 
 of neutral reaction, or, in other words, a soap that is neither 
 distinctively acid nor alkaline. The precise result is, however, 
 seldom or never attained in the manufacture of a soap. We must 
 try, in choosing a soap, to obtain the nearest approach to it. 
 The presence in soap of an excessive amount of alkali acts upon 
 the skin as an irritant, and may even produce on it a caustic 
 effect. Less alkali may still be injurious in the same way, but in 
 lesser degree, by dissolving the fai of the scarf-skin, leaving it 
 dry, harsh, and easily disposed to crack. Many soaps sold for 
 toilet use are attractive to sight and smell, but are no more fit 
 to be used upon the skin than is laundry soap. The essential
 
 IO6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 oils often used to give an agreeable perfume to toilet soap, are 
 often irritant to the skin. The same remark may frequently be 
 applied to the pigments which afford the brilliant colors employed 
 in soaps to attract the eye of purchasers. Cocoanut-oil soap is 
 undesirable for the toilet on account of its requiring a large 
 amount of alkali to saponify the oil. The finished product re- 
 tains a surplusage of lye, besides other irritants, and the oil 
 itself is extremely liable to decomposition. The single advan- 
 tage that cocoanut-oil soap has over other soaps is that it dis- 
 solves in salt water, and therefore may, on occasions, be more 
 useful than any other at sea. Hence it is often called the marine 
 soap. 
 
 Many soaps that are sold for the toilet contain injurious 
 adulterations which seriously diminish their usefulness. Resin 
 is one of their commonest impurities, being introduced in soaps 
 because it has the effect of saponifying fat with the minimum 
 expenditure of soda. The presence in soap of a considerable 
 amount of resin is decidedly irritant to a delicate skin. Other 
 substances often added to soap are pearl-ash, silicate of soda, 
 starch, sugar, and an excess of common salt. These ingredients 
 are either harmful in themselves, or are transformed by com- 
 bination with soda-lye into deleterious substances. So-called 
 transparent glycerin soaps are frequently made without a particle 
 of glycerin, their transparency being produced by the introduc- 
 tion of sugar in them, of which article they may contain even a 
 larger quantity than of soapy material. Such adulterations 
 are useless for cleansing purposes and may be positively injurious 
 to the skin. 
 
 A number of oleaginous and demulcent, or even slightly 
 stimulant substances may make very acceptable additions to soap 
 intended for toilet use. These, equally distributed through the 
 mass, and mingling with the lather, produce both a softening 
 and tonic effect as distinguished from the detergent, the cleans- 
 ing action of the soap. Lanolin, for instance, is a peculiar kind 
 of fat obtained from sheep's wool. It possesses the admirable
 
 THE BATH. 
 
 property among fats of being less liable than they to decompo- 
 sition. For softening the skin, it may be used either in the form 
 of composition with a soap, or as what is called "lanolin-milk." 
 Lanolin-milk is prepared by mixing seventy-five grains of lanolin 
 with about a fluidounce of water, gently heating the mixture, 
 and adding to it sixty grains of neutral soap dissolved in a 
 fluidounce of water. The whole is then thoroughly mixed, 
 enough warm water added to it to make about twelve fluidounces, 
 and the mass thoroughly shaken in a bottle. Pure lanolin is 
 white and has scarcely any odor. When added to soap, it neu- 
 tralizes any solvent or irritant action due to the presence 
 in it of too much alkali. A pure glycerin soap is an excellent 
 preparation for the skin, especially in the winter, when the 
 hands have a tendency to become chapped. It should contain, 
 if properly made, equal quantities of pure, hard soap and glycerin. 
 An excess of glycerin dissolves the soap and produces in it a 
 feeble lather. Some good soaps contain bran, oatmeal, marsh- 
 mallow, and pine-needle extract. In concluding the subject, 
 it is advisable to remark, that although soap is needful for the 
 removal of bodily impurities, an excessive use of it is objection- 
 able, and that it may even cause tetter. Water is capable, when 
 combined with certain substances, of exciting the skin to eczema. 
 Inactivity or torpidity of the liver is a very common affec- 
 tion, and manifests itself in a sallow complexion, impairment 
 of appetite and digestion, depression of spirits, and sometimes 
 in eruptions and itching of the skin. The concomitant, slug- 
 gish circulation of the blood through the liver is stimulated by 
 bathing, through its attraction of blood to the surface of the 
 body. When blood flows more actively through the liver, its 
 cells become more plentifully supplied with their needed food 
 of oxygen, and beginning to resume more effectively their re- 
 tarded labors, digestion and general nutrition of the body are 
 improved. Bathing, under proper regulations, is beneficial in 
 anaemia, obesity, chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, St. Vitus's 
 dance, and other nervous maladies. The systematic employment
 
 IO8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of water in various diseases has of late years engaged the care- 
 ful attention of physicians, and it has been found of great ser- 
 vice in a number of constitutional disorders, acute and chronic. 
 These cases, however, demand the attendance of a medical man ; 
 the administration of bathing for them should be entirely by his 
 prescription. 
 
 Diseases of the skin fall within the category of those devia- 
 tions from health which, ordinarily, do not prevent attention to 
 business. But they often expose the sufferer to an amount of 
 mortification out of proportion to their real severity, and this is 
 particularly so in the cases of young women. Many of these 
 cases are chronic in their nature. Pimples, known as acne to 
 the medical profession, can be treated advantageously by the 
 application to the skin of water as hot as it can be borne. The 
 treatment is particularly useful in the most inveterate form 
 of the disease, where the pimples are large, hard, and of a dark 
 red color. 
 
 Hot water baths are valuable when the perspiratory function 
 is deranged. There are cases in which the perspiration is more 
 or less suppressed, which affection may involve only a part ; or, 
 again, the whole surface is affected, feels dry and rough to the 
 touch, and itches and burns. This affection is medically known 
 as anidrosis. It is generally caused by some impairment of the 
 health, and is, therefore, simply one of the symptoms of constitu- 
 tional impairment from some underlying malady. Its treat- 
 ment should therefore be made to depend upon assignment 
 of its particular cause, and that no one but a physician is com- 
 petent to assign. The use of hot water baths has, however, 
 a beneficial effect in its treatment, inasmuch as they have good 
 influence in restoring the glands to their suspended functions. 
 
 There is an opposite physical condition to the one just 
 described, and yet for which the same treatment is applicable. 
 This is known medically as hyperdrosis, or excessive perspira- 
 tion. It, too, may occur only on certain portions of the body, 
 or it may involve the whole surface. It is a disorder very apt
 
 THE BATH. IOO, 
 
 to attack the face, hands, and feet. Sometimes abundant per- 
 spiration will break out upon one side of the face, the other side 
 remaining perfectly dry. The palms of the hands may persist in 
 being moist, however carefully dried. They become white and 
 wrinkled, cold and clammy to the touch. The hot bath and the 
 hot douche are beneficial when the nerves of the skin are in the 
 unhealthy condition indicated by these symptoms. 
 
 Neuralgia of the skin may occasion mere tenderness or 
 great pain. It may be so severe, that the slightest touch of the 
 clothing can scarcely be borne. Itching of the skin is not infre- 
 quently so constant and violent as to produce great distress. It 
 may be caused by various derangements of the nervous system, 
 and by any bad habit which saps vitality. It may also result from 
 rheumatism, gout, emotional shock, or from disease of any of the 
 principal organs of the body, and is common in extreme old age. 
 It is unaccompanied by any observable alteration in the skin 
 except that produced by the inevitable scratching for relief. All 
 of the diseases and symptoms named may be relieved or cured 
 by the application of water at various temperatures to the skin. 
 A number of cutaneous affections are characterized by the 
 formation of pustules on the skin. These vary consider- 
 ably in size, and, eventually rupturing, form crusts. Inflam- 
 matory sensation from them is alleviated, the fall of the crusts 
 hastened, and healing promoted by the use of warm baths. In 
 many forms of tetter, and even in more severe forms of skin-dis- 
 eases, the same treatment is beneficial. 
 
 When a person in whose case a Russian bath is prescribed, 
 is unable to leave home to go to a public bath-house, a domestic 
 substitute for its application can easily be extemporized. Let 
 the patient be stripped and placed upon a cane-seated chair, and 
 covered from head to foot with blankets from the neck down- 
 ward. A spirit-lamp, above which rests a can of water, is then 
 to be lighted, with precaution, under the chair; whereupon, 
 vapor will soon be generated in sufficient quantities for the 
 purpose in view. Drinking plentifully of water at the same time
 
 110 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 assists the flow of perspiration. Time may be saved by having 
 the water first heated near to the boiling point. In a few minutes 
 copious perspiration is induced. When this has lasted for a few 
 minutes, the blankets are removed, and then the patient may enter 
 a tepid bath, or he may be tucked in bed under blankets and con- 
 tinue the perspiring process. This mode of curing a cold, except 
 the item in it of the vapor, is called in Maine, taking a "rum 
 sweat." It retains the name of "rum" because New England, 
 in what are called in America "old times," knew scarcely any 
 other spirituous liquor. Even now, when, in New England it is 
 intended to stigmatize a man for too much drinking, he is said 
 to take too much rum, although his beverage may be in fact, and 
 is most likely to be, whiskey. But to return to the question of 
 the treatment. The writer once saw a man in Maine with so bad 
 a cold that he spoke' in a whisper, and yet was perfectly well 
 the next day after having taken a "rum sweat." 
 
 A vapor bath can be given a bedridden person by wrapping 
 two or three hot bricks in moistened flannel and placing them 
 under the bed-clothes; by which means an abundant perspira- 
 tion may be produced. This is a reliable method in the treatment 
 of many diseases. It needs, however, the advice of a physician 
 to render it safe. 
 
 What is known as the "cold wet-pack" is an excellent 
 method for obtaining the therapeutic benefit of water. In this, 
 water is administered by protecting, with india-rubber cloth, the 
 mattress upon which the patient lies. A sheet is then saturated 
 with cold water, wrung out, drawn under the body of the pa- 
 tient, and its sides folded over and tucked in under him. The 
 heat emitted by the body, especially in fevers, soon converts the 
 water into vapor, and copious perspiration ensues. When 
 patients are weak and nervous and shrink from the shock of a 
 cold general bath, the cold wet-pack is a very valuable substitute 
 for it. It causes at first less chill than the other, and the heat 
 of the body soon warms the sheet. 
 
 Water is sometimes usefully applied by means of the douche,
 
 THE BATH. Ill 
 
 or constant stream poured upon a certain portion of the body. 
 The force with which the liquid strikes the surface can easily 
 be regulated. The douche stimulates the action of the skin and 
 has a beneficial influence upon deeper parts. It should never be 
 applied very long at a time, especially in the case of persons of 
 nervous temperament. It may be used with advantage in cases 
 of sunstroke, fevers, headache, neuralgia, and chronic rheu- 
 matism, and has a decided influence in allaying and removing 
 itching. Cold baths are valuable in the treatment of fevers, 
 inflammatory affections, rickets, sunstroke, etc. 
 
 In the summer diarrhoea of children, so often fatal to 
 infants in large cities, the lining membrane of the bowels is in 
 a condition of irritation or of positive inflammation. The skin 
 is hot and dry from fever. The little sufferers turn from food 
 with disgust, or else throw it up soon after it is eaten. The 
 application of cold water to them under these threatened condi- 
 tions has been found useful. The illness is directly or indirectly 
 caused by heat. The interior of the body is suffering from a 
 surplus of heat, by reason of the active changes that accompany 
 inflammation of the bowels. Abstraction of heat from it is there- 
 fore urgently demanded in the crisis. This object is accomplished 
 by placing the children so attacked in a moderately cold bath, 
 or by applying repeatedly to the abdomen (the belly) a fold 
 of linen cloth wrung out in cold water. The warm bath relieves 
 pain and spasms. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of bathing, it may be interest- 
 ing for the general reader to be told something authentically 
 about the "Kneipp Cure," which originated in Germany and 
 spread to some extent thence to other countries. It was intro- 
 duced by a German parish priest, named Kneipp, whose prin- 
 cipal agencies recommended for the cure of disease are cold 
 water douches, foot-baths, head-baths, and sitting-baths. When 
 cold water is given by him in the form of drink, it is often an 
 infusion, or a decoction of alcoholic tinctures. He insists that 
 the body shall be trained by exposure to air, whether or not asso-
 
 112 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ciated with ice-cold water. Children, he thinks, should go with- 
 out shoes or stockings. Adults, he thinks, should, even in 
 winter's snow, walk barefooted. The snow required, however, 
 as he specifies, should be freshly fallen, sifting, fine as dust, and 
 there should be a piercing wind blowing. The time of a walk 
 in the snow should be, according to him, not over three or four 
 minutes. A walk in running water is supposed by him to have 
 a decidedly tonic effect on the system. Father Kneipp pre- 
 scribes a certain dietetic regimen in connection with his cold 
 water recommendations. 
 
 The virtues of an open-air life, activity, exposure in pro- 
 portion to robustness, frequent contact with the tonic influence 
 of cold water are incontestable. It needs no physician to con- 
 vince people of these facts. The experience of countless genera- 
 tions has borne witness to their truth. Such practices, how- 
 ever, cannot be indiscriminately used, nor used by anybody with- 
 out precaution. The best chance for their success is found in 
 robustness of constitution, and in their having been practiced 
 early in life. No doubt the body, but not everyone's body, can 
 be habituated to a certain amount of exposure, that is, it can 
 be by exposure what is popularly called "hardened." But safety 
 and benefit in the process depend upon the condition of the per- 
 son and the degree of exposure as related to that condition. To 
 take any person at random, say, a person in any way feeble 
 or temporarily enfeebled, and submit him to such stress as that 
 recommended by Father Kneipp, would certainly not harden, and 
 might prove fatal to him. If he should walk barefoot through 
 the snow in a piercing wind, he would be likely to acquire bron- 
 chitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, rheumatism, or some other severe 
 ailment. Enthusiastic, non-professional men may do good by 
 calling attention to the virtues of cold water, by banishing the 
 apparent dread of bathing which actuates many people. It 
 should, however, be known by them that cold water is therapeu- 
 tically a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. It is potent 
 for evil as well as for good. Alas ! fads are endless ! we have
 
 THE BATH. 113 
 
 ignoramuses that would teach us how to save our bodies, and 
 others, how to save our souls! In this country, the adoption of 
 Father Kneipp's method has not seemed to proceed further than 
 to induce some people to get up at daylight and walk barefoot 
 through the morning dew. There are no known bounds to 
 human credulity. It may never occur to such persons to think 
 that it may not have been the dew or the barefootedness that 
 may have done them good, but the rising from over-indulgence 
 in sleep, the fresh air, the exercise, that gave them their appe- 
 tite for and digestion of the following breakfast.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 
 
 THE process and order of nature in digestion is this. The 
 blood is made and renovated by the food we consume and 
 the air we breathe. The blood, in turn, nourishes the body. 
 It remains to consider how the various solid and liquid sub- 
 stances which we use as food are converted into blood. To 
 account for this without going into difficult questions of chemis- 
 try is the object of the present chapter. 
 
 When the science of chemistry had sufficiently advanced 
 to enable experimenters to make analyses of organic bodies, 
 it was found that animal and vegetable substances are similar. 
 It was also found that vegetables have the wonderful property 
 of transforming inorganic matter, derived from the soil, into 
 organic matter; that is, matter having the attribute of life. 
 Directly from the vegetable world, and indirectly from the 
 lower animal world, we feed upon vegetables directly upon 
 vegetables as such, and indirectly upon them through our con- 
 sumption of the meat of animals which have been nourished on 
 them. Articles of food consist of the organic and the inorganic. 
 The organic part of it is formed of albumen, starch, sugar, fat. 
 The inorganic is formed of mineral salts. Besides, we consume 
 vegetable acids, present in fruits, and in a substance called pec- 
 tine, a jelly yielded by fruits and some other vegetable products. 
 Water, too, is indispensable to the processes of life, and must, 
 therefore, be reckoned a true food. The air, too, as effecting 
 through its oxygen a change in the blood, is regarded as a food. 
 Albumen has been called the physical basis of life. It is an 
 exceedingly complex substance, the highest product of organic 
 action, and is present in all the cells, tissues, and secretions of 
 the body. Produced from so many sources as it is, it should 
 not be deemed strange that it varies exceedingly in composition. 
 114
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 115 
 
 Thus the albumen of the white of the egg, which is regarded as 
 the typical form of albumen, is not the same as that of the yelk 
 of the egg, and both differ from the kind of albumen found 
 in butcher's meat. Flesh contains several, distinct forms of albu- 
 men. The albumen of milk is not identical with that from vege- 
 tables, and the albumen from the milk of different cows varies in 
 composition. Finally, not only does the albumen of the blood 
 differ from the kinds already mentioned, but no less than six- 
 teen kinds have been demonstrated as present in the human body. 
 Notwithstanding these facts, however, the differences among the 
 various kinds of albumen are comparatively slight, and relate 
 chiefly to the greater or less solubility of different specimens 
 of albumen and the various temperatures at which they coagu- 
 late under the application of heat. The white of the egg is 
 taken as the type of albumen because it is so well known as the 
 food of the developing chick. 
 
 Albumen in its usual form is insoluble in water, and coagu- 
 lates upon being heated. Every cook sees this when she boils 
 an egg, or empties a raw one into the frying-pan or hot water. 
 Our nutritive supply of albumen is chiefly obtained from the 
 meat and eggs which we eat, although a notable portion comes 
 from vegetable articles of diet. Certain vegetables are much 
 richer in it than are others, among which may be especially 
 mentioned peas and beans. But it is for other food-principles 
 that we depend upon vegetables; chemically, albumen consists 
 of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus, 
 combined in some cases with a trace of iron. Its constitution 
 is here pointed out to the reader with the object of indicating 
 a fundamental difference between it and other alimentary prin- 
 ciples. Fat, starch, and sugar are destitute of nitrogen. Or- 
 ganic foods are therefore divided into nitrogenous, embracing 
 the various kinds of albuminous substances, and the non-nitro- 
 genous, which include the fats, starches, and sugars. 
 
 Fats and oils agree in chemical composition, and differ 
 only in the condition of solidity or fluidity, which is sometimes
 
 Il6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 owing only to temperature. Like albumen, fat is Derived from 
 many sources, both animal and vegetable. In addition to the 
 fat of meat that overlies the muscular fibers, a large amount is 
 intimately mixed with the muscular tissue, and not recogniz- 
 able by the unassisted eye. A good deal of fat is contained in 
 eggs. The white of eggs consists almost exclusively of albumen 
 and water. On the other hand, nearly all the fat of the egg is 
 stored in the yelk, which contains much less nitrogenous matter 
 and water than does the white. The fatty portion of milk, that 
 is, cream, is extracted from it in forming butter. Cheese contains 
 much fat, though it is chiefly composed of albumen. Some kinds 
 of fish, especially salmon, mackerel, and eels, are rich in fat. 
 To some degree, fat is present in all the vegetables that come 
 to table. Nuts and olives contain a good deal of fatty matter. 
 
 Almost everyone is familiar with the appearance and with 
 some of the properties of starch. It is obtainable exclusively 
 from the vegetable kingdom. It consists of small oval or round- 
 ish particles in seeds, roots, stems, and in some fruits. The par- 
 ticles or granules form layer upon layer arranged around a cpm- 
 mon center, the outermost layer being of the hardest consistency 
 of all. The granules are not sensibly affected by cold water ; but 
 boiling water causes them to swell up, burst, and form the well- 
 known mucilaginous mixture used for laundry and other pur- 
 poses. Among the foods in which starch is particularly abun- 
 dant are wheat, rye, barley, oats, Indian-corn, buckwheat, and 
 rice. Starch forms about half in the composition of peas and 
 beans. White potatoes contain about a fifth of starch, sweet 
 potatoes, somewhat less. Various farinaceous (floury) prepar- 
 ations are commonly used for food, sago, tapioca, arrow-root, 
 corn-starch, etc. 
 
 Two types of sugar are recognized. These are known as 
 cane-sugar and grape-sugar. Their names point to their origin. 
 The beet contains about one-tenth of its weight in sugar; and, 
 upon the continent of Europe, the manufacture of beet-sugar is 
 prosecuted on a large scale. Grape-sugar, or glucose, commu-
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 1 17 
 
 nicates sweetness to grapes and other fruits. It is, however, 
 five times less sweet than cane-sugar. Besides using sugar in 
 the common commercial forms, white, brown, lump, powdered, 
 granulated, we eat it in the form of candies, syrup, molasses, 
 sorghum, maple-sugar, honey; it is even found in muscular 
 fiber. 
 
 The alimentary principles just noticed form the chief part of 
 our diet. Other substances belonging to it are of minor value 
 as nourishment, although they cannot be entirely dispensed with 
 in our physical economy. For instance, the vegetable acids pres- 
 ent in fruits, although not particularly nutritious, are of ser- 
 vice in preserving health. This is shown in one way by their 
 influence in averting scurvy, a disease which is seldom seen at 
 the present day, but which in former times committed great 
 ravages amongst soldiers and sailors. Since the cause of scurvy 
 has been ascertained, no ship puts to sea on a long voyage with- 
 out ample supply of lime-juice. In Dr. Kane's expedition 
 towards the north pole, the supply of potatoes came down to 
 a single one; scraped off little by little, it was doled out and 
 finished, in the interest of staving off scurvy. By the simple 
 addition of lime-juice to the stores for Arctic and other long 
 voyages, scurvy has almost disappeared from the earth. 
 
 Water is an indispensable constituent of our food, facilitat- 
 ing, as it does, the solution of the food in the process of its 
 absorption as blood. Blood is a watery liquid which holds nitro- 
 genous, fatty, starchy, saccharine, and other substances in solu- 
 tion. The first process of digestion is the reduction of these 
 various substances to liquid form. In so far as this is not at- 
 tained, the act of digestion is imperfectly performed, and symp- 
 toms appear indicative of its embarrassment. So long as articles 
 of food taken into the stomach remain undissolved, so long they 
 cannot traverse the walls of the stomach and bowels, to be ab- 
 sorbed by the blood. With the exception of sugar, all the nutri- 
 tious principles of food which have been named are insoluble in 
 water. It follows, that they must be so changed by the process
 
 Il8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of digestion that they will dissolve in water. To be digested, 
 the substances, insoluble in water as we imbibe them, are, or 
 ought to be, rendered soluble in the stomach, in order that they 
 may be taken up by the blood, then seized by the various tissues 
 of the body, and then deposited in the insoluble form of their 
 structure. 
 
 The manner in which this is accomplished will now be 
 stated as clearly as possible. Digestion of food is begun in 
 the mouth with saliva, continues in the stomach, and is com- 
 pleted in the small bowels. The preliminary for good diges- 
 tion is proper mastication of meat. It has been alleged that 
 Mr. Gladstone said he gave thirty-two chews to every morsel of 
 meat. If true, it would go to show either that he was unneces- 
 sarily particular, that his dental apparatus was not in good order, 
 or that the meat of England is particularly tough. Anyhow, true 
 or not, Americans can get along with less than thirty-two chews, 
 and like to have time to talk instead of counting in the inter- 
 vals of eating dinner. But, to return more particularly to our 
 subject, every one knows that when we wish to make any sub- 
 stance readily dissolve in water, we reduce it to powder, if pos- 
 sible. One of the first things that an apothecary's boy learns 
 is to pulverize substances before making them into fluid prepara- 
 tions. Now, the teeth are the instruments with which nature 
 furnishes us to convert our food into a more finely divided state 
 than that in which it is taken into the mouth. Since the nerves 
 of taste are distributed to the tongue, one should suppose that 
 prolonged contact with all the nerves of taste would be so pleas- 
 urable that mastication of food would be thoroughly performed. 
 This is, however, by no means general. Food is often hurriedly, 
 and therefore insufficiently, divided and hastily delivered into the 
 stomach in a condition unfit for the action of its gastric juices. 
 
 This is a frequent cause of dyspepsia. The habit of rapid 
 eating, sometimes of bolting food, may be the first link in a 
 chain leading to discomfort, misery, and death. There is no ex- 
 cuse for such a habit of eating. The dinner-time should be a
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 1 19 
 
 sacred hour for slow eating, interspersed with pleasant talk. 
 There are people who gorge like wild animals, breathing not a 
 word during the time of feeding. Nothing better characterizes 
 the difference between refinement and vulgarity than modes of 
 eating. In one, the process of eating is made to seem secondary 
 to social intercourse; in the other, it has no such seeming, but 
 the mere animal creature is revealed as a quite unsocial being. 
 Lads often begin the unhealthy practice of bolting their food by 
 lingering too long in bed and then trying to make up for lost 
 time. Merchants sometimes sacrifice their luncheon-hour to 
 business. In respect to this matter, laborers have an advantage 
 over the commercial classes. When bell or whistle announces 
 midday, all work is dropped for an hour ; ample time for eating 
 and a little rest. 
 
 While food is being divided by the teeth, it has time to mix 
 with the digestive fluid, saliva. This fluid serves several pur- 
 poses. It aids the sense of taste by dissolving some of the con- 
 stituents of the food, it moistens the food so that it is more 
 easily swallowed. It performs, however, a still more important 
 part in the act of digestion. It begins the chemical transforma- 
 tion of insoluble starch into soluble sugar. It contains a ferment 
 by which this change is begun and partially effected while the 
 food is within the mouth. 
 
 In the act of swallowing, food first passes from the mouth 
 into the pharynx, which is a pouch suspended from the base of 
 the skull, attached behind to the front surface of the spinal 
 column, and communicating in front with the nasal cavities and 
 the mouth. The pharynx also communicates, through the 
 Eustachian tubes, with the interior middle part of the organ of 
 hearing. It is surrounded by three constrictor muscles, which 
 contract and press forward the food into the oesophagus, or 
 gullet. The lower part of the pharynx is narrowed and continu- 
 ous with the oesophagus, which is nine inches long in the adult, 
 leading directly into the stomach. The rings of muscular mat- 
 ter that surround the oesophagus are not under control of the
 
 I2O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 will, but are excited to action when food enters this tube of the 
 oesophagus. Every one must have had the experience, at some 
 time or other, of trying to prevent swallowing a morsel when 
 the opening of the oesophagus clutched and swallowed it auto- 
 matically. 
 
 It is usual to speak loosely of digestion as if carried on 
 entirely by the stomach. But, in reality, it is only a portion of 
 the food imbibed which is acted upon in that organ. The stom- 
 ach is a large pouch situated at the beginning of the intestinal 
 tube. The soft membrane with which it is lined secretes the 
 peculiar fluid called the gastric juice. This is an acid liquor 
 and is composed of an organic ferment called pepsin, together 
 with some free hydrochloric acid and some inorganic salts 
 dissolved in water. In the interval between two digestions, the 
 gastric juice is retained within the tubes by which it is secreted, 
 and is discharged into the stomach only when its presence is 
 needed for action upon food. 
 
 During the supply of food to the stomach, the saliva con- 
 tinues its conversion of starch into sugar. As, however, the 
 saliva, which it has partially absorbed, is an alkaline fluid, it 
 becomes neutralized in coming in contact with the acid gastric 
 juice of the stomach. The digestion of starch by the stomach is 
 therefore suspended as long as food remains in that organ. 
 While there, food is subjected to a sort of churning process, 
 whereby it is liquefied and intimately blended with the gastric 
 juice. The walls of the stomach are muscular, and in their con- 
 tractions the organ is swayed to and fro, from side to side. At 
 the same time, the food within it shifts about in this churning 
 process. These movements continue as long as there is any food 
 remaining in the stomach. 
 
 The special office of the stomach is to produce in the albu- 
 minous constituents of our food a change of such a nature that 
 they become soluble and thus capable of being absorbed by the 
 blood. This is the reason for the prolonged retention of food 
 in the stomach. The lower part of the stomach is guarded by
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. . 121 
 
 a thickening of the muscular fibers to so great a degree as to 
 form a closed ring. This ring is so constituted as to bar the 
 passage of food from further descent until it shall have become 
 sufficiently liquefied. It is the albumen which, the most com- 
 plex and the most necessary element of our diet, presents the 
 greatest difficulty to the digestive function. Starch, as has 
 been already said, is readily and rapidly converted into soluble 
 sugar. Fat does not need to be chemically changed. The man- 
 ner in which it is acted upon will be presently described. 
 
 As pepsin, like yeast, is a ferment, a very small amount 
 of it is capable of acting upon and transforming a large quantity 
 of albumen. It has been found, however, that beyond a cer- 
 tain quantity, the presence of the converted albumen prevents 
 further action of the pepsin. From this, it was learned why it 
 is that, if we eat too great a quantity of animal food, we are 
 visited with an attack of indigestion. As the albumen is gradu- 
 ally rendered soluble, the muscular ring at the bottom of the 
 stomach relaxes from time to time and allows a certain quantity 
 of liquefied food to pass into the bowel. This relaxation at 
 intervals may be compared to the occasional opening of a sluice- 
 gate. As the chemical changes approach completion, the mate- 
 rial is allowed to escape with increased rapidity. 
 
 The time required for the digestion of albuminous sub- 
 stances and their passage into the bowel differs according to 
 various circumstances. Digestion goes on more or less rapidly 
 according to the kind of food eaten, the quantity, the interval 
 which has elapsed since the last meal, the general condition of 
 health, and even the state of the weather. As an average in 
 time, however, it may be stated that from three to four and a 
 half hours after being taken, an ordinary meal has left the stom- 
 ach, owing to the fact that it has been digested. 
 
 Opportunity to examine the interior of the stomach has 
 occasionally been afforded by persons having, in consequence 
 of a wound, an opening from the outside into that organ. Many 
 years ago, Dr. Beaumont, an army surgeon, was able closely to
 
 122 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 study the case of a person so afflicted. He found, to use his own 
 language, that "in disease or partial derangement of healthy 
 function, the mucous membrane presents various and essentially 
 different appearances. In febrile conditions of the system, oc- 
 casioned by whatever cause, obstructed perspiration, undue ex- 
 citement by stimulating liquors, overloading the stomach with 
 food, fear, anger, or whatever depresses or disturbs the nervous 
 system, the villous coat becomes sometimes red and dry, at other 
 times pale and moist, and loses its healthy appearance ; the secre- 
 tion becomes vitiated, greatly diminished, or even suppressed; 
 the coat of mucus scarcely perceptible, the follicles flat and 
 flaccid, with secretions insufficient to protect the papillae from 
 irritation. There are sometimes found, on the internal coat of 
 the stomach, eruptions of deep red pimples, not numerous, but 
 distributed here and there upon the villous membrane, rising 
 above the surface of the mucous coat. These are at first sharp- 
 pointed and red, but frequently become filled with white puru- 
 lent matter. At other times, irregular, circumscribed red 
 patches, varying in size and extent from half an inch to an 
 inch and a half in circumference, are found on the internal 
 coat. These diseased appearances, when very slight, do not 
 always essentially affect the gastric apparatus. When consider- 
 able, and particularly when there are corresponding symptoms 
 of disease, as dryness of the mouth, thirst, accelerated pulse, 
 etc. no gastric juice can be extracted by the alimentary stimu- 
 lus." 
 
 What is meant by "the alimentary stimulus" is the food 
 taken into the stomach, which ought, in its healthy condition, 
 to excite a flow of the gastric juice. For the benefit of the non- 
 professional reader it is well also to explain what is meant by 
 Dr. Beaumont, in the preceding description, by the words, the 
 villous coat and the follicles of the interior of the stomach. The 
 villous coat is the mucous membrane lining the stomach, called 
 villous because it is in folds; and the follicles are the minute 
 glands of the interior of the stomach, set like little tubes in its 
 mucous membrane.
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 123 
 
 Gastric juice begins to pour into the stomach as soon as 
 food is taken into the mouth. Its secretion is stimulated by 
 condiments, such as pepper, Worcestershire sauce, etc. Although 
 these excite the appetite and increase digestive power, they 
 should not be used so freely as to make the stomach depend upon 
 them ; for their too lavish use might even bring about digestive 
 disturbances. In a word, they are capable of overstimulating 
 the organs concerned in the complicated process of digestion. 
 The condition of the nervous system has much to do with regu- 
 lating the secretion of the gastric juice. Strong emotion will 
 at once check its flow. That is the chief reason why the pro- 
 cess of dining should be associated with pleasant surroundings 
 of scene, companionship, and conversation. It is one of the 
 reasons why a meal, as a feature of a picnic, is so enjoyable, for 
 pleasurable emotions increase the flow of the gastric juice and 
 digestion proceeds agreeably. 
 
 After food has been taken, the flow of blood, through a 
 strong nervous influence, is directed towards the digestive 
 organs, and the process of digestion is embarrassed if mental 
 or physical work be immediately resumed. The reason justifies 
 the selection, wherever possible, of the hour for the chief meal 
 of the day after the main business of the day shall have been 
 accomplished. Agitating or depressing topics of thought or of 
 conversation should be scrupulously avoided at table. Cheerful 
 demeanor and conversation, on the other hand, facilitate diges- 
 tion, and with it, promote contentment and comfort. To have 
 a good appetite, to eat with temperance and gratification, to di- 
 gest perfectly, involve boons for which we should be truly thank- 
 ful. In so far as circumstances will permit, we should avoid 
 everything liable to disturb this healthful activity. The best 
 of all rules to ensure temperance in eating is to eat slowly; the 
 best of all to ensure good digestion, is to rise from the table, 
 not hungry, but feeling as if we could eat a little more with 
 pleasure. 
 
 When food leaves the stomach and enters the small intes-
 
 124 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 tine, it comes almost immediately into contact with two import- 
 ant fluids. These are furnished respectively by the liver and the 
 pancreas. They are poured into the intestine about three and a 
 half inches beyond the opening in the stomach from which the 
 food has departed. Both bile (from the liver) and pancreatic 
 fluid (from the pancreas, known, when from the calf, as sweet- 
 bread), differ from the acid gastric juice, in being alkaline. Bile 
 is elaborated within the liver, and serves the purpose of remov- 
 ing waste elements from the body, and yet it is used in the 
 digestive process. Its action in this respect is not as decided, 
 however, as that of the gastric or the pancreatic fluid. Bile has 
 some influence in converting starch into sugar, but has none on 
 albuminous substances. It breaks up oil-globules so that they 
 readily pass through the walls of the bowel. It has other func- 
 tions, among which is the one that it stimulates the secretion 
 of the intestinal juice, another fluid concerned in the work of 
 digestion. 
 
 The fluid which the pancreas secretes has the most uni- 
 versal influence upon the ingredients of our food. It contains 
 three different kinds of ferments which act upon three different 
 kinds of alimentary principles. Any albumen which may have 
 escaped conversion in the stomach is transformed into soluble 
 substance by the pancreatic fluid. The chemical changes which 
 were arrested in starch by the acid gastric juice are resumed 
 in the bowel under the influence of the pancreatic fluid ; and the 
 starch, insoluble in the gastric juice, is completely changed into 
 soluble sugar. But it is as the agent by which fat is principally 
 digested that the pancreatic fluid is most important as an agency. 
 In sugar and albumen, it but assists and completes the action 
 begun by the saliva and gastric juice. The glands situated in 
 the walls of the small intestine also secrete a fluid which plays a 
 subsidiary part in the process of digestion. 
 
 It is not enough for health that food be digested. We can 
 imitate this function of digestion by chemical procedure. In- 
 deed, the artificial or partial digestion of food is now common,
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 125 
 
 and affords an extremely useful method in the medical treatment 
 of debilitating diseases. The great object in promoting diges- 
 tion is to present food to the stomach in such a condition that 
 it shall be absorbed by the blood. Were it not received by the 
 blood, it would be of no more use to us than if it had remained 
 on the table. Digestion is the first step, and a mighty one, in 
 the nourishment of the body. Its products in solution enter the 
 circulation by traversing the membranous walls of the bowel. 
 Some of the nutrient principles are received directly into the 
 blood-current, while others pursue an indirect course to that end 
 by passing, first of all, into absorbent vessels of the system. 
 The absorbent vessels, coming from different portions of the 
 bowel, are finally gathered into a single vessel, along which the 
 liquid flows until it is finally emptied into the blood at a distant 
 point. The small absorbents have passed through numerous 
 glands, where they are acted upon in such a manner that the 
 composition of the fluid derived from the alimentary canal grad- 
 ually approximates to that of the blood. Most of our fatty food 
 takes this described indirect route to the blood. Much of the 
 albumen and sugar, on the contrary, passes at once from the 
 bowel into the blood-vessels. The difference of route is, how- 
 ever, more apparent than real; for, whereas, the fat is carried 
 by the absorbing vessels, the other alimentary principles are 
 conveyed to the liver. In that large and important gland, fur- 
 ther changes are effected in albuminous principles. They reach 
 the liver, we may say, in the form of comparatively raw mate- 
 rial, which must be refined to fit it to become a component of 
 the blood and the various tissues of the body. Secondary 
 elaboration of substance in the body is of capital importance. 
 Chemical changes are effected which result in the production of 
 the nutritious matter which enters the blood; but, on the other 
 hand, deleterious matter is carried to the kidneys, and by them 
 cast out of the svstem. Both liver and kidneys have waste- 
 products which tend to be eliminated, and, if retained, poison. 
 It entails no great strain on the system to eliminate sub-
 
 126 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 stances perfectly dissolved, but constant attempted passage of 
 insoluble substances is a source of irritation. When the liver 
 is habitually out of order, it is not able to perform its function. 
 The supply of nutritive substance in it is diminished, and the 
 amount of insoluble substance is increased. The waste not 
 eliminated with ease affects the kidneys as it passes out, re- 
 mains in the general circulation for a long time, and excites 
 disease. The person so afflicted becomes irritable. Appetite 
 fails, and sleep is disturbed. Insomnia is a frequent concomitant 
 of the condition. The heart beats violently and irregularly, at- 
 tacks of bronchitis or asthma may occur, and eruptions appear 
 upon the surface of the body. The mind is sometimes so pro- 
 foundly affected as to become hypochondriacal, or with such 
 perversion as to become suicidal. The kidneys become affected. 
 Some form of Bright's disease of the kidneys may ensue. Gout 
 may occur as the culmination of a train of such physical ills, 
 for dyspeptic troubles are among the best known precursors of 
 gout. 
 
 Plato, in his "Republic," points out the relation of athletics 
 and temperance, recommending moderation in both. The 
 proper way of training men to be defenders of their country, he 
 states in the following terms: "On these points we may take 
 a lesson even from Homer. You know that, at the repasts of his 
 heroes, when they are in the field, he never sets fish before them, 
 although they are on the shore of the Hellespont, nor yet boiled 
 meat, but only roast, which soldiers could, of course, procure 
 most readily; for anywhere, one might say, there is less diffi- 
 culty in using mere fire, than in carrying about pots and pans. 
 
 Neither has Homer, if I remember right, ever said a 
 
 word about sauces. However, this is well known, I believe, to 
 all that are in training, as to Homer, that a man who desires to 
 be in good condition physically, must abstain from all such in- 
 dulgences." Plato conceives that the properly trained man will 
 possess good digestion, insusceptibility to take cold, freedom 
 from such diseases as are caused by irrational living, will have, in
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 
 
 a word, good health. He says: "And do you not hold it dis- 
 graceful to require medical aid, unless it be for a wound, or 
 an attack of illness incidental to the time of year to require it, 
 I mean, owing to our laziness and the life we lead, and to get 
 ourselves so stuffed with humors and wind, like quagmires, as 
 to compel the clever ones of ^Esculapius to call diseases by such 
 names as flatulence and catarrh." 
 
 We should no more eat to satiety than we should drink to 
 excess. Immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of the table 
 spoils the complexion, bloats the face, dulls the eye, and gives 
 rise to many diseases. Every one should observe a judicious 
 caution as to the quantity and quality of the food taken. On 
 the other hand, a person should not be continually thinking and 
 talking about digestion. The habits of life here inculcated lead 
 to good digestion, health, and prolongation of life. Excepting 
 regard for physical idiosyncrasies, which everyone ought to find 
 out from personal experience, a healthy person dines with vari- 
 ety without a thought of his or her stomach. In fact, a healthy 
 person is so well as to be almost unconscious of having a stomach. 
 
 Addiction merely to what are called the pleasures of the 
 table, which is, in fact, gluttony, and immoderate use of spirit- 
 uous beverages of whatever kind, are destructive of good looks in 
 both men and women. But intemperance in eating and drink- 
 ing has worse consequences than even these. By it, sluggish- 
 ness both of mind and body is produced, besides sensual ex- 
 pression of face and loss of all symmetry of body. We do not 
 read nowadays of men given to any excess who are distin- 
 guished in any walk of life for intellect or deeds of note. As 
 has also been here mentioned, there is a close connection among 
 the attributes of virtue, health, and beauty. Transgression of 
 the laws of nature, or of the highest moral code of a community, 
 brings with it penalty. The time was, before the Christian 
 era, when men and women could permit themselves a license 
 which is no longer, under another dispensation, recognized by 
 others or by themselves as tolerable. So low anciently was the
 
 128 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 status of morality, that, in sexual relations, they were so loose 
 as to indulge in orgies, without shame, because without reali- 
 zation of their atrocity. In such times of depravity as those, 
 they could retain much physically which, at the present day, is 
 swept away with the consciousness of sin and vice. A Cleopatra 
 could then retain her beauty without stamp of sin. But now, 
 do what men and women may to conceal their moral looseness, 
 which of old seemed no sin, the higher consciousness of 
 Christian society, and their own, stamps them indelibly in public 
 view. Certain lines of which they are unaware come gradually 
 on the face. The whole expression, brightness and freshness of 
 eye, tint of complexion, are inevitably changed, for transgression 
 will have its say in printing character on the features. 
 
 The physical effects of a system of diet, combined with 
 exercise, are well exemplified by the condition of men in training 
 for some kind of athletic contest. The skin becomes clear and 
 ruddy, any eruptions which they may have disappear. Their 
 eyes are bright, their muscles firm. They experience a sense 
 of elasticity throughout their limbs. The action of the heart 
 has been strengthened, so that the circulation is able to meet 
 increased exercise. This is the greatest of all the advantages 
 in the training, for it relates to the most vital organs, and its 
 effect has been demonstrated to be permanent. Increased 
 breathing capacity, too, proves a safeguard against diseases of 
 the bronchial tubes and lungs. Considering that a course of 
 training does not generally cover more than six weeks in time, 
 it may, with advantage, always be prescribed for young men and 
 women whose muscular system is decidedly undeveloped. This 
 is the present tendency of universities, colleges, and certain 
 schools, to insist that all students shall take a certain amount 
 of gymnastic exercise. Among women, athletics take the milder 
 form called calisthenics. 
 
 Just as albumen differs in minor particulars, according to 
 the source whence it is derived, so do sugars similarly differ 
 for the same reason. Sugar is a normal constituent of the animal
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 129 
 
 body. It is contained in the liver, in muscular tissue, in the 
 lungs, kidneys, spleen, and brain. It appears in these parts in 
 at least three different forms. Their appropriation of it, there- 
 fore, must be analogous to that by which albumen is appropriated 
 by the organs of the body. We consume sugar associated with 
 both animal and vegetable food, but far more with vegetable than 
 with animal food; and the amount is augmented by the trans- 
 formation into sugar of the starch we imbibe in the manner 
 that has been already described. All varieties of it, whenceso- 
 ever derived, are absorbed into the blood and also removed 
 from it by the several organs described. In addition to sugar, 
 the liver contains a large amount of a peculiar substance, similar 
 to starch, which is easily converted into sugar. The animal 
 starch, as it may be called, is manufactured by the liver chiefly 
 from the elements furnished by vegetable food. When, from 
 any cause, the starch-producing function of the liver is inter- 
 fered with, superfluity of sugar appears in the blood and symp- 
 toms of the disease known as diabetes manifest themselves. 
 Hunger and thirst become inordinate in the patient, great quan- 
 tities of liquid are consumed by the system, and yet the drain 
 continues, nutrition fails, the blood deteriorates more and more, 
 and the case proceeds to a fatal issue. A number of grave 
 constitutional disorders come from derangement of the func- 
 tions of the liver. Slighter ones, produced by lesser disturbance 
 of them, are met with every day. This is the reason why, from 
 choice of food to its digestion, we should care for the action 
 of the stomach. 
 
 Fat is useful from the aesthetic point of view, on account 
 of its covering irregularities of bone and muscle. Being a non- 
 conductor of heat, it is also useful in protecting from the cold 
 of the atmosphere. It forms a reserve upon which the individual 
 man or woman may draw for energy and the prolongation of 
 life. Northern peoples of the globe instinctively consume large 
 quantities of fat. The Eskimo devour the blubber of whales and 
 seals, and consider even a tallow-candle a dainty. In the tropics, 
 
 9
 
 I3O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 on the contrary, but little fat food is consumed. Fat is a sub- 
 stance intimately associated with albumen in the constitution of 
 cells and fibers, and contributes to the production of muscular 
 energy. A prize-fighter comes out of the ring, after a severe 
 contest, weighing several pounds less than when he entered it. 
 The waste represents the exact amount of energy that he has 
 expended. 
 
 The indispensable and most healthful drink is pure water, 
 the liquid which most effectually assuages thirst. It is a neces- 
 sary constituent of the body ; the fluidity of the blood and of the 
 various secretions depends upon its presence. The process of 
 digestion is promoted by drinking a certain amount of water, the 
 first condition of digestion being solution, that is, the liquefac- 
 tion of solid food. Water is the basis of all other beverages. It 
 is present in small amounts even in solid food, and to this amount 
 cookery generally adds more or less, with the result of making 
 food more succulent. The question is often asked, whether water 
 should be drunk while eating, or should be taken only after a 
 meal. The answer to this depends upon the character of the 
 food eaten and upon the particular constitution of the eater. 
 Very dry or salt food needs an occasional swallow of water 
 while being eaten, for moistening the mass in the stomach, and 
 for stopping the thirst. Persons in perfect health, whose diges- 
 tive fluids are abundant and efficient, need, while eating, no 
 more water than sufficient for their thirst. There is a just mean 
 to be observed between taking no water at all while eating, and 
 the other extreme of flooding the stomach with it. The habit of 
 drinking copiously of ice-water during meals retards the diges- 
 tion, of course, by lowering the temperature of the stomach, 
 but, in a healthy person, will not make indigestion. As, how- 
 ever, the practice of drinking ice-water freely belongs especially 
 to the summer, the time when perspiration is profuse, it must 
 be remembered that we can, with propriety, take much more 
 water then than at another season of the year. 
 
 Coffee possesses but little value as a nutrient, yet, as gen-
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 13! 
 
 erally drunk, with cream or milk and sugar, it is the means 
 of supplementing food in the system. By some chemists it has 
 been surmised that coffee is useful in diminishing the waste of 
 tissues, and that it thus enables a certain quantity of food to 
 have more effect than it otherwise would. Coffee is of decided 
 benefit when, from any cause whatever, the body's food is de- 
 creased or not at all supplied. Aboard ship, at daylight, crews 
 work cheerfully for a couple of hours while their breakfast is 
 preparing, reinforced solely by a pint tincupful of boiling hot 
 coffee. It relieves the sensations of hunger and fatigue of 
 troops in bivouac or on the march, of sportsmen and day labor- 
 ers, of all human beings subject to physical stress. This is 
 an experience of the whole world that has ever come into con- 
 tact with human beings suffering from fire, flood, or earthquake, 
 and needing some immediate succor to failing energies. Taken 
 in moderation, it renovates the system, but taken immoderately, 
 it has an injurious effect on the nervous system, disturbing the 
 healthful functional activity of the liver. It is well known to 
 produce wakefulness, and, therefore, should not, under ordinary 
 circumstances, be drunk in the evening. Those who have a 
 night-watch to keep, however, will drink coffee with advantage. 
 Professional men, in writing at night, sometimes resort to coffee 
 for its stimulant effect, in order to keep the brain sleepless and 
 active. This is a bad habit, or rather, is a combination of bad 
 habits. Eight hours of sleep are required for health; these 
 cannot be encroached upon with impunity. A better practice is 
 to retire early, get up early, and then devote the time to brain- 
 work. Then is the time for the cup of coffee. It will banish 
 all cobwebs from the mind and body and keep them pleasantly 
 atune until time for breakfast. 
 
 The action of tea upon the system is similar to that of coffee. 
 It exhilarates, and, like coffee, supports the system under de- 
 privation of food. The fact is not generally recognized, that 
 tea, as well as coffee, causes wakefulness. Indulged in to ex- 
 cess, it seriously impairs the health of the nervous system. It
 
 132 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 contributes little or nothing directly to the organism. Used 
 in moderation, this beverage is an agreeable one at various 
 times known to society. On the other hand, taken in strong 
 infusion, and in large quantities, it may bring about nervous 
 disorder. We once knew a professional tea-taster who con- 
 fessed to us that he had grown so fond of the drink, that he 
 was professionally and privately drinking it all day long. He 
 had become so reduced in flesh, and was so nervous, that nothing 
 but a voyage to Europe seemed to save him. He came back from 
 that, after some months, after long abstention from his vice, so 
 stout that he was hardly recognizable. A large number of 
 poorly paid and overworked women consume a great deal of 
 tea instead of substantial viands for which its cost would at least 
 partly pay. Not losing much time iu preparing and drinking 
 it, and perceiving its agreeable stimulation, they become ac- 
 customed largely to depend upon it, but all the conditions of their 
 life are unhygienic, and they introduce this one which aggra- 
 vates their evils. 
 
 Tea-drinking among the well-to-do is peculiarly associated 
 with the idea of domestic quiet and comfort. Cowper writes : 
 
 "Now stir the fire and close the shutters fast, 
 Let fall the curtain, wheel the sofa 'round, 
 And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn 
 Throws up a steamy column, and the cups 
 That cheer, but not inebriate, wait on each, 
 So let us welcome peaceful evening in!" 
 
 The excessive fondness of Dr. Johnson for tea, and the 
 number of cups of it that he could drink, are as much a part of 
 our mental picture of the man as are his ungainly form and 
 modes of speech. The Russians are much addicted to the use 
 of tea prepared in the great "samovar," or urn, that they use, 
 a conspicuous feature of every inn in Russia. They use a small 
 infusion of lemon-juice in their preparation of the beverage. 
 In Russia, too, tea is made up into compact masses which have
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 133 
 
 been subjected to pressure so heavy as to make them, with the 
 fatty matter that is introduced in the manufacture, as hard as 
 plugs of chewing tobacco. These, on journeys, can be dissolved 
 for use as a drink, but they are sometimes also eaten as food. 
 
 Chocolate, prepared with milk, makes a rich and palatable 
 beverage. It is used largely in this country, but not so habitually 
 as either tea or coffee. In Mexico, the West Indies, and in 
 South America, it is an article of universal consumption. It is 
 of decided nutritive value, the relation of its nutritive ingredi- 
 ents being about one-tenth of starch, about two-tenths of albu- 
 minous matter, and about five-tenths of fat. It is an agreeable 
 and nourishing drink 'to those whose stomachs can assimilate it, 
 but for some persons it contains too much oil for easy digestion. 
 However, in its finer varieties, where the oil is largely decreased 
 in the manufacture, that objection is generally removed. Those 
 persons who cannot drink chocolate can often drink cocoa with- 
 out difficulty. 
 
 The question whether or not alcoholic drinks possess any 
 value as food has been and still is debated among physiolog- 
 ical chemists. It would seem that alcohol adds to the body noth- 
 ing of which it stands in need, or which cannot be obtained 
 from other sources, and, therefore, that it cannot be regarded 
 as contributing directly to nutrition, that is, cannot be a true 
 food. A moderate amount, taken with or after a late dinner, 
 may be beneficial in promoting digestion. Healthy adults need 
 no alcohol. A small amount of alcohol may excite secretion of 
 the gastric juice, but a large amount is apt to embarrass diges- 
 tion by precipitating the pepsin of the stomach. The secretion 
 of this digestive fluid is active enough in those who are consti- 
 tutionally strong and who obey the laws of health. 
 
 Of the danger of forming a habit of taking spirituous liquor 
 and of the wide-spread evil which it causes, it needs not to 
 enlarge here, the consequences of that kind of overindulgence 
 being so well known. It is enough to state that the irregular- 
 ities wrought by excessive use of alcohol inevitably undermine
 
 134 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the health and constitution. The constant presence of alcohol in 
 the circulation induces many alterations in the normal compo- 
 sition of the solids and fluids of the body, and interferes with 
 the processes of its nutrition. An alcoholic beverage* may, how- 
 ever, be judiciously used for relieving excessive fatigue or pain. 
 Physical or mental depression of tone from severe labor may 
 occasionally warrant its employment, and under these conditions 
 it materially aids digestion. Elderly persons may, with propri- 
 ety, use some form of alcoholic beverage with advantage, espe- 
 cially at dinner. It delays the waste of tissue, and is thus an 
 economizer of strength. There are other occasions when alco- 
 hol may be of service to the system, but those are they which 
 should always be considered as medical treatments, and be under 
 the supervision of a physician. The practice in some countries 
 where the grape is plentiful, of drinking light wines at dinner, 
 seems very conducive to the cause of temperance. 
 
 The people of this country undoubtedly eat too much 
 albuminous food, especially animal food. Habitual diet is most 
 advantageously composed of substances drawn from the vege- 
 table as well as from the animal kingdom. The injury resulting 
 from excessive consumption of nitrogenous substances has 
 already been here described. The abundance of food in the 
 United States, the general prosperity of its people, the high 
 rate of wages as compared with that of other countries, the con- 
 sequent free and lavish life here, which foreigners regard as 
 wasteful, lead to the consumption of far more food than the 
 human organism requires, or by which it is benefited. Here 
 come immigrants who, in their native lands, have been chiefly 
 nourished on bread and vegetables, in whose mess meat scarcely 
 appeared more than once a week, and immediately they demand 
 here meat three times a day, according to the too prevalent 
 American practice which they find on landing. Nature here, as 
 elsewhere, allows a generous margin within which the appetite 
 may be safely indulged, but nature therefore prescribes bounds 
 beyond which it is not safe to trench, and exacts inexorably a
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 135 
 
 penalty for transgression. Every debt to nature must, in fact, 
 be paid in full without discount. Benjamin Franklin, in his 
 autobiography, tells of an old Catholic lady who had an attic 
 room in a house in which he lodged in London, when work- 
 ing there as a journeyman printer. She had been educated 
 abroad, and had intended to take the veil. Her health becom- 
 ing affected, she had been obliged to return to England, where 
 she had made up her mind to live in seclusion, giving away her 
 estate for charity, reserving for herself only twelve pounds 
 sterling a year. She lived mainly upon water-gruel, and used 
 fire only for the purpose of preparing her food. Franklin, who 
 visited her, remarked that "she looked pale, but was never 
 sick; and I give it as another instance on how small an income 
 life and health may be supported/' It is to be remarked, how- 
 ever, of a case like this, that, when there is next to no exercise 
 taken, it requires but little food to support life. Though it be 
 possible in quietude to support life and enjoy health upon a small 
 quantity of food, work requires more ; for the body is a machine 
 that must be supplied with fuel to be effective in proportion to 
 power exercised. Nature, however, allows us to eat and drink 
 considerably more than the machine needs, but abstemiousness 
 is always more beneficial to us than overeating, to say nothing 
 of gluttony. 
 
 As regards diet, every one should have general rules, but 
 they should not be rigid. We cannot do better than accept our 
 experience from nature. A famous Italian physician once ac- 
 customed himself for a time to live with the most undeviating 
 regularity. He had a chair constructed with scales-attachment, 
 by which he knew his weight at a glance. When he had taken 
 a certain weight of food, he immediately arose from the table. 
 But this practice he had instituted for the purpose of scientific 
 research. In ordinary life such precautions are worse than use- 
 less; they are hypochondriacal in tendency. 
 
 There are, as stated here before, physical idiosyncrasies in 
 different individuals. Some persons can eat with easy digestion
 
 136 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 a large amount of some dish which others cannot partake of 
 in the smallest degree without manifest indigestion, indicated 
 by taste of it for hours afterwards, by tendency to eructation, 
 by uncomfortableness, and even by vomiting. There are per- 
 sons who cannot eat strawberries without cayenne pepper, lest 
 they produce a rash. There are others who cannot eat certain 
 sea-foods. Others, again, there are, who cannot eat pickles, 
 spices, and smoked meats. All such persons, having fixed the 
 fact to a certainty regarding their own peculiarities in this 
 respect, should abstain from the obnoxious foods. For such 
 eccentricities of the stomach there is no cure. We call them 
 idiosyncrasies. Those just discussed relate to foods, but there 
 are also analogous ones, very naturally, with respect to medi- 
 cines. There are persons who cannot take certain medicines 
 which by the great majority of the world are taken without the 
 slightest difficulty. 
 
 Dainty, fastidious eating is more common among women 
 than among men. The appetite of men is generally what may 
 be called healthier than is that of women generally. Women, 
 too, are more susceptible, as a general rule, than men are, to 
 the influences of refined service of a table. But, speaking of 
 the question of eating alone, there are more women than men 
 addicted to kickshaws instead of eating substantial and nutritious 
 comestibles. Nevertheless, some men, not only among the seden- 
 tary, but among those of the active outdoor world, exhibit strange 
 likes and dislikes for foods. This, when extreme, has been 
 recognized in many persons as hereditary, but generally it 
 arises from early habits of not seeing variety on the table. Not 
 long since we called to account a man boasting of his varied 
 diet, by enumerating dozens of things that he had never had 
 on his table, and many of which he had not elsewhere had the 
 curiosity to taste. This is no idiosyncrasy of the body, it is 
 idiosyncrasy of the mind. 
 
 Some dietetic distastes result merely from prejudice. We 
 have been in parts of the country where farmers, ill supplied
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 137 
 
 with meat, could not be induced to touch a mushroom, and where 
 they flung away the sweetbread when they sent a butchered 
 calf to market. In the matter of sweetbreads, however, they 
 seem of late years to have had the universal eye-opening of 
 market value. These things obtain among the same people, 
 speaking the same language. When we study the differences in 
 taste among people foreign to each other, their dissimilarity in 
 appreciation of food seems wonderful, even after making all 
 allowances for difference of climate and products of soil. To 
 the average American, even the idea of eating a snail is revolt- 
 ing, but in Paris and some other large cities of Europe, it is 
 thought a great dainty. The oyster, which is here eaten raw 
 with so much gusto, is repugnant to a person brought up in 
 the interior of many countries. And so one might proceed, 
 citing dozens of cases of the sort. Humboldt tells us that the 
 Indian agricultural laborers of Mexico live almost entirely upon 
 Indian corn and cereal grains. The Indians of the Pampas of 
 Brazil were found by Sir Francis Head to subsist entirely upon 
 the flesh of their horses, having neither bread, fruit, nor vege- 
 tables. The Gauchos of the Argentine Republic, who are herds- 
 men, live entirely on roast beef, scarcely ever tasting farinace- 
 ous or other vegetable food, and their sole beverage is Paraguay 
 tea, taken without sugar. In former times the Hawaiian 
 Islanders preferred their fish raw, even eating a fish alive and 
 flapping. In the Sahara, dates are the principal article of food 
 for men, women, children, horses, asses, camels, sheep, fowls, 
 and dogs. The Maoris, of New Zealand, think a fat dog excel- 
 lent food, in fact, a dainty. Camel-meat and milk are the food 
 of the Nubian. The Kaffir, of Africa, thinks curdled milk supe- 
 rior to fresh. The Bosjesmans eat bulbs, roots, wild garlic, gum, 
 berries, the larvae of lizards, ants, locusts, and grasshoppers. The 
 Chinese eat almost everything. So do the native Australians. 
 There are fat worms which subsist on the juices of certain trees, 
 that have been eaten by some of the natives of South America. 
 The list might be made twice as long as it is, but it is sufficient
 
 138 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 to show what diversity of tastes there is, and also that what 
 we call taste for foods is largely a matter of early .education. 
 
 The Romans, even in their epicurean days of luxury, ad- 
 mitted many articles to their tables which are now discarded 
 by civilized peoples. Meat of puppies was one of their dishes, 
 and also the meat of the ass. Peacocks' tongues and brains were 
 served at feasts. But this was done more for ostentation than 
 for any other reason. The peacock, with its opulent tail wide- 
 spread, also formed a feature of their banquets. The parade 
 of the tail, however, was taken even then at its true value, 
 as satire shows. The Romans ate swans and cranes, birds of a 
 decidedly rank flesh in flavor. Among fish they seem to have 
 prized most of all the mullet, which shows, if the species is like 
 ours, that they must have had little educated taste to prefer 
 it to some other fish at their disposal. Their apparently most 
 extraordinary dish for a dainty was that of caterpillars. Taste 
 is, therefore, slightly congenital and largely educated: that is, 
 slightly derived from birth, and largely acquired with opportu- 
 nities throughout life. And a strange law about taste is this, 
 that if, upon trying it frequently, one remains perfectly indif- 
 ferent to an article of food, one will remain so to the end of his 
 life; but if, on the contrary, one dislikes an article upon first 
 tasting it, one can by persistence acquire for it a taste that is 
 stronger than one's natural taste for other things. The dif- 
 ficulty is in inducing the masses of people anywhere to persist in 
 eating some new food that would be beneficial to them. No 
 country ever needed maize (Indian corn) more than Ireland, 
 subject at times to famine, yet it was once almost impossible to 
 get the people there to eat it long enough to acquire the taste for 
 it. "Why," said an Irishwoman who had come with her hus- 
 band to this country, "you wouldn't expect me to eat that (mean- 
 ing little hominy), that's what my husband gives to his horse." 
 In the course of a long time, however, driven by necessity, 
 these people came to like it. Ireland has been chosen here for 
 citation as an extreme case, but well do philanthropists know
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 139 
 
 how ill their trouble has been requited in the interest of the 
 poor generally of Europe, in their attempts to introduce that 
 food. Yet the number of palatable preparations that can be 
 made from Indian corn is not equalled by any other food on earth. 
 It contains about as much albuminous matter as does wheat, and 
 four times as much fat. Things, however, are in some places 
 different now from what they were seventy years ago. Pied- 
 mont, in France, is said to consume now as much Indian meal as 
 wheat flour. In Ireland it has gradually won a great victory, 
 and now stands as an able assistant to the potato. One of "our 
 European consuls devoted much time and labor to the introduc- 
 tion of Indian corn as an article of diet into England and on 
 the continent of Europe. All persons who have visited Europe 
 know how inferior the oysters of its waters are to those of 
 America. Yet it has been only within very recent years that 
 there has been demand for ours in England. Now, however, 
 it is said, six thousand bushels of them are, in winter, weekly 
 shipped from New York to England, and that the sales amount 
 to three million dollars' worth of them during their season. 
 
 A good digestion is a great blessing; a bad one, especially 
 if it amounts to constant dyspepsia, a great ill. Handworkers, 
 whether indoors or outdoors, are less subject to indigestion 
 than are brain-workers, especially laborers who work in the 
 open air. Nevertheless, cases are not rare among farmers and 
 mechanics where poor preparation and hasty eating of food 
 entail dyspepsia. It seriously interferes with all work, espe- 
 cially with that which is intellectual. Carlyle's denunciation of it 
 is bitter. He says: "The accursed hag, dyspepsia, had got me 
 bitted and bridled, and was ever striving to make my living day 
 a thing of ghastly nightmares; I resisted what I could, never 
 did yield or surrender to her ; but she kept my heart right heavy, 
 my battle being sore and hopeless." A peasant by birth and 
 by early experience of life, Carlyle doubtless was poorly nour- 
 ished for many years, and his great brain action doubtless, also, 
 exasperated the constitutional and acquired weakness of his
 
 I4O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 stomach. We all know how a meal eaten with relish and per- 
 fectly digested predisposes to cheerfulness, and how, on the 
 contrary, little appetite and indigestion are productive of mental 
 as well as physical discomfort. In the race of life one is seriously 
 handicapped by poor digestion. Men successful in any sphere of 
 life may break down in digestion, but in the majority of cases 
 they have at least started with good digestion. 
 
 Certain practices which become habits are conducive to good 
 digestion. One is regularity of hours for meals, admitting 
 that the affairs of life do not allow of undeviating attendance. 
 Nature is tolerant of such deviation, but has its limits to conces- 
 sion. People should bear in mind that no business is more im- 
 portant than the preservation of health. The members of the 
 middle classes, with their regular lives in hours of labor, eat- 
 ing, sleep, and recreation, comparative freedom from ambition 
 and exacting responsibilities, have an advantage in this respect 
 over their employers and over the members of the purely frivo- 
 lous fashionable world of society. Inhabitants of quiet country 
 towns transact business leisurely, and have time to attend to the 
 demands of their bodies. Thackeray gives a pleasant picture of 
 life in a little Swiss town. He says : "The schoolboys, with book 
 and satchel, in smart uniforms, march up to the gymnasium and 
 return thence at their stated time. There is one coffee-house in 
 the town, and I see one old gentleman goes to it. There are 
 shops with no customers seemingly, and the lazy tradesmen look 
 out of their little windows at the single stranger sauntering by. 
 There is a stall with baskets of queer little black grapes and 
 apples, and a pretty brisk trade with half a dozen urchins stand- 
 ing round. But, beyond this, there is scarce any talk or move- 
 ment in the street. There's nobody at the bookshop. 'If you 
 will have the goodness to come again in an hour' says the 
 banker, with his mouth full of dinner at one o'clock, 'you can 
 have the money/ The dull, quiet scene has an attraction for 
 many, worn out by the 'storm and stress' of city life, although it 
 must be confessed that few such can bear the monotony after
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 14! 
 
 they have recuperated their health. Then they must rush back 
 again to the whirl of life. Then they find themselves in accord 
 with Dr. Johnson's dictum : 'Sir, when you have seen one green 
 field, you have seen all green fields. I love to look upon the 
 face of man : let us take a walk down Fleet Street.' ' 
 
 There is something more delectable, as a constancy, than 
 either this village that Thackeray describes or the street that 
 Dr. Johnson approves. The ancients hit it when they believed 
 in mcdiis tutissimus ibis, that one should not go to extremes. 
 
 A spirit of cheerfulness has this, among other things, to 
 recommend it, that it favors the digestive action. Nature has 
 kindly conferred the boon that the functions of life which are 
 necessary shall be at the same time pleasurable. The sense of 
 taste ensures the enjoyment of a meal, and, if educated, has 
 delicate appreciation of flavor. But there is a vast difference 
 among human beings in this education and in capacity for edu- 
 cation. The difference is well illustrated by an occurrence 
 assigned half a century or more ago to the Military Academy at 
 West Point, where a cadet was represented as passing his plate to 
 his neighbor to be handed to the head of the table, accompanying 
 it with the instruction, "Some chicken, please, dark meat, a 
 little white, and a morsel of liver." His plate, reaching the 
 second man to pass it, he said: "Oh, bother, big piece, any- 
 where !" If the table be approached with the spirit of cheerful- 
 ness, and its viands be consumed leisurely with pleasant talk, 
 the digestive processes begin under the most favorable auspices. 
 Eating, on the contrary, with haste, perhaps with more atten- 
 tion to a newspaper than to the meal, is most unfavorable to good 
 digestion. Some persons are, it is true, compelled by force of 
 circumstances to solitariness, but most persons are able to eat 
 in company. 
 
 Digestibility is not always associated with nutritive value 
 in a food. Some articles are comparatively innutritious, but 
 are easily digested. They are not worth much for sustenance, 
 but whatever there is in them can be easily appropriated by the
 
 142 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 system. On the other hand, some articles which possess great 
 nutritive value are comparatively difficult of digestion. The 
 alimentary principles with which they abound are difficult for 
 the digestive juices to extract. Proper preparation of food for 
 the table is of the highest importance. To be digestible and 
 palatable, most of the articles of food that we consume depend 
 largely upon cookery. On account of the large amount of starch 
 that vegetables contain, they should be thoroughly cooked, in 
 order that the starch may burst through its cells and be fit for 
 the action of the digestive fluids. The majority of meats are 
 nutritious and digestible when boiled, stewed, broiled, or roasted. 
 Baked and fried meats are more difficult of digestion. The 
 cookery bane of America has been the frying of meat, most 
 prevalent on farms. But people are learning that broiling makes 
 meat not only more digestible than frying, but far more palat- 
 able. 
 
 It is not healthful to undertake great mental or physical 
 exertion after a full meal. For this reason, a dinner-hour at 
 the close of the day is preferable to one at noon. The system 
 requires some sustenance in the middle of the day, but digestion 
 should not be taxed at that time. A little luncheon is all-suffi- 
 cient. After a hearty meal, both mind and body should be slug- 
 gish, because the nervous system is directed towards digestion, 
 and the circulation has the same need. The function of diges- 
 tion, in a word, is the chief bodily process at that time, and the 
 nervous system cannot rightly spare force from it for other 
 parts of the body. Drowsiness is natural after a hearty meal, 
 and may be profitably indulged in by a short nap ; digestion then 
 proceeding without hindrance. Some people imagine that they 
 must take a walk after a hearty meal, in order to shake off the 
 feeling of lethargy, but this is an injurious practice. Great 
 fatigue disturbs and delays the operations of the stomach. 
 Positive exhaustion takes away the appetite, and in this con- 
 dition one should not eat much. The lightest sort of supper 
 before retiring predisposes to agreeable sleep. The prejudice
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 1143 
 
 against late suppers arises from the fact that most persons then 
 eat injudiciously as to quality and quantity of food. Unpleas- 
 ant mental causes influence digestion unfavorably, just as cheer- 
 fulness influences it favorably. Melancholy, depression of 
 spirits, anger, embarrass the function. The practice among the 
 ancients of having music during meals was conducive to good 
 digestion. In New York and Philadelphia, now, and in many 
 other cities, the practice has been revived in some restaurants. 
 
 The flesh of very young animals is not so digestible as that 
 of older animals, not distinctively old. Veal and lamb are not 
 so digestible as are beef and mutton. The meat of really aged 
 animals is tough, unpalatable, and indigestible. Pork is decid- 
 edly unwholesome in summer. Mutton is, for most persons, 
 more digestible than beef. There are some persons, however, 
 who cannot tolerate mutton. Bacon is better borne by the stom- 
 ach than is fresh pork. Calves', or better still, sheeps' liver, 
 although a delicious dish when fried with thin slices of bacon, 
 is too rich for some stomachs. The meat of chickens and tur- 
 keys is easier of digestion than is that of ducks and geese. Fish 
 are nutritious and savory. Though possessing less nutritive value 
 than meat, yet when properly cooked they admirably support life 
 and furnish a most agreeable addition to the table. Salted, or 
 salted and smoked, they are less digestible. Shell-fish, highly 
 esteemed as they generally are as delicacies, are capable in some 
 constitutions of giving rise to eruptions on the skin ; and a diet 
 which is exclusively of fish, whether fish or so-called shell-fish, 
 leads to a most depraved condition of the skin and system gener- 
 ally. The outbreak of beri-beri in the Japanese navy is ascribed 
 to too exclusive use ot fish and rice as food. Raw oysters are 
 among the most digestible things. Clams, also, when properly 
 prepared, as soup, are very digestible. They should be chopped 
 fine and passed through a hair-sieve, the hard, uncompromising 
 particles being left behind. Soft-boiled eggs are generally well 
 borne by delicate stomachs ; it is very different with hard-boiled 
 eggs. Yet there are persons with idiosyncrasy even as to soft- 
 boiled eggs, that makes them unendurable as food.
 
 144 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Vegetables contain a smaller proportion of nitrogenous mat- 
 ter than that which is contained in meats. Wheat-bread is an 
 article of universal consumption. Though less palatable when 
 slightly stale, it is then more digestible than when fresh. Toast- 
 ing increases its digestibility. Oatmeal is a valuable food pre- 
 pared as porridge, and delicious when eaten with cream. An 
 eruption of the skin has sometimes been attributed to oatmeal, 
 but certainly it is not of ordinary occurrence. Indian corn con- 
 tains a larger amount of fatty matter than do other grains. 
 Rice is distinguished by the large amount of starch which it pos- 
 sesses. Peas and beans contain a large amount of albumen. 
 Potatoes abound chiefly in starch, and, therefore, should be sup- 
 plemented by other things at a meal. The sweet potato, boiled 
 or roasted, is somewhat hard to digest. Carrots and turnips, 
 extensively used in soups and stews, are acceptable to persons of 
 good digestion. They, however, have but little nutritive value, 
 containing a large proportion of water. Spinach is wholesome 
 and easily digested. The onion is a valuable article of diet, 
 although rather difficult of digestion. Celery, asparagus, and 
 lettuce are wholesome and savory. Stewed tomatoes, especially 
 if served with rice, make a very delicious dish. Of themselves, 
 however, they are not very nutritious. Fruits, w r hile not directly 
 contributing very much nourishment, are beneficial, on account 
 of the acids which they contain. 
 
 There are many persons who watch their sensations too 
 attentively. By directing their thoughts too sedulously to the 
 digestive organs, they invite to a greater degree the very troubles 
 which they have in a small way, or perhaps not at all. The 
 admirable provisions of nature have placed the circulation, the 
 secretions, the movements and nervous supply of the digestive 
 tract under the automatic superintendence of minor nerve-cen- 
 ters which act, to a certain extent, quite independently. These 
 centers perform their duties most effectively when not too 
 strictly watched. Anxious direction of thought to these functions 
 disturbs their operation and may lead to hypochondriacal con- 
 ditions.
 
 DIGESTION AND INDIGESTION. 145 
 
 Imperfect cookery is responsible for much indigestion. 
 Hence the words of the proverb: "The devil sends the cook." 
 If proper preparation of food be of importance to the healthy, 
 how doubly important it must be to those who are dyspeptic. 
 In many acute ailments, the temporary abstinence which loss 
 of appetite involves is of advantage to the patient. In chronic 
 affections, however, where the tendency is to gradually failing 
 nutrition and wasting of the body, it is important that food be 
 offered the patient in the most digestible and appetizing form. 
 When the stomach is very weak, nourishment must be conveyed 
 to it in the fluid or in the semi-fluid form. Animal food must be 
 made into soups or broths. Milk is in many cases found to 
 be a great dependence. It can be given alone, or, for the sake 
 of variety, made into puddings with bread, rice, corn-starch, 
 or tapioca. Much depends upon the manner in which food is 
 served to invalids. Its attractive surroundings will often tempt 
 where their absence leads to rejection of food. The neat ser- 
 vice of a clean napkin spread on a little tray is very different from 
 a naked tray, with perhaps heaped-up superfluity, instead of some 
 dainty, tempting dish. 
 
 Some infectious diseases are disseminated by water, ice, 
 and milk. Not long ago, a physician in London succeeded in 
 tracing an outbreak of typhoid fever to the eating of infected 
 ice-cream sold by Italian street peddlers. Some makers of ice- 
 cream add to it gelatine, in order to prevent its melting rapidly. 
 If this be pure no harm results. It has, however, been found that 
 glue is sometimes employed as a substitute for gelatine. Now, 
 as glue generally contains some chemical intended for a pre- 
 servative, ice-cream in which it has been used is unfit to eat. 
 Too much care cannot be taken in large cities to secure pure 
 supplies of water, ice, cream, and milk.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 
 
 AMONG rude tribes, and, as well, among the civilized people 
 of antiquity, the attributes most necessary, and most 
 prized, were physical force and prowess. It was univer- 
 sally recognized that the stronger had a legitimate right over 
 the weaker. This concession is constantly met with in ancient 
 literature. Accordingly, members of the male sex were, from 
 their earliest years, trained in gymnastic and martial exercises, 
 through which they could acquire vigor, courage, and hardiness. 
 These qualities were in those times absolutely essential to a 
 people's security from slavery. Warfare, conquest, were re- 
 garded as the noblest occupations of life, the warrior, conse- 
 quently, as the finest type of manhood. The arts of peace were 
 regarded as merely contributory to the art of war. Competition 
 among boys, youths, and men lent interest to athletic sports that 
 were preparatory to military service. 
 
 During their palmy days, the ancient Greeks were renowned 
 for their athletic contests, that gifted race systematically pur- 
 suing them in various forms. Living in a temperate climate, 
 they brought corporal development in symmetry and strength 
 to high excellence. The most noted of the localities in which 
 games were celebrated was that at Olympia. These games 
 were especially remarkable, not only on account of their mag- 
 nificence, but from the fact that they were frequented by com- 
 petitors coming from all the states of Greece. It is the strangest 
 of all revivals in the history of the world, that the stadium at 
 Athens in which the Athenian games took place has been restored 
 on its old foundations. It was only Greeks who, in ancient times, 
 had the privilege of engaging in these contests. Now they are 
 open to competition from the whole world. The fourth series of 
 this revival has just taken place, the United States athletic repre- 
 146
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 147 
 
 sentatives securing a much larger percentage of victories than 
 those from any other people. The most signal success of any, 
 however, was that of the Canadian who ran from the old battle- 
 field of Marathon to the stadium at Athens, eclipsing all compe- 
 tition ; not only is the run of about twenty-six miles prodigious, 
 but its successful accomplishment in quick time has a senti- 
 mental value. When the Greeks won the celebrated battle of 
 Marathon from the Persian King Darius, a fleet-footed messen- 
 ger carried the news to Athens, and delivering his message, 
 dropped dead. 
 
 In a very good illustrated article in the American Review 
 of Reviews for July, 1906, entitled "American Athletics in 
 Ancient Athens," Mr. James E. Sullivan gives an account of the 
 Olympic games held in Athens for 1896. These games were held 
 in Athens, in 1896; in Paris, in 1900; in St. Louis, in 1904; and 
 again, at Athens, in 1906. London is now to have them. Mr. 
 Sullivan gives two distances incorrectly. He gives fifteen hun- 
 dred meters as the mile, and eight hundred meters as the half 
 mile. But a mile is sixteen hundred and nine, plus meters, and 
 consequently a half mile is eight hundred and four and a half, 
 plus meters. The late Marathon- Athens race was won by Sher- 
 ring, of Canada. There had been seventy-seven entries for it, 
 and the Greeks started in it with thirty-seven men. Americans 
 won seventy-five and five-sixths points out of a possible one 
 hundred in all the official games. 
 
 The account which Browning gives, in a note to his poem 
 "Pheidippides," makes the feat of the original Greek courier 
 who ran twenty-six and a tenth miles to Athens bearing the 
 news of the Grecian victory at Marathon much greater than is 
 generally believed. He says: "Pheidippides, when the Per- 
 sians went up into Attica, ran all the way from Athens to 
 Sparta to demand aid, and ran back again to be in time to be 
 at Marathon; and then, the battle over, ran to Athens to an- 
 nounce the victory, falling dead, having done so." The last 
 lines of "Pheidippides" are:
 
 148 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 "So is Pheidippides happy forever, the noble strong man 
 Who could race like a god, bear the face of a god, whom a god 
 
 loved so well; 
 He saw the land saved, he had helped to save, and was suffered 
 
 to tell, 
 
 Such tidings, yet never decline, but gloriously as he began, 
 So to end gloriously once to shout, thereafter to be mute: 
 Athens is saved ! Pheidippides dies in the shout for his meed." 
 
 The battle of Marathon was one of the turning battles of 
 the world. A previous attempt of the Persians to invade Greece 
 had failed. On the occasion of the battle of Marathon, Datis 
 and Artaphernes, two generals of King Darius, of Persia, con- 
 centrated their army at Marathon. The Athenians sent to the 
 Spartans for assistance, but, owing to the moon not being, ac- 
 cording to a superstition of the Spartans, in the right quarter 
 for their starting on an expedition, they declined marching. The 
 Athenians, nine thousand strong, were, on their way to the 
 field, joined by the Platseans, one thousand strong. Miltiades 
 was one of their ten generals. To him the Greek victory is 
 ascribed. The Greeks charged the Persians in a general ad- 
 vance. Their center was broken, but their right and left wings, 
 closing around the Persians, put them to rout with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 The Greeks held the festival of the Olympic games every 
 fifth year. For a month, all hostility among different states was 
 suspended. The sports consisted, as now do those in imitation 
 (with the exception of chariot-racing), of foot races, wrestling, 
 leaping, boxing. The victors received nothing for prizes but 
 branches of laurel. But nothing in all Greece gave a man so 
 high a standing as to be a victor at Olympia. Returning, his 
 fellow-citizens received him with an ovation, conferred on him 
 the costliest gift, and he remained through life a man of the 
 highest distinction. It was not unusual for a statue to be erected 
 in his honor in his native place. The estimate in which the vic- 
 tors were held is shown by the way in which a Greek writer
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 1X49 
 
 speaks of one in connection with a Spartan general. The writer 
 says that the general was decked with flowers as though he were 
 an athlete. He is speaking, in this case, of Spartan athletes. 
 These, he tells us, were, when victors, if they fell in battle, 
 honored by games instituted in their memory, in which none but 
 Spartans were allowed to contend. 
 
 The Olympic games lasted for nearly twelve centuries. In 
 the times of Grecian independence, before the Greeks fell, through 
 internal dissensions, before the Roman arms, they were of 
 inestimable service in stimulating interest in the maintenance of 
 a powerful and intrepid body of citizens. The benefit spread 
 universally throughout the states of Greece. The youth of the 
 whole people was in constant athletic exercise. Those who took 
 part in the games were obliged, as already said, to be of Hellenic 
 descent. But there was also another requirement, that they 
 should be, in character, free of any political or religious stain. 
 No social station was regarded so high as to debar a man from 
 competing in these contests. Socrates", although high as a phil- 
 osopher, was regardful of physical culture. His constitution, by 
 nature robust, was reinforced by his habits of life. Upon sev- 
 eral occasions he served as a soldier on the field of battle, and 
 was praised for his endurance and courage. It is told of him 
 that at the battle of Potidea he saved the life of the wounded 
 Alcibiades. 
 
 The Romans, although greatly influenced in literature, 
 taste, and philosophy by the Greeks, differed vastly from them 
 in their views of public games. They considered it derogatory 
 to appear at performances in the arena. It remained for a vain- 
 glorious Roman Emperor, in the decadence of Rome, to make 
 there a public exhibition of himself. The athletic exercises of the 
 Romans, except the military ones, were taken in private. The 
 public games of Rome were of the most brutal kind, the favor- 
 ite show being that of gladiatorial contests, where, as Byron 
 says, a man was "butchered to make a Roman holiday." Dur- 
 ing the decline of the Roman Empire the populace was so
 
 I5O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 lazy and degenerate that it found its chief pleasure in frequent- 
 ing baths and plays. Barbarian vigor was called upon to sup- 
 port the tottering Empire, and the legions of Rome were re- 
 cruited from the provinces. The barbarians, who from century 
 to century attacked the vast and decaying Empire, were hard- 
 ened by migration and warfare. The Goths, the Huns, and other 
 invaders were invigorated by relentless energy of invasion. 
 After the fall of the imperial city, Rome, society fell into a 
 chaotic condition under the prevalent dominion of force. 
 
 As the germs of modern civilization gradually arose from 
 the ruins of the old world, as feudalism and chivalry gradually 
 developed, military service again became general among the 
 most stable elements of the new order of things. The heavy 
 accoutrements and armor of chivalry could not dispense with 
 brawn and training if success were to be achieved upon the 
 battle-field. Knights were constantly practiced in martial exer- 
 cises. The tournaments which were held from time to time were 
 contests in which a number of mounted knights joined in single 
 combat or in melee. Jousts were displays of skill between two 
 rival knights, and were of much more frequent occurrence than 
 tournaments were. It was always the proper thing for cham- 
 pions to engage each other in combat upon the slightest pretence, 
 the charms of their respective lady-loves, what not. The ex- 
 travagance of their doings is portrayed by a master-hand in 
 "Don Quixote." The most superb description of a tournament 
 to be found in all literature is that of Sir Walter Scott, in his 
 "Ivanhoe," of the field of 'Ashby-de-la-Zouche. Later, we have 
 in the same volume bis wonderful picture of the duel between 
 Ivanhoe and the Knight Templar, Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, 
 upon which was to depend, through appeal to heaven to sustain 
 the right, the reputation of the lovely Jewess, Rebecca. 
 
 At last the introduction of gunpowder into warfare changed 
 its whole character and the character of nations. No longer 
 could aristocratic, mailed warriors, well mounted upon mailed 
 steeds, ride down whole squadrons of unarmored foot-soldiers.
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 15! 
 
 The light of democracy dawned upon the world, and infantry 
 have been from that day to this the mainstay of armies. Then 
 the strategical and tactical skill of leaders became of more 
 importance than their individual strength and prowess. Athlet- 
 icism fell into comparative neglect and disuse. Then, as now, 
 in every country, avocations which are pursued in the open air 
 were those that chiefly invigorated the body. Then, as now, 
 the farmer, the soldier, the sailor, the policeman, and those per- 
 sons engaged in the more laborious handicrafts were more 
 distinctively than others men of muscle. The dwellers in cities, 
 and especially those among them whose pursuits demanded but 
 little bodily exertion, declined in physique. The transmission 
 of this decline from generation to generation, the consequent 
 increase of scrofula, consumption, and nervous diseases which 
 prevailed, especially in large cities, at length produced the marked 
 physical advantage of which we have known, of the country- 
 bred over the city-bred nation, save among the city-bred whose 
 worldly circumstances are such as to allow them yearly to avail 
 themselves of a recreation which takes them beyond city 
 bounds, and save, too, among that class which, large as it is, is still 
 a small minority of people, who occupy houses and sometimes 
 villas in the vicinity of cities, where they lead lives amidst pure 
 air, and spend in the city only that portion of time which may 
 be devoted to business or to pleasure. At the time, however, to 
 which allusion was here first made, systematic exercise and 
 gymnastics fell into neglect in Europe. 
 
 It is strange that Jean Jacques Rousseau, than whom no 
 man was ever more full of vagaries, should have been among the 
 first to call attention, in his work, "Emile," to this flagrant ne- 
 glect of exercise. The most convincing demonstration of the 
 value of gymnastics was soon afterwards given by Prussia, after 
 her humiliation by Napoleon by his victory over her at Jena. 
 Prussia established schools for physical exercise under the direc- 
 tion of experienced educators. They served to train the body in 
 strength and skill, and developed a class of men who, at last, as
 
 152 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 soldiers vindicated the honor of their country. Ever since that 
 time athletic exercises have held a high place in the estimation of 
 Prussia, and adoption of them has spread from that country 
 to all parts of Germany. In time, the practice spread to other 
 lands, including at last the United States. Now gymnasiums 
 are attached to most of our large schools and to the higher seats 
 of learning. The balance here may be swinging too far to the 
 other side. Students, in some cases, devote a disproportionate 
 part of their time to athletics. There are signs already, how- 
 ever, that the presiding powers of such institutions are recogniz- 
 ing the evil. Already the word has gone forth from them that 
 athletics are primarily for the general body of students, not for 
 the development of a small number of elite capable of making 
 grand-stand plays before the world. 
 
 The English, constitutionally slow in adopting anything, 
 took long to perceive the necessity of gymnastic courses of in- 
 struction. True, many of them are devoted to field sports and 
 outdoor games, and nothing can be better than these for physical 
 development ; but these do not take in a whole nation ; at most, 
 those who can follow them are all but a privileged class. At 
 one time, not long since, schoolboy sports were almost unknown 
 even on the continent of Europe, the French boy particularly 
 scarcely knowing anything of rough, boyish contests. 
 
 Children who are early driven by poverty to work, and the 
 adult inhabitants of very large cities, have but little opportunity 
 for outdoor exercise except in walking to and from the scene 
 of their labors. Pedestrianism even now is largely neglected 
 in the United States. Business men ride to their offices in the 
 street-cars, reading the morning newspaper on the way. Shop- 
 girls often live at so great a distance from the places where they 
 work that the use of cars is with them a necessity. The fact is 
 unfortunate. These girls especially need to draw fresh air into 
 their lungs, instead of inhaling the impure air of crowded street- 
 cars before and after they spend a day in the pent-up surround- 
 ings even of the best ventilated store. What a pity it is that all
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 153 
 
 the world has not at beck and call what is healthful and delight- 
 ful. And yet, so irrationally are we constituted that there are 
 thousands who could have this at their pleasure who do not 
 take advantage of their freedom. Cowper, in two of his compo- 
 sitions, "The Winter Morning Walk" and "The Winter Walk 
 at Noon," speaks charmingly of pedestrianism. Charles Dickens, 
 a great pedestrian, who did not hesitate to walk many miles at a 
 fast clip, writes thus of a winter walk: "Better than a gig! 
 When were travellers by wheels and hoofs seen with such red- 
 hot cheeks as those? When were they so good-humoredly and 
 merrily bloused? When did their laughter ring upon the air 
 as they turned them round, what time the stronger gusts came 
 sweeping up ; and, facing round again as they passed by, dashed 
 on in such a glow of ruddy health as nothing could keep pace 
 with but the high spirits it engendered? Better than the gig! 
 Why, here is a man in a gig coming the same way now. Look 
 at him as he passes his whip into his left hand, chafes his 
 numbed fingers on his granite leg, and beats those marble toes 
 of his upon the footboard. Ha, ha, ha! Who would exchange 
 this rapid hurry of the blood for yonder stagnant misery, though 
 its pace were twenty miles for one ?" 
 
 It is quite customary among English professional men to 
 spend their holidays in walking and climbing tours among 
 mountains. Many a hard-worked London physician or lawyer 
 recovers in a few days among the mountains, the tone of health 
 which had been impaired by arduous labors in his daily round of 
 life. The same advantage may be secured in many parts of our 
 own country. A few hours' journey by rail will carry a traveler 
 to a mountainous region where he may make his explorations 
 afoot in search of pleasure and health. Delightful excursions 
 may be made among the hills in the summer season. In its sea- 
 son, he may diversify his trip by trout-fishing in mountain 
 streams. It is, however, only by accustoming himself, by easy 
 degrees, to unwonted exercise, that the unused citizen beyond 
 middle age can derive the indubitable benefit to be found in
 
 154 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 exercise among the mountains. Not only, with due precaution, 
 will his flabby muscles be made firm and strong, but his breath- 
 ing power will be improved. Deep draughts of pure air are 
 inhaled, the heart is invigorated, the action of the liver stimu- 
 lated, and the blood purified. Appetite and digestion are im- 
 proved, and nervous irritability subsides. The skin becomes clear 
 and regains the bloom of health. The eyes become again lus- 
 trous from the potent rejuvenating influences at work. Dr. 
 Hermann Weber, of London, states that mountain exercise has a 
 beneficial influence even on the hair, and that the grayness of 
 many persons in hair and beard has been diminished by a 
 mountain tour. 
 
 This kind of exercise is highly beneficial to those persons 
 who are strong in constitution but are run down in health from 
 mental strain. Positive invalids should never resort to it. The 
 exertion of tramping and climbing would prove to them quite 
 injurious. In the early stages of consumption, when there has 
 not been marked failure of digestion and general decline of 
 health, such excursions, if prudently managed as to amount of 
 exercise, may arrest the disease ; but in its advanced stage, exer- 
 tion at high elevations gives rise to haemorrhage and accelerates 
 the progress of the disease. Speaking generally of walking, it 
 should be said, that it is a common error to believe that walking 
 before breakfast secures a good appetite; the reverse is more 
 likely to be the case. What' this volume teaches, among other 
 things, is that the body is a machine. Being a machine, it needs 
 to be supplied with fuel for work. If it be not supplied with 
 fuel, it will take fuel from the body itself to support the deploy- 
 ment of muscular energy. After exertion, moreover, without 
 food, the power of digestion is not so good as that which is 
 usual in the particular individual who thus experiments upon 
 himself. 
 
 To acquire and maintain health, no special apparatus is 
 necessary for the majority of people. The exercise most readily 
 at every one's disposition, or at almost every one's, is walking.
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 155 
 
 Those persons who have not been in the habit of walking, and 
 those whose health is infirm, become fatigued in walking mod- 
 erate distances; those who are robust and are habituated to 
 walking can go many miles afoot without fatigue. Some thirty 
 years ago, girls of society took it into their heads for the first 
 time to go with parties of male escorts on long rambles in the 
 country. It came to be a fad, and as it was pursued under the 
 influence of sexual attraction, it was done entirely without dis- 
 cretion as to distance and speed in walking. It seemed to die 
 at last a natural death from observation that the enthusiasts were 
 doing themselves positive physical injury. Were the practice 
 moderate, however, among members of both sexes, antf among 
 persons of all ages, we should hear less of loss of appetite, 
 chronic dyspepsia, headache, neuralgia, depression of spirits, 
 sleeplessness, and other ills which, if they do not positively keep 
 people from their usual avocations, at least seriously impair 
 energy, productive power, and social agreeableness. With the 
 exception of avoidance of the direct rays of a powerful sun in 
 midsummer, and searching blasts on a wintry day, when the 
 thermometer is at its lowest, there is scarcely a time when a 
 person could not be benefited in health and vigor by a lusty 
 walk. Happily, there is now a steadily increasing apprecia- 
 tion among us of the value of exercise. In this country, in early 
 times, the hardships of pioneer life, the activities of the chase, 
 the frequent conflicts with Indians, gave a large amount of 
 physical training to the male portion of its settlers. The rapid 
 growth of large cities to which population seems unduly to tend, 
 the entire removal of savagery in the remotest parts of the 
 United States, the whole changed condition of the country, 
 have had some effect upon the health and vigor of many of its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 It is a conclusive commentary upon the inadequacy of life, 
 except among the favored classes, to secure physical stamina, 
 to find, as we do, that in lately recruiting for the British army, 
 it has been found necessary to lower the standard of physical
 
 156 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 development. The fact has awakened so much attention in 
 England that attention has been given to gymnastic exercises 
 among enlisted men. Mr. Maclaren, of Oxford, bears strong 
 testimony to the value of these exercises. Of a number of non- 
 commissioned officers sent to him to be trained as teachers for the 
 British army, he says : "The muscular additions to the arms 
 and shoulders and the expansion of the chest were so great as to 
 have absolutely a ludicrous and embarrassing result, for, before 
 the fourth month, several of the men could not get into their 
 jackets and tunics without assistance, and when they had got 
 them on, they could not get them to meet down the middle by 
 a hand's breadth." 
 
 The relation between systematic physical exercise and health 
 was perceived by the Greeks, and their most illustrious physicians 
 habitually made use of gymnastics in the treatment of many 
 chronic disorders. Knowledge of the relation has never since 
 been entirely lost sight of, although in modern times, the medical 
 profession has not employed this valuable method of exercise as 
 much, perhaps, as it ought to have done. Gymnastics, in medi- 
 cine, is a preventive rather than a curative method of treatment. 
 It is better, of course, to preserve health than to be cured of 
 illness. The utmost attention of scientific physicians is now 
 engaged upon the problem of preventing the occurrence and the 
 spread of disease. When the body is in full health, it offers 
 vigorous resistance to the occurrence of disease. Were it not 
 for this fact, human health and life would be more precarious 
 than it actually is. Low organisms, called in general terms 
 "microbes," are generating disease, that is, affording means to 
 generate it, through their reception into the human system as 
 well as into that of the brute creation. These disease germs 
 are, with few exceptions, members of the vegetable kingdom. 
 Like higher members of that kingdom, they require a certain 
 kind of soil in which to develop their parasitic life. Healthy 
 human tissues defend themselves by neutralizing the power of 
 these germs, or by eliminating the poisonous products which
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 157 
 
 they create. Microbes, in themselves, are not dangerous. They 
 are not dangerous as such. They cause disease because, in their 
 rapid multiplication, they elaborate chemical substances, by- 
 products, which are poisonous. These substances, reaching the 
 blood, cause specific diseases. Their poisonous products may 
 be regarded as analogous to those of the Jamestown weed (pro- 
 nounced "jimson weed"). They contain an active poison which 
 produces specific symptoms when introduced into the human 
 body. The great problem before the science of medicine of to- 
 day is, how, by what means, to render the human system insus- 
 ceptible to infectious and contagious diseases. 
 
 The present prevalent recognition of the relation between 
 health and exercise has led to many public institutions of learn- 
 ing having a medical man in charge of the hygienic and athletic 
 conduct of the pupils. This control answers several purposes. 
 Such a director, acquainted with human anatomy and human 
 functions of the body, can, besides recommending all that ap- 
 pertains to ventilation, bathing, clothing, etc., so arrange for 
 exercising, that different groups of muscles shall be symmetrically 
 developed ; so that, in the acquisition of strength, one part of the 
 body shall not be sacrificed to another or others. This medical 
 control is particularly valuable in schools for girls. A physician 
 is competent to warn them against the dangers of over-exercise, 
 and can render immediate assistance in case of injury. The 
 excellent effect of athletic exercises upon girls is well illus- 
 trated by the statistics of Amherst College, where daily exer- 
 cise is a part of the regular course, under the direction of a 
 physician. Whereas the average annual loss of time from sick- 
 ness is from nineteen to twenty days, these girls lose only about 
 two and one-half days during the annual scholastic term. 
 
 Children should be indulged, so far as possible, with life 
 in the open air from their earliest years. There are but few days 
 in the course of a year when even infants are not better for 
 being carried outdoors for a constitutional walk, trip in a baby- 
 coach, or full-blown carriage drive. In winter, the warmest
 
 158 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 part of the day should be chosen for their excursions; in sum- 
 mer, the coolest. In winter, the child should be wrapped up 
 warmly; in summer, lightly clad. Issuing from the generally 
 ill-ventilated houses of the poor, these excursions are, for babies, 
 of inestimable value. Their blood is purified, and their resistant 
 power to disease increased. A child thus accustomed from its 
 earliest years to the open air is much less likely than others to 
 be attacked by infantile disorders. Children thus treated ac- 
 quire a hardiness which was, perhaps, somewhat lacking in their 
 constitution. Children born to families in which there has been 
 exhibited hereditary tendency to consumption particularly need 
 this daily exposure to fresh air. As the children increase in 
 age and learn to walk, the length of outing can be gradually 
 increased. 
 
 Modern civilization and over-anxious care, especially among 
 the well-to-do, have rendered early life in cities more precarious 
 than it should be for children. Many mothers, taking natural 
 pride and pleasure in seeing their little ones fond of reading 
 at the earliest age, fall into the unfortunate practice of encour- 
 aging them in this direction for the purpose of keeping them 
 out of what is called mischief, making sure of their not soiling 
 their clothes, of not fighting with other children. Nature, how- 
 ever, has implanted in the male disposition, and only in lesser 
 degree in the female one, love of activity in the open air. The 
 danger of confinement to boys is less than to girls. Habits of 
 staying within doors are soon learned by little girls, prompted 
 by fear of soiling clothes and avoidance of rough play. They 
 sit neatly dressed at parlor windows, gazing at the obstreperous 
 life of other children. Many girls thus grow up in a little house, 
 its shades well down for fear of light spoiling the colors of the 
 carpet. Life for them goes on with a monotony which old 
 and decrepit people can endure, and even like, but which, for 
 them, is a distinct violation of the laws of nature. They grow 
 up puny, pale, narrow-chested, delicate, and nervous. They all 
 have feeble appetites and are more open to attack of disease than
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 159 
 
 are other children, and far less are they capable of resisting its 
 consequences. 
 
 All city children should be allowed a reasonable degree of 
 liberty for play in the open air ; in the parks, if possible ; if not 
 in them, in the squares; and if not in them, play in the streets 
 is better than none. So far as danger to life and limb in the 
 streets is concerned, it may be said that, with proper cautionary 
 instructions from elders, and with the experience which children 
 soon acquire, there is but a small percentage of street acci- 
 dents among them even in our largest cities. Speaking of the 
 necessity of physical relaxation for school-girls, Professor Key, 
 an eminent Swedish physician who has paid much attention to 
 the health of school-children, writes: "The amount of work, 
 sitting still, etc., exacted of the girl, is not consistent with her 
 health during her growing time. Without going into particulars 
 as to the influences injurious to the health of growing children, 
 which proceed from their homes or may be brought out in con- 
 nection with the school and school work, it is still manifest that 
 the burden of work that children have to bear, under the pres- 
 ent school regulations, far exceeds what is permissible, and is, 
 to a large extent, responsible for the liability of school-children 
 to illness." 
 
 It is important that gymnastic and calisthenic exercises 
 should be made interesting. If little boys and girls are compelled 
 at set hours to perform routine movements, a drill that does not 
 require much attention or movement, the task, through becoming 
 monotonous, is of comparatively little physical benefit. On the 
 other hand, very complex exercises are not judicious instruc- 
 tion. A writer on the subject remarks: "It is obvious that 
 difficult exercises cannot be recreative. It is not a relaxation 
 that the brain of a child can find in these methodical exercises, 
 but rather one lesson more added to so many others. Among 
 the movements of our gymnastics, those which are not hard 
 enough to discourage the child are so destitute of interest that 
 they repel by their monotony To a pupil, pleasure is
 
 l6o HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not only a moral satisfaction, it is a hygienic element indis- 
 pensable to his health. To impose on a child exercises in which 
 he will find no pleasure is more than a want of solicitude 
 it is an offence against hygiene." Nothing can be less attrac- 
 tive than the scene of a gymnasium, with its various apparatus, 
 looking like a place of torture and execution. All the more, 
 therefore, should those in charge of it remember that it is not 
 like the expanse of green fields or watery surface that incites 
 to exercise in field-sports or boating, and for that reason should 
 make what is to be done in it as interesting as limitations admit. 
 
 Gymnastic exercises for girls should be carried on only 
 for the purpose of securing strength, and as a road to the prov- 
 ince of health. It is not desirable, even if it were possible (and 
 it is not), for young women to be able to rival their brothers 
 in physical ability. It is not possible for them to walk so far, 
 to run so swiftly, to throw heavy weights, to leap long distances, 
 and to lift great iron masses. The perfect physical condition that 
 belongs to their sex is very much less muscularly than these 
 endowments. The moral side of the matter is that healthy 
 girls make cheerful companions, good wives, and competent 
 mothers. 
 
 At a recent French medical convention, Dr. Martin, of 
 Bordeaux, read a memoir upon the influence of physical exer- 
 cise in preventing short-sightedness in school-children. He 
 called attention to the fact that the benefit of gymnastics ex- 
 tends to every portion of the body. Short-sightedness gener- 
 ally appears first between the ages of eight and twelve. Com- 
 parison of observations made in different countries demonstrates 
 that the school work of children is the immediate cause of nu- 
 merous cases of this defect of vision. Dr. Martin asserts that 
 the study of the statistics, together with his personal investiga- 
 tions, has shown that one of the prime factors in the produc- 
 tion of this affection is an insufficient attention to physical cul- 
 ture. This cause, it is almost needless to say, exists in too 
 many schools, and especially in those devoted to the education
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. l6l 
 
 of girls. It has been found that short-sighted children are 
 most numerous in those countries where the least number of 
 hours are devoted to physical exercise. Moreover, the feebler 
 the constitution of the child, the more liable it is to acquire 
 short-sightedness. Dr. Martin would prefer that children 
 should not be taught to read or write before the age of seven, 
 and in this opinion he will be supported by the majority of 
 physicians. Institutions for the education of children below 
 that age should confine their instruction to physical culture and 
 oral communication of instruction. 
 
 Boys and girls should, as soon as possible, be taught to 
 swim. The exercise improves the lungs, strengthens the muscu- 
 lar system, and is the most pleasurable in existence. It is, be- 
 sides, an accomplishment, and more than that too, in value, for 
 through it there is a stronger hold on personal life and on the 
 lives of others. To swim would be naturally possible to every- 
 one, if everyone realized that the human body is lighter than 
 water, and thereby possessed the confidence necessary to avoid 
 false movements that prevent staying above its surface. The 
 body is, as is said, lighter than water; but if a person who is 
 no swimmer throws the arms and shoulders outside of it in 
 frantic efforts to escape sinking, the parts left in the water are 
 unequal to supporting those left unsubmerged, and the person 
 sinks, taking water into the lungs. Confidence that the water 
 will support the body is therefore the first requisite for the 
 person wishing to learn to swim. It has happened occasionally, 
 that some persons have, without previous experience, been en- 
 dowed with this, have entered the water, and have swum with 
 ease. There was a case of this many years ago, where a boy 
 of seven years of age, entering the Delaware where it is nar- 
 row, many miles above Philadelphia, with his big brother along- 
 side of him, suddenly struck out and with him swam across the 
 river. As confidence is the first element in learning to swim, one 
 cannot do, by way of acquiring it, better than to follow Dr. 
 
 Franklin's instructions for learning to swim. He directs the 
 
 li
 
 l62 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 beginner to choose the clear water of a gently sloping beach to 
 make the first essay. The beginner is to walk out until the 
 water is breast-high on him, then face towards the shore, throw 
 a glistening white pebble into the w r ater a few paces ahead of 
 him, and then plunge in head first and try to recover it. He will 
 find so great a resistance of the water to his intention as is well 
 calculated to give confidence in its capability to support the 
 body. As the learner knows that his plunge is towards water 
 shallower than that whence he starts, he is sure of incurring no 
 risk, and he thus acquires knowledge in the simplest possible way 
 as preliminary to his attempts at swimming. Soon he will 
 learn with ease to float and swim. All persons cannot hope to 
 reach perfection in the art. Length of limb and great muscu- 
 larity are obvious conditions for success. But there is one 
 which never seems to have been duly considered relative spe- 
 cific gravity. Specific gravity is the relation of weight to bulk. 
 The writer once knew a man who, from absence of adipose 
 tissue and presence of dense muscular tissue, had so high a 
 specific gravity that he could never make one of the best of 
 swimmers except for short distances. Swimming has now be- 
 come improved, through competition, to so high a degree of 
 excellence, there are so many different kinds of strokes, that 
 the subject cannot be entered upon in detail here. What is called 
 the breast-stroke, in which both arms sweep symmetrically from 
 the shoulders with the palms of the hands extended, is the in- 
 variable stroke for the beginner. Treading water, floating, 
 hand-over-hand strokes and others come gradually to the as- 
 siduous swimmer. 
 
 Young people all have instinctive love for boating and sail- 
 ing. The assumption is far too common among girls that even* 
 man can drive horses and sail a boat. The disasters from this 
 conviction that ensue every year are numerous, especially in 
 sailing. There is nothing that requires more experience than 
 sailing. A man has been known to be sailing before the wind, 
 with his boom well off, when he suddenly luffed into a creek and
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 163 
 
 knocked his girl companion overboard to drown by the gybing 
 of his sail. The writer has seen drownings innumerable along 
 the coast because the men in charge of boats did not see 
 coming squalls, or did not know what to do when squalls struck. 
 One might as well have a cow in the boat as an unskilled man 
 in an emergency. With proper precautions, however, for sail- 
 ing and rowing, there is no reason why girls should not take part 
 in these sports. Canoeing had better be avoided by them, but 
 they can properly indulge in rowing, even to the extent of taking 
 an oar or a pair of sculls. 
 
 Fishing is a sport which has the sanction of both the lazy 
 man and the philosopher. There are modes of it, however, that 
 do not suit the supremely lazy man. Brook-trout fishing de- 
 mands not only patience and skill, but considerable exertion. 
 The antiquity of fishing is attested by a passage in the Book 
 of Isaiah, where it says : "The fishes also shall mourn, and all 
 they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that 
 spread nets upon the water shall languish." The sport has the 
 advantage of bringing one into close communication with the 
 scenes of nature. No form of outdoor exercise is more enjoyed 
 than this by its votaries. Many are the books that have been 
 written concerning the pleasures and the art of angling. Izaak 
 Walton's "Compleat Angler" has long been a classic in English 
 literature. Even the celebrated scientist, Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 found occupation in writing a book on the gentle art. Walton 
 extols the sport in the following lines: 
 
 "Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue, 
 And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, 
 So I the fields and meadows green may view, 
 And daily, by fresh rivers, walk at will 
 Among the daisies and the violets blue, 
 Red hyacinth and yellow daffodil, 
 Purple narcissus, like the morning rays, 
 Pale gander-grass and azure culver-keys."
 
 164 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 In winter frozen streams and ponds furnish opportunity for 
 the very exhilarating exercise of skating. Good skaters can 
 deploy upon fine ice of no great extension a great variety of 
 movements. If a skater needs to try his speed, he can get many a 
 stretch of a mile or more in length. An interesting and highly 
 popular game on ice is derived from Scotland that of "curling." 
 It has been introduced into Canada by Scotchmen and there 
 warmly welcomed. A space of about forty yards long is marked 
 out on the ice, having its goals, called "tees" at each end. The 
 players are two or four on a side. Stones of from thirty-five to 
 fifty pounds in weight, furnished with handles, are the projectiles 
 used, two stones being allotted to each player. The object of 
 each player is to hurl a stone over his opponent's goal. A stone 
 which is not sent with sufficient force to reach a certain line in 
 the rink is counted out and removed. As stones gather near a 
 tee, the strife concentrates, from the fact that the competitors 
 endeavor to advance their missiles and to dislodge those of the 
 opposite side. Roller-skating is also good exercise if indulged in 
 moderately in the open air. 
 
 From time immemorial every race inhabiting northern 
 countries has used the sled for passengers and for" transporta- 
 tion of goods on snow or ice. The sled has always been a popu- 
 lar vehicle with boys for winter sport, and among young people 
 of both sexes, for coasting on the snow down steep hills. This 
 practice pursued without due precaution, with the great appa- 
 ratus fondly called the "double-ripper," has sometimes led to 
 serious loss of life and many wounds among the occupants of a 
 double sled. A very singular accident took place with a double - 
 ripper some years ago. A jolly night party, on the machine, 
 reached the foot of a hill at the height of their hilarity, when 
 a vehicle turned suddenly into the end of the street down which 
 the slide ran. There was no time or room for avoidance of 
 collision. The legs of the steersman of the double-ripper ran 
 through one of the wheels of the vehicle ; the driver, not know-
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 165 
 
 ing in the darkness what was happening, whipped up his rear- 
 ing horses, and the steersman of the double-ripper got off with 
 his life, but with a compound comminuted fracture of one of his 
 legs. 
 
 Of late years the "toboggan" has been introduced to some 
 extent from Canada. The toboggan is simply a smoothed 
 plank, not mounted on runners, and in consequence its employ- 
 ment involves much more bumping than does the use of the 
 double-ripper. This amusement causes an active circulation and 
 purification of the blood through the abundance of oxygen with 
 which it becomes supplied. With proper precautions, the sport 
 may be advantageously shared by girls. The choice of a safe 
 place, free of the presence of trees, free of the presence of car- 
 riages and of travel of all sorts, skill in the steersman of the 
 apparatus, are the only necessary prerequisites. 
 
 Sleigh-riding is a delightful pastime, always supposing 
 that the wind is not blowing a gale, and that one is provided with 
 plenty of fur robes for wraps. The atmosphere where dry snow 
 covers the ground is very exhilarating, to which is added the 
 exhilaration of speed, jingling sleigh-bells, and the gaiety of 
 social enjoyment. 
 
 Running strengthens the legs, invigorates the heart, and 
 increases the breathing capacity of the lungs. It should, how- 
 ever, be practiced with moderation, for, otherwise, the lungs and 
 the spleen become engorged with blood, a stitch is felt in the 
 left side, and a painful effort in breathing is experienced. The 
 heart may be overworked, and severe and even fatal exhaustion 
 may occur from running too fast or too far. It is a form of 
 exercise especially appropriate to youthful lightness of body. 
 Children, however, who have suffered from rheumatism, should 
 not be allowed to run. Rheumatism sometimes causes disease 
 of the heart, and if this has happened in any case, violent exercise 
 is injurious. The enormously increased rapidity of the circula- 
 tion produced by running puts an exceedingly great strain upon 
 the heart, a strain which the organ in a weakened condition may
 
 1 66 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not be able to bear. For this reason, persons beyond middle 
 age who have long ceased habitually to run, are injured by 
 running, as they sometimes do, to catch a car or train. Run- 
 ning is an exercise of which boys are very fond, and it enters 
 into many of their games. When one of them has been early 
 used to running, it is astonishing what powers of speed and 
 endurance can be cultivated in him. For short races, a quick 
 start and swift pace are allowable, but for long distances, the 
 pace held must, of necessity, be more moderate. Running with 
 a steady stride, or with a "lope," Indian scouts and white cour- 
 iers have sometimes covered long distances in an almost incred- 
 ibly short space of time. 
 
 Wrestling, among the most ancient of sports, has steadily 
 increased in favor in the United States for many years past. 
 Gibbon, the historian, thus tells of the first appearance of Max- 
 imin, afterwards Roman Emperor: "About thirty-two years 
 'before that event, the Emperor Severus, returning from an 
 Eastern expedition, halted in Thrace to celebrate with military 
 games the birthday of his younger son, Gela. The country 
 flocked in crowds to behold their sovereign, and a young bar- 
 barian, of gigantic stature, earnestly solicited in his rude dia- 
 lect that he might be allowed to contend for the prize of wrest- 
 ling. As the pride of discipline would have been disgraced in 
 the overthrow of a Roman soldier by a Thracian peasant, he was 
 matched with the stoutest followers of the camp, sixteen of 
 whom he successively laid on the ground. His victory was 
 rewarded by some trifling gifts and a permission to enlist in the 
 troops. The next day the happy barbarian was distinguished 
 above a crowd of recruits, dancing and exulting after the fashion 
 of his country. As soon as he perceived that he had attracted 
 the Emperor's notice, he instantly ran up to his horse and fol- 
 lowed him on foot, without the least appearance of fatigue, in 
 a long and rapid canter. 'Thracian/ said Severus, with aston- 
 ishment, 'art thou disposed to wrestle after thy race?' 'Most 
 willingly, sir,' replied the unwearied youth; and almost in a
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 167 
 
 breath overthrew seven of the strongest soldiers in the army. 
 A gold collar was the prize of his matchless vigor and activity, 
 and he was immediately appointed to serve in the horseguards 
 who always attended on the person of the sovereign." But 
 thousands of years before the 'time described, wrestling had been 
 an institution among the remotest people of antiquity, knowledge 
 of whom has come down to us. 
 
 There is no pleasanter outdoor sport than quoits if, at dis- 
 posal, the quoits themselves are neatly, not clumsily made, the 
 soil is adapted to their resting well when thrown, and the place 
 where they are played is in windless, pleasant shade. The game 
 strengthens the wrists and exercises the faculty of judgment of 
 distance. The occasional stoop to pick up the quoits at the 
 goal at which they have been thrown lends suppleness to the 
 body. 
 
 Archery is one of the most elegant of sports, and has been 
 moderately revived within a few years. It is elegant, because 
 the arrow can be made to hit the target with great precision, 
 the correct posture of the archer is fine, and all the details about 
 the bow, from the yew of its wood to the treatment and care of 
 its string, are of the most refined sort. There is, especially 
 among men of Anglo-Saxon race, a- great deal of sentiment 
 about the bow. Skill in archery was once upon a time the pride 
 of England, when by its means she won famous battles. Since 
 1844 the sport has become increasingly popular. It culti- 
 vates grace and strengthens the muscles of the arms and chest, 
 developing capacity for judgment of distance and effects of 
 light and shade and wind. Nothing can be more charming, too, 
 than a scene of archery on the greensward, surrounded by 
 groves, and embellished with the movements of members of 
 both sexes gaily apparelled and moving or standing posed in 
 groups, or as single figures shooting at the targets of the field. 
 An able English advocate of the sport, Mr. Horace A. Ford, says 
 that "there is no exercise more healthy or more rational, or 
 which returns more true and genuine qualification to the man
 
 1 68 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 who practices it." He adds that, "as an exercise for ladies, it 
 is advantageous from the fact of its being general and equal 
 without being violent calling the faculties, both of mind and 
 body, into gentle and healthful play, yet oppressing none withal 
 most elegant and graceful." George Eliot mentions the grace- 
 fulness of the archer where she says: "Who can deny that 
 bows and arrows are among the prettiest weapons in the world 
 for feminine forms to play with? They prompt attitudes full 
 of grace and power, where that fine concentration of energy seen 
 in all marksmanship is freed from associations of bloodshed." 
 Bows for women's use are made lighter and somewhat shorter 
 than those for men, with arrows proportionately shorter. The 
 tremendous power with which an arrow can be shot from a bow 
 used to be illustrated in the buffalo (bison) hunts of North 
 American Indians. Riding up swiftly to close range with one 
 of these animals, an Indian would bury his arrow to its feather 
 in the body of the game. 
 
 Croquet and lawn-tennis are games sufficiently mild to be 
 played with pleasure and advantage in our summer season. But 
 even they are too strenuous when the quicksilver of the 
 thermometer ranges near ninety degrees. 
 
 In this country, the so-called American game^of base-ball, 
 which is really a development of the game of town-ball which 
 we inherited from the English, has become, in its professional 
 and some other ranks, a pastime attended with considerable 
 risk, the damage of sprains and dislocations, and even of an 
 occasional death. The hardness of the balls, the force with 
 which they are pitched and batted, bring it about that not even 
 the partial armor worn by the catcher or the swiftness of foot 
 of the runner can guarantee them against injury. The spec- 
 tacle of the base-ball field with two fine teams pitted against one 
 another is the most popular of any in America, so far as numer- 
 ical attendance can witness to the supposition. It may be, how- 
 ever, that the higher prices charged for entrance to a first-rate 
 game of college foot-ball give undue prominence to popular
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 169 
 
 love of base-ball. Foot-ball, as now scientifically played, whether 
 in America or England, develops strength, skill, and courage in 
 the course of the training indispensable to prominence in the 
 sport. The eager rivalry among teams led at last to an amount 
 of brutality in its conduct that has called for and been answered 
 by some tentative measures for amelioration of . the severity 
 of the game. 
 
 The game of golf, once peculiar to Scotland, has now been 
 largely adopted in the United States. The field should be of 
 stubbly grass, thrown up here and there into little hillocks, 
 known in the language of the game as "hazards," which are 
 to be avoided. A "round" of holes of about four inches in 
 width, and of slight depth, is dug in the ground from one hun- 
 dred to three hundred yards apart. The aim consists in seek- 
 ing to drive a ball, with clubs variously shaped as to their ends, 
 into these holes, with the fewest number of strokes. From six 
 to twelve differently pointed kinds of clubs are used for the 
 exigences of position on the ground, players being accompanied 
 by attendant-boys known as "caddies," to serve, at a moment's 
 notice, the particular kind of club needed. The game is suitable 
 for persons of all ages and of both sexes. Its need it skill rather 
 than strength, although the possession of a certain fair amount 
 of strength is indispensable. 
 
 Bicycling, which began with sudden and enormous public 
 favor, fell as rapidly into disuse. The fact is one of the most sur- 
 prising among human vagaries. The exercise brings into action 
 the muscles of the trunk of the body and its lower limbs. It 
 takes the riders generally into the country air. Considering 
 that it stimulates the action of the lungs, and therefore exer- 
 cises beneficial influence on the composition of the blood, and has 
 all the pleasurable accompaniment that can attend any exercise, 
 it is a pity that it should have been so generally relinquished, 
 for it increases not only active circulation, but promotes also the 
 secretions of the body and improves the appetite and digestion. 
 In the case of persons spare in flesh, it increases weight, while
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 on the other hand, it is excellent for reducing corpulence. The 
 exercise, moreover, constitutes an admirable education of the 
 senses in judgment of speed, distance, and readiness of action. 
 The exact balance of the body, the brisk movement, the pure 
 air, the pleasing scenes through which the rider may pass, excite 
 cheerful thought. The sport may confidently be recommended 
 to those who suffer from dyspepsia, gout, rheumatism, nervous- 
 ness, and to those who are threatened with consumption. As 
 every practice may be abused, it may be well to add that riders 
 should not throw themselves forward on the bicycle-seat. Back- 
 ward projection of the spinal column and stoop-shouldered 
 positions are not associated with the full benefit of any exer- 
 cise. Before bicycling came to an abrupt stop, what was recog- 
 nized as "the bicycle stoop" was known by all scientific men 
 to be injurious. The rider should sit easily erect, and thus 
 present an appearance, not only of good athletic knowledge, 
 .but of graceful pose. 
 
 Horseback exercise is an excellent preservative of health, 
 and one of the most delightful in sensation of any in existence. 
 By it, the circulation is stimulated, the breathing deepened, the 
 action of various glands, especially that of the liver, promoted, 
 the appetite and digestion improved. Besides all this, the ac- 
 quisition of the art of horsemanship is valuable training of skill 
 and courage, and full of exquisite pleasure of being in touch 
 with a docile and intelligent animal. It is an old-time homely 
 saying, that "the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a 
 man." It is an exercise appropriate to almost every age and to 
 either sex. Children learn the art of riding with the greatest 
 ease. In fact, the best riders are always those who have ac- 
 quired the art in early youth. Persons who spend most of their 
 lives in sedentary occupations find in horseback riding one of 
 the most charming diversions. Of all delightful experiences 
 of it the first, by all odds, is where a party of ladies and gentle- 
 men form a cavalcade, and as the cool of the afternoon ap- 
 proaches, on a summer's day, or earlier on an autumn one, when
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 1^1 
 
 leaves are falling, start forth together for a ten-mile ramble 
 at walk, trot, canter, gallop, through the wood-roads and open 
 lands of a beautiful country whose landscape is ever changing 
 to their view as they ride on pleasantly with the clatter of hoofs, 
 whinnying horses, and pleasant conversation. 
 
 Polo has been introduced into this country from India. 
 The participants in the game, mounted on ponies, vary from 
 three to six on a side. Each player has a stick four feet long 
 with a cross-piece at the end. The object is to drive the ball 
 through the goal of the opponents. Each goal is eight yards 
 in width, and the two goals not less than two hundred and fifty 
 yards apart. To begin, each side is stationed behind its goal- 
 posts. One player of each side acts as goal-keeper. At a signal, 
 every player strives to drive the ball towards his opponent's 
 goal. A game lasts for an hour and ten minutes, with an inter- 
 val of five minutes after each twenty minutes of play. 
 
 Coaching, in the primitive condition of the United States, 
 when it was the chief mode of traveling, was at the same time 
 a delightful pastime. Men still" living remember with pleasure 
 the delights of a two-days trip in frosty weather, and even when 
 snow covered the ground, when they used to find helpful and 
 pleasant companionship, stop at the end of a stage at a country 
 inn, drink a glass of hot whisky-punch, and all in a glow resume 
 their seats with continued animation and enjoyment. The pres- 
 ent renewal of coaching in a fashionable form has none of the 
 old romantic elements which formerly belonged to that mode of 
 travel. It is a pinchbeck imitation of the real thing, without a 
 spice of the various elements that made old-time coaching so 
 charming the queer people one met, the queer scenes one saw, 
 the bustle, the whole business of that special phase of life. One 
 cannot wonder that Dickens and Thackeray, fondly recalling the 
 old-fashioned stage-coach of England, should have sung its 
 praises with enthusiasm. In Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit," 
 Tom Pinch journeys to London. Thus the spirited description 
 of that trip goes: The coachman "did things with his hat
 
 172 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 which nothing but an unlimited knowledge of horses and the 
 wildest freedom of the road could ever have made him perfect 
 
 in The guard, too ! Seventy breezy miles a day were 
 
 written in his very whiskers. His manners were a canter; his 
 conversation a round-trot. He was a fast coach upon a down- 
 hill turnpike road; he was all pace. A wagon couldn't have 
 moved slowly with that guard and his key-bugle on top of it." 
 In Dickens's "Tale of Two Cities" a night journey from London 
 to Dover is sketched. Dickens says: "The Dover mail was 
 in its usual genial position, that the guard suspected the pass- 
 engers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard; 
 they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure 
 of nothing but the horses; as to which cattle he could with 
 a clear conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments, 
 that they were not fit for the journey." This refers to the times 
 when highwaymen still infested the roads. Thackeray, in his 
 very last, but unfinished work, tells of a little boy who shot a 
 highwayman in the face. 
 
 Some of the exercises discussed develop strength rather than 
 grace. They are, however, the basis of grace. They harmonize 
 the muscular system, through establishment of the nervous sys- 
 tem. Some exercises are from their character especially pro- 
 motive of grace. The poet was right when he said they move 
 easiest who have learned to dance. The bulky athlete is at a 
 disadvantage in a ball-room in the matter of grace unless he has 
 learned to dance. Movements of grace are more curved and 
 rhythmical than other movements are. The music that accom- 
 panies dancing ensures their being rythmical, and their cur- 
 vilinear character is promoted by the motions necessary to per- 
 forming the steps of the dance. It is not to be expected that a 
 man's movements shall be so graceful as those that are pos- 
 sible to a well-formed woman, for the reason that her anatomical 
 structure prescribes to her movements more curvilinear lines 
 than a man's does. 
 
 Athletics have a good effect upon disposition and mental
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 173 
 
 faculties. Among the Romans was realized the advantage of 
 the mens sana in corpore sano, the healthy mind in the healthy 
 body. As a general rule, strong men are of equable disposition. 
 Aware of their powers, they are not generally prone to offence 
 and picking quarrels. Mental power is undoubtedly increased 
 by physical exercise. This has been conclusively proved by 
 investigation among large bodies of students in many colleges. 
 It is only a false seeming, generally, when this looks untrue. 
 The boy who loves active exertion, the student of more advanced 
 years, may sometimes too much neglect his studies in favor of his 
 athletic predilections, and thus show for a time at a disadvantage. 
 But many is the case which life witnesses where the close stu- 
 dent seems to have left in himself no reserve for life, and the for- 
 merly apparently unstudious and neglectful youth eventually 
 comes to the front with a spirit for acquisition of knowledge that 
 never abates. Enthusiasts in athletics generally have that cast of 
 mind which inclines them to active rather than to contemplative 
 life. It comes about that the student may need to be driven to 
 the gymnasium, and the gymnast to his books. The same per- 
 son is rarely equally at home in both spheres. The qualities 
 acquired by athleticism are developed by physical exercise, not 
 in the class-room. With these qualities, the athlete does not lack 
 determination and patience for the acquisition of knowledge 
 to stand him in stead for active life. 
 
 There is one exercise which is important to every young 
 man of condition, that which is known as the art of self-defence 
 boxing. As the possession of the young man of condition, it 
 is not in danger of becoming the art of aggression, to which low 
 level it falls in the hands of the rowdy, from whom, through 
 life, at any moment, he may be called upon to defend himself or 
 others by his skill. Police protection is not always at hand to 
 succor persons of either sex insulted or assaulted by the human 
 brute. There is nothing more delightful than to see such an 
 one, confident in his strength and ferocity, polished off by a 
 gentlemanly, skilled antagonist.
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Fencing, too, is an art which every gentleman and woman 
 should, if possible, acquire. Many cases have been known where 
 it, like boxing, proved of signal service against unwarranted ag- 
 gression. A man skilled in fencing or single-stick is not at a dis- 
 advantage if he has nothing but a cane or a folded umbrella 
 to defend himself and injure his adversary. Fencing with 
 masks, foils, and padded breastplates, is a perfectly safe amuse- 
 ment, and cultivates grace, quickness of hand, and agility on the 
 feet. The calf of the left leg is the only part that becomes 
 unduly enlarged from the exercise. This is because the right 
 leg is the one that is advanced in the attitude of fencing, its 
 foot resting lightly on the ground, ready to retreat or press for- 
 ward in the encounter, while the left leg bears most of the weight 
 of the body, and the brunt of its increase when it recoils or 
 retreats. A persistent fencer, in the times when small-clothes 
 were worn (sometimes called knee-breeches), had the calf of 
 his left leg so much increased beyond the size of the right one, 
 that he was obliged to wear inside the stocking of the right leg 
 a little pad to make the two calves symmetrical. This same 
 gentleman, who had been a West Pointer in his youth, was 
 one of two chosen from among the cadets to exhibit, on the 
 occasion of a visit by the President, the expertness of the Mili- 
 tary Academy's best fencing. The night before the encounter, 
 of which he had been notified that he would be one of the prin- 
 cipals, he had the horrible dream that, in the exhibition, his foil 
 had broken off short, and that he had stabbed his opponent to 
 the heart. Sure enough, next day, in the height of the encounter, 
 it broke in the middle, but the rest of the dream did not come 
 true. Had it done so, it would have gone on record, as many 
 coincidences do, as following a revelation ; although, when 
 nothing happens, the record, as far as it has gone, is generally 
 forgotten. 
 
 Unless the features are malformed, or unless they exhibit 
 signs of dissipation, a man's expression is always passable. It 
 is chiefly requisite that he shall look, as a man, manly. Beauty
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 175 
 
 of feature seems almost incompatible with manly expression. 
 Beauty of form in man is another matter, and with that he is 
 endowed, in his type, as sumptuously as is woman in hers. 
 Something effeminate lurks in the countenance of a man whose 
 features are moulded with extreme precision. With him, as to 
 bodily form, the highest attributes of it should represent agility 
 and strength. 
 
 The prime object of physical education for the female 
 sex is the promotion of health and grace. As has been pre- 
 viously remarked, the possession by it of great strength is 
 not desirable, nor possible. Its exercises should be in the 
 form of calisthenics, the mild form of gymnastics. Numerous 
 movements have been devised by which Indian clubs and wands 
 can be used to great advantage; nor should it be debarred 
 from taking in a lighter form some of the exercises for which 
 the gymnasium has been instituted for the opposite sex. Mem- 
 bers of the female sex should daily walk, almost irrespectively of 
 the condition of the weather. A light fall of snow should be no 
 obstacle to their taking this kind of exercise. Persons brought 
 up with this kind of regimen rarely take cold. Colds are gen- 
 erally caught in the house from draughts; and susceptibility 
 to them is always increased by living in impure air. 
 
 A system of calisthenics has, of late years, been introduced, 
 known as the "Delsarte movements." Many women and girls in 
 this country have attended classes in which this method was 
 taught and have received distinct benefit from it. The aim of 
 the system, however, is not principally for the improvement of 
 health, but for that of grace. It is impossible, however, that in 
 following it, the exercises should not be promotive of health. 
 The inspiration that led to the invention of the system was artis- 
 tic. The Delsartian exercises are but a portion of a doctrine 
 relating to art. 
 
 Francois Delsarte was a musician, a teacher of oratory and 
 music, in Paris. He had originally contemplated going upon 
 the operatic stage, but, owing to some impairment in his voice,
 
 176 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 was obliged to relinquish that ambition. As an instructor, he 
 concerned himself in the production and management of the voice 
 of his pupils. In the course of this, his mind was led from con- 
 sideration of the physical to the intellectual and moral phases of 
 the subject. He thought that a pure, melodious voice for singing 
 or speaking is not enough for artistic requirement. Tone and 
 modulation, he thought, must be superadded in order fully to 
 express thought and emotion. Gestures, too, were used by him 
 to express mental states. The association of emotion and cer- 
 tain muscular movements (gestures, in a word) received great 
 attention from him. Himself endowed with histrionic talent, and 
 constantly engaged in training pupils for the stage, Delsarte was, 
 of course, well fitted for an instructor in gesticulation. He was 
 constantly engaged in tracing the connection between thought 
 or emotion and muscular movement. In this attempt he reached 
 a number of conclusions which he believed to be fundamental 
 laws. With this aspect of his studies we have here nothing 
 practically to do. It is mentioned parenthetically as one of pos- 
 sible interest to the reader. Whether his views are of value 
 in instructing in oratory and music can be decided only by per- 
 sons conversant with those arts. 
 
 The calisthenic system taught under the name of "Del- 
 sarte movements" consists of a variety of motions of a 
 rhythmical sort, by which the joints and muscles of the body 
 are systematically brought into play. The system has, as its 
 basis, a sort of drill, which may or may not be executed to the 
 accompaniment of music. The muscles governing the action of 
 the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and the corresponding por- 
 tions of the legs, the trunk of the body and the neck, are all 
 exercised. Such motions necessarily promote flexibility, grace, 
 and strength of the parts, and are therefore conducive to health. 
 
 It is the pampered kind of people, who live in warmed, 
 stuffy rooms, take little exercise, hug the fire, cannot go out 
 unless the weather is fine, live in dread of a draught, who are 
 those that take cold, and with all their coddling of themselves,
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 177 
 
 may be said to lead a miserable existence. Their blood is 
 always charged with impurities, their appetite and digestion and 
 themselves are weak. They suffer from neuralgia and a host of 
 real and imaginary physical ills. An accidental exposure to the 
 weather, of such persons, is often followed by some ailment, 
 and is taken as proof positive that their indoor habits had 
 been imprudently violated. The fact is that those habits 
 should be thrown aside. The valetudinarians should be driven 
 or coaxed into the open air, where plenty of oxygen can be 
 breathed, or else chronic invalidism will be the consequence of 
 their cherished ways of life, a drooping, neutral condition of 
 existence fatal to their personal enjoyment and to the comfort 
 of all around them. Ailments which in the beginning are 
 simply indicative of depressed vitality may gradually develop 
 into organic disease; that is, into maladies affecting more or 
 less alteration in the structure of organs of the body. 
 
 A formidable array of ailments can, in many cases, be 
 avoided by judicious physical training. If a child, for instance, 
 early in life manifests delicacy of constitution, or comes of a 
 stock in which rickets, scrofula, consumption, or some other 
 form of general disease is prevalent, there is every reason that 
 his or her physical training should receive prompt attention. 
 Care should be devoted at once by parents or guardians, through 
 physicians, to such weaklings. Judicious methods may improve 
 the tissues, strengthen the constitution, and prolong life. When 
 strength declines without the presence of any apparent specific 
 disease, when the appetite grows feeble, and the cheeks pale it 
 is time to begin a course of exercises; not exercise in an in- 
 closed space, but, best of all, in fresh air and sunshine. 
 
 One of the most satisfactory kinds of mild exercise is 
 dancing. Of course it can be made violent and be prolonged 
 to exhaustion, but it can also be made, with intervals of rest, 
 and with easy movements, as little strenuous as any exercise 
 can possibly be. This exercise is at the same time an art and 
 an amusement. It has prevailed from the earliest times of which 
 
 12
 
 J78 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 we have any account in history, been cultivated by all peoples, 
 civilized, barbarous, and savage. Conducted, as it is among 
 civilized nations of modern times, with the accompaniment of 
 music, it makes a graceful spectacle and forms one of the chief 
 attractions of parties for the youth of both sexes. When in- 
 dulged in with proper precautions against fatigue and against 
 taking cold when overheated, it is an admirable exercise, pro- 
 motive not only of muscular improvement and grace of bear- 
 ing, but of high animal enjoyment. Those, however, known 
 to have weakness or disease of the heart should scrupulously 
 avoid dancing. 
 
 The male portion of country people, who till the ground, 
 rarely need special exercise. With their women folks it is very 
 different. It is notorious that, if they do not need exercise, 
 their lives, as mistresses of farm-houses, are not led in a way 
 conducive to health. The chief cause of this is the unsanitary 
 way in which most farm-houses are closed against sun and air. 
 There is another reason, too, for the conspicuous difference in 
 health between the farmer's wife and the farmer and his child- 
 ren. The wife leads, as compared with them, a life of great 
 monotony. Sunday is the husband's entire holiday; but the 
 farmer and his children also have constant outing ; the farmer in 
 his trips to market and the country store, and in his cultivation 
 of the farm and chores about its buildings ; the children in their 
 walks to and from school and in pleasant intercourse with play- 
 fellows. There is not on earth a more imprisoned being who is 
 innocent than the av.erage farmer's wife. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the effect of systematic muscular 
 training has been exhibited in the person of the celebrated 
 Sandow. This man, a native of Prussia, came of a family 
 which had not been noted for great physical development. 
 Until a few years ago, Sandow was rather slight in figure. 
 At about that time he began exercising with five-pound dumb- 
 bells. The method that he adopted for exercise consisted of his 
 endeavor to obtain control in increasing the strength of certain
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 179 
 
 groups of muscles. Following this, he subjected his body to 
 various forms of exercise, by which not only were the parts 
 selected for improvement benefited, but his whole body was 
 necessarily increased in strength. He became able to perform 
 extraordinary feats, raising for example, with one arm above 
 his head, a weight of three hundred and five pounds. Recum- 
 bent, he supported upon his chest and knees a platform upon 
 which three trained horses stood, the whole weight supported 
 being twenty-eight hundred pounds. 
 
 The physical 'history of Dr. Winship illustrates the evil 
 effects of overtraining. He was, as a young man, of very deli- 
 cate physique, and with the notion of improving his constitu- 
 tion, took systematic exercise. In consequence, he gradually 
 developed astonishing muscular strength in himself. He went 
 from one extreme to its opposite, from weakness to strength, 
 and died in the prime of life. But that, of itself, means noth- 
 ing; it is not significant of the fact that he was injured by his 
 extreme exercise. What does show it conclusively, however, 
 is that on a certain evening when he was exhibiting on the stage 
 his wonderful physical powers, he fainted on account of the 
 closeness of the room. He had, in fact, sapped his vitality by 
 excessive exercise. It is a very common but a very erroneous 
 belief, that great muscular development must be indicative of 
 health. But a man may be, and often is, muscularly strong, but 
 organically weak. Now, suppose that a man is, by constitution, 
 organically weak, undue amount of exercise makes him organ- 
 ically weaker. The huge muscles which he produces by exer- 
 cise are nourished by blood at the expense of his feeble power 
 to generate it to the full extent of their needs. Even if an athlete 
 of the sturdiest frame and best possible organic development 
 be concerned, if addicted to excessive exercise, professionally 
 or otherwise, over a long course of years, his vitality is being 
 lowered all the time. No finer athlete ever lived than Leon 
 Javelli, who belonged to the celebrated French troupe of vaude- 
 villists and acrobats, known as the Ravels; but the skin of his
 
 l8o HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 face was tightly drawn on it, and his expression in later years 
 was that of a death's head. 
 
 Excessive gymnastics sometimes injuriously affect the 
 abdominal cavity. The intestinal tube is loosely attached to 
 the lower part of the spinal column by a broad membrane which 
 serves to support its blood-vessels and nerves, and allows some 
 latitude of motion. In the walls of the abdomen are left, in the 
 development of the child before birth, several openings for the 
 passage of special structures. These openings are later partially 
 closed and protected, but by a more delicate tissue than that 
 which forms the chief part of the abdominal wall. This struc- 
 ture prevents protrusion of the bowel under ordinary circum- 
 stances; while it protects the contents of the openings from 
 compression. But violent muscular exertion compresses the 
 comparatively soft walls of the abdomen, as a consequence of 
 which a loop of the bowel may be forced into and through one 
 of the openings. This condition is known popularly as rupture, 
 in medical language as hernia, and is dangerous. The protruded 
 part of the bowel must be returned to its habitual position and 
 a mechanical appliance, called a truss, be worn for an indefinite 
 time, with the object of supporting the weakened opening or 
 preventing recurrence of the injury, and in the hope of finally 
 causing return of the distended opening to its original dimen- 
 sions. More and more of the bowel may be forced through 
 the membrane described; in some stress it may be in the 
 act of coughing is caught so firmly that its circulation is im- 
 peded. The almost inevitable result of this, unless relief is 
 obtained through a surgical operation, is a lingering death ac- 
 companied with great suffering. 
 
 It occasionally happens, even in the case of a strong and 
 healthy person, that a bone is broken by the force of muscular 
 contraction. Examples of this kind are occasionally met with 
 by surgeons in persons engaged in performing feats of strength. 
 In some instances, the sufferers have been noted for strength of 
 a high order. In others, age, or some antecedent and perhaps
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. l8l 
 
 unsuspected disease of the bone, or general weakness of the 
 system, has weakened the power of the body's resistance and made 
 it unfit to resist violence. 
 
 The human organism was made for activity, and only in 
 activity can it find its highest development ; but its energy must 
 not be severely or too continuously sustained. After work 
 should come repose. The waste of tissue which exercise occa- 
 sions can be replaced by other tissue only if a sufficient amount 
 of rest be allowed. During sleep, the regeneration of the body 
 proceeds uninterruptedly; without sleep it cannot take place, 
 except in a relatively moderate degree. Rest, whether walking 
 or sleeping, is indispensable to its restoration. Being only par- 
 tial while waking, sleeplessness what is called insomnia 
 means, when continuous, death. The heart is popularly believed 
 to know no rest. It is true that the requirement of life renders 
 its constant action indispensable, but it has instants of rest be- 
 tween its pulsations, and during sleep its movements become 
 much slower than those in the waking state. 
 
 The beauty of the complexion depends upon the various 
 conditions previously recited. Upon no one of them does it 
 depend more than upon exercise. Active circulation of pure 
 blood communicates a charming color to the cheeks, a bloom 
 additionally attractive because it fluctuates with the emotions. 
 If, as may happen, an actually rosy tint is not communicated 
 to the face by exercise, the color is far removed from the pale- 
 ness and sometimes pallor which indicate feeble health, if not 
 disease. The hue of the skin is better distinguished when re- 
 garding it from so short a distance that its translucence permits 
 the color conveyed by blood and veins to be clearly discerned. 
 A skin in perfect health is able thoroughly to perform its func- 
 tions. Just enough fatty substance is elaborated to keep its 
 tissue soft and pliable, and to assist the nutrition of the hair. 
 The perspiration is normally secreted, neither deficient nor 
 superabundant. Assiduous attention, therefore, to the laws of 
 health, involving all that is here descanted upon, confers upon
 
 1 82 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 a person closely following them, among other things, the boon 
 of a pure skin, fine complexion, with well-colored and lustrous 
 hair. 
 
 The most important muscular structure of the body is the 
 heart. This organ, which may be improved in its rhythmical 
 function of effecting the circulation of the blood, may be much 
 injured valvularly, and by inordinate enlargement, if athletic 
 exercise be carried beyond the bounds of which an individual 
 constitution is capable. When the heart is abnormally increased 
 in size, it occasions much annoyance by its powerful thumping 
 against the inner walls of the chest, the face becomes flushed 
 from slight exertion, and the sufferer has headache and dizzi- 
 ness. The outlets of the two cavities of the heart, by which 
 they communicate with each other, with the lungs, and with the 
 arterial system, are guarded by valves. These valves may be 
 aptly compared to sluice-gates which permit the passage of blood 
 in its proper direction, but which prevent its backward flow. 
 As soon as the blood is thrown from the heart into the great 
 blood-vessel which starts from it, the valves close and prevent 
 any return of the current. By this mechanism, the two cavities 
 of the organ are allowed to fill. When it is expelled from one 
 of them by contraction, the current cannot flow backward into 
 the one from which it was received, or into the other from which 
 it was ejected. This beautiful mechanism ensures against undue 
 accumulation of blood in the heart, the lungs, or in any of the 
 other organs of the body. Certain fluctuations in intensity, de- 
 pendent upon the influence of the nervous system, occur with- 
 out detriment, but if too frequently or intensely, are injurious. 
 When the current through the heart is partially interrupted, a 
 series of distressing symptoms ensues. These increase slowly 
 but surely, and medical assistance, at its utmost, is able only to 
 delay the progress of the disordered mechanism. The course 
 of the disease pursues its steady way to fatal termination. 
 Although sudden death from unusual strain upon the powers 
 of the heart does sometimes occur, it is less common than is 
 popularly supposed.
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 183 
 
 The valves of the heart, the important structures upon 
 which so much of the safety and comfort of life depend, are 
 very smooth, thin, and delicate, yet strong bands of tissue. 
 They are so formed as to be able to bear considerable pressure 
 of the blood with impunity, yet the sudden exertion of unusual 
 force may overcome the resistance of one of these leaflets, may 
 prevent it from exactly closing at the right time, and may initiate 
 the series of changes to which allusion has just been made. 
 
 There is another kind of injury besides that mentioned, 
 which excessive action of the heart may occasion. After the 
 lungs have received their blood and converted it from venous 
 into arterial blood, they send it to the more powerful of the 
 two chambers of the heart for distribution to the entire body. 
 From this chamber of the heart, the great artery, the main 
 artery, as it might be called, receives the blood, and from 
 its arch-like course gives off, at the base of the neck, branches 
 which supply with blood the head, neck, and upper limbs. The 
 beginning of this great artery, the part in immediate connection 
 with the heart, receives at each beat of that organ, the shock 
 of the column of blood which issues from the distributing cavity 
 of the heart. The wall of this great artery is very distensible 
 and very elastic, in order that it may at first yield to the impetus 
 of the current and then contract. After being dilated by the 
 rush of blood from the heart, its elasticity restores it to its 
 usual caliber. It can readily be understood, however, that the 
 wall of an artery may be overstretched and its elasticity thereby 
 destroyed. This condition causes, in the first place, a certain 
 imperfection in circulation. But, as time goes on, the habitual 
 dilatation of the artery at that point beyond its proper size is 
 followed by decreased nutrition of its wall, and eventually by an 
 actual chemical and physical alteration in its tissue. It is no 
 longer able satisfactorily to perform its function. It cannot 
 react against the impact of blood, it becomes more and more 
 dilated, and is converted into a bulging and pulsating tumor in 
 connection with the lower part of the great artery. This process
 
 1 84 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 has gone on insidiously down to a certain point when difficulty 
 in breathing, alteration of the voice, pain, and other symptoms 
 of the disease manifest themselves, according in intensity with 
 the position and size of the tumor and the parts upon which it 
 exerts pressure. Excessive exercise may have an injurious 
 effect upon the lungs. The practice of athletics expands the 
 chest. This enlargement of the thoracic cavity is accompanied 
 by a corresponding expansion of the lungs. Students who have, 
 during their college course, devoted themselves enthusiastically 
 to athletics, are necessarily obliged, when they enter upon their 
 life-work, to relinquish to a great extent systematic physical 
 exercise. They soon cease to experience the original full effect 
 of their previous training of muscles and may then, unless on 
 on their guard against relinquishing it entirely, fall an easier prey 
 to the effect of discontinuance, than those who had not so 
 assiduously enlarged their muscles. 
 
 Some sports entail a certain degree of deformity if care be 
 not taken to avoid it. The bicycler's stoop has been already 
 noticed here. Undue exercise in the mild game of lawn-tennis 
 may produce disability of the elbow. An affection of the knee- 
 joint is sometimes brought about by playing foot-ball. "Tennis- 
 elbow," "foot-ball knee," "base-ball fingers," are now recognized 
 crippled conditions. No sport should be carried so far as to 
 entail the slightest deformity or inconvenience. 
 
 Gratifying results are often obtained in the case of con- 
 sumption by gentle exercise, especially exercise of the lungs. 
 Deep and slow inhalations of the breath, performed through 
 the nose and in the open air, accompanied by movements of the 
 arms from the sides to a horizontal position, and then carried 
 above the head, are valuable exercises, on account of their caus- 
 ing penetration of air to the deeper portions of the lungs and 
 promoting the removal of stagnation there. This exercise is 
 injudicious, however, when consumption is advanced, when 
 hectic fever and night-sweats are present. Elocution and sing- 
 ing are also beneficial as exercises for the lungs. They compel
 
 EDUCATION OF THE BODY. 185 
 
 the action of deep breathing, and therefore strengthen the mus- 
 cles by which respiration is accomplished. The mere expan- 
 sion of the chest, with corresponding inhalation of fresh air, 
 promotes the health of the lungs and that of the whole body. 
 This is one of the modes by which physical culture obstructs 
 the development of consumption. 
 
 Massage rouses into activity the functions of the skin, 
 increasing the perspiration and the sebaceous secretion, and 
 promoting respiration through the instrumentality of the skin 
 itself. It restores the vigor of the muscular system when that has 
 been fatigued or is weakened by disease. Observe how sedu- 
 lously athletes of all kinds, runners, walkers, jumpers, boxers, 
 get "rubbed down," as they call it, after every great exertion. 
 As the invalid gains in strength as he convalesces, it is a great 
 advantage to him if he combine movements with the passive 
 exercise of massage. This is effected by offering a certain 
 amount of resistance to the operator's strength. In fact, the 
 practice is what is known as the Swedish movement cure. The 
 exercise, passive and active, as thus combined, exerts a favorable 
 influence upon the circulation, and upon the composition and dis- 
 tribution of the blood, promoting the nutrition of the whole ner- 
 vous system. Massage is an excellent treatment for pimples, 
 greasy skin, tetter, and other affections. It is useful in muscular 
 rheumatism, neuralgia, and other affections of the nervous sys- 
 tem; for enlarged glands, anaemia, disorders of the stomach, 
 and of the liver and bowels. In many forms of disease of the 
 joints it is of more value than any other treatment. 
 
 Differences exist among different races in height, weight, 
 and muscular development. Rude tribes, constantly active in the 
 open air, as the Zulus, for instance, are endowed, as a general 
 rule, with greater agility and strength than persons who dwell 
 in cities. Nevertheless, cultivation of the muscles in cities may 
 be made to compensate for unfavorable surroundings. The 
 trained athlete of the city may possess greater agility, strength, 
 and endurance than does any laborer. From the exhibition that
 
 jg6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 soldiers of the Civil War gave as to their endurance, and from 
 the supremacy in feats of agility and strength by American 
 athletes in the Olympic games of the last few years, we may con- 
 sider it as established that, from a combination of causes con- 
 stitution, climate, food, training the United States is endowed in 
 its inhabitants with the finest physical representatives of the human 
 race. The climate and topography of the country vary greatly 
 in different parts of the United States. The conditions of the 
 surface are sometimes hills, mountains, plains, low-lying marshy 
 ground; the atmosphere varies to a certain degree correspond- 
 ently with these different situations, but any great differences 
 among the people generally are more attributable to habits of 
 life than to locality. 
 
 Faulty methods of physical education are largely responsible 
 everywhere for physical and intellectual inferiority. The ques- 
 tion of health is the widest of any in importance ; without health, 
 life is not worth living. The same measures whereby the health 
 and beauty of the skin, the expression and vivacity of the coun- 
 tenance are secured, are those which promote health, strength, 
 and every sort of efficiency; in fact the latter come first in the 
 order of natural precedence and demand for consideration. 
 Secure health, through all the various means which are here 
 defined, and its embellishments in beauty follow. They come 
 as a necessary consequence, in the material as in the spiritual 
 world: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God; and all these 
 things shall be added unto you."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 
 
 T N the early years of life, beginning just beyond infancy, 
 * attention should first be directed to the development of the 
 
 body. The child's mind is sufficiently engaged with inter- 
 est in the strange world in which it finds itself, and in thinking 
 and questioning about its marvels. This was, and still is, the 
 most rational and universal course as an educational method, 
 naturally prevalent in ancient as well as in modern times. Noth- 
 ing is more short-sighted than to deny to children this sort of 
 culture by indifference to their desire for information or by 
 abruptness in imparting it. The course, although unsystematic 
 as education, is, nevertheless, the one most natural and appropri- 
 ate for early years. If a child's efforts at thinking correctly upon 
 the basis of information imparted, if its curiosity be stimulated 
 by successful endeavor to obtain knowledge, it enters upon the 
 high road of education. Modern systems of education are laud- 
 ably endeavoring to utilize this important method of instruction, 
 formerly devolving entirely upon parents and elders generally. 
 The study of books may be advantageously deferred to the 
 period when application, with growth, becomes a natural impulse 
 of the mind. Boys and girls who have an innate fondness for 
 books will not, in due time, require encouragement to study 
 them for both instruction and amusement. Every one knows, 
 we see it around us every day, that they will even surmount diffi- 
 culties in order to gain possession of books, some loving to read 
 better than to play. But, looking to the future, recognizing that 
 nothing in the world, no position, wealth, or learning can com- 
 pensate for the loss of health, such children should rather be 
 gently restrained than allowed or incited to read. 
 
 Children are generally interested and acute observers. It 
 should be the aim of parents and teachers to encourage in them 
 
 187
 
 1 88 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the spirit of inquiry, instead of gruffly discouraging it, as some- 
 times happens. Conversation, including questions and answers, 
 is, even with many men and women, the chief source from which 
 they obtain knowledge. Information thus obtained is not so 
 exact, so thorough and systematic as that gained from books, 
 but it is at least vastly improving, through the interchange of 
 thought. We have, in modern times, come to rely so greatly 
 upon books for information, that the beautiful arts of conversa- 
 tion and letter-writing, once so prevalent among the higher 
 ranks of society, have almost disappeared. 
 
 By older children the tasks of the school-room may be 
 undertaken. It will be found that the boy or girl who has 
 secured a well-developed body will usually display a power of 
 patient application and concentration of mind which are excel- 
 lent auguries of success in life. An acquaintance of a super- 
 ficial sort with many books is not the most conducive to know- 
 ledge. The memoirs of some of the most remarkable men that 
 have ever lived show that the absorption of knowledge from a 
 few works of sterling character has often been the foundation 
 of an extraordinarily eventful enlightenment of mind. 
 
 There is a tendency which those who have the care of the 
 education of youth should oppose. It is the placing of undue 
 estimate upon the cultivation of the memory. Memory is the 
 basis of all mental action. If it were not for the collocation of 
 facts by the memory, no rational judgment could be formed, no 
 action taken. But memory is not mind itself, and though there 
 have been persons of great mind who had wonderful memories, 
 there are many persons who have wonderful memories with very 
 little mind. The writer once knew a gentleman who had such 
 a memory, but who confessed to him that he could not reach 
 a conclusion on any subject. However indispensable some de- 
 gree of memory may be, it is a less important faculty than judg- 
 ment. The ability to recognize the relative weight of facts con- 
 stitutes the highest attribute of the mind. Hence it is that the 
 legal profession is regarded as the highest which can engage
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 189 
 
 the study of any man. Education is the training of intellectual 
 and moral faculties native to the mind. Knowledge is the inci- 
 dental acquirement in the process of education. The highest 
 education is that which produces in the individual his highest 
 capacity of reasoning. Everyone must, to some extent, think, 
 but only he is truly educated, who constantly perceives, effec- 
 tively, beyond the capacity of the uneducated, the operation of 
 cause and effect in the small and great things of experience. 
 He who does not at least endeavor to do so is a puppet, pulled to 
 action by the whims of other men's opinions. No process, of 
 course, can evolve what 'does not exist, in at least germ form, in 
 the mind, but if the germ there exists, education is the only 
 means by which it can be developed. A man may, however, 
 become a mere storehouse of information without acquiring, 
 through education, wisdom. Cowper expresses this truth in his 
 "Task" : 
 
 "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 
 
 Have oftimes no connection. Knowledge dwells 
 In heads replete with thoughts of other men; 
 
 Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. 
 Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, 
 
 The mere materials with which wisdom builds, 
 Till smoothed and squared and fitted to its place, 
 
 Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich. 
 Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; 
 
 Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." 
 
 Knowledge relating to an indiscriminate quantity of sub- 
 jects, superficially studied, is of little value and soon forgotten. 
 This is one of the observations that has led to the proverbial 
 belief that the head boy at school is rarely heard of in after-life. 
 The form of instruction, until quite recently, lent itself readily 
 to the success of any boy at school, even if a dull plodder, if he 
 would devote himself to memorizing much that he did not 
 really absorb intellectually. 
 
 The object of education, therefore, is less to convey know-
 
 ICp HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ledge than to train the various faculties of the mind so as to 
 make them useful instruments to their possessor. School and 
 college are preparatory to the business of life, and should be the 
 basis of professional or other training. Many of the facts there 
 learned must eventually be nearly or quite forgotten, but a gen- 
 eral recollection of the main facts of history, literature, science, 
 will always remain, and with them the effect of training on the 
 mental powers. A young man of eighteen or twenty years of age 
 has generally discovered in what direction his bent and apti- 
 tudes lie. If he feels a strong inclination towards a particular 
 pursuit he should at once concentrate his energies upon the spe- 
 cial training needful for that work. 
 
 At the present day the whole field of knowledge has be- 
 come too vast to be cultivated by any mind. It has -become 
 necessary for every one to devote himself to some special 
 field of knowledge, and desirable that he should encompass this 
 with as much general knowledge as he can acquire without inter- 
 ference with the first. In fact, general knowledge is the best 
 basis for any special requirement, and to provide that is the func- 
 tion of school and college. When a man becomes engaged in 
 the practice of any profession, manufacture, or mercantile pur- 
 suit, he has scanty leisure to study anything which has not some 
 relation to his daily duties. He should, however, whenever pos- 
 sible, take pains to inform himself on subjects as wide as the 
 poles asunder from his own pursuits. Only upon the terms of 
 his so doing, to the extent of his opportunity, can he ensure 
 himself against being intellectually narrow. A large part of the 
 education of all of us is acquired unsystematically. A student 
 with exceptional gifts sometimes neglects branches of his col- 
 lege course for the sake of an intellectual pursuit that may not 
 be in the curriculum of the college he attends. The father of 
 the distinguished orientalist, Klaproth, was an eminent chemist, 
 who wished that his son also should devote himself to that science. 
 The taste of the boy, however, set too strongly in the direction of 
 the study of Eastern lands. At fourteen years of age he began
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. Ipl 
 
 secretly to study the Chinese language. So rapid was his pro- 
 gress that five years later he began to publish writings on the 
 subject of Asiatic languages and was appointed to an official 
 position at St. Petersburg. The young Goethe was sent to 
 Leipzig and Strasburg to study law, but gave himself up to 
 literature, science, and philosophy. Such powerful impulses as 
 have actuated these, and such as these individuals, affect, it is 
 true, only those of uncommon mould. In less degree, however, 
 any youth who has a particular leaning in intellectual pursuits 
 will soon display the turn of his mind by the choice of the 
 studies which he makes. He is unfortunate whose tastes have 
 too wide a range. His danger is that, in attempting to cover too 
 wide a field, or going over it most superficially, he will fail to 
 make any solid acquirement. 
 
 Some persons early indicate decided inclination towards 
 the study of history, languages, or literature. On account of 
 inferior health, Gibbon, the historian, was at first very irregular 
 in his studies. He had read with avidity many books when he 
 arrived at Oxford in his fifteenth year with, to use his own 
 words, "a stock of information which might have puzzled a 
 doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a school-boy might 
 be ashamed." The turn of Macaulay's mind was so early mani- 
 fested that, before he was eight years old, he had written a com- 
 pendium of universal history, and soon afterwards began to 
 compose verse. Pope "lisped in numbers and the numbers 
 came." He began to put his thoughts into verse before he was 
 nine years of age. Thomas Chatterton, dead at eighteen, left 
 poetical compositions that secure his name from oblivion. Un- 
 mistakable evidence of artistic talent was given in tender years 
 by Raphael, Titian, Diirer, Millais, Turner, and many others who 
 subsequently rose to fame. Mozart, Beethoven, Meyerbeer, 
 Mendelssohn, were mere children when their musical perform- 
 ances challenged universal admiration. W. R. Hamilton early 
 showed love for study of language and mathematics. Dr. 
 Thomas Young was almost equally celebrated in the diverse
 
 192 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 spheres of physics and Egyptology. The aptitude of Pascal, in 
 boyhood, for mathematics and mechanics was remarkable. It 
 is unnecessary further to cite examples of early revelation of 
 talent for particular directions. It is rare that, even without 
 talent, capacity for doing certain things and not doing others, 
 does not early manifest itself. Waste of time and energy results 
 from pursuing wrong directions. Individual predilection and 
 capacity are the only true guides for special endeavor. 
 
 Study of the classical languages and literature affords ex- 
 cellent mental discipline. The same object is accomplished by 
 the cultivation of modern languages, mathematics, and physics. 
 It is not necessary, however, to adopt one course entirely to the 
 exclusion of the other. If one wishes to have what is called 
 a practical education, or that is his need, let him by all means 
 take it, but he will be all the better equipped for life, and espe- 
 cially for the years before the close of life, by possessing some 
 education in what are the elegancies of literature and learning, 
 the so-called "humanities." Ample knowledge, however, of 
 history and of ancient literature can be acquired from translations 
 printed in the mother-tongue. If one understands nothing of 
 Latin or Greek, he loses one of the enjoyments of life ; which is 
 not fatal to comfort, but is only so much that is pleasurable 
 omitted from his existence. The modern system in our best in- 
 stitutions recognizes the advantage of elective studies, and 
 although the privilege is sometimes abused by students seeking 
 the easiest lines of effort, yet, on the whole, it has proved of 
 great advantage. No matter what may have been the extent of 
 preliminary study, great or small, every man will find, upon 
 entering upon life, that in proportion to its extent it is advan- 
 tageous. 
 
 One cannot be too insistent in admonishing parents and 
 guardians not to be too zealous in spurring on very young child- 
 ren to supremacy in school tasks. However rapid acquisition 
 of facts may be, the gain is very dearly purchased at the ex- 
 pense of health and vigor. The boy or girl of inquiring mind,
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 193 
 
 naturally fond of books, needs no stimulus, and should rather 
 be held back than encouraged to perpetual diligence. When 
 studious tastes are early manifested, parents and guardians 
 should, on the contrary, take particular care to promote the 
 physical welfare of such youthful possessors of them. Such 
 scholars are too apt to neglect exercise in play, not from indiffer- 
 ence to it, but from their absorption in reading. The majority 
 of young people, however, fortunately for themselves, have no 
 such inclination. But almost without exception children have 
 a passion for listening to stories, and will sacrifice playtime for 
 the sake of them. Once, at a large institution where the boys 
 had a couple of play hours after dark, the prefect of the 
 younger branch of the boarding-school was found to have a 
 great talent for story-telling. Whether or not he was actuated 
 by desire to keep them out of mischief, however actuated, the 
 fact is that night after night the majority of the boys swarmed 
 around his desk in the study-room where they had already been 
 at their lessons for two hours, continuously fascinated by the 
 prefect's story, to be continued the next evening, consisting of 
 weird adventures from which they could not tear themselves 
 away even for playtime. Very little children will listen with 
 absorbed attention to a tale, read or told, that they have heard 
 a hundred times. A judicious parent or teacher, aware of this 
 propensity, can, without sacrificing exercise to story-telling, ad- 
 vance from the purely imaginative co the instructive sort of 
 story. A great desire of knowledge can be communicated in 
 this way by encouraging the questions that are sure to arise from 
 the performance. Information secured in the form of a task is 
 much less interesting to childhood than that conveyed by the 
 voice, coupled with questions and answers. If we go back to the 
 time of the Greek philosophers and their pupils, we find them 
 giving and receiving information precisely in that way. The 
 conversational method of education has another advantage over 
 that of regular tasks. The quicker intelligences among the 
 scholars assist the teacher in conveying information to the 
 
 13
 
 IQ4 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 slower ones. The brighter stimulate and inform the duller 
 minds. 
 
 A mischievous practice has grown up of late years in this 
 country, of letting young children have evening dancing parties, 
 to go through all the forms of entertainments of grown-up people. 
 This kind of excitement is good for neither the body nor the 
 mind of children. The immature nervous systems of the little 
 ones are all alert and upon a strain. They go home to think and 
 chatter about the evening's entertainment, and fall into light 
 and unrefreshing sleep. Simplicity of life is the highest boon 
 for children. A child should be a real child, not a little man or 
 woman. It is unkind, to say the least, to abet precocious social 
 education. A children's fashionable party is a very pretty spec- 
 tacle, but it is one purchased at too dear a rate. An old-fashioned 
 party, with simple games and early hours, is the only kind that 
 is advantageous. Children are adepts at amusing themselves, 
 and it is much better that they should be left to their simple 
 modes and plays, than be led to ape the conduct of their elders. 
 The heavier penalty falls upon the weaker sex. "The little 
 ladies" are precociously stimulated, intellectually and emotion- 
 ally. What is more attractive than an artless child? The 
 world will soon enough rob it of its illusions. Leave children 
 as long as possible to their natural plays. A fresh, hearty, 
 innocent little boy or girl is a refreshing sight. A conspicuous 
 case that led to disaster, through folly, was one where parental 
 pride early launched a young thing into the social whirl. She 
 was pretty, vain, tireless in amusement. Years rolled by, late 
 hours, crowded ball-rooms, robbed her figure of grace and her 
 cheeks of bloom. At forty years of age she is now plain, peev- 
 ish, unmarried, sacrificed in health and looks for nothing. Such 
 rapid decay of all pleasing physical attributes is not uncommon 
 among the wretchedly poor; it is rare, however, among those 
 in easy circumstances, as is this victim of early dissipation. Here 
 is a woman by it transformed, in progress from youth to middle- 
 age, from a beauty to a positively plain, forbidding woman.
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 195 
 
 Exposure, hard work, and generally hard contact with the 
 world give the abjectly poor an appearance of age beyond their 
 true years. The offspring of the rich may attend "children's 
 balls," but the boys and girls of the poor must go to work. Their 
 native innocence sometimes protects them from a knowledge of 
 wickedness that surrounds them, but their eyes are soon opened. 
 Ghastly acquaintance with the seamy side of life comes early to 
 children of the very poor. 
 
 The establishment of manual training-schools in connection 
 with our public school system is a step in the right direction for 
 education. In these institutions, dexterity in the execution of 
 fine mechanical work is taught, and the connection between con- 
 ception and execution is established on a firm foundation. The 
 mechanical arts stand in close relation to science. Lads whose 
 tastes incline more to the mechanical than to other lines of en- 
 deavor and to the artistic rather than the scientific, receive much 
 benefit from attendance upon these schools. Not only do they 
 introduce scholars to the world of science, but 'to the world of 
 art. Plastic art, like science, requires manual skill in its fol- 
 lowers. Manual training-schools therefore place their scholars 
 favorably to become engineers, architects, physicians, or 
 scientists pure and simple. These schools, therefore, present the 
 opportunity for specialization upon the basis of some slight 
 preliminary education; and beyond, make natural introductions 
 to the final occupation of life. What their scholars want to 
 know and are instructed in are the various practices that will 
 further their intentions in life. 
 
 Philadelphia possesses, in the Drexel Institute of Art, Sci- 
 ence, and Industry, founded in 1891 by the late Anthony J. 
 Drexel, an admirable training-school. Its object is the exten- 
 sion and improvement of industrial education as a means of 
 opening wider and better avenues of employment to young men 
 and women. In accordance with the founder's desire, however, 
 the intention of the institution has been made more compre- 
 hensive, providing liberal means of culture by lectures, evening
 
 196 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 classes, library, and museum. The organization embraces thirteen 
 departments : the art, the science, the business, the mechanic 
 arts, the technical, the domestic science, the domestic economy, 
 the physical training, the normal department for the training 
 of teachers, the department of lectures and evening classes, 
 the library, the reading-room, and the muse'um. 
 
 The museum contains industrial art productions in textiles, 
 fabrics, embroideries, ceramics, carvings in wood and ivory, 
 metal work, etc. The library contains ten thousand volumes. 
 The reading-room is supplied with a hundred periodicals, liter- 
 ary, scientific, artistic, and technical. The auditorium seats 
 fifteen hundred persons, contains a grand organ, and is used as 
 an assembly-room for lectures and for concerts given by the 
 institution. Another lecture hall has seats for three hundred 
 students. It is chiefly used for lectures on science. On the 
 third and fourth floors of the institute are lecture and assembly- 
 rooms connected with different departments. The galleries of 
 these floors are decorated with Indian textiles, ancient etchings 
 and engravings, etc. The fourth floor contains a gymnasium, 
 bath-rooms, studios, etc. In the basement are rooms for electrical 
 and mechanical laboratories and workshops. Concerts of good 
 music are frequently given in the auditorium. Students have 
 the option of taking such groups of studies or such single ar- 
 ranged courses as they may wish to pursue. The body of in- 
 structors consists of professors, teachers, and lecturers. At the 
 very opening of the institute, in 1892-3, sixteen hundred stu- 
 dents were enrolled in the various departments, elective courses, 
 and special classes. Chicago has an institution, founded by Mr. 
 Philip D. Armour, similar to the Drexel Institute. 
 
 The widest culture is, of course, possible only to superior 
 gifts of mind, health, leisure, and ample means in the form of 
 money. But restricted as it is numerically among mankind, it is 
 this kind which gives us the results of scientific research and 
 of every kind of human endeavor. One man may spend his 
 whole life, many men have done so, in the study of entomology,
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 197 
 
 insect-life; and much as he may learn about insects, much still 
 remains to discover. Bees have been studied over a longer 
 period of time than have been any other insect, and scientifically, 
 too, at the present day, and yet there are mysteries about the 
 life of bees that still remain unsolved. Sir John Lubbock has 
 devoted lately, for several years, great attention to earth-worms, 
 resulting in the important discovery that they remove millions 
 of tons of earth, and add, by their action, fertility to the ground. 
 Men such as this one, working in different limited spheres, obtain 
 an accuracy of knowledge about the subjects to which they de- 
 vote themselves which is wholly unprecedented, and which, in the 
 aggregate, is necessarily enormous; and it is through this fa- 
 vored class that the world generally receives its highest edu- 
 cation. So, we have reason to say that this class has good right 
 to exist as main contributors to the sum of human knowledge 
 and well-being. 
 
 The study of medicine, founded as it is upon an exact 
 knowledge of anatomy and the functions of the animal body, 
 naturally leads the thoughts of a student of it to anthropology, 
 geology, zoology, botany, and chemistry. We owe much to the 
 labors of medical men. Speaking first with reference to the 
 city of Philadelphia, with whose medical history the writer 
 is more intimately acquainted than with that of any other, 
 he may be allowed to cite a few cases in point. The labors 
 of Professor Joseph Leidy, student and demonstrator of human 
 and comparative anatomy, ranged over a wide field, and were, 
 at the same time, so close, that no manifestation of nature 
 was below his attention. He wrote upon the structure and 
 development of the human race, the extinct animal forms of our 
 Northwestern States and Territories, and upon animal and 
 vegetable parasites that infest animal bodies. The Academy 
 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia owes much to the labors 
 of physicians of the city. Many physicians of Philadelphia, 
 while engaged in the practice of their profession, paid attention 
 to some special branch of natural history. Professor Joseph
 
 198 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Pancoast, renowned for his operative skill in surgery, was inter- 
 ested in the study of various forms of animate and inanimate 
 nature. This is true also of Professor Samuel D. Gross, long a 
 colleague of Professor Pancoast's in Jefferson Medical College. 
 Devoted to the practice of surgery, he was profoundly interested 
 in lower animal life, and unwearied in its study. The late Pro- 
 fessor William Pepper, provost of the University of Pennsylvania, 
 directed the many-sided development of that institution of learn- 
 ing. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, famous as a specialist in nervous 
 diseases, still in practice, attracts patients from all parts of our 
 own and foreign lands. He has closely studied the chemical 
 nature and the effects of poisons, performing a number of dan- 
 gerous experiments while examining into the subject of the 
 poison of the rattle-snake. 
 
 The life of the Scotch physician, John Hunter, born in 
 1728, affords an example of how much can be accomplished by 
 concentration of the mental faculties upon subjects which inter- 
 est them and with which they are fitted to deal. He had no 
 academical education. His youth, devoted to country sports, 
 secured for him the robust health which served him in good 
 stead through life. His labors were always directed towards 
 some specific end. This, in connection with the talent of the 
 man, accounts for his wonderful fruitfulness in discovery. He 
 studied the habits of bees. He became proficient in human 
 anatomy. He took up surgery. His researches extended to the 
 lower animals, of which he gradually collected a large and valu- 
 able museum of various forms. His cultivation of physiology 
 was fruitful in discovery. His labors revolutionized surgery. 
 Among his pupils were Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, 
 Abernethy, and Sir Astley Cooper, the great London surgeons 
 of that time, and Dr. Philip Syng Physick, the eminent surgeon 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 With men of a certain kind of mind and temperament, dif- 
 ficulty stimulates effort. Labor and perseverance become with 
 them habitual. The necessity of economizing time establishes
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 199 
 
 with them system, and forbids the formation of evil associations 
 and habits, so that what the superficial observer has sometimes 
 thought to be their waste of talent and time turns out to be 
 crowned with perfect success. The duties of the working lad 
 preserve his strength. His short hours for study are prized. 
 Since manual occupations give freedom of mind, there is time 
 for reflection. Benjamin Franklin affords an example of tri- 
 umphant self-education under difficulties. A native of one of 
 Great Britain's colonies in America, he had access to but few 
 books. From those, however, he studied so well as to absorb 
 their instruction thoroughly. His youthful mind was nourished 
 upon Bunyan, Locke, Addison, and other great writers, and in 
 his delightful autobiography he tells how the pleasure he derived 
 from the style of "The Spectator" inspired him with the use- 
 ful practice of reading one of its papers attentively and then, 
 after an interval of time, endeavoring to reproduce its lan- 
 guage. While a lad he contributed anonymous articles to his 
 brother's newspaper, in Boston, which were ascribed to the 
 foremost men in town. He cultivated his bodily powers at the 
 same time with such success that, in London, he excelled his fel- 
 low-printer craftsmen in strength, and was so expert a swimmer 
 that he was solicited to become a teacher of the art of swimming. 
 Returning from London to Philadelphia, he finally succeeded 
 in establishing himself in the printer's business, which he con- 
 ducted so successfully that he was able, in his prime, to with- 
 draw partially from it, while receiving a handsome income from 
 it for fifteen years. The numerous institutions which he either 
 founded or fostered attest to this day the prodigality of his in- 
 terest in human welfare. 
 
 The life of Michael Faraday is encouraging to those who 
 begin with few advantages. The son of a blacksmith, he was, 
 in his youth, apprenticed to a bookbinder. So decided was his 
 inclination towards chemistry that, at the age of twenty-two, he 
 became, upon the recommendation of Sir Humphrey Davy, an 
 assistant in the laboratory of the Royal Institution. Subse-
 
 2OO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 quently advanced there to the position of professor of chemistry, 
 he remained attached to the institution for fifty-four years. 
 During his life he made a profound study of electricity, and will 
 always be known as a great contributor to its science. 
 
 In the broadest sense, we are all educated by the circum- 
 stances of our lives, combined with our capacity and industry. 
 The highest achievements of the schools can do no more than 
 give the training of exact thought. The man who looks below 
 the mere surface of the material or immaterial agencies with 
 which he works, who really thinks, who schools himself, in all 
 science or art, to look backward from effect to cause, is the being 
 who advances his own interests and those of his kind. Such 
 men are never satisfied that improvement and even great dis- 
 covery do not constantly await that kind of thought which is 
 allied with persistent work. Comparatively few of mankind are 
 those who have the mind and the industry conjoined, that enable 
 one who is so endowed to collate and classify all facts obtained 
 by study, so that they shall throw light upon one another. For 
 youth, it is generally best that it shall not be diverted from pre- 
 scribed studies; after that, the mind should be allowed a freer 
 range in which originality may, if present, assert itself. The 
 inordinate multiplication of books in the present condition of 
 our civilization may be a disadvantage to a youth, certainly will 
 be, if he reads indiscriminately all of them that fall in his way. 
 A mCre bookish man wanders from one theme to another, acquir- 
 ing a great amount of desultory information for which the mem- 
 ory affords no permanent hive. George Eliot gives us, in "Mid- 
 dlemarch," a sketch of this kind of person. She says that he 
 was "noted in the country as a man of profound learning, under- 
 stood for many years to be engaged in a great work concern- 
 ing religious history. His very name carried an impressiveness 
 hardly to be measured without a precise chronology of scholar- 
 ship." This gentleman had been for years laboriously collect- 
 ing materials for a "Key to all Mythology," but, George Eliot 
 says, "was continually losing himself in labyrinths of unfruitful
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 2OI 
 
 speculation among small closets and winding-stairs, and in an 
 agitated dimness about the Cabeiri, or in an episode of other myth- 
 ologists' ill-considered parallels, easily lost sight of any purpose 
 which had prompted him to his labors. With his taper stuck 
 before him, he forgot the absence of windows, and in bitter man- 
 uscript remarks on other men's notions about the solar deities, he 
 had become indifferent to the sunlight." This citation is of a case, 
 not of desultory reading, but of reading to worse than no pur- 
 pose; so that, if ill-pursued studies on a single theme may be 
 followed by such results, what is not possible when they are pur- 
 sued on many themes? The mind becomes a rag-bag of infor- 
 mation capable of affording nothing in production but a crazy- 
 quilt of information. 
 
 Children who spend too much time at their books often 
 begin to complain of headache. This symptom denotes that the 
 brain is suffering from the comparatively impure blood which it 
 is receiving, and from the fatigue caused by its being kept too 
 long in action. A radical change in the child's habits should at 
 once be made ; it should be sent out of doors to exercise in 
 play. Corporal training is too important to be neglected. The 
 basis of physical powers can be secured only in youth. There 
 must always come a time when man or woman is brought to 
 realize that a too free indulgence in reading has been purchased 
 at too high a price. 
 
 Knowledge is real only when it has become an integral 
 part of our minds, when it is so intimately blended with experi- 
 ence that forgetfulness is impossible. Every one possesses a 
 greater or less degree of such knowledge. We cannot, for in- 
 stance, forget the multiplication table; transactions of daily life 
 keep it firmly in memory. The physician and surgeon cannot 
 forget the situation of the different organs of the body, or 
 the positions of the blood-vessels and nerves ; constant reference 
 to them makes them familiar. The attorney cannot forget the 
 fundamental principles and many of the acts which constitute 
 law. So we may say of all professions, that their members
 
 2O2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 have an ineradicable memory for certain things. For a contrary 
 reason, one may read a multitude of books, but only those which 
 have been the subject of real thought, thought which masters 
 the subject, impress themselves so deeply as to make a permanent 
 possession of the mind. 
 
 Only the substance of those sterling works which have the 
 impress of thought remains permanently in the memory. A 
 young, versatile person is always in danger of accumulating, 
 from indiscriminate reading, a quantity of unassimilated mat- 
 ter. If this be a danger, unless the authors be well chosen, even 
 in the case of works dealing with serious subjects, what may 
 not be the consequence of taking at random those of the imagina- 
 tion, whose number at the present time is legion, among which 
 miscellaneous array are to be found works of talent and genius 
 and others of the veriest trash, giving the most false idea of the 
 world in spheres intellectual and moral? It is a great advan- 
 tage in early life to have some well-educated senior at hand to 
 point the way that leads to instruction and delight, and put a sign 
 forbidding entrance upon literary paths that lead nowhere in 
 information or literary charm. Some years ago some boys were 
 found gloating over the papers of a trashy weekly publication. 
 The monitor, who happened to be near, and interested in their 
 welfare, instead of denouncing such literature and putting a 
 stop to their reading it, soon thereafter picked up a number of 
 the weekly, and reading it aloud to one of the boys, interspersed 
 his comments in the story. This he did to such good effect that 
 the boy was never again seen to relish the contents of the weekly, 
 soon thereafter took a different direction in his reading, and is 
 now a writer of considerable reputation. 
 
 The imagination, no less than other faculties of the mind, 
 requires restraint and cultivation. Even in matters of science, 
 the mind is not productive to the highest degree without imagin- 
 ation. But, unless curbed, it is like a runaway horse that may 
 carry the rider to injury and even to destruction. Well trained 
 by observation and reflection, engendering moderation in its
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 203 
 
 flights, and with good taste, imagination has created some of the 
 finest monuments in the literature produced by talent and genius. 
 The art of literary expression, consisting of the arrangement 
 of materials (what is called construction), the manner in which 
 conceptions are wedded to words, the grace with which those 
 words are presented in sentences (producing what is known as 
 style), together form, to the acute reader, a pleasure of a sort 
 which has been in all times the solace of intelligent and edu- 
 cated mankind, the delight of youth from its earliest years, and 
 the resource of age in its calm, decrepitude, or sorrow. A work 
 of art in literature quickens the emotion and refines the mind 
 in the same manner as does the sight of a fine painting or statue, 
 a great musical composition, or, mayhap, a noble edifice. 
 
 Fiction includes all works in which imagination literarily 
 takes the leading part romances, novels, poems, plays, and such 
 works as the "Arabian Nights" and "Vathek." But, whereas in the 
 "Arabian Nights" and "Vathek" and such works, the fiction is not 
 pinioned by fact, because in these the supernal and unknown 
 enter ; in the case of poems, their aim is to present the highest 
 truths; in that of novels and plays, theirs to be exactly repre- 
 sentative of lesser truths, to hold the mirror up to daily nature; 
 and it is only in the case of romances that a middle ground 
 appears, on which there are found neither exact truths nor, on 
 the other hand, their entire absence. 
 
 Love of fiction is natural and well-nigh universal. The best 
 authors afford knowledge of phases of society with which we are 
 not personally familiar, or present us with pictures so faithful 
 to life of those with which we are most familiar, as to give us, 
 in enjoying them, not less pleasure. In a sketch by Dr. John 
 Brown, of Edinburgh, entitled "Thackeray's Literary Career," 
 he says: "Perhaps more remarkable than even his invention, is 
 the fidelity with which the conception of his characters is pre- 
 served. This never fails. They seem to act, as it were, of 
 themselves. The author, having once projected them, appears 
 to have nothing more to do with them. They act somehow
 
 2O4 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 according to their own natures, unprompted by him and beyond 
 his control. He tells us this himself in one of those delightful 
 and most characteristic 'Roundabout Papers,' which are far too 
 
 much and too generally undervalued." In one of his 
 
 "Roundabout Papers" Thackeray writes: "Novels are sweets. 
 All people with healthy literary appetites love them, almost all 
 women, a vast number of clever, hard-headed men. Why, one 
 of the most learned physicians in England said to me only yester- 
 day: 'I have just read so-and-so for the second time' (naming 
 one of Jones's exquisite fictions). Judges, bishops, chancellors, 
 mathematicians are notorious novel-readers; as well as young 
 boys and sweet girls and their kind, tender mothers. Who has 
 not read about Eldon, and how he cried over novels every night 
 
 when he was not at whist ? And pray, what is the moral 
 
 of this apologue? The moral I take to be this: The appetite 
 for novels, extending to the end of the world; far away in the 
 frozen deep, the sailors reading them to one another during the 
 endless night; far away under the Syrian stars, the solemn 
 sheiks and elders barkening to the poet as he recites his tales ; far 
 
 away in the Indian camps, where the soldiers listened to 's 
 
 tales or 's, after the hot day's march ; far away in little 
 
 Chur yonder, where the lazy boy pours over the fond volume 
 and drinks it in with all his eyes; the demand being what we 
 know it is, the merchant must supply it, as he will supply sad- 
 dles and pale ale for Bombay or Calcutta. 
 
 "But, as surely as the cadet drinks too much pale ale, it 
 will disagree with him; and so surely, dear youth, will too 
 much novels cloy on thee. I wonder, do novel writers them- 
 selves read many novels? If you go into Gunter's, you don't 
 see those charming young ladies (to whom I present my most 
 respectful compliments) eating tarts and ices, but at the proper 
 eventide they have good, plain, wholesome tea and bread and 
 butter." 
 
 The taste for novel reading in youth needs guidance, and 
 sometimes restraint. Trashy stories about Indians, pirates,
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 2O$ 
 
 and detectives should be tabooed. Without literary merit, with 
 rare exceptions, they please only by reason of their sensationalism 
 and the immature minds of their readers. Almost all books of 
 this class are corruptive of good literary taste. Happily, sen- 
 sible, well-bred youth soon loses, if it ever has a liking, for this 
 sort of reading. The best antidote for poor books is acquaint- 
 ance with good ones. The works of Sir Walter Scott, Thack- 
 eray, Dickens, George Eliot, and other good writers are enjoyed 
 by all who can distinguish between the real and the spurious in 
 literature. Well-written historical novels are mines of interest 
 to youth. Dickens succeeded well in his "Tale of Two Cities" 
 (that is, London and Paris) in making the suspense, dangers, 
 and horrors of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution 
 present to the mind. Thackeray has powerfully delineated in 
 his "Esmond" and in "The Virginians," the condition of politics 
 and society, the wars of Marlborough and the American Revo- 
 lution. Blackmore has described the rebellion of Monmouth 
 in "Lorna Doone." Much light is shed for us upon the time 
 of Queen Anne, of England, by Addison, Steele, and Swift. The 
 poems of Dryden form a commentary upon the period of the 
 English Restoration and the reigns of Charles II and James II. 
 The life of the succeeding Georgian period is illuminated for us 
 by Fielding, Richardson, Goldsmith, and Johnson. In reference 
 to the power of the imagination, under skillful guidance, to 
 make history vivid to our minds, Carlyle says : "Marlborough, 
 you recollect, said he knew no English history but what he had 
 learned from Shakespeare. There are really, if we look at it, 
 few as memorable histories. The great salient points are admir- 
 ably seized, all rounds itself into a kind of rhymthic coherence; 
 it is, as Schlegel says, epic; as, indeed, all delineation by a great 
 thinker will be. There are right beautiful things in those pieces, 
 which, indeed, together form one beautiful thing. That battle 
 of Agincourt strikes me as one of the most perfect things, in its 
 sort, we anywhere have of Shakespeare's. The description of 
 the two hosts ; the worn-out jaded English ; the dread hour, big
 
 2O6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 with destiny, when the battle shall begin; and then that death- 
 less valor. 'Ye good yeomen whose limbs were made in Eng- 
 land!' There is a noble patriotism in it far other than the in- 
 difference you sometimes hear ascribed to Shakespeare. A true 
 English heart breathes calm and strong through the whole busi- 
 ness; not boisterous, protrusive; all the better for that. There 
 is a sound in it like the ring of steel." 
 
 Such works of fiction may be regarded as having a legitimate 
 place in a scheme of education, a place far from unimportant, 
 and yet one that affords temptation to make it unduly important. 
 It is only incidental instruction in history that is to be derived 
 from the works of imagination of master-minds. The real 
 sphere of fiction of all sorts is to bring about relaxation of the 
 mind. Their themes should not be permitted to encroach upon 
 hours of serious reading for instruction in science, art, or what- 
 ever may interest the student. Great poems, dramas, and various 
 other works, satires, what not, however, should enter into any 
 scheme of liberal education. 
 
 Children reared in cities are often privileged in having 
 access to public and private libraries, but are peculiarly favored 
 only if they read under guidance capable of directing their read- 
 ing to the best advantage. The motto of the Ridgway Branch 
 of the Philadelphia Library is "Qui scit ubi sit scientia, proximus 
 est" "He who knows where to find knowledge is the nearest 
 to it." To have a judicious guide, philosopher, and friend to 
 point out the pleasantest ro'ads to Parnassus, makes the be- 
 ginning of reading quite easy. Without such a one in youth, 
 much time is wasted and disappointment experienced in seek- 
 ing, unaided, what will lead both to instruction and amusement. 
 No less a person than Sir Walter Scott describes this kind of 
 clanger in "Waverley." He says: "The instructor had to com- 
 bat another propensity too often united with brilliancy of fancy 
 and vivacity of talent, that indolence, namely, of disposition 
 which can only be stirred by some strong motive of gratification, 
 and which renounces study as soon as curiosity is gratified, the
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 2O/ 
 
 pleasure of conquering first difficulties exhausted, and the novelty 
 of pursuit at an end. Edward would throw himself with spirit 
 upon any classical author of which his preceptor proposed the 
 perusal, make himself master of the style so far as to under- 
 stand the story, and if that pleased or interested him, he finished 
 the volume. But it was in vain to attempt fixing his attention 
 on critical distinctions of philology, upon the difference of 
 idiom, the beauty of felicitous expression, or the artificial com- 
 binations of syntax Alas ! while he was thus permitted 
 
 to read only for the gratification of his amusement, he foresaw 
 not that he was losing forever the opportunity of acquiring 
 habits of firm and assiduous application, of gaining the art of 
 controlling, directing, and concentrating the powers of his mind 
 for earnest investigation an art far more essential than even 
 that intimate acquaintance with classical learning which is the 
 
 primary object of study Young Waverley drove through 
 
 the sea of books like a vessel without a pilot or a rudder. Noth- 
 ing, perhaps, increases by indulgence more than a desultory 
 habit of reading, especially under such opportunities of grati- 
 fying it. I believe one reason why such numerous instances of 
 erudition occur among the lower rank is, that with the same 
 powers of mind, the poor student is limited to a narrow circle for 
 indulging his passion for books, and must, necessarily, make 
 himself master of the few he possesses ere he can acquire more. 
 Edward, on the contrary, like the epicure who only deigned to 
 take a single morsel from the sunny side of a peach, read no 
 
 volume after it ceased to excite his curiosity or interest 
 
 Knowing much that is known to but few, Edward Waverley might 
 justly be considered as ignorant, since he knew little of what 
 adds dignity to man and qualifies him to support and adorn an 
 elevated situation in society." 
 
 Here, set down in the plainest terms, is the opinion of a man 
 who was not only a great student, but one of the greatest writers 
 who ever lived. He shows, in few words, that desultory read- 
 ing is destructive of learning and accomplishment. For the
 
 2O8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 reasons that Sir Walter Scott assigns against desultory read- 
 ing, provincial schools, academies, and libraries are more likely 
 than similar institutions in large cities to be beneficial to youth. 
 When it comes to real research, by educated and mature scholars, 
 then, of course, the finest libraries, which are only in the greatest 
 cities in the world, are they to which such scholars must resort. 
 
 When we compare the physical strength of the male with the 
 female sex, we find that they present a great contrast. It did 
 not always exist to the same, or anything like the same, degree 
 in ancient as it does in modern times. American Indian women 
 performed the labor which the men despised, their province being 
 the fighting, and so it is to the present day among barbarous 
 peoples. Nor is it very long since even civilized women did a 
 large amount of hard labor in the fields. Among the peasantry 
 of Europe the women still work in the fields and in other ways 
 execute laborious work. The habit of the men to see their 
 women work, while they often loll, is sometimes seen in this 
 country among a group of immigrants, where the men stroll 
 along smoking their pipes while the women follow with bundles 
 and babies. Modern national habits have changed much in these 
 respects. Wherever they have, naturally the women are not 
 so muscular and hardy as they once were, especially that class 
 which once worked in the fields. 
 
 Nevertheless, even now, when there has been in this re- 
 spect a great change in the world, and in some a radical one, 
 there are found individual women who are more than a match 
 for an average man. Once upon a time, before and after two 
 thousand years ago, the German women and children accom- 
 panied the German armies in their wars. One of the later 
 Roman historians gives a graphic account of the assistance the 
 women of Gaul rendered their husbands when attacked. The 
 Roman legions were never accompanied to the field by women. 
 They regarded such a practice as belonging to barbarians. There 
 is indicated, by an event of the reign of Louis XIV of France, a 
 reminiscence of the mingling of men and women of Gaul in
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 269 
 
 times of war; for on one occasion, as we learn from French 
 memoirs, the ladies of the Court of Louis XIV followed the 
 army on the march to the northern frontier for so considerable 
 a distance that they were exhausted and obliged to sleep in their 
 carriages at night. The references made by the Greeks to a 
 race of female warriors which they called Amazons, are either 
 mythical or else exaggerations of the martial exercises held in 
 the region of the Caucasus. It is a fact, however, that the 
 legends of the Greeks about Amazons receive some confirmation 
 from the circumstance that at the present day, in the negro king- 
 dom of Dahomey, on the west coast of Africa, women as well 
 as men are warriors. In that country, a part of the army is com- 
 posed of women, to whom is assigned the post of honor in battle. 
 The number of these women warriors has been estimated at 
 from one thousand to twenty-five hundred, and it has been re- 
 marked of them that they show wonderful powers of endurance. 
 
 Among the effects of civilization has been a large release 
 of women from the obligations of hard labor. This has, of 
 course, led to prevalence among them of less robustness of frame 
 and muscular strength. But, even now, instances are numerous 
 where they perform hard work. Additionally to performance 
 of field work, more or less over the whole world, there are 
 washerwomen, charwomen, and in some places are female car- 
 penters, bricklayers, and hod-carriers. Even in Vienna, young 
 girls have been seen carrying bricks to bricklayers. In the United 
 States there is a strong prejudice against the employment of 
 women in manual labor of the harder kinds, and yet a reasonable 
 amount of it, in the form of field-work on farms, would be con- 
 ducive to the improvement of their forms, strength, and health. 
 
 Higher education is largely sought by women, very often 
 without capacity for it or chance in the future for its employ- 
 ment. The problem concerning the coeducation of young men 
 and women is difficult, and cannot be regarded as solved until 
 there is more experience on the subject. Two things, however, 
 are certain: that certain differences must be observed in the 
 
 14
 
 2IO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 physical training of young men and women, and that women are 
 capable of education equally with men, in at least most branches 
 of learning. It has been sometimes stated that although women 
 have attained great excellence in literature, science, and art, they 
 never reach the highest pitch reached by men. This is true. 
 It may be said, however, in reply, that never, until quite modern 
 times, have women had opportunity to excel. But, granting that, 
 it still remains that there are certain reasons which handicap them 
 in comparison with men. These relate by contrast to sexual 
 disabilities. There are others which are indirectly, not directly, 
 sexual. Scarcely a woman has ever shown an inkling of the 
 capacity to make long research, lasting for years, such as many 
 men, especially Germans, habitually love and practice. Again, 
 the brain is the organ of the mind. In men its convolutions, 
 indicative of fine quality, are equal in fineness to those of women ; 
 but in men the brain is larger than it is in women, and, fineness 
 being equal, size makes superiority. 
 
 Observations accumulate through ceaseless attention and 
 experimentation, when a flash of genius binds them in a consist- 
 ent whole called discovery. Work of this kind has been almost 
 universally accomplished by men. It serves to indicate a cer- 
 tain difference of quality in the mental organization of the oppo- 
 site sexes. The male intellect, in its higher manifestations, is 
 endlessly striving to systematize, to discover the laws under 
 which the world of matter works, the connection between effect 
 and cause. In the history of astronomy, the work of Sir Isaac 
 Newton and of Laplace illustrates this sort of tendency in the 
 male organization of mind. Similar comprehension of physical 
 laws led Adams, of England, and Leverrier, of France, simul- 
 taneously to the discovery of the existence of the planet Neptune, 
 unseen at that time. The irregularities in the orbit of Uranus, 
 what are called in astronomy, "perturbations" in a planet, 
 proved to both of them that some unseen body's approach to 
 Uranus caused it to act in that way through the attraction of 
 gravitation. Accordingly, just from the elements alone of the
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 211 
 
 perturbations, they calculated the position that the disturbing 
 body must occupy, and it was soon telescopically recognized by 
 Dr. Galle, of Berlin. Women are too much disposed to rely upon 
 what are called intuitive perceptions. The fact is, however, that 
 they do not belong exclusively to the female sex. They are in 
 reality perceptions of subconsciousness ; but being derived from 
 loosely-jointed coherence of thought, men generally recognize 
 that they should be subjected for examination to the test of care- 
 ful ratiocination, whereas many women ascribe to them, al- 
 though not derived from close thought, the nature of a superior 
 order of reason. In all countries and ages, nevertheless, women 
 have shown high capacity for the business of life, in literature, 
 art, science, and governmental affairs. The famous Bon Marche, 
 of Paris, was founded by a woman. It is one of the greatest 
 commercial establishments in the world. The art-pottery of Cin- 
 cinnati is the outcome of an enterprise begun by a woman of 
 that city. Every great city presents examples of similar capa- 
 city. In the Book of Judges we read that "Deborah, a proph- 
 etess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time 
 
 the children of Israel came up to her for judgment." Sapho, 
 who lived about six hundred years before Christ, was regarded 
 by the Greeks, the most cultivated people of antiquity, as "the 
 poetess," just as they called Homer "the poet." Of Sapho, Mr. 
 Theodore Watts, in the article on poetry in The Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica, writes: "Never before these songs were sung, and 
 never since, did the human soul, in the grip of a fiery passion, 
 utter a cry like hers ; and, from the executive point of view, in 
 directness, in lucidity, in that high, imperious verbal economy, 
 which only nature herself can teach the artist, she has no equal, 
 and none worthy to take the place of second not even in Heine, 
 not even in Burns." Elsewhere herein mentioned, the brilliant 
 career of Pericles, the greatest Greek of his times, was influenced 
 by Aspasia. Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, is thus portrayed 
 by the historian Gibbon: "If we except the doubtful achieve- 
 ments of Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose
 
 212 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 superior genius broke through the servile indolence imposed upon 
 
 her sex by the climate and manners of Asia Zenobia 
 
 was esteemed the most lovely as well as the most heroic of her 
 sex. She was of a dark complexion (for in speaking of a 
 Roman these trifles become important). Her teeth were of a 
 pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled with uncom- 
 mon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her 
 voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding 
 was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant 
 of the Latin tongue, but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, 
 the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up 
 for her own use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly 
 compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition 
 of the sublime Longinus." In the intervals of war, "her husband 
 passionately delighted in the exercise of hunting; he pursued 
 with ardor the wild beasts of the desert, lions, panthers, and 
 bears; and the ardor of Zenobia, in that dangerous amusement, 
 was not inferior to his own. She had inured her constitution 
 to fatigue, disdained the use of a covered carriage, and generally 
 appeared on horseback in military habit, and sometimes marched 
 several miles on foot at the head of the troops. The success 
 of Odenathus was, in a great measure, ascribed to her incompar- 
 able prudence and fortitude." After the assassination of Oden- 
 athus, "she immediately filled the vacant throne and governed 
 with manly counsels Palmyra, Syria, and the East, above five 
 
 years The steady administration of Zenobia was 
 
 guided by the most judicious maxims of policy. If it was expe- 
 dient to pardon, she could calm her resentment ; if it was neces- 
 sary to punish, she could impose silence on the voice of pity. 
 Her strict economy was accused of avarice ; yet, on every proper 
 occasion, she appeared magnificent and liberal. The neighbor- 
 ing states of Arabia, Armenia, and Persia dreaded her enmity, 
 and solicited her alliance." Defying the power of the Emperor 
 Aurelian, and defeated in two battles, "Palmyra was the last 
 resource of the widow of Odenathus. She retired within the
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 213 
 
 walls of her capital, made every preparation for a vigorous 
 resistance, and declared, with the intrepidity of a heroine, that 
 the last moment of her reign and of her life should be the same." 
 Aurelian himself testified to her wonderful resolution in these 
 words: "The Roman people speak with contempt of the war 
 which I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both 
 of the character and the power of Zenobia. It is impossible 
 to enumerate her warlike preparations of stones, of arrows, and 
 of every species of missile weapons. Every part of the walls 
 is provided with two or three ballista, and artificial fires are 
 thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has 
 armed her with a desperate courage." 
 
 No more interesting female character appears in history 
 than the lately canonized, but often previously maligned Joan 
 of Arc. She is called the Maid of Orleans, because she was 
 instrumental in raising the siege of that town in France, then 
 invested by the English. Her real name was Joanneta Dare, 
 corrupted in the course of time to Jeanne d'Arc; in English, 
 Joan of Arc. She was a strongly religious country girl, of hardy 
 constitution, and of no beauty but that derived from her expres- 
 sion of noble mission. Near the forest of Doremy she tended 
 her father's sheep, and in solitary meditation conceived the idea, 
 from a prophecy that France was to be delivered from a bad 
 woman by a chaste maiden, that she was to be the predestined 
 agent of its rescue. The bad woman was the mother of the Dau- 
 phin of France, who himself was letting the kingdom go to rack 
 and ruin. Jeanne d'Arc's sublime confidence in her mission in- 
 spired the French troops. She raised the siege of Orleans, cap- 
 tured several places, and stood by the Dauphin as he was crowned 
 king at Rheims. Subsequently, at Compiegne, in defending the 
 town against the Duke of Burgundy, ally of the English, her 
 fate took a woeful turn. She was captured in a sortie from the 
 town, sold to the English, subjected to a trial as a sorceress, 
 pardoned through treachery, accused of relapse, and was burnt at 
 the stake at Rouen ; the King of France, who owed his crown
 
 214 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 to her, having made no attempt from beginning to end at her 
 ransom. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth of England received a careful education. 
 Her tutor, Roger Ascham, extolled her for her ability, applica- 
 tion, and powers of memory. Succeeding to the throne of 
 England in troublous times, in the midst of war with France, 
 with commerce in a languishing condition, she, partly by her own 
 energy, and partly by the able counsellors whom she was wise 
 enough to choose, stimulated and gratified the spirit of the na- 
 tion, and reigned prosperously and gloriously for nearly half a 
 century. In her reign commerce revived, the naval supremacy 
 of England was established, and literature flourished. 
 
 The greatest poetess of Italy, Vittoria Colonna, was born in 
 1490 and died in 1547. Left a widow in 1525, she found 
 the chief consolation of her latter days in the composition of 
 poems inspired by the memory of her husband. During the 
 last ten years of her life she resided in Rome. Michael Angelo 
 was her friend, and to her were some of his finest sonnets 
 addressed. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Somerville attained celebrity as a scholar in 
 the exact sciences, and is one of the numerous instances of the 
 compatibility of intellectual labor with health and longevity, 
 for she lived to be ninety-two years of age. Her ability and 
 attainments were known to competent judges before she became 
 famous. Laplace, the great French mathematician and astron- 
 omer, declared that she was the first woman who had understood 
 his great work "La Mecanique Celeste" This great work she 
 translated into English under the title of "The Mechanism of the 
 Heavens," thereby securing for herself instant recognition of 
 her talents and learning. Subsequently, she published original 
 work of her own on physical science. 
 
 The outlines of the life of Hypatia have been rendered 
 familiar to many readers by the novel of the same name, written 
 by Charles Kingsley. Hypatia was a writer and lecturer in 
 Alexandria, Egypt, upon the subjects of mathematics and phil-
 
 A 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 215 
 
 osophy, during the last half of the fourth century. Her beauty, 
 enthusiasm, and eloquence attracted many, but, as an adherent of 
 paganism, she fell a victim to the ferocity of a so-called Christian 
 mob. 
 
 Madame de Stael, previously mentioned here in other con- 
 nections, was the most conspicuous literary woman of her time. 
 Her work on Germany was considered the best account of one 
 country by a native of another that had ever been written. 
 
 Jane Austin, the daughter of a country clergyman, wrote 
 a number of novels which depict every-day life of her times, 
 and which are still remarkable for the interest they excite in 
 characters described, although her books were written nearly 
 a century ago. Sir Walter Scott, expressing his admiration for 
 Miss Austin, said : "The big bow-wow strain I can do myself, 
 like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders or- 
 dinary, commonplace things and characters interesting, from the 
 truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me." 
 Sir Walter, if he was wholly sincere, was too modest, and any- 
 how entirely wrong so far as his statement about himself goes. 
 
 The name of Charlotte Bronte ought never to be omitted 
 in mention of those women who have attained celebrity in liter- 
 ature. Her story of "Jane Eyre," written half a century or 
 more ago, is still nearly as fresh as when first published as a novel 
 and then dramatized. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was known as the most 
 distinguished female poet that England has produced. She 
 received a good classical education, and excelled in both lyric 
 and dramatic forms of writing. She was a conspicuous example 
 of what can be accomplished in the way of work by a decided 
 invalid, for she was always of feeble constitution. At the age 
 of twenty-six she was threatened with consumption by a haemor- 
 rhage from the lungs. For seven years thereafter she led the 
 life of a recluse. After her marriage to the poet, Browning, 
 she always resided in Italy. Her health received great benefit 
 by this change from residence in England, and her life was pro- 
 longed to her fifty-second year.
 
 2l6 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Harriet B. Martineau accomplished much literary work 
 without being a writer of a high order. A series of tales that 
 she wrote, to illustrate political economy, proved successful. 
 She subsequently published similar tales dealing with English 
 taxation, the poor law, and the game laws. She wrote some 
 novels, books of travel, historical works, and philosophical es- 
 says. She expressed her own opinion of her intellectual capacity 
 in the following words: "Her original power was nothing 
 more than was due to earnestness and intellectual clearness within 
 a certain range. With small imagination and suggestive powers, 
 and therefore nothing approaching to genius, she could see 
 clearly what she did see, and give a clear expression to what 
 she had to say. In short, she could popularize, while she could 
 neither discover nor invent." It is impossible for one to have 
 a more just idea of oneself or of another than is here expressed. 
 She had, moreover, extraordinary industry and resolution. 
 That one of her books which was most reprehended was that 
 which she wrote about the United States, as the outcome of a 
 visit to this country. 
 
 Marian Evans, who wrote under the pseudonym of George 
 Eliot, was the most consummate writer of fiction among the 
 women of her day. She possessed a large fund of knowledge 
 upon a wide range of subjects. Her books describe, for the 
 most part, English middle-class country life. She drew many 
 characters with so sure a touch that they live in the memory 
 as real existences. 
 
 In this recital of the careers of a few eminent women who 
 have distinguished themselves in various ways must not be 
 omitted the name of Madame Curie, who, with her husband, 
 made lately the wonderful discovery of radium, thereby revolu- 
 tionizing all previous conceptions about the constitution of 
 matter. 
 
 The mass of men and women need merely the kind of educa- 
 tion which fits them for the obvious work of life. Men are 
 necessarily devoted to science and business pursuits. The des-
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 217 
 
 tiny of women is not so indissolubly linked as theirs is to such 
 objects of thought and action. The sphere of women is more 
 closely associated with the solidarity of the family, the founda- 
 tion of the civilized state, than with any other line of endeavor. 
 They may or may not be highly educated, but their influence 
 is great as sisters, wives, and mothers. What is fame compared 
 with their silent influence ? Great men have generally attributed 
 their success to their mother's training. Not all women marry; 
 some will not. Various circumstances prevent marriage. 
 Many women are left with dependent parents or near relations, 
 to whom they owe the duty of protection. Successful attempts 
 to regulate the destiny of women according to a conventional 
 scheme is cruel sacrifice of them to the prejudices of a past time. 
 Paganism, in which women were lightly considered, fell before 
 Christianity; but the practices of the former in respect to the 
 relations of the sexes have not even yet been wholly obliterated. 
 If a woman manifests a strong inclination towards a certain 
 career, no factitious obstacles should be placed in her way. It is 
 irrational to aid her to become a trained nurse and bar her 
 from the study of medicine. Exceptional individuals are rela- 
 tively few in either sex. With the vast majority of men and 
 women occupation is determined by petty circumstances. It is 
 the small minority of either sex that advances, or is capable of 
 advancing, to the highest acquirements. 
 
 As regards the physical effects of college life upon the 
 health of young women, a comparison of mortality statistics, 
 collected by Mr. L. H. Marrel, is instructive. From these it 
 appears that, during a period of thirty years, only 10.39 per 
 cent, of the graduates of Mount Holyoke Seminary died, while 
 in the same term of years, only one institution for men, Williams 
 College, showed a lower rate, namely, 10.12 per cent. But, 
 within the same time, the percentage of deaths among Harvard 
 men was 11.52 per cent., that among Yale men, 13.42 per cent., 
 and that among Dartmouth men, 16.83 P er cent - The
 
 2l8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 relating to the colleges for men exclude persons who were killed 
 or died of injuries or of disease connected with the Civil War. 
 
 There can be little doubt that intellectuality and longevity 
 are physically associated with each other. It is not strange if 
 it be so. The great ganglion of a large and well-convoluted 
 brain is an apparatus compelling by its possession to its exer- 
 cise, and activity of organs naturally leads to their health, im- 
 provement, and duration. A few examples in point of this 
 statement will suffice. Chevreuil, the French chemist, passed 
 his hundredth year. Baron Liebig, the German chemist, lived 
 until seventy. Galileo, the great astronomer, lived to seventy- 
 eight. Flamsteed, the English astronomer, was seventy-three 
 when he died. Usher, the distinguished ecclesiastic, lived to be 
 seventy-six. Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher, lived to eighty- 
 four. Thomas Reid, the Scotch metaphysician, died at eighty- 
 six. Leibnitz, the mathematician and physicist, died at seventy. 
 La Grange, the great mathematician, lived to seventy-seven. 
 Laplace, the great astronomer and mathematician, lived to sev- 
 enty-eight years. Alexander von Humboldt, physicist, was 
 nearly ninety when he died. Goethe, the great poet and philoso- 
 pher, died in his eighty-third year. William Cullen Bryant, poet 
 and journalist, died at the age of eighty-four. Wieland, the 
 German writer, attained the age of eighty. Holland's greatest 
 poet, van der Vondel, lived to see his ninety-second year. Cald- 
 eron, the most eminent dramatist of Spain, reached eighty-one 
 years of age. Metastasio, the Italian poet, lived to eighty-four. 
 Lope de Vega, the prolific Spanish dramatist, lived to seventy- 
 three. Daniel Webster was seventy, and Henry Clay seventy- 
 four when they died. Horace Binney, the eminent lawyer, was 
 ninety-five at the time of his death. Benjamin Franklin died 
 at over eighty-four years of age. 
 
 It is clearly shown, from the cases cited, to which hundreds 
 more might be added, that intellectual work has no direct influ- 
 ence upon impairing health, but, on the contrary, a tendency 
 to improve it, and lead to longevity. Indirectly, however, it
 
 CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. 
 
 may affect the health unfavorably; that is, a too sedentary 
 habit connected with it may have that consequence. It is for 
 the student to see that he does not neglect all that hygiene directs 
 in fresh air, water, food, exercise. In itself, intellectual em- 
 ployment is less tasking to its followers than is commerce. 
 There are numerous examples on record where intense students 
 were not unmindful of their body's welfare. Such a cult mani- 
 fested itself some years ago, representing exercise of intellectual 
 men, called muscular Christianity. Among the Greeks exercise 
 was never neglected, even among the most intellectually gifted. 
 Alcibiades competed successfully in the Olympic games. Soc- 
 rates has already been mentioned here as soldier and athlete. 
 Christopher North, the well-known Scotch writer, was distin- 
 guished for his athleticism. Charles Kingsley, the writer, was 
 associated in the minds of all English readers with muscular 
 Christianity. Hundreds of instances could be given of ancient 
 and modern intellectual athletes. 
 
 The reader may ask himself, perhaps has already asked 
 himself, what possible connection there can be between cultiva- 
 tion of the mind and increase of beauty. However, just as there 
 is an intimate relation between physical health and beauty, so 
 there is also a similar one between mind and beauty. It would 
 be preposterous, it would be falsified by common experience, to 
 claim that the action of the mind could change the form of feat- 
 ures. Mirabeau, the great French orator, and Lord Chesterfield, 
 contemporaries, two of the most intellectual and accomplished, 
 as well as two of the ugliest men of their times, died as ugly in 
 features as they had lived. But has the reader not come to 
 know from observation that expression is largely independent 
 of shape of features, and that there are various forms of beauty, 
 such as represent refinement, distinction, intellectuality, nobility 
 of expression ? Now, in previous remarks here the fact has been 
 dwelt upon, that certain muscles of the face are actuated by 
 the emotions and essential character of the thoughts and pas- 
 sions of their possessor. Nothing is more plain to the observer
 
 22O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 who has for years witnessed the conduct and at the same time 
 has been familiar with the faces of many persons, that they grad- 
 ually received the impress of their mental and moral attributes in 
 their expression. One must have lived but a short time not to 
 have been convinced of this fact beyond a doubt. Both men 
 and women live, who in early life were extremely plain, but 
 who, through the growing influence in them of refinement and 
 high mental and moral exercise of their faculties, have become 
 handsome in nobility of expression. Nor can any keen observer 
 have failed to see that, if mental and moral endowments have 
 been abused, or have not been exercised, even original beauty 
 has gone to wreck, or if not that, loftiness of expression, in which 
 refinement and intellectuality are combined, has never appeared 
 upon the face. One cannot look upon a gallery of the portraits 
 of the great and good, the great only, or the good only, with- 
 out recognizing that the expression of worth, or whatever other 
 quality was possessed by the original, was, as already said, 
 largely independent of the form of features. In a word, the 
 habits of refined association and of study and thought of the 
 higher order impress themselves finally upon the features. It 
 often happens that the cultured man or woman is far handsomer 
 beyond middle age than in the prime of youth, handsome with 
 a refinement or a nobility of expression in which youth, w r ith 
 the finest features, may be wholly lacking. So potent are these 
 mental and moral influences here discussed, that their opposites 
 produce in the finest features the appearance of commonness 
 or of positive vulgarity.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 
 
 CLOTHING is regardable from three essentially different 
 points of view, dependent upon the uses to which it is 
 put as covering for protection against cold, as covering 
 to conceal nakedness, and as covering of the partly or wholly 
 ornamental sort, known as dress. If the reader would like to 
 make intimate acquaintance with the philosophy of clothes, in 
 the sense of ornamental human appendages, he cannot do so to 
 better advantage than by reading one of the most remarkable 
 books ever written, "Sartor Resartus," by Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 Among the Greeks and the Romans there was not, for many 
 centuries, any change in the fashion of dress. Among the 
 Greeks the undergarment of women extended from the 
 neck to the feet. It was slit above and below, and made of 
 a fullness represented by the extended arms of the woman, 
 so that it fell around the body in numerous folds. This part 
 of the dress was bound under the bosom by a sash, and its 
 upper borders fastened o,ver the shoulders by brooches. The 
 arms were either left entirely bare, or else were covered only 
 slightly by the garment being allowed to fall a little way over the 
 shoulders in the form of a short sleeve. The garment being 
 wide, it could be, for the sake of warmth, doubled over the 
 bosom and shoulders. Its material was generally linen, but was 
 sometimes silk. Hanging from the hips, a short woolen petti- 
 coat was worn. 
 
 These pieces of clothing represented indoor use. For out- 
 door service there was thrown over the person an article of 
 clothing somewhat resembling a shawl, which was wrapped 
 in varying folds about it, and could be drawn over the head 
 like a hood. This wrap was worn in various colors, black being 
 used for mourning. It was customary to have the outer and 
 
 221
 
 222 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 inner robes of strongly contrasting colors, and they were often 
 embroidered. The outer kind of wrap was worn by men as well 
 as by women. Another kind of outer garment was worn by 
 young men, consisting of a cloak fastened over the right shoulder 
 by a brooch. Grown men wore no covering on the head. 
 Women's heads were ornamented with crowns, bands, and pins. 
 They wore ear-rings, finger-rings, brooches, bracelets, and neck- 
 laces. 
 
 The dress of the Etruscans was essentially like that of the 
 Greeks. But the Etruscans wore upon the head a high, pointed 
 hat. The outer garment of the Romans was called the "toga," 
 and was not worn by the youth of Rome until they had attained 
 sixteen years of age. It was then assumed with ceremony by 
 the youth, as having reached man's estate, and it was then 
 called the toga virilis a man's dress. This consisted of a 
 width of cloth of an elliptical shape, wrapped about the body in 
 certain folds, forming a drapery, with the appearance of which 
 we have become familiar through seeing ancient statues. The 
 toga was made of thin woolen cloth, and for citizens without 
 rank was always white. A purple border on the toga indicated 
 that the wearer held some official rank. The highest office was 
 indicated, on great occasions, by the wearing of a purple toga. 
 The dress of the Roman ladies was like that of the Greek ladies. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons wore a short, sleeved tunic, bound 
 around the waist by a girdle. It was of various colors, and was 
 either plain or ornamented, according to the means or the social 
 station of the wearer. Over this article of clothing was thrown 
 by young men a short cloak, and a longer one by men of more 
 advanced age. Stockings, shoes, boots, and sandals were worn 
 on suitable occasions. The tunics of the women were made 
 long, like gowns. Over these they wore shorter, wide-sleeved 
 tunics, which were often elaborately embroidered. 
 
 During the eleventh century, ladies of the Norman nobility 
 wore richly decorated dresses, so long that they swept the 
 ground. The sleeves were widened at the wrists, and cut so as
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 223 
 
 to droop to a point. In the thirteenth century, a loose tunic 
 swept from the throat nearly to the ankles. Over this garment 
 was a full-sleeved dalmatic or robe, secured around the waist by 
 means of a buckled girdle, the whole costume being covered by 
 a mantle. During the same period, the outer dress of women of 
 high rank was a long, loose, and flowing robe with full sleeves 
 gathered in at the wrists, a mantle hanging from the shoulders, 
 and a purse from the jeweled waist-girdle. In the fourteenth 
 century, the Queen of Edward II wore richly embroidered 
 dresses of cloth of gold or silver, adorned with jewels. Others 
 were of velvet of various colors and shot taffeta. Others again, 
 were of green cloth from Douay, and of rose satin. Jackets with 
 the sides more or less cut away, so as to show the dress beneath, 
 were also worn by ladies during that century, and the dress of 
 the men approached in magnificence that of the women. The 
 cut-away style of jacket remained a favorite female article of 
 dress for nearly two hundred years. The dress of men was 
 made to fit closely to the person, their shoes were drawn out 
 into long pointed toes. In the fifteenth century dress was very 
 elaborate. Men were garbed in long, loose robes, with very wide 
 sleeves and closely fitting tunics, descending midway from 
 knee to ankle. Ladies wore grotesque head-dresses, known from 
 their various shapes as horned, mitre, steeple, butterfly, etc. The 
 persistence of style of dress in provincial communities, contrast- 
 ing strongly with the opposite condition among people in touch 
 with all the world, is illustrated by the present head-dress of the 
 women of Normandy. This is nothing more nor less than the 
 survival of the mode that was the fashion five hundred years 
 ago among the court ladies. It is a high, conical horror of a 
 head-dress. In the various countries of Europe, says M. La- 
 croix, a French writer, "we have seen, and still see, entire 
 provinces adhering to some ancient custom, causing them to dif- 
 fer altogether from the rest of the nation. This is simply owing 
 to the fact of the fashion having been obsolete in the neighbor- 
 ing places; for every local costume faithfully and vigorously
 
 224 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 preserved in any community at a distance from the center of 
 political action or government must have been brought there 
 by the nobles of the country." 
 
 In the sixteenth century a distinct separation began to take 
 place between mediaeval and modern styles of dress; present 
 fashions may justly be considered to have originated at that 
 time. The clothing of men was made to fit more closely to the 
 person. Tightly-fitting dresses were adopted by the women. In 
 early Tudor times men wore a long, loose garment with open 
 sleeves and a belt or girdle, above which the coat was open, 
 a broad collar falling over the shoulders. Beneath this gar- 
 ment was a vest, and beneath that a shirt showed at the throat, 
 appearing also at the wrists. Another style of the same period 
 consisted of tightly-fitting vest and hose, worn under an open 
 doublet with long and loose sleeves. The doublet was a tightly- 
 fitting coat that reached but a short distance below the waist. 
 The hat was low-crowned, broad-brimmed, and decorated with 
 plumes. The legs were clothed in two distinct coverings, the 
 hose being partly tight and plain, and partly puffed, slashed, and 
 embroidered. The upper part was called hose, and the lower, 
 stockings. At the end of the sixteenth century, the hose became 
 "breeches" and hose gradually came to have the limited meaning 
 of stockings. 
 
 During Queen Elizabeth's reign, long, peaked, and tight 
 "stomachers" were worn by women, and padded and quilted 
 doublets by men. Large and stiff ruffs surrounded the necks 
 of both men and women. The sleeves of both sexes were slashed 
 and puffed. The outer skirt of women was projected for some 
 distance from the person by "farthingales." Ornaments were 
 very generally worn. About the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury dresses were made high at the waists and around the hips 
 by means of large padded rolls, and still more protruded by a 
 contrivance of padded whalebone and steel. This fashion de- 
 veloped into "panniers," which were worn then for a long time, 
 and which were revived long afterwards.
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 22$ 
 
 In the reign of James I, noblemen wore long, pointed, and 
 tight doublets, slashed and padded trunk-hose, tapering to the 
 knees, where they were tied by bowed ribbons. Hats were tall 
 and conical, with the brim turned up on one side. Shoes were 
 broad, and adorned with rosettes. The farthingales of the 
 ladies attained immense proportions. 
 
 In the reign of Charles I ladies wore wide sleeves. They 
 were, however, tied at the elbows and drawn in at the wrists. 
 Dress-bodies were tight, and were often made long and pointed 
 in front. A loose petticoat was displayed beneath a loose open 
 gown. Around the throat was worn a deep-falling collar. 
 Patches, made of black court-plaster, began to be worn upon the 
 face. This singular custom, introduced with the notion that, 
 by contrast, the black patches enhanced the beauty of the com- 
 plexion, continued in vogue throughout the century. 
 
 Charles II wore a long, loose doublet, richly laced and em- 
 broidered, with large sleeves; under the doublet was a sleeve- 
 less vest. The trousers were wide and gathered in at the knees 
 by ribbons and lace ruffles, his throat was encircled by a lace 
 collar, and his head surmounted by a large wig. His hat was 
 broad-brimmed, with one side turned up, and decorated with 
 plumes. His shoes were fastened at the instep with large bows. 
 A cloak completed the costume. 
 
 During the last half of the seventeenth century men wore 
 long coats and vests. The sleeves were made with broad cuffs, 
 doubling back from the wrists. Ladies wore rich satin petti- 
 coats with long, trailing gowns. During the reign of William 
 III, small-clothes, more vulgarly known as knee-breeches, were 
 introduced into England. In winter, men wore muffs suspended 
 from their necks with ribbons, and in summer, lace-trimmed 
 gloves. Among women, long bodices and tight corsets were 
 fashionable. Dresses were either gathered up at the back or 
 drawn out into a train. Sleeves were tight and reached the wrists, 
 where they turned up into cuffs from which issued lace ruffles. 
 Furbelows were fashionable. 
 
 15
 
 226 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A writer upon British costumes thus describes the dress of 
 noblemen and gentlemen during the reigns of Queen Anne and 
 George I : "Square-cut coats and long-flapped waistcoats with 
 pockets in them, the latter [waistcoats] meeting the stockings, 
 still drawn up over the knee so high as to entirely conceal the 
 breeches (then made to fit with comparative tightness to the 
 limbs), but gartered below it; large hanging cuffs and lace ruf- 
 fles; the skirts of the coat stiffened out with wire or buckram, 
 from beneath which peeped the hilt of the sword, deprived of 
 the broad and splendid belt in which it swung in preceding 
 reigns ; blue or scarlet silk stockings with gold or silver clocks ; 
 lace neck-clothes; square-toed, short-quartered shoes, with high 
 red heels and small buckles; very long and formally-curled 
 perukes, black riding-wigs, bag-wigs, and night-cap wigs ; small 
 three-cornered hats laced with gold or silver galoon, and some- 
 times trimmed with feathers." The head-dresses of the ladies 
 were either very low or very high. 
 
 Soon after the opening of the eighteenth century the hooped 
 petticoat was introduced. This style came into fashion again 
 some forty years ago, under the name of crinoline. At the 
 middle of the century the hooped skirts became of enormous size. 
 Towards its close, ladies' dresses were made open in front and 
 trailing. Small hoops were then in fashion. A little later 
 dresses were made short-waisted and fell in straight folds to the 
 feet. Hoops and open dresses were discarded. 
 
 At the beginning of the French Revolution a new style for 
 both men's and women's dresses was adopted by French society. 
 Men's coats were made to button at the waist, from which point 
 they sloped away above and below. Puffing, lace, and embroid- 
 ery were abandoned. The breeches either stopped short at the 
 knee or were carried a few inches below it, where they were but- 
 toned and laced. A large cravat was tied loosely with a bow. 
 The attire of women of fashion was still more fanciful. For 
 them a hybrid imitation of the ancient Greek costume was intro- 
 duced. The bodice of the dress was cut extremely low, the skirt
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 227 
 
 clung closely to the figure, the feet were shod with sandals, and 
 the stockings often had toes corresponding with the fingers of 
 gloves. 
 
 Nowadays, and for a century or more past, the dress of 
 rnen and women, whatever have been the fluctuations of fashion, 
 has been quite distinctive. No more, as in mediaeval and later 
 times, have men gone bedecked with laces and embroideries, 
 these being reserved exclusively for members of the other sex. 
 The dress of men of all ranks has been of extreme plainness ; so 
 plain, in fact, that for some years past there has been an occa- 
 sional prompting in society to reduce somewhat its extreme plain- 
 ness by some modification, in aesthetic interest, of its color and 
 form. 
 
 We are accustomed to think of clothing as keeping us warm. 
 But clothing is not in itself warm, it causes warmth by retard- 
 ing the escape of heat from our bodies. The whole of the heat 
 concerned is what is known as the animal heat of the body. 
 And, as has been previously mentioned here, this animal heat 
 is maintained at substantially the same point, whether in the 
 tropics or in the frozen zones. At the equator there is so high an 
 atmospheric temperature that there is no need of conserving 
 the temperature of the body. At the poles, it is a matter of life 
 and death to do so. This being the fact, it behooves us to know 
 what, in clothing, forms the best material to help us in adjusting 
 our comfort to atmospheric conditions, which include moisture 
 as well as heat and cold. 
 
 It is of great importance that clothing, especially that 
 which is worn next to the body, should be of such a character 
 as to give free action to the skin. It should not interfere with 
 the secreting function of the skin and with the accessory breath- 
 ing that goes on through that tissue. Certain bodily condi- 
 tions and periods of life especially call for the protection of 
 clothing. Infants are very sensitive to a low temperature, re- 
 quiring to be warmly clad. Those persons whose blood is thin, 
 who have recently suffered from illness, or who are sedentary
 
 228 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 in their habits, are very sensitive to atmospheric changes, and 
 need carefully to avoid exposure to them. With them, the pro- 
 cesses of life are languid, as they are also among the aged ; heat 
 is less abundantly generated, and this fact should be recognized 
 in choosing their clothing. 
 
 The substances from which the material of clothing is de- 
 rived belong to both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
 
 Linen is made from the inner bark of the flax-plant. It 
 is among the oldest of the materials used for clothing and other 
 purposes. The plant is mentioned in the Book of Genesis as 
 grown in Egypt in the time of the Pharoahs. We read that 
 Solomon obtained linen from Egypt, and Herodotus mentions 
 that, in his time,, the linen trade of Egypt was large. 'Linen 
 formed a portion of the dress of both the Egyptian and the 
 Hebrew priests, and it has been recognized in the wrappings of 
 mummies. The durability of the material is mentioned by a 
 German writer who examined several pieces of it among the 
 wrappings of a mummy, and remarked that this "venerable 
 linen which had been woven for more than seventeen hundred 
 years was washed without injury." Mention of purple and fine 
 linen, as sumptuous wear, comes to us from the Old Testament. 
 Tyrian purple dye was celebrated all around the shores of the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 A great variety of dress-goods comes to us from linen. 
 Lace, cambric, and lawn are among them. The beautiful smooth- 
 ness of linen adapts it well, where there is great heat, but not 
 much moisture, for wearing next the skin. It has the disadvan- 
 tage for that wear of being what is called hygroscopic, sus- 
 ceptible to moisture; and if moisture be prevalent and coolness 
 in the atmosphere suddenly succeeds heat, it becomes cold and 
 clammy. It is an excellent conductor of heat, and that is the 
 reason why linen sheets are so delightful in summer. They 
 remove the heat from the body. For these reasons, linen is 
 a good summer bed-clothing, good for outer garments in hot 
 climates, but bad for underclothes in hot and damp places liable
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 
 
 to sudden changes in temperature. Its fiber is entirely different 
 from that of cotton. Looked at with a high-power microscope, 
 it is perceived to consist of smooth threads, whereas those of 
 cotton are fuzzy. 
 
 Cotton cloth is manufactured from the fluffy contents of the 
 pod of the cotton-plant. The art of spinning and weaving it into 
 cloth is one of great antiquity. In India the plant has been 
 cultivated and the cloth manufactured from beyond the earliest 
 times of which we have any record. In Egypt, also, cotton 
 cloth was made at a very early period. The Romans obtained it 
 from India, but made very little use of it for purposes of dress. 
 According to the testimony of travelers, some tribes of the inte- 
 rior of Africa practice the art of spinning and weaving cotton. 
 The East Indies, although using crude machinery, produce 
 beautifully fine muslins. It has been found in the tombs of 
 the ancient Peruvians. It is a very soft, pliable material, and lacks 
 the smoothness and finish of linen. It does not absorb moisture 
 nearly so easily as does linen, and is therefore generally much 
 better fitted for underwear than linen is. 
 
 Silk is (except the limited quantity from certain spiders) 
 the product of the mulberry-leaf-eating silkworm. In spinning 
 their cocoons, the silkworms emit from their spinnerets a fine 
 thread of a viscid, tenacious kind. This is known as raw silk. 
 According to the literature of China the silk industry began 
 there about twenty-six hundred years before the Christian era. 
 Later, attention was directed to the cultivation of the white 
 mulberry, which is the usual food of the worms. They will, 
 however, eat other food, even lettuce, in an emergency. The 
 secrets of the art were so jealously guarded in China, thaf it was 
 not until A. D. 300 that silk was introducd into Japan, and at a 
 subsequent period into India. Among the Greeks, Aristotle 
 was the first writer to make mention of silk. The Greeks had 
 obtained knowledge of it through the Persians and the Phoeni- 
 cians. About the beginning of the Christian era it became gen- 
 erally known, and was highly prized as a material for dress.
 
 230 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The Emperor Justinian, of the Byzantine Empire, made great 
 efforts to introduce silk culture into his dominions, and he mon- 
 opolized the manufacture, establishing looms, operated by 
 women, within the imperial palace at Constantinople. At a later 
 period the cultivation of silk was carried on by the Saracens, 
 and gradually spread to Italy and other European countries. 
 Repeated attempts have been made by Great Britain and by the 
 United States to introduce silk culture within their dominions, 
 but without marked success. The cheapness alone of labor in 
 China would seem to place an insuperable barrier to its success- 
 ful cultivation by either of these states. 
 
 More than half of the silk thread, as it comes from the 
 cocoon, is composed of a substance similar in constitution to hair, 
 nail, or horn. It is a brilliant, soft, white, or slightly golden 
 substance covered with a gelatinous matter known as silk-albu- 
 men. The fiber of silk is round and soft. It is a bad conduc- 
 tor of heat and absorbs less moisture than cotton does. On 
 account of its softness, smoothness, dryness, and warmth, it is 
 very well adapted to underwear. It is, however, a non-conductor 
 of electricity, and for that reason will sometimes so disturb the 
 electrical condition of the skin as to cause itching and eruptions. 
 
 Wool is an excellent material for both outer and under- 
 wear. It is a very poor conductor of heat, which property, there- 
 fore, renders it appropriate for winter clothing. .Although the 
 loose texture of woolen cloth allows it to absorb considerable 
 moisture, the following evaporation is so gradual that the chill 
 produced by damp linen under the same circumstances is not 
 occasioned. Therefore light woolen material is very suitable 
 for summer underwear and heavy woolen material for 
 winter underwear and overwear. For the summer, it may 
 be reduced for underwear to the thin fabric known in gauze 
 undershirts, and in the winter increased to heavy merino. 
 Whenever persons can afford it, it is comfortable to have three 
 grades of weight for underwear. As wool is a substance similar 
 to hair, it forms a rough material for underclothing in compari-
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 23! 
 
 son with linen, silk, or cotton. Without any admixture with 
 cotton it is irritant to the skins of some persons, they not being 
 able to tolerate at all wool next to the body. This depends, 
 however, largely upon the quality of the manufacture. We 
 knew a case once where a man, having to be exposed to the 
 weather on an extremely cold day, bought and put on a pair of 
 the roughest kind of long woolen stockings, and at nightfall 
 found his legs covered from knees to ankles with a bright erup- 
 tion. This in an extreme case, the excellence of modern manu- 
 facture obviating such experiences now. Wool, like silk, being a 
 non-conductor of electricity, somewhat affects the electrical con- 
 dition of the skin. 
 
 The most valuable wool is obtained from the Thibetan goat. 
 This is the fiber from which cashmere shawls are made. The 
 wool called merino, largely used for underwear, was originally 
 the finest in Europe. It was derived from a kind of Spanish 
 sheep. But the Spaniards neglected to maintain the excellence 
 of the breed, and the source of merino wool is now the 
 old stock in Austria, Saxony, and Silesia. A useful wool is 
 obtained from the alpaca, a native animal of the Andes. Alpaca 
 wool has a peculiarly bright and lustrous appearance. The 
 Indians of Peru and Chili have, from time immemorial, known 
 how to make blankets and cloaks from the alpaca hair. Mohair 
 is a fine, soft, pure white wool derived from the Angora goat of 
 Asia Minor. 
 
 Hair and wool are frequently made into felt. This is, for 
 dress purpose, used for hats, bonnets, and padding, but cloaks 
 have also been made of felt. It is manufactured by means of 
 compressing moistened hair or wool. In connection with the 
 description, in a former chapter, of the constitution and form 
 of hair, it was mentioned that, along the shafts of hair, it is 
 jagged. When, therefore, a mass of moistened hair is put under 
 heavy pressure, the jagged edges form so close an interlacing 
 of the shafts that, without weaving, the cloth is produced which 
 is known as felt.
 
 232 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The tanned skins of animals (leather) are used for cover- 
 ings for the hands and feet. The mode of tanning seems to have 
 been known in prehistoric times. The skin of animals is con- 
 verted into leather by the action of any bark which contains 
 the principle known as tannin. Tannin enters into chemical com- 
 bination with the elements of the skin, with the. consequence that 
 decomposition of the skin is arrested. In mediaeval Europe 
 leather was used as a suit beneath the iron armor of the knights. 
 Leather is still employed for many purposes of dress, such as 
 shoes, gloves, belts, leggings, gaiters. 
 
 Fur, the skin of certain animals with the attached hair, is 
 used for hats, coats, muffs, and gloves. These are highly es- 
 teemed for their warmth, and in many cases for their beauty 
 also. In rigorous climates fur hats and coats are a necessity. 
 The skins are carefully cleansed and washed in a solution of 
 alum and water before they can be made into garments. It has 
 been sometimes objected to both leather and fur that they pre- 
 vent free transpiration of the skin, hindering its activity, and 
 also the evaporation of its waste-products. While this is true, 
 it is, nevertheless, also true that these articles of clothing being 
 worn only outdoors, the objectionable features are easily over- 
 come by increased attention to bathing. At any rate, their ad- 
 vantages in severe weather are largely in excess of their defects. 
 
 Drygoods are dyed of various colors and shades of colors 
 to make them attractive to the largest number of tastes. Colors, 
 however, have also relation to the warmth of garments. Black 
 absorbs more external heat than white does. If one put pieces 
 of cloth of the same size, of different colors, varying from black 
 to white, on a bank of snow, he will find that they sink in the 
 snow just in proportion to their darkness. This is Dr. Frank- 
 lin's proof. Of course, in the experiment, the goods must all 
 be made of the same material. White reflects heat-rays as well 
 as light-rays of the sun, and is therefore cool in summer and 
 warm in winter. The polar bear wears a white coat, because it 
 retains best the heat generated by the animal. In hot weather,
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 233 
 
 white opposes a barrier to the passage to the body of external 
 heat; and in cold weather it checks the loss of that which is 
 produced by the body. 
 
 Underwear should, whenever convenient, be removed at 
 night and replaced by other underwear of similar weight and 
 texture. That which has been worn during the day has imbibed 
 the secretions from the body and should be hung up where it 
 can be purified by the air. This precaution is, more particularly 
 than at any other time, to be taken in summer, because the skin 
 is then more active than at any other time. In fact, whenever 
 circumstances permit of it, it is good practice in summer to 
 change the underclothing at any time during the day, if it shall 
 have become saturated with perspiration. Of course, this is not 
 practicable for persons whose occupations keep them away from 
 home from morning until night. 
 
 Inferior underclothing often produces disease of the skin. 
 This consequence may be owing either to the texture of the 
 cloth or to a dye. Such flannel underwear may give rise to a 
 diffuse inflammation of the skin, known as erythema, which is 
 attended with heat and itching. It may give rise to eczema or 
 to pruritis, itching. Colored stockings, dyed with impure, irri- 
 tating substances, often occasion severe and extensive disease of 
 the skin. It has been experimentally proved that the microbes 
 which excite disease, deposited with dust upon the underwear, 
 can penetrate its interstices and reach the skin. In this fact alone 
 we find good reason why undergarments should be frequently 
 changed. 
 
 It is always important that the feet should be kept warm and 
 dry. If a person has been caught in a storm and for a long time 
 had wet and cold feet, he should, immediately upon reaching home, 
 immerse his feet for a few minutes in warm water, dry them care- 
 fully, and put. on fresh shoes and stockings. No greater sense 
 of comfort can be produced, and no better security against taking 
 cold could be adopted. Orientals wear sandals, as was also the 
 practice of the Greeks and Romans, although the ancients did
 
 234 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 make use of shoes, and even of boots, on occasions. The use of 
 sandals necessitated, and at the same time rendered easy, the 
 habit of frequent washing of the feet. The Indians of this con- 
 tinent wore, in the form of the moccasin, something quite as 
 light as any sandal ever was. Cold feet are a cause of general 
 bodily disturbances. They interfere with the circulation of the 
 blood and give rise to headache. Physicians sometimes find it 
 useful when a patient has a flushed face and blood-shot eyes, to 
 apply cold to the head and heat to the feet, thus relieving the 
 brain of its surplusage of blood. Many young girls suffer from 
 cold feet. The quality of their blood is poor, their circulation 
 languid. They love overheated rooms, and are averse to exer- 
 cise. The circulation in the feet may be stimulated by dipping 
 them for an instant in cold water and then briskly rubbing them 
 with a towel, or by the use, alternately, of hot and cold water; 
 or by bathing them in mustard and water, or in salt and water. 
 There are a number of drugs that are administered with the 
 view of removing such a lack of tone as that here indicated, but 
 it is preferable to remove it by means of physical exercise. 
 
 Shoes are a great protection. They protect the feet from 
 rough, hard, and sharp objects that might bruise or wound them. 
 A neatly-fitting shoe is attractive for either sex. A woman well- 
 gloved and well-shod is well dressed if her clothes are only, how- 
 ever plain, reasonably well-made and clean. Men are generally 
 fond only of comfort and of elegance of manufacture in footwear, 
 but great numbers of women are given to the practice of wear- 
 ing shoes a size or more too small for them. This wearing of 
 shoes too small, especially if they be propped on high heels, is 
 very deforming to the feet. An old gentleman tells the story 
 that, at the time when people of both sexes went in the water 
 at Atlantic City barefoot, he one day walked along the beach 
 there at bathing time, and did not find, out of about two thousand 
 specimens, more than half a dozen handsome feet among the 
 women, so injured were they by the habit of wearing shoes that 
 were narrow and stubby. The day was, and not so many years
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 235 
 
 ago, when shoe-making, as a manufacture, was so imperfect, 
 in comparison with the excellence which it has reached nowa- 
 days, that even shoes made to order fitted so imperfectly that 
 they had to be "broken in" in the house, before one ventured 
 into the streets with them. Now, their manufacture has reached 
 perfection ; a ready-made shoe can be got nearer to a fit for the 
 customer than he is likely to get one made to order. The sys- 
 tem regulating sizes by the combination of numbers and letters 
 secures a fit for anything but extraordinary deviations from the 
 normal range of feet. 
 
 If people generally would only come to realize, in younger 
 days, how improper footwear then worn, brings about suffering 
 in middle and old age, they would be more prudent. There is 
 nothing more miserable than the grinding pain from large corns 
 and bunions. An old lady of our acquaintance used to say 
 when she found one of her own sex particularly cross and dis- 
 agreeable, "Oh, poor thing, her feet hurt her." Corns on or be- 
 tween the toes, or still worse, upon the soles of the feet, are 
 brought about by tight or by ill-fitting shoes. Bunions, coming 
 from inflammation of a joint of the foot, are invariably pro- 
 duced by shoes that have been worn too tight. Tender feet 
 must be ranked among the miseries of life. To the man or 
 woman who becomes troubled with sore feet, walking is a pain- 
 ful art. We have known people who were veritable martyrs 
 to former vanity. And painful feet are not without unpleasant 
 effect upon the expression of the face. The combination of 
 too short, too narrow, and too high-heeled shoes is certain to 
 lead to disfigurement of the foot and eventually to much suffer- 
 ing. And besides all this, the disfigurement and suffering are 
 in vain for securing the object that is sought. No one is de- 
 ceived as to the size of a foot by seeing it in a shoe too small. 
 On the contrary, its being so placed calls attention to the fact. 
 Nothing in the way of vanity can be more egregiously unsuc- 
 cessful. Even if it were successful, it would be a failure. A dis- 
 proportionately small foot is not an attribute of beauty, but a
 
 236 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 physical defect. Even an instep may be so high as to be as ugly 
 as a flat foot. It may, and sometimes does, make the foot look 
 like a hoof. 
 
 Tight garters impede the circulation of the leg. The leg 
 ought always to be gartered above the knee. In old times the 
 leg was generally gartered below the knee. Now many people 
 have grown wiser. The blood, of course, always gravitates 
 towards the lower extremities of the body. This ought to be 
 evident to everybody if it be observed that, in standing or walk- 
 ing for a long time, the feet become larger, sometimes quite 
 swollen. Now, as in the process of circulation of the blood, it 
 should be returning constantly to the heart, it ought to be evi- 
 dent that a constriction of the leg by the garter adds to the 
 difficulty of the blood's return from the feet, already tending 
 by force of gravitation to settle there. The presence of a quan- 
 tity of sluggish and non-aerated blood in the veins of the leg 
 and foot tends in winter to produce chilblains, from which 
 many persons suffer year after year. The impediment, more- 
 over, causes these veins to become engorged, distended, and tor- 
 tuous. This is the ailment known as the condition of varicose 
 veins, which is a starting-point for other diseases. The veins 
 of the extremities contain valves, placed at short intervals in 
 such a manner as to permit the passage of the blood towards 
 the heart, but to prevent its reflux. By this simple and beau- 
 tiful mechanical arrangement the column of blood is aided in 
 its ascent. If, however, the veins are habitually engorged and 
 distended, the valves, in the course of time, break down, and the 
 circulation becomes torpid, the nutrition of the skin is defective, 
 and it may eventually become the seat of eczema or of an 
 ulcer. All this train of consequences has been known to follow 
 the use of tight garters. 
 
 There has never been a time since the invention of the 
 corset when well-instructed men and women have not inveighed 
 against the tight corset for any but its legitimate use in sup- 
 porting the bust. Its abuse is -one of the most perverse prac-
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 237 
 
 tices of which a portion of the female world has ever been guilty. 
 One thing alone would seem to have been an ample deterrent, 
 that members of the opposite sex, for whom women mostly pre- 
 pare their toilets, do not like excessively small waists. Such 
 waists are to them significant of imperfect physical organization 
 and health, and some men almost shudder at the sight. There is 
 one thing, and only one thing, that could have cured the whole 
 world of tight-lacers of their abominable practice. That is, 
 however, what only a small fraction of them ever see. It is the 
 skeletons, in anatomical museums, of women who had been ad- 
 dicted to tight lacing. If the whole world of women, instead 
 of only a few of them, had ever seen these malformed objects, 
 with the lower ribs permanently crushed in, presenting the great- 
 est possible contrast to the figure of a well-developed form, never 
 again would they have indulged in tight lacing. Tight lacing 
 means dislodgment of internal organs, and circulation of the 
 blood and free breathing impeded. The blood is imperfectly 
 purified, the heart's action greatly diminished, becoming irregu- 
 lar and feeble, and the nutrition of all the important organs and 
 tissues suffers. The person addicted to this practice becomes 
 pale, is subject to palpitation of the heart, and not infrequently 
 to fainting fits. Happily for the fashionable world this wretched 
 practice has sensibly decreased. Two or three generations ago, 
 it was so prevalent that scarcely a large ball took place when 
 some woman did not faint and the cry arise, "Cut her stays, has 
 any one smelling-salts?" In tight lacing the stomach is dis- 
 turbed by the pressure that prevents its expansion after eating, 
 and flatulence occurs. The gas in the abdomen presses it 
 upward against the diaphragm, the muscular partition that sep- 
 arates the cavity of the chest from that of the abdomen. The 
 apex of the heart, a somewhat conical organ, rests upon the dia- 
 phragm, and when the diaphragm is raised by the pressure of 
 the gas, palpitation of the heart is occasioned. A species of 
 blood-poisoning takes place, from interruption of natural pro- 
 cesses; the complexion loses its bloom, and the face gradually
 
 238 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 acquires a pasty hue. Some or all of these heavy penalties are 
 sure to follow persistent tight lacing. 
 
 Although a comparatively unimportant article of dress, as 
 but slightly related to health, the veil is not without interest in 
 relation to both health and appearance. The veil has been worn 
 from time immemorial in one form or another. At the present 
 time women are fond of wearing short veils hanging from the 
 hat, and very many of these are spotted. They are, as a general 
 rule, becoming; but when spotted, care should be taken in 
 adjusting them. Within a very few weeks we happened to see 
 two cases in which the careless adjustment of the spots pro- 
 duced an effect far from that contemplated by either of the fair 
 wearers, for both were really fair. In the first case, a black spot 
 on the veil came so exactly opposite one of the eye-teeth, that the 
 tooth seemed, at the distance of six feet, to be absent. In the sec- 
 ond case, two large white spots so exactly corresponded in 
 position with both eye-teeth that the effect produced was ex- 
 actly that of two great fangs. Take it altogether, most women 
 are improved in appearance by a light fabric of a veil. Babies, 
 when taken out in their coaches, lying flat on their backs, should 
 be shielded by parasols in the summer-time, and in winter by 
 veils ; but sometimes the veils used for this purpose seem almost 
 too thick. It stands to reason that if a veil for any person 
 reaches below the mouth, where it is necessarily breathed 
 through, its cleanliness should be strictly guarded in these bac- 
 terial times. 
 
 The weight of a person's clothes and the fabric should be 
 suited to occupation. Men of active bodily habits and vigorous 
 circulation generate heat rapidly and do not need clothes so 
 heavy as do those of opposite constitution. It is a mistake for 
 one of vigorous constitution to bundle himself up with a great 
 weight of clothes in winter ; that reduces the generation of ani- 
 mal heat. Persons who shiver with the least cold, who muffle 
 themselves up, render themselves valetudinarians. Winter
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 1239 
 
 underclothing should be warm, and outer clothing sufficiently 
 thick to prevent heat from being lost more quickly than it can 
 be supplied by the body. With experience, every one should be 
 able to find out exactly the amount of clothing desirable for him 
 personally. It would not be safe for the citizen to go about with 
 the bare knees of the Scotch Highlander or the bare neck of the 
 sailor. 
 
 In these last cases mentioned is indicated the influence of 
 bodily habit in exposure to weather. The most remarkable of 
 any known in that respect is the case of the Patagonians. Sir 
 Erasmus Wilson quotes an account of the Indians of Terra 
 del Fuego, who wear a "small piece of seal-skin which they 
 hang upon the shoulder next the wind. Their climate is much 
 colder than that of North Britain, no season being quite free 
 from frost. In the month of March, when the thermometer 
 stood at forty-six degrees, an infant about a week old lay in 
 the bottom of one of their canoes quite naked ; and little children 
 were seen? quite naked, capering on the beach, although the 
 thermometer was at forty degrees." 
 
 Notwithstanding their superior physical hardihood, savages 
 possess no charm whereby they can resist temperature of twenty, 
 thirty, fifty degrees below zero. The Eskimo and the tribes of 
 Northern Sibera encounter these low temperatures, but their 
 dress of furs and their peculiar dwellings protect them from 
 extinction by cold. The bare-kneed Highlander and the bare- 
 necked sailor are temporarily acclimated to cold. It is a well- 
 known fact, that men may go out from the heart of civilization 
 and swelter, or live in the open, in camp or otherwise, ex- 
 posed to a lower temperature than that to which they have been 
 accustomed, and become so inured to it as to suffer no incon- 
 venience, but that when they return to heated houses they invari- 
 ably have bad colds. 
 
 For ordinary purposes the hands do not need gloves in tem- 
 perate climates. The Greeks did not use gloves except for pro-
 
 24O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 tection of the hands in certain kinds of labor. They are used at 
 the present day for the same purpose by ladies fond of gardening. 
 When, in the middle ages, the knights fought in armor, the iron 
 gauntlet was part of the coat-of-mail. Throwing down the 
 gauntlet became then a symbol of defiance, and wearing a lady's 
 glove on the armor one of championship. Gloves of skins 
 finally became worn in Europe generally. They were put upon 
 the hands of Henry II, John, and Edward I, when they were 
 buried. In the fourteenth century they were habitually worn 
 in England among the well-to-do class of people. During the 
 reign of Charles II the style prevailed of wearing short-sleeved 
 dresses and gloves reaching almost to the elbow. The glove 
 has had a sentimental significance through the age of chivalry 
 down to the present time. Schiller's poem of "The Glove" is 
 well known. In the reign of Robert III, of Scotland, the handi- 
 craft of glove-making was chartered in the city of Perth. 
 
 Women at large show certainly, more than men at large, sus- 
 ceptibility in dress to beauty of color, grace in drapery, and 
 harmony of general effect. Yet the fact cannot be ignored that 
 there are exceptional men superior to them in designing and 
 executing fashions. To be convinced of this one has only to 
 look around at tailor-made costumes, at what takes place in 
 Paris, and at the uncontested supremacy of Worth. 
 
 While it is true that the style of a season may be a mere 
 modification of that of the preceding one, it not infrequently 
 happens that a new style is a sharp departure from the prevalent 
 one. People get tired of sameness in the course of time. Yet, 
 some of the discarded fashions are so intrinsically becoming that 
 they are sure, after a certain interval of time, to be revived. The 
 fiat goes forth from Paris, and the whole world obeys. What- 
 ever fashion may have decreed, the woman generously dowered 
 by nature with charms will look well in it. The danger to 
 which those not so blessed often succumb is to go to extremes 
 in a fashion for which their figures are not well suited. 
 Although the advantage of dress, as an accessory, is undeniable,
 
 CLOTHING AND DRESS. 24! 
 
 the force of beauty of face and form will assert itself in any 
 dress. Men may think some modes prettier than others, but 
 they fall into line of approval for any costume in which a pretty 
 woman is dressed. In "Silas Marner," George Eliot writes: 
 "Some women, I grant, would not appear to advantage seated 
 on a pillion and attired in a drab Joseph and a drab beaver- 
 bonnet, with a crown resembling a small stew-pan ; for a gar- 
 ment suggesting a coachman's greatcoat, cut out under an ex- 
 iguity of cloth that would only allow of miniature capes, is not 
 well adapted to conceal deficiencies of contour, nor is drab a 
 color that will throw sallow cheeks into lively contrast. It was 
 all the greater triumph to Miss Nancy Lameter's beauty that she 
 looked so thoroughly bewitching in that costume, as, seated 
 on the pillion behind her tall, erect father, she held one arm 
 around him, and looked down with open-eyed anxiety at the 
 treacherous snow-covered pools and puddles which sent up for- 
 midable splashing of mud under the stamp of Dobbin's foot." 
 
 In view of the constant revolutions of fashion, it is not 
 strange that the trailing street-gown should enjoy periodical re- 
 turns to favor. This is one fashion, however, which should be 
 finally abolished. On the score of gracefulness there is nothing 
 to be said against it, but it is wholly unadapted to a walking 
 costume. The love of cleanliness should discard the trailing 
 skirt for street wear. The most cleanly sidewalk is full of dust, 
 and this is always impregnated more or less with germs of dis- 
 ease. From what was said in another part of this work, it is 
 clear that these germs are capable of multiplication and activity 
 when placed under favorable household circumstances. The 
 most widely diffused disease-germ is that of consumption. It is 
 a very serious matter for a lady in her walks to sweep the streets 
 with her skirt and carry into her home a host of microscopic 
 objects which may give rise there to fatal disease. Other kinds 
 of germs are gathered up in the same way which cause suppura- 
 tive inflammation and various maladies of the skin. 
 
 The deposit of the bacilli of certain diseases upon skirts is 
 
 16
 
 242 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not a mere suspicion, but one of actual demonstration. These 
 organisms have been collected and cultivated from sweepings 
 brought into the house by walking-dresses. It is true that these 
 germs may be brought into our houses by other means, but it 
 is the part of wisdom to close as far as possible every avenue 
 to their entrance. The long skirt for the street has disappeared, 
 and let us hope that the fashion will never be revived.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 
 
 human race is found, but not everywhere flourishing, 
 from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the damp forests 
 of South America, along the low, hot coast of Guinea, in 
 the jungles of India, and in the frozen lands of British America 
 and Siberia. It cannot be said to flourish where life is a con- 
 tinuous struggle for existence, without development in com- 
 merce, manufactures, science, art, or social refinements. Only 
 that climate can truly.be regarded as the finest where, through 
 the associated conditions of weather, soil, and situation, the 
 human race can reach the highest possible intellectual and physi- 
 cal development, despite imperfections inherent in those condi- 
 tions; for, in a word, no climate on earth is perfect. 
 
 Apparent immunity of some native tribes to disease and 
 consequent death may not be real to the degree sometimes 
 imagined, for civilized people have no statistics of these for 
 savages, and savages have none for themselves. French obser- 
 vers have pointed out that the malarial fevers prevalent in 
 Cochin China during the rainy season there attack natives as 
 well as foreigners. It is, however, also true that heredity, ex- 
 perience, dietetic and other habits among natives do, in the 
 aggregate, afford them some degree of immunity. Foreigners 
 in a climate entirely unlike the one in which they were born and 
 bred should accommodate themselves as nearly as possible to the 
 modes of life of the natives. The mortality among the English 
 in India is very much less than it was for a long time after 
 their occupation of that country. Down to fifty years ago, it 
 was still a by-word how the English persisted in India in drinking 
 strong ale and bottled porter and stout, just as they had been in 
 the habit of doing in England. But even they, slow as they are 
 compared to other peoples in accepting novelties, have learned 
 
 243
 
 244 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 in India enough wisdom to keep them from their former suicidal 
 habits there. In other tropical countries the English profited 
 at last by the same experience that they had had in India. It 
 is authentically mentioned that at certain English military 
 tropical stations, the death-rate of their troops has been less 
 than the average death-rate in England. It has been proved by 
 Dr. Rattray, of the British Navy, that the heart's action and 
 the rate of breathing are reduced in passing from a temperate 
 to a hot climate. The quantity of air breathed is, therefore, 
 correspondingly diminished. This means that the vitality is 
 diminished. On the other hand, the activity of the skin is much 
 increased by hot climates. 
 
 Those climates are most healthful which bring about abun- 
 dant exercise and work in the open air. The temperate zone 
 contains several very different climates. In the latitude of San 
 Francisco, for example, the climate of both winter and summer 
 is very equable; but opposite to it, on the eastern coast of the 
 United States, the climate is what is known as "extreme," hav- 
 ing very cold winters and very hot summers ; and not only that, 
 but no equableness in either. Happily for the human race, it 
 has, upon the average, great powers of adaptation to climate. 
 A cold, dry atmosphere is productive of great physical energy. 
 A hot, moist one induces great languor. Hot countries generate 
 infectious diseases, and debilitate the digestive function. They 
 therefore weaken the power of resisting disease. Cold climates 
 do not so readily generate infectious diseases, and when they 
 occur in places, limit their spread. A cold, moist climate is 
 favorable to rheumatism and to bronchial and pulmonary dis- 
 orders. 
 
 Much of the unhealthiness of certain climates could be 
 removed by sanitary measures, the drainage of swamps, planting 
 of trees, etc. Sometimes, in the case of dense forests, they may 
 be removed or at least diminished in size, and the draining of 
 swamps for the sake of salubrity is always in order. The 
 action of man in producing local modifications of climate has
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 245 
 
 been great, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes with -set pur- 
 pose. When done with intention it has been accomplished by 
 removing excessive forest-growth, draining swamps, and irri- 
 gating arid territory. It is not at all improbable that in the 
 course of time men may succeed in rendering habitable to civil- 
 ized races tracts of country in which they have not been able 
 heretofore to dwell without danger of disease and loss of life. 
 
 The skin, and therefore the complexion, are affected by 
 climate. To the Caucasian eye no symmetry of features (and 
 it is sometimes found even in the colored races) can atone for 
 the darkness of skin of many peoples. Darkness of skin does 
 not admit of the contrasts of light and shade making the model- 
 ling which go largely, in the features of the Caucasian race, to 
 produce expression; and, in addition to this defect in the 
 features of the dark races, they present another, in the absence 
 of the effect of blood in the aspect of a face; either in the 
 blood's permanent bloom there, or in its fluctuation under the 
 spell of various emotions. A torrid temperature determines 
 pigmentation of the skin. Nature furnishes the skin in that 
 temperature with both more oil and more pigment. If a person 
 from the heart of civilization exposes himself to a torrid tem- 
 perature for a single season, and then returns to his home in a 
 temperate climate, he finds himself brown for months after- 
 wards, and his face so superfluously oily that he may be obliged 
 to resort to a solution of borax and water to stop its glistening 
 appearance. 
 
 The Caucasians of Southern Europe and tropical America 
 are very dark in comparison with Northern Caucasians. Among 
 Caucasians of the extreme habitable north, Swedes and Nor- 
 wegians, slight pigmentation of the skin sometimes goes too far. 
 A very colorless white skin, blue or grey eyes, and straw-colored 
 hair are departures from beauty of face. The blond skin is 
 thinner than the brunette, and therefore the blood is more ap- 
 parent in it. The climate of England and Ireland, charged with 
 moisture, is favorable to a good complexion. Englishwomen
 
 246 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and Irishwomen have the most beautiful complexions in the 
 world. It was the blending of the Celt, Saxon, and Norman, 
 with a touch of Scandanavian, that has saved the English from 
 the monotone of the Scandinavian complexion. In the United 
 States, the humidity of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts 
 fosters brilliancy of the complexion, while the lack of moisture of 
 the Northwestern plateau has a drying effect upon the skin and 
 renders it comparatively toneless. 
 
 The origin of the highest forms of civilization which the 
 world has seen has been, in most cases, in temperate climates. 
 Egypt is one of them. There the temperature is generally high, 
 but remarkably equable; favorable to outdoor life, to general 
 health, and to activity of body and mind. The climate of India, 
 the seat of very remote civilization, is, on its plains, exceedingly 
 hot and unfavorable to human progress. But the dominant race 
 of Hindostan, possessed of energy, brought with it to the 
 country the rudiments of civilization which it subsequently 
 developed. The climate of Greece, Rome, and Palestine, all 
 ancient states, and those by which modern society has been 
 most profoundly affected, were mild and salubrious. The pecu- 
 liar and apparently unrelated forms of civilization developed 
 in Mexico and Peru occurred in countries where nature favored 
 health of body and mind. 
 
 The broadest possible division of climates is into those 
 of islands and those of mainlands. When we speak of islands, 
 we think of them relatively to mainlands, as small bodies of 
 land surrounded by water, although, as a matter of fact, both 
 continents of the earth are islands. Ideal marine climate is, 
 of course, found on the broad bosom of the ocean, but the insular 
 climate does not differ much from it on small islands. Small 
 islands in semi-tropical regions have a delightful climatic 
 feature in the breeze at night. As the sun goes down, the heat 
 of the islands radiates rapidly, and as its column ascends, the 
 cool air, from the never-changing temperature of the ocean, 
 flows in below over the land. The seashore of the mainland
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 247 
 
 possesses some of the advantages of an insular climate. It may 
 be properly called a marine climate. According to Dr. Hermann 
 Weber, this kind of marine climate can be divided into three 
 classes, determined by their varying degrees of humidity. Each 
 of these varieties may, according to him, be subdivided with 
 relation to temperature. Among the warm and moist climates, 
 well known as health resorts, may be instanced Madeira, the 
 Canary Islands, the Bahamas, the Bermudas, Cuba, Jamaica, 
 the West Indies generally. Cool and moist marine climates are 
 found in northern latitudes. . On the Eastern continent, the 
 islands off the coast of Scotland belong to this category. 
 Medium degrees of humidity, with warmth, are found around 
 the Mediterranean, at Gibraltar, Algiers, Palermo, Venice, and 
 on this side of the Atlantic, at Virginia Beach, Old Point Com- 
 fort, and other places. Cool marine climates of medium humidity 
 are found at various places on the English and Irish coasts. 
 Such are found also in America at Mount Desert, Isle of Shoals, 
 Nantucket, Newport, Fire Island. Among good winter resorts 
 should not be forgotten Queenstown, the Isle of Wight, Florida. 
 Summer resorts include the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire, 
 Wales, Ireland, the northern coast of France, Belgium, Holland, 
 and Germany. Marine climates with low degree of humidity 
 are found on the Riviera, at Nice, Mentone, Malta, on the Medi- 
 terranean; and at many places along the coast of New Jersey, 
 from Long Branch to Cape May. It is so damp at Cape May, 
 that if one keeps shoes in the confined air of a handbag or trunk 
 for a few days, he will often find them mildewed. 
 
 Marine climates have many advantages for those' persons 
 to whom they are appropriate. The air stimulates the appetite, 
 and improves the digestion. It strengthens relaxed muscles, in- 
 vigorates the heart, deepens the breathing, and promotes, there- 
 fore, purification of the blood. The tone of the nervous system 
 is raised, the mind tends to cheerfulness, the skin becomes soft 
 and the complexion more blooming. Sleep is sound, lassitude 
 vanishes, and the general improvement in health is indicated by
 
 248 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 increase of weight. Insomnia is almost impossible for one com- 
 ing from the interior of a country to the seashore. Everyone 
 must have observed that even the healthiest persons, when resort- 
 ing to the seashore, experience sleepiness for a time. 
 
 Land climates differ among themselves chiefly from latitude 
 and elevation above the sea. They may be regarded, therefore, 
 independent of their latitude, as mountain and lowland climates. 
 Mountainous resorts for health and renovation are numerous in 
 Europe and America. Upon the Eastern continent, the Alps, the 
 Maritime Alps, and the Apennines, the German highlands, the 
 Davos-Platz, and other places may be noted. In America, 
 Canada, Denver, Colorado Springs, St. Paul, Asheville, the Cat- 
 skills, the Alleghenies, the Green and the White Mountains, all 
 afford high altitudes. The climates of low levels include dry and 
 warm atmospheres, dry and cold, and moderately moist. In the 
 first variety are included California and New Mexico; in the 
 second, Canada and Minnesota; in the third, Rome, Pau, New 
 England, Saratoga, and other places. 
 
 In many conditions of impaired health more benefit arises 
 from change of climate than from any other course that can be 
 pursued. It should be known, too, that change of climate has 
 other advantages besides those that are derived from atmospheric 
 difference. There is a celebrated Latin line which speaks of the 
 traveler as one who coslum, non animam mutat "who changes 
 his sky but not his mind." But the statement is not true. No man 
 can radically change his earthly horizon without change of mind. 
 The mind partakes of that which is presented to it. Change of 
 climate presumes purer atmosphere sought, different scenes, dif- 
 ferent habits, different social surroundings. The mind is thus 
 stimulated; whatever disagreeable has been left behind is 
 dimmed in mental impression and the mind is stimulated by nov- 
 elty to pleasant action. Increased outdoor activity is generally 
 one of the results of traveling,- and this, of course, is conducive 
 to health. So, it will be observed, there are many important dif- 
 ferences in life involved in a change of climate. Any one who
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 249 
 
 will read the physiologist, Dr. Carpenter, on the subject of the 
 influence of the mind on the body will see that the Latin state- 
 ment is altogether wrong. A temporary change for an invalid, 
 not gone too far to recuperate, is of decided benefit, whether 
 after an acute attack of illness or after a gradual running down 
 in health. Choice of location for a sojourn must, of course, 
 depend upon the nature of the disease and the season of the 
 year. Chronic disorders demand long, perhaps permanent resi- 
 dence in a certain kind of place. 
 
 Scrofula is not caused, but is at least promoted, by unhealthy 
 surroundings. Scrofulous children are subject to catarrhal af- 
 fections, digestive disorders, sore eyes, and to various diseases 
 of the skin. One of the most characteristic manifestations of 
 scrofula is the presence of swollen glands. These are found in 
 any situation on the body, but their favorite locality is on the 
 neck. After they have for some time gradually enlarged, the 
 skin over them becomes inflamed and red. In time the skin 
 bursts in places, giving out a purulent discharge and showing 
 little tendency to heal. Often so much skin is destroyed as to 
 form a large, raw,, ulcerated surface. If the ulcer finally heals, 
 an unsightly scar is left in its place. Such scars detract from 
 the comeliness of a person, and every effort should be made to 
 save from their disfigurement. 
 
 This enlargement and destruction of glands and skin gen- 
 erally takes place in childhood or youth. In many cases the 
 children possess a beautiful skin, bright eyes, and silken hair. 
 They are attractive at first, and would doubtless become, as 
 adults, equally good-looking. Whenever practicable, a change 
 of the sufferer from city to country, from an inclement to a 
 balmy atmosphere, should be made as soon as the lumps begin 
 to appear. Scrofula is closely allied to consumption, and equally 
 with it demands abundance of pure air. A mild, rather warm, 
 and perhaps somewhat humid atmosphere promotes the health of 
 scrofulous individuals and brings about a healthier condition of 
 the skin at the site of the swollen glands, which may slowly re-
 
 25O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sume their normal size and leave the beauty of the skin 
 unimpaired. 
 
 In addition to these swellings and ulcers which scrofulous 
 children are liable to suffer from, they exhibit other forms of 
 skin disease which are very obstinate to treatment. A gratify- 
 ing improvement in these cases is often witnessed as the result 
 of a sojourn at one of the winter resorts of Florida, such as St. 
 Petersburg and Tarpon Springs, upon the Gulf Coast. These 
 places are close to salt water, while just to the eastward of them 
 extend great pine forests. Everyone has come to know, in these 
 modern times, of the balmy, salubrious influence of pine forests. 
 An ocean voyage, too, is most beneficial for those who have the 
 scrofulous taint. Swollen glands tend, under treatment, to be 
 reduced, and if ulceration in them has taken place, sea-air pro- 
 motes their healing. 
 
 Change of climate affects much good in chronic bronchial 
 catarrh. Removal to a new place of residence, as has been 
 already indicated, has a beneficial effect even when there is not 
 much difference in altitude and temperature between the situ- 
 ations. Some persons are relieved by the presence of moisture, 
 others by dryness in the atmosphere. Bronchial trouble is liable 
 to be aggravated by cold climates. A stay in the mountains, 
 or at some inland place where the air is pure, particularly one in 
 pine forests, will not infrequently bring about a complete cure. 
 A sea-trip is advantageous to a patient suffering from bronchial 
 affection. Sea-travel is also beneficial after partial recovery from 
 pneumonia, when the lung has not recovered its healthy state, 
 and when the cough lingers. Laryngitis is another affection 
 which is ameliorated by a sea voyage. An entire change of sur- 
 roundings will, in the majority of cases of asthma, prove bene- 
 ficial. If the malady be not complicated with alteration in the 
 structure of the lungs, or with disease of the heart, a sojourn 
 among the mountains or upon high table-land is of service. 
 If the asthma be complicated with much bronchitis, a dry climate
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 251 
 
 is preferable to a moist one for the patient ; but when this is not 
 the case, the pine woods near the coast are better. 
 
 The best way of checking the advance of consumption is 
 change of climate. The selection of a place to stay is of so 
 deep importance that it should not be undertaken without the 
 advice of a physician. No absolute rule can be laid down for the 
 choice. Each case needs to be separately considered. Some 
 persons do best when sent to a cold, dry climate, others when 
 sent to a dry and mild one. Some receive the most advantage 
 from a sea-voyage, or from residence on an island situated at 
 some distance from the mainland. In all appropriate situations 
 it is necessary for the patient to spend as much time as possible 
 in the open air. A most important point, which has often been 
 neglected with the consequence of much physical and mental 
 pain, is that the consumptive patient should never leave home 
 if the disease is well advanced. The disease may be hastened 
 if the patient's strength be unable to stand the stress of travel 
 and loneliness, and he may die miserably away from home, with- 
 out its comforts, and among strangers. 
 
 If travel for the patient shall have been decided upon, the 
 next question that arises for decision is as to the mode of con- 
 veyance. In these days of rapid transit, one scarcely thinks of 
 any other mode than railway travel; but if one can afford it, 
 a far pleasanter and more healthful way during the mild parts 
 of the year is leisurely progress by means of horse and wagon. 
 The little incidents of the wayside, the changing aspects of the 
 landscape, the pure country air, are of vastly more benefit to 
 an invalid than is a rapid whirl from a point to a distant one 
 in a railway car. The air of the car is contaminated, the patient 
 sits for hours almost motionless, and can get but a glimpse of the 
 scenes through which he is flying. He probably spends most 
 of the time in reading a newspaper or a magazine. At night 
 he is shut up in a berth amidst close air ; good enough for one 
 who is traveling for business, but not a fit place for one who is 
 searching for health. If the journey must be taken by rail, the
 
 252 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 nights should be spent at hotels on the road, providing that 
 they are not noisy caravanserais. 
 
 In a journey by horse and wagon, or if he prefer it, by auto- 
 car, the traveler is as free as a bird of the air. He lives in a 
 pure atmosphere, his meals are taken by his own, not a railway's 
 time-table. He can stop where he pleases and take his night's 
 rest where he pleases. The sense of freedom which he experiences 
 is infinitely good for him. In this way the seeker of health is 
 gradually gaining it all along the route, and he reaches the end 
 of his journey refreshed and invigorated. In this way, too, 
 the patient becomes gradually introduced to climatic differences, 
 instead of being hurried into them ; for in the transfer from one 
 part of this country to the opposite extreme the distance is so 
 vast that a process of acclimation is desirable. 
 
 Diabetes is a disease which requires warmth, because, from 
 its influence, the temperature of the body becomes low. A warm, 
 equable climate which promotes the action of the skin is the 
 one best adapted for delaying the progress of the disease. 
 
 Chronic rheumatism, whether it has attacked the joints or 
 the muscles, is alleviated by a warm, dry climate. 
 
 The sufferer from chronic malaria should remove to a 
 high, cool, and dry region, free of swamps. When a man is 
 saturated with malaria, what he regards as a strange thing often 
 happens ; that is, he so regards it, unless he is a physician. The 
 sudden removal from an intensely malarious region to a high 
 and perfectly salubrious one is often followed, on account of the 
 stimulus to the system, by an attack of chills and fever. 
 
 Disease of the liver is best treated by a rather cool and 
 elevated region. 
 
 When the blood is thin and watery an open-air life is indi- 
 cated. Any place where the day may be spent out-of-doors, 
 without need of much exercise, can be recommended. An ocean 
 voyage is one of the best methods of improving the quality of 
 the blood. A visit to the seashore in the early summer, and a 
 subsequent stay at some mountain resort, is a beneficial course.
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 253 
 
 In other forms of disorder of the blood, much advantage is 
 derived from climatic treatment. A moderately cool atmosphere, 
 sufficiently so to be somewhat bracing, is generally productive 
 of improvement. Nervous, debilitated, hypochondriac and 
 hysterical individuals are benefited by change of climate coupled 
 with exercise in the open air. Dyspepsia, not only evil in itself, 
 but the precursor of other disorders, is admirably treated in the 
 same manner. 
 
 Insomnia literally means sleeplessness, but in medical par- 
 lance it means so great a degree of sleeplessness as to constitute 
 disease. It is a troublesome affection. Some persons afflicted 
 with it dread the approach of bedtime, and upon retiring toss 
 sleeplessly upon their couches. Digestion becomes impaired, 
 appetite fails, and the person becomes irritable and despondent, 
 quite out of health. Under these circumstances mountain air 
 is very valuable to the sufferer. It is important, however, to re- 
 member that if such a person goes for relief to a public resort, 
 it should be chosen with discretion, or else a private one secured. 
 If at a public resort, it be one of the kind where some of the 
 guests are uproarious, or keep up music and dancing until a late 
 hour, it is obvious that such a place is not suitable for the treat- 
 ment of insomnia. 
 
 Most cases of insomnia are benefited by residence on the 
 seashore rather than in the mountains. A sea-voyage is an 
 excellent remedy for it. If the unfortunate condition has resulted 
 from nervous strain or chronic dyspepsia, it is dispelled by the 
 removal of the causes which produced it. Many persons of mid- 
 dle or later age do not readily fall asleep, even though they ex- 
 perience no failure in general health. They feel drowsy before 
 bedtime, but the moment their heads touch the pillow they become 
 wide awake; and this condition may continue for two or three 
 hours, without the slightest relief, notwithstanding that they may 
 employ every device to obtain perfect repose. Under these cir- 
 cumstances the sufferer must resist any prompting that he may
 
 254 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 feel to relief from narcotics, for the habit of taking them re- 
 mains, and nature has no opportunity left to resume its power. 
 
 The sea exercises a wonderful influences in these cases 
 either in the form of a sea-voyage or residence in a quiet place 
 on the seashore. It is also beneficial in cases of neuralgia, ner- 
 vous depression, St. Vitus's dance, gout. A patient has been 
 known to go on shipboard suffering from enlargement of and 
 pains in the joints, disordered digestion, irritable action of the 
 heart, muscular cramps, headache, and insomnia, a perfect Pan- 
 dora's box of evils, who began to improve in health as soon 
 as the steamer was well under way in the ocean's breezes, and 
 whose improved condition continued for months thereafter. 
 Ocean climate is also valuable in certain forms and stages of 
 disease of the heart. In such cases, however, the patient should 
 rely entirely for conduct upon the advice of a physician. 
 
 From all that has been here said, the reader should have 
 perceived that what has been called climate is made up of a 
 number of elements, each of which has its individual influence. 
 The climates decidedly detrimental to health are those which 
 are of either a very high or a very low temperature, co-existing 
 with a very high degree of humidity. Moist heat nourishes the 
 germs of infectious diseases, This could, in many instances, be 
 obviated by the drainage of swamps. Many of the diseases 
 characteristic of the tropics are preventible by the resources of 
 engineering and by stringent sanitary precautions. Scientific 
 medical treatment looks forward to a time when, by these means, 
 the present ravages of malaria, yellow fever, and cholera will be 
 greatly abated, if not entirely prevented. In order tt> effect such 
 an immense change for the better, engineering and sanitary 
 science must work together, Such a great purpose as that indi- 
 cated cannot, however, be carried forward by private enterprise 
 alone, but must receive the support of government, aided by 
 public knowledge of its inutility and inadequacy without gov- 
 ernmental action ; for popular ignorance often stands stolidly in
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 255 
 
 the way of improvement which would be for benefits that would 
 be local and for those also that would affect the whole world. 
 
 Almost every man thinks that he is weather-wise, is a good 
 judge of coming weather; but there are only two classes of 
 men who are fair judges of it: those who live constantly in the 
 open, and those who study the weather scientifically. All that 
 has been heretofore said about climatic treatment of health will 
 be reinforced to the reader by some consideration of meteoro- 
 logical facts here subjoined. 
 
 The principal characteristics of climate hinge upon the tem- 
 perature of the atmosphere and the amount of watery vapor that 
 it habitually contains in any given place. The atmosphere may 
 be, for purposes of illustration, likened to a sponge. When it 
 increases its volume by heat, and its volume is always increased 
 by heat, and just in proportion to its increase of volume, it is 
 capable of imbibing the vapor of water. If, when it is expanded 
 by heat, and saturated by watery vapor, cold intervenes, it con- 
 tracts, and the watery vapor is expelled in the form of rain, hail, 
 or snow. If it be not wholly saturated with vapor of water when 
 it is subjected to contraction by cold, its discharged vapor will ap- 
 pear in the form of fog; which is nothing more nor less than a 
 cloud on the surface of the earth instead of in the sky. On Table 
 Mountain, at the Cape of Good Hope, this phenomenon is beauti- 
 fully displayed in what is there called "laying the table-cloth." 
 Vapor-laden wind blowing over the cold summit condenses 
 into fog, because the cold of the mountain top condenses it and 
 expels its moisture. Then the fog clears away, and, in time, 
 other vapor-laden air again spreads the table-cloth of fog or 
 cloud; it amounts to the same thing. 
 
 When we think of the temperature of a climate, we must 
 consider what the climate is at different seasons. Some climates 
 are what are called "extreme." They have very hot summers 
 and very cold winters. Other climates are equable. There is 
 in them no very great difference between the temperature of the 
 summer and that of the winter. Again, there are two kinds of
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 climates in which there is a rainy season, but even they differ very 
 much, from the fact that, in one of them, it rains every day, 
 and in the other, may rain, but again may not rain for several 
 days. 
 
 Climates vary very much under the influence of what may 
 happen to be their prevalent winds. They also vary very much 
 as influenced by ocean currents. The Gulf Stream of the 
 Atlantic carries great warmth with it to the northern part of 
 Europe ; the Kuro Siwo, or Black Current of the Pacific, carries 
 great warmth from the neighborhood of Japan to the north- 
 western part of the United States. The form of the earth's sur- 
 face, elevation or depression of ground, character of the soil, 
 abundance or lack of vegetation, the sort of vegetation, the 
 length of the day as compared with the length of the night, the 
 electrical condition of the atmosphere, and perhaps other factors 
 of which we know nothing, constitute, in their diversity and 
 assemblage, what is known as climate. 
 
 The great source of heat is the sun. The earth has internal 
 heat, but, in comparison with that afforded by the sun, it is in- 
 considerable. When the sun's rays fall vertically upon any part 
 of the earth's surface, there it is, for the time, hottest. As at 
 and near the equator, even when the rays are not falling verti- 
 cally upon it, they are in both seasons falling more nearly verti- 
 cally upon it than they ever similarly fall upon any other part 
 of the earth, it is always hottest at and near the equator. The 
 sun is not in the center of the ellipse about which the earth 
 travels, and the polar diameter of the earth presents different 
 angles to the ellipse as that diameter travels around the sun. 
 These physical facts together cause the seasons. The northern 
 hemisphere of the earth is turned toward the sun when it is at 
 the greatest distance from the sun, and away from it when it is 
 nearest to the sun. 
 
 The summer days, whether of the northern or the southern 
 hemisphere, being longer than the winter days in either, the 
 earth and its atmosphere are, in those regions, and at those times,
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 257 
 
 in receipt of greater heat than in winter time, despite the fact 
 that the earth is then further from the sun than it is in winter. 
 We are so habituated to thinking of everything as relating to 
 personal affairs, that few people in the northern hemisphere 
 reflect that Christmas comes in our midsummer in the southern 
 hemisphere. 
 
 The temperature of a country depends, as might be sur- 
 mised from what has already been indicated, not alone upon its 
 latitude. It is influenced by its elevation. Look at the case of 
 Switzerland and many other places. The higher we ascend the 
 less dense the atmosphere becomes and the lower the tem- 
 perature. The diminution in temperature is not perfectly uni- 
 form, but it has been found to average about one degree of 
 Fahrenheit in fall for every three to four hundred feet of ele- 
 vation of ground. Therefore, upon very lofty mountains, a point 
 is at length reached where the moisture deposited from the air 
 has been condensed and frozen, and the peaks remain clothed 
 in perpetual snow. The lowest point at which the condensa- 
 tion and freezing take place is known as the snow line; which 
 is not entirely dependent for position upon altitude, but is modi- 
 fied in position by particular exposure to the sun's heat and the 
 amount of moisture that the air happens locally to contain. The 
 line of perpetual snow is necessarily the highest on mountains 
 situated at the equator. The temperature of a coast is also in- 
 fluenced by the direction of the flow of ocean currents. 
 
 Winds, movements of air anywhere, whether in a room or 
 in the open, are generally caused by contiguous bodies of air of 
 different densities. Relative amount of heat and moisture is 
 
 9 
 
 what makes one body of air more or less dense than another. 
 Being more heated, therefore less dense than another body of 
 air less heated and therefore more dense, the less dense ascends 
 and the more dense supplies its place by flowing in below. Over 
 large areas where the pressure of the atmosphere markedly dif- 
 fers, the atmosphere from the region of high pressure flows to 
 
 17
 
 258 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 that of the low pressure region. The direction of winds is 
 modified by the revolution of the earth from west to east. 
 
 The atmosphere receiving heat from the sun, and radiation 
 of that from the earth, absorbs all the moisture which it con- 
 tains from ocean, lakes, ponds, rivers, brooks, or wet lands, 
 upon which the sun shines. It is returned to the earth sooner 
 or later in the form of dew, rain, hail, or snow. Starting from 
 the freezing point of water, the capacity of the air to absorb 
 water is doubled for every increase of twenty-seven degrees 
 Fahrenheit. When the air is unable to contain any more vapor 
 of water it is said to be saturated. The degree of dampness in 
 atmosphere is called the relative humidity of the atmosphere, and, 
 as must be seen, varies with the presence of watery vapor and 
 with the temperature which causes the expansion of the atmos- 
 phere. A damp air becomes relatively dry if its temperature is 
 much increased, because with increase of temperature comes in- 
 crease of volume. A dry air becomes relatively moist when its 
 temperature is much diminished, because with diminution of 
 temperature comes decrease of volume. 
 
 When a portion of the atmosphere is filled to some degree 
 with watery vapor, and comes in contact with a colder portion 
 of the atmosphere, the vapor of water becomes visible in the 
 form of fog or cloud, because, as previously explained, the 
 water-laden atmosphere shrinks and can no longer hold its 
 former vapory contents. If a portion of the atmosphere is sat- 
 urated with watery vapor, and comes in contact with another 
 extremely cold, it so greatly shrinks that rain, snow, or hail 
 immediately falls. What is just described applies to the clouds, 
 but the same agency exists in the case of fog. When a cold 
 portion of the atmosphere comes in contact with the sea or with 
 a moist portion of the earth, a fog arises; or, if it be a warm 
 portion of the atmosphere coming in contact with cold earth, 
 the same phenomenon is exhibited. It is a mere matter of rela- 
 tive vapor and cold. When a fog clears away, or a cloud
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 259 
 
 dissipates, it is because the heated surrounding atmosphere has 
 licked up the watery vapor of which clouds are composed. 
 
 Ocean winds contain a vast amount of moisture, which is 
 readily precipitated in the form of rain or snow. The constant 
 wind from the east that blows over the northern part of Chile, 
 is so robbed of its watery contents by the mountain ranges east of 
 Chile, that no rain falls along its coast near Valparaiso. As 
 a general rule, more rain falls in warm than in cold countries. 
 There are, however, many exceptions to this general rule. 
 Within the tropics the rainfall is greater in the summer than in 
 winter. In the temperate zones it is greater in winter than in 
 summer. In general, it may be said that the rainfall of any 
 region depends upon its prevailing winds, the parts of the earth 
 whence they have come, the formation of the land at which they 
 arrive, and the temperature of the localities which they traverse. 
 
 In some parts of the world scarcely any rain falls. This 
 is the case in Egypt, on the coast of Peru, in other portions of 
 America, and on the coast of Africa. In Patagonia, on the other 
 hand, the fall of rain is almost incessant. The southwest winds 
 which blow upon Europe cause a heavy rainfall in those countries 
 which are close to the ocean : Norway, England, Ireland, Portu- 
 gal, Spain, and western France. In the level tracts of Russia 
 and Germany, annual rainfall is much less than in the countries 
 just mentioned. In western Europe the greater rainfall of the 
 year is in winter. In the interior of the continent, summer is 
 the season of the most abundant rains. In the countries of 
 southern Europe, bordering upon the Mediterranean, more rain 
 falls with a north wind than with a southwest wind. Rain is 
 more abundant in the north than in the south of Italy. Along 
 the northern coast of Africa and in Syria, rain seldom occurs 
 in summer, but is not infrequent in winter. The most abundant 
 rainfall in the United States occurs along the Atlantic Coast 
 and the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf States and the States imme- 
 diately north of them enjoy an abundance of rain. The trade- 
 winds, laden with heat and moisture, are somewhat deflected
 
 26O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 northward along the Mississippi Valley. From the Atlantic 
 Coast as far west as Missouri, the rainfall throughout the year 
 is quite uniform. On the Pacific Coast the amount of rainfall 
 increases in going from south to north. Along the western 
 slope of California scarcely any rain falls in summer, but quite 
 a large quantity during December. In the State of Washing- 
 ton, on the coast, rain is abundant in the summer. In the 
 region between the Cordilleras and the Rocky Mountains the 
 rainfall is slight. 
 
 Hail is produced, just as rain is, by the meeting of a warm 
 cloud-body highly charged with ' vapor of water with another 
 body of atmosphere or a body of land that is relatively cool, 
 and therefore relatively vaporless; only, in the case of rain, 
 a very low temperature does not coincide with its fall, whereas 
 in the case of the production of hail or snow, the temperature 
 of one of the atmospheric areas must be very low. In Philadel- 
 phia, in the spring of 1872, a hail-storm, not lasting over ten 
 minutes, coming from the southward, destroyed over a million 
 dollars' worth of glass in windows and hot-houses. An ob- 
 server of our acquaintance was interested enough to gather, 
 immediately after the squall (which was severe enough to knock 
 down horses and destroy awnings), a number of hail-stones of 
 several sizes and shapes, and to cut them through various parts 
 in order to ascertain the character of their formation. Very few 
 even approximated roundness in form, and some of them were 
 four or five inches long, and not more than an inch and a half 
 through the middle, tapering off to both ends. More curious, 
 however, than their shape, was their interior construction. 
 They showed, when divided by a knife, at right angles to 
 their length, concentric layers of frozen water lying upon each 
 other just as do the layers of an onion. This proves conclu- 
 sively that the agency indispensable to their formation must be 
 a cyclonic storm, of some considerable duration in time, in the 
 upper region of the atmosphere, in the whirl of which they are 
 clothed with successive coats of frozen water. Imagining that
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 26l 
 
 he had seen a hail-storm of unprecedented violence and product 
 in size of hail-stones, and happening to meet, a few weeks after- 
 wards, the celebrated meteorologist, Professor Loomis, the ob- 
 server narrated to him his late experience; but Professor 
 Loomis informed him that he had the record of a hail-storm, 
 in South America, in which the stones that fell were as large 
 as small oranges. Hail storms are of most frequent occurrence 
 in the temperate zones. They are, however, most severe in the 
 tropics. 
 
 When the temperature of the atmosphere is at or only a little 
 below the freezing-point, the precipitated moisture of clouds 
 takes the form of snow. Snow consists of a great variety of 
 forms of beautiful crystals, having usually that of six-pointed 
 stars. The numerous forms have been reduced from observation 
 to five typical ones; similar forms predominating in one fall of 
 snow as compared with those of another fall. The largest flakes 
 are produced when the temperature is just at or about the freez- 
 ing-point. Smaller crystals are produced when the air is dryer 
 and colder. These crystals contain air of about ten times their 
 own volume, and for that reason snow is a poor conductor of 
 heat. So it happens that snow is a good protector of the ground, 
 restraining loss of heat by radiation from it. So it also is, that 
 a person, overwhelmed by new-fallen snow, as sometimes hap- 
 pens in the St. Bernard Pass, does not die at once from exposure 
 to cold. The whiteness of new-fallen snow is caused by reflection 
 of light from the crystals of which it is composed. It is from 
 ten to twelve times lighter than the same volume of water. 
 
 The phenomenon of red snow was at one time very mys- 
 terious. It was known to Aristotle, and is mentioned by Pliny. 
 It has been observed upon the Alps, the Apennines, and the 
 Pyrenees. Captain Ross, in 1819, saw crimson snow covering 
 the cliffs along the shores of Baffin's Bay for a distance of eight 
 miles. The color has been ascertained to be owing to the pres- 
 ence of a one-celled plant of the order of algae. In 1838,
 
 262 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 some French scientists traversed, in Spitzbergen, a field of snow 
 which seemed green when pressed under foot. 
 
 Although we are not aware of the fact from our sensations, 
 the atmosphere has weight. It presses with a weight of about 
 fifteen pounds to the square inch everywhere at the level of the 
 sea. This enormous pressure is not perceived by us because it 
 is equal in all directions, inside as well as outside of our bodies. 
 When the equilibrium is disturbed, as it may be by an air-pump, 
 by exhausting all the air of the interior of a light glass cylinder 
 attached to it, the weight of the atmosphere breaks the cylinder 
 with a crash. As we rise above sea-level the pressure diminishes 
 at the rate of a pound for every two thousand feet. The ele- 
 vation of a country has, therefore, a decided influence upon ani- 
 mal and vegetable life. The effect of lessened atmospheric pres- 
 sure upon the human body is clearly exhibited in mountain-climb- 
 ing and in balloon ascensions. At a moderate height a sensa- 
 tion of exhilaration is experienced. At the height of ten to 
 sixteen thousand feet the heart beats quickly, the breathing 
 becomes rapid and difficult, and at a greater height, fainting 
 may occur. On September 5, 1862, Mr. James Glaisher, of 
 England, with a companion, Mr. Coxwell, reached the greatest 
 height that has ever been attained in the atmosphere, thirty-seven 
 thousand feet that is, seven miles. At the upper part of the 
 flight, Mr. Glaisher became insensible for seven minutes, and 
 Mr. Coxwell came very near succumbing in the same way; for 
 losing all power in his arms and hands, and being obliged to 
 pull the valve-rope in order to release the gas to cause 
 the balloon to descend, he could accomplish it only by 
 grasping the rope with his teeth and jerking upon it three 
 times. Both men were fearfully disorganized, as reported by 
 themselves to each other of sensations experienced, and by Mr. 
 Coxwell of the appearance of Mr. Glaisher. A full account 
 of the twenty-eight ascensions made by Mr. Glaisher is to be 
 found in the reports for 1862-66 of the "British Associa- 
 tion for the Advancement of Science." As the atmospheric
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 263 
 
 pressure is said to diminish by the weight of a pound for every 
 two thousand feet of elevation, it must mean only for the lowest 
 strata of air, for these balloonists went up thirty-seven thous- 
 and feet. The pressure of the atmosphere at the point which 
 they reached would, according to the statement unqualified, be 
 less than zero, which is impossible, for at zero the balloon would 
 not have floated. This shows that, as the atmosphere becomes 
 of greater and greater tenuity with ascent, the rule of a pound 
 in pressure lost for every two thousand feet is only applicable to 
 the very lowest strata of the atmosphere, and very roughly even 
 with that fact taken into account; a conclusion which it is very 
 evident must be a true one, even without the demon- 
 stration here given. Anyhow, the region which Mr. Glaisher 
 and his companion reached exhibited a tenuity of atmosphere 
 not sufficient in density to support life. One of the pigeons re- 
 leased dropped like a stone, and another one of the pigeons 
 died. It is presumable that part of the salutary effect upon 
 health of a moderate elevation in mountain climate depends 
 upon the slight reduction there of atmospheric pressure. Water, 
 at the level of the sea, boils at two hundred and twelve 
 degrees Fahrenheit, because it is there at an atmospheric pres- 
 sure of about fifteen pounds to the square inch. But, as the 
 pressure of the atmosphere decreases at the rate of a pound in 
 weight for every two thousand feet of a mountain side (roughly 
 so, as just demonstrated, and only for heights inconsiderable 
 as compared with those which Mr. Glaisher reached) water boils 
 at a lower temperature, in proportion to the height of a point 
 reached. Consequently, to cook anything to the proper degree 
 at a very great elevation, it must be cooked much longer than 
 it would be at the level of the sea. A few years ago, a couple 
 of travelers, at a great mountain height, stopped at a hostelry, 
 and said to mine host : "We are in a great hurry ; let us have 
 a snack, right off, a couple of eggs and some bread and butter." 
 "All right," said mine host, "but if you must have boiled eggs, 
 you'll have to wait seventeen minutes." "Seventeen minutes!"
 
 264 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 exclaimed the travelers, "to boil eggs?" "Yes, gentlemen," re- 
 plied mine host, "You forget how high you are." 
 
 The most prominent features of a landscape are generally 
 mountains, hills, forests, and various bodies of water lakes, 
 rivers, and brooks. Differences among these various features 
 influence the character of a climate. Furthermore, the character 
 of a soil is influential in the kind of atmosphere present. 
 Mountains, and especially chains of mountains, act both as col- 
 lectors and distributors of water. Mountain air is pure, cool, 
 and dry. The water which the mountains absorb is ultimately 
 collected below in springs, which are the sources of rivers. Even 
 where there is a perpetual line of snow, glaciers eventually bring 
 the snow down to the melting levels, so that water received first 
 in the form of snow, then converted into ice, finds its destination 
 sooner or later below for purposes of navigation and fertilization 
 within a continent. 
 
 The comparative absence or lack of water in a region has 
 great influence upon climate, for it has effect both on tempera- 
 ture and humidity of the air. Water communicates moisture to 
 the atmosphere and absorbs heat from it. Water absorbs heat 
 reluctantly and parts with it reluctantly. For these reasons its 
 presence tends to make the temperature of a place equable, 
 thus moderating the heat of summer and the cold of winter. 
 There is a physical law regarding matter with relation to heat 
 which every one should know. Whatever substance absorbs heat 
 readily, radiates it readily; whatever substance absorbs heat 
 reluctantly, radiates it reluctantly. The latter case is conspicu- 
 ously exhibited by water. Take the case of sand, for exhibition 
 of the opposite action. On the beach at noontide on a hot day 
 the sand is so hot as to be scarcely bearable by the hand plunged 
 into it ; but in the night, in the same place, it is remarkably cool. 
 Bricks absorb heat with the greatest ease from the sun's rays 
 and radiate it intensely for hours afterwards in the shade. 
 
 Collections of water in which there is but little move- 
 ment of current, and those in which there is none at all, which
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE UPON HEALTH. 265 
 
 are, in fact, stagnant, diminish the salubrity of the air. Stag- 
 nant water is full of the growths of low forms of vegetation, ac- 
 companied with decay. Malarial fevers prevail where the 
 ground is so covered in any great degree. The higher class of 
 vegetation, on the contrary trees and forests is salubrious, 
 protecting the ground from undue heat, distributing the water 
 supply of a country equably. Besides, the leaves of trees decom- 
 pose the carbonic acid in the air, appropriating to their life the 
 carbon and setting free the oxygen in it, which is therefore 
 abundant in the air of woods. 
 
 A certain part of the oxygen liberated is, moreover, es- 
 pecially among the pines and other cone-bearing trees, con- 
 verted into a form of atmosphere known as ozone. Ozone is a 
 peculiar modification of oxygen. It possesses energetic purify- 
 ing power and health-giving influence. A trace of it is usually 
 present in country air. It is found particularly in pine forests 
 and in sea and mountain air. It is developed by thunder-storms. 
 Its existence had long been known before its nature was dis- 
 covered. It can be produced by the working of a static elec- 
 trical machine ; the odor produced by it being very marked and 
 peculiar. A distinguished German scientist points out the curi- 
 ous fact that its sulphurous smell, produced also by lightning, 
 is mentioned in four passages by Homer. It was observed by 
 the ancients that a forest situated between a tract of swamp 
 and a city protected the city from malaria. This must have 
 been because the generation of oxygen and ozone by the forest, 
 combined with the prevalent wind, dissipated the malarial 
 poison. An extremely great improvement has been made of late 
 years in the neighborhood of Rome by planting eucalyptus trees 
 around the swamps in the vicinity. 
 
 Destruction of forest trees beyond a certain point renders 
 the atmosphere of a country so dry as to bring about droughts. 
 In the United States the wanton cutting down of trees, and their 
 wholesale destruction for timber has led at last to restrictions 
 under forestry laws. The establishment of Arbor Day is leading
 
 266 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the minds of the people to some just appreciation of the necessity 
 of arboriculture. Trees conduct heat slowly, and therefore do 
 not gain and lose heat so rapidly as does the air. They do not 
 reach their highest and lowest degrees of temperature until 
 some hours after the surrounding atmosphere has reached its 
 highest and lowest points of heat. For this reason forests make 
 the nights warmer and the days cooler than they would be with- 
 out their existence. The density of the air under the forest's 
 growth being, in the daytime, on account of its lower tempera- 
 ture, greater than that of the surrounding country, the surround- 
 ing air flows into, and the forest air out of the trees, thus making 
 a breeze. Almost everyone must have noticed how, even on a 
 calm, hot day, a little breeze is to be found on the edge of woods. 
 Climate is affected, as already said, by soil. The reason of the 
 fact is that soils are of different physical and chemical characters, 
 and also are more or less absorbent of water. The atmosphere 
 is chiefly warmed by radiation of heat from the earth's surface, 
 not directly by the sun's rays. The atmosphere which is in con- 
 tact, and which is nearest to contact, with the earth, is therefore 
 warmer than that further away from it. Deserts are hot by day 
 and cold by night, the heat received during the day having largely 
 radiated from the sand at night. Loam and clay not being con- 
 ductors of heat so good as sand is, they receive heat slowly and 
 part with it slowly. So, these soils are neither so hot by day 
 nor so cold by night as a sandy soil is. 
 
 The atmosphere contains free electricity. The amount of 
 it present varies in different regions and at different times. The 
 electrical tension increases with elevation above the surface of 
 the earth. It varies anywhere with the time of day. Soon 
 after sunrise, and soon after sunset, there is an increase in the 
 electrical tension; whereas, shortly before sunrise, and in the 
 afternoon, during the warmest part of the day, a diminution in 
 it is observable.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 THE atmosphere is a mixture, not a chemical combination, 
 of the two gases called oxygen and nitrogen. They form 
 the atmosphere in the ratio to each other of nearly four 
 parts in volume of nitrogen to one of oxygen. Gases mix, in 
 certain proportions, with one another so intimately, that in the 
 case of the atmosphere, it is steadily constant in the character 
 described. Both the oxygen and the nitrogen maintain, when 
 mixed, their own physical and chemical properties unaltered. 
 Their combination is merely the association of their respective 
 molecules. This has been demonstrated by a number of experi- 
 ments. The office of nitrogen in the atmosphere is simply the dilu- 
 tion of the oxygen there. It is not poisonous, but it is incapable 
 of supporting animal life. Oxygen, on the other hand, although 
 in its atmospherically diluted state indispensable to life, by itself 
 rapidly exhausts vitality. It is of all the elements most abundant 
 and important and, as diluted by nitrogen, perfectly fitted for 
 sustenance of life. 
 
 It is known from chemistry that the three forms of matter, 
 solid, liquid, and gaseous, depend for their constitution upon 
 associated degrees of heat and pressure. The application of 
 heat readily converts many liquids into the gaseous condition. 
 The abstraction of heat, and the application of great pressure, 
 converts gases into liquids. Many gases have, in this way, 
 been converted into solids. Water freezes into ice, and may 
 evaporate in the form of vapor. Chemists have lately succeeded 
 in abstracting heat and compressing air to so great a degree as 
 to make it liquid. A distinguished Swiss chemist has since 
 discovered a method of preserving liquid air in great quantities. 
 It is anticipated that this discovery may lead to important revela- 
 tions in physics and chemistry. 
 
 267
 
 268 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 In an interesting article upon the subject of the atmosphere, 
 an English chemist asserts that its composition is still slowly 
 undergoing change, there being now less carbonic acid in it than 
 there was fifty years ago. In the early period of vegetation of 
 the earth, when gigantic lower forms of vegetation, ferns, etc., 
 were produced, now only fossil, the atmosphere was heavily 
 charged with carbonic acid. 
 
 The atmosphere which surrounds the earth is analogous to 
 its oceans below. The atmosphere, as already said, is com- 
 posed of .two intermingled gases, oxygen and nitrogen. Water 
 everywhere is composed of the two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. 
 But there is this difference between them : that, whereas the 
 atmosphere is a mechanical mixture of its two gases, water is 
 a chemical mixture of its two gases. 
 
 All animals, even aquatic ones, breathe atmospheric air, and 
 cannot dispense with oxygen to support life. The fish, when re- 
 moved from the water, dies, because its anatomical apparatus of 
 gills is not competent to utilize in the air the oxygen of the 
 atmosphere which it obtains in the water. Man and the lower 
 terrestrial animals immediately perish in water because they 
 are not able there, when submerged, to utilize the oxygen which 
 is there chemically combined to form water and also free in 
 atmospheric form ; for in water there is a certain amount of air, 
 as anyone can easily perceive by boiling water, which, without 
 that air, becomes insipid, what is called flat to the taste. Am- 
 phibious animals live in either element, air or water, but they 
 breathe in the air. Seals come to the surface to breathe, so 
 do crocodiles, alligators, porpoises, and whales. But seals, por- 
 poises, and whales are not amphibious and not in any respect 
 like fish. It comes to this, however, that all animals man, the 
 terrestial lower animals, the aquatic, the amphibious, all require 
 oxygen to enable them to live. 
 
 A current of air, being a current, resembles a stream of 
 water. The flow of air, which, when rapid, we call wind, is 
 regulated and directed in the open country in the manner elabor-
 
 VENTILATION. 269 
 
 ately described in the last chapter. What we now have to do with 
 in this chapter is that limited species of flow which depends 
 upon differences of density in different bodies of air in prox- 
 imity to each other, upon which depends our ability to ventilate 
 houses in the interest of health. As it is so pervasive, from the 
 fact of its constitution as a gas, interchange among its parts takes 
 place through crevices of all sorts in the rooms of a house. Such 
 ventilation as that, however, which takes place to greater or less 
 degree in the habitations of mankind, simply perforce of the 
 constitution of air, is very far from being that which is pre- 
 scribed by reason, upon the basis of experience, supported by 
 scientific knowledge. 
 
 The occupation of an apartment by human beings is accom- 
 panied by their discharge into it of the waste of the body, chiefly 
 from their lungs, which waste is called carbonic acid gas, a 
 deadly poison to animal, but the food of vegetable life. If the 
 occupation of the apartment by human beings be accompanied 
 by the burning of lights, the accumulation of carbonic acid gas 
 in it is increased, for the oxygen of the air is burnt out of it to 
 feed the lights. Oxygen, in a word, will not burn, but it is 
 oxygen only that supports combustion. Carbonic acid gas, on the 
 contrary, not only does not support combustion, but depresses it. 
 Go into a place charged with it, holding a lighted candle. The 
 light burns dimly. Subject a flame to pure carbonic acid gas, 
 and it is at once extinguished. So, carbonic acid gas is fatal 
 to the light of life and to the light of flame. This is no mere 
 play of words upon the word "light;'* the phenomenon of ani- 
 mal life, at any intensity, is analogous to light, because it is sup- 
 ported in the same way as is flame, by oxygen. What men see, 
 they are always, if it be found dangerous, on their guard against ; 
 but in this case, they cannot see. Nothing more prevalent is 
 found among mankind than the notion that seeing is believing, 
 and only seeing. 
 
 In order to avoid having in apartments this death-dealing 
 carbonic acid gas, it is necessary for health to have ample means
 
 270 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 for the ingress and egress of air from the outside of a building. 
 In winter, supposing a house to be artificially warmed, even to 
 some slight degree, open fire-places and chimneys carry off a 
 great deal of impure air. In summer, however, as it is generally 
 hotter outside of a house than inside, those means of getting rid 
 of impure air are then of no avail. No matter, however, in 
 what way, at the cold season, impure air may be got rid of, it 
 is important that the source of supply which replaces its lost 
 volume shall be pure. 
 
 The summer ventilation of a house must rely chiefly upon 
 opening doors and windows, and this be supplemented with the 
 air-shafts which are now introduced into the best constructed 
 houses. The outside air is generally in large movement, and its 
 pressure on the various vents of the house, whether open door, 
 windows, or outside openings of air-shafts creates ample ventila- 
 tion. The use of open doors and windows for part of the 
 ventilating apparatus of a house needs only be coupled with 
 discretion, based upon slight knowledge from experience that 
 avoids draughts. Two windows opposite each other ought not 
 to be raised. The best plan in utilizing windows for ventila- 
 tion is to choose two lying at an angle with one another, and 
 to raise the bottom of one and lower the top of the other. As 
 the air at the top of a room is always hotter than at any place 
 below, air will flow by this arrangement out of the lowered top 
 of the window and its volume be supplied by air flowing into the 
 raised window. 
 
 With abundance of bed-clothes for warmth, it is an excel- 
 lent plan for health to sleep, out of draught, with a window half 
 open, even in the winter time. But here discretion has an oppor- 
 tunity for its display. The plan of having the window half 
 open depends upon circumstances. If it be blowing half a gale 
 directly against the window, its raising by three or four inches 
 will give more air to the room than it would receive half open 
 in a calrri. Again, suppose that the -outside temperature be barely 
 freezing and the time calm, the window may with prudence be
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 raised high; but suppose, on the contrary, that the temperature 
 be at zero or below, the window need not be raised so much to 
 effect the same ventilation that it does at higher temperature 
 with widely opened sash. Why? Because the great density 
 of the atmosphere of the outside, at or below zero, with relation 
 to the density of the atmosphere of the room and house causes 
 the same change of temperature as before at the expenditure of 
 less volume of air. With transoms, air-shafts, doors, and win- 
 dows, we have at hand, aided by a little common sense, ample 
 appliances in the best constructed houses for ventilation and 
 the maintenance of health. In public halls, air is sometimes 
 supplied by gratings in the floor. This is an objectionable device, 
 for it permits of the introduction of foul air. Upright flues, in 
 communication with the external atmosphere, are a much better 
 system. With open gratings near the ceiling, those make a per- 
 fect apparatus. Covers for the ceiling openings, found in pub- 
 lic and private structures, prevent any downward tendency that 
 may on occasions arise from pressure of wind outside the 
 building. 
 
 From the air drawn into our lungs is abstracted the oxy- 
 gen which oxygenates and renovates the blood, rendering it a 
 carrier of life to all parts of the body. The air which we exhale 
 is laden with carbonic acid gas and other effete matter. A small 
 amount of carbonic acid gas is always present in the atmosphere 
 of the country, a larger amount of it in that of cities. The 
 contamination of air by it by more than one part in a thousand 
 is prejudicial to health. It has been calculated that the air of 
 large cities contains, on an average, about four parts of carbonic 
 acid gas in one thousand parts of air. In the country, and in 
 small towns, the percentage may not be greater than half or 
 three-quarters of this amount. An adult discharges from the 
 lungs, in breathing, one part of carbonic acid gas for every ten 
 thousand parts inhaled. For a room, at least one thousand 
 cubic feet of fresh air are hourly needed for each person's use, 
 in order to maintain the air at a healthful standard of purity.
 
 272 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 In apartments where many persons are assembled, as in theatres, 
 halls, workshops, and cars, the quantity of fresh air hourly re- 
 ceived should be even more than the preceding amount. The 
 demand for fresh air is especially pressing in the wards of a hos- 
 pital. 
 
 To those occupying a room during the pollution of its air 
 by breathing, the change, being gradual, may not be apparent; 
 but it is recognized at once by a person coming from the fresh 
 air of outdoors, who at once pronounces it close. This is the 
 true application of the word "close." Some persons speak of 
 a room which is merely too warm as "close," but closeness in a 
 room means the condition produced by a large amount in it of 
 carbonic acid gas, perceived by the sense of smell. The sense 
 of smell detects its presence although carbonic acid gas is odor- 
 less. It is therefore clear that it must, to excite the sense of 
 smell, be associated with other matter when it is thus perceived ; 
 which conjunction effects the result. Burning illuminating gas 
 in a room adds largely to the excess of carbonic acid gas in it; 
 the flame, nourished by the oxygen of the air, causes the oxygen 
 to disappear, and leaves in its place carbonic acid gas and other 
 products of combustion. 
 
 In a small room the breathing of an adult makes it unfit for 
 occupation in a very short time unless fresh air is entering. 
 It has been scientifically demonstrated that carbonic acid gas 
 exhaled from the lungs is much more injurious than the same 
 gas introduced into a room for experimental purposes. This 
 proves that the carbonic acid gas is not the only waste product 
 of the body eliminated by the lungs; which product, being 
 waste, is injurious to the human or any other animal organism. 
 In addition to the exhalation from the lungs, that from the 
 skin must be taken into account. The perspiration contains 
 organic waste matter which, having been rejected by the sys- 
 tem as waste, is unfit to be taken into the system by the organs 
 of respiration. 
 
 Danger from carbonic acid gas poisoning is not the only
 
 VENTILATION 1 . 2/3 
 
 indictment that can be made against foul air. The microbes 
 which generate disease in the human body flourish in foul, but 
 not in pure air. Experiments have shown that, even in the best 
 ventilated school-rooms, the number of microbes far exceeds 
 those found in the open air. In ill-ventilated public institutions, 
 the number becomes enormously increased. It is no wonder 
 that contagious diseases are so often contracted in the school- 
 room. These microbes retain their vitality for an indefinite time. 
 In badly-ventilated school-rooms they cannot be dislodged by 
 occasional airing. There are, moreover, many affections not con- 
 sidered contagious, which are produced by these minute organ- 
 isms. The evil of close rooms, therefore, it is perceived, is 
 caused by slow poisoning from carbonic acid gas together with 
 the presence of disease-bearing microbes. 
 
 Persons who habitually live in close rooms suffer from lan- 
 guor, headache, nervousness, and other ills, without being aware 
 of the cause. Their breathing, in the neglect of exercise, is 
 shallow. They are less well-nourished than those persons are 
 whose lungs inhale an ample supply of oxygen. Their appetite 
 is poor, digestion weak, muscles flabby, blood impure, nervous 
 system unstable, and its whole resistant power to disease under- 
 mined. 
 
 Habitual respiration of impure air has a bad influence upon 
 the health of the skin, and therefore upon the goodness of the 
 complexion. The fact cannot be too strongly insisted upon, that 
 the beauty of the skin depends entirely upon the purity of the 
 blood. If ventilation be inadequate, impurities must accumulate 
 in the blood. The skin then loses its bloom and acquires a yel- 
 lowish hue. It also becomes dry and loses some of its smooth- 
 ness and elasticity. It often becomes the seat of pimples and 
 blotches. Even brownish patches are apt to appear upon the 
 skin. There is in the body an increase of waste-products, while 
 its power of removing them is all the time diminishing. Again, 
 such feeble and unhealthy skin offers no resistance to the growth 
 of parasitic microbes of the fungus type, which produce the 
 
 18
 
 274 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 fawn-colored patches of discoloration. When softness, smooth- 
 ness, healthy color of the skin have been lost, even without its 
 invasion by pimples or patches, the essential elements of beauty 
 of complexion have disappeared. Advantages of personal looks 
 depend so closely upon obedience to the laws of health, that 
 those laws cannot be long transgressed without impairment or 
 loss of bodily charms. 
 
 Charles Dickens, although he was no scientist, was a keen 
 observer from whom very little escaped to which he gave his 
 attention. Observe what he so forcibly describes as one of the 
 effects of need of ventilation in his novel of "Our Mutual 
 Friend." He is describing a school-room of nearly asphyxiated 
 children. "The school at which young Charley Hexam had first 
 learned from a book was a miserable loft in an un- 
 savory yard. Its atmosphere was oppressive and disagreeable; 
 it was crowded, noisy, and confusing; half the pupils dropped 
 asleep, or fell into a state of waking stupefaction ; the other half 
 kept them in either condition by maintaining a monotonous, 
 droning noise, as if they were performing, out of time and tune, 
 on a rude sort of bagpipe. The teachers, animated solely by 
 good intentions, had no idea of execution, and a lamentable 
 
 jumble was the upshot of their kind endeavors And 
 
 particularly every Sunday night. For then, an inclined plane 
 of unfortunate infants would be handed over to the prosiest and 
 worst of all the teachers with good intentions, whom nobody else 
 would endure. Who, taking his stand on the floor before them, 
 as chief executioner, would be attended by a conventional volun- 
 teer boy as executioner's assistant. When and where it first became 
 the conventional system that a weary or inattentive infant must 
 have its face smoothed down with a hot hand, or when or where 
 the conventional volunteer boy first beheld such system in opera- 
 tion, and became inflamed with a sacred zeal to administer it, 
 matters not. It was the function of the chief executioner to hold 
 forth, and it was the function of the acolyte to dart at sleep- 
 ing infants, yawning infants, restless infants, whimpering in-
 
 VENTILATION. 2/5 
 
 fants, and smooth their wretched faces; sometimes with 
 one hand, as if he were annointing them for a whisker; some- 
 times with both hands, applied after the fashion of blinkers. 
 And so the jumble would be in action in this department for a 
 mortal hour; the exponent drawling on to My Dearerr Child- 
 errenerr; let us say, for example, about the beautiful coming 
 to the sepulchre; and repeating the word sepulchre (commonly 
 used among infants) five hundred times, and never once hinting 
 what it meant, as an infallible commentary; the whole hotbed 
 of flushed and exhausted infants exchanging measles, rashes, 
 whooping-cough, fever, and stomach disorders, as if they were 
 assembled in High Market for the purpose." 
 
 In the month of June, in the year 1756, the English gar- 
 rison attached to the factory at Calcutta, India, was over- 
 powered by the natives, whose leader imprisoned the captured, 
 one hundred and forty-six in number, in a little room eighteen 
 feet square, with two little iron-barred windows, since known as 
 "The Black Hole of Calcutta." On the following morning only 
 twenty-three had survived their imprisonment, and of these, 
 some died of what was called in those days "putrid fever," but 
 which is now known as "blood-poisoning." In the tropical cli- 
 mate of Calcutta it is very hot in June, and doubtless heat con- 
 tributed to the loss of life; but that blood-poisoning, from car- 
 bonic acid gas, was the chief cause, seems to be clearly shown 
 in the death of some of the survivors of the night. 
 
 The Icelanders dwell in low huts entirely destitute of spe- 
 cial provision for ventilation. One opening serves the common 
 purpose of window and chimney. An entire family usually has 
 but one room for all purposes. Not only is it the living room 
 of the family, but in winter it sometimes accommodates sheep. 
 The conditions are so unfavorable to health and life, that al- 
 though the air of their island is noted for its purity, the popula- 
 tion of Iceland is either stationary or diminishing in number. 
 Nearly two-thirds of the infants born die before their twelfth 
 day, of a convulsive disease like lockjaw. A particular form of
 
 276 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 lockjaw (lockjaw is medically called tetanus) is known to physi- 
 cians as trismus. The coincidence of this disease with defective 
 ventilation was demonstrated in 1789, by Dr. Joseph Clarke. In 
 the year 1783 nearly every child in the lying-in hospital of 
 Dublin died within the first fortnight. Nineteen out of twenty 
 deaths were caused by tetanus. A new system of ventilation 
 was then installed, and in the succeeding ten years the number 
 of deaths had fallen to one in nineteen. 
 
 In the United States, trismus is seldom met with except 
 among careless negroes and the lowest class of our white foreign 
 population, herded in the tenement houses of our large cities. It 
 is very prevalent on the island of St. Hilda, one of the Western 
 Hebrides. According to a visitor there, in 1838, no less than 
 four out of every five infants died from the disease between the 
 eighth and twelfth days of their existence. He wrote : "The 
 great, if not the only cause of this mortality, was the contamin- 
 ation of the atmosphere by the filth among which these people 
 lived." Iceland, here just spoken of in another connection, is 
 depopulated by severe epidemics which happen almost every year. 
 The inhabitants are especially liable to scurvy and elephantiasis, 
 which latter disease attacks the feet, increasing them so enor- 
 mously as to cause them to be likened to those of the elephant. 
 
 Oxygen has to do with the processes of nutrition, waste, 
 and repair of the body. By combination with disintegrated tis- 
 sue, with the blood, and with elements of the food, oxygen pro- 
 duces an effect which, being fundamentally the same as combus- 
 tion, is bodily heat. That is, however, oxygen as we breathe it, 
 diluted as it is in the atmosphere with four times its volume of 
 nitrogen. Pure oxygen, remember, not only will not support 
 vitality, but destroys it. When you read of patients being given 
 oxygen for a last struggle for life, they are given it in moderation 
 as increment to that already in the atmosphere. 
 
 The symptoms of asphyxia from carbonic acid gas poison- 
 ing are violent inspiratory efforts (struggle to draw in the
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 breath), followed by violent expiratory efforts (struggle to expel 
 the breath), by convulsions, and by speedy death. 
 
 Exercise strengthens the muscles of respiration, increases 
 the capacity of the chest and of the lungs, and demands an 
 increased amount of oxygen for the body. During the hours of 
 sleep, ventilation of the kind which has been here described se- 
 cures an ample supply of it. The meaning of ventilation, stated in 
 the simplest possible terms, is exchange of foul air for pure air. 
 Atmosphere heavily laden with carbonic acid gas and other 
 deleterious products of the human organism, from lungs and 
 skin, is exchanged for a pure supply. Provision must therefore 
 be made equally for the removal of foul and the entrance of 
 pure air. If this be not done, health must suffer, vigor fail, and 
 disease await the neglectful. It is very important that school- 
 rooms should be well ventilated, that no injurious physical condi- 
 tion be present among children. Youth is the only time when 
 the foundation of health and strength can be laid. There are 
 even cases where a delicate or even sickly boy or girl can, by 
 prudential measures, establish for life some degree of health 
 and working and pleasure capacity. Examples occur in which 
 weakly men and women, by pertinaciously living sanitary lives, 
 reach extreme old age. They never feel the intensive life of the 
 robust, but they live equably on the low level to which they are 
 assigned by nature and which they maintain with care. It is. 
 however, the sturdy boy or girl who, with equal care, grows into 
 the vigorous man and woman in full enjoyment of all that life 
 can impart. 
 
 If plentiful supply of fresh air be so desirable as it is for 
 healthy constitutions, it is even more requisite when disease is 
 threatening or established. It removes the morbid exhalations 
 from the sick-room, influences favorably the condition of the 
 patient, and diminishes danger of infection to others. Consump- 
 tion, for instance, is not the invariably fatal disease that it 
 used to be regarded. There are now, under improved methods 
 of treatment of fne present day, a large percentage of cases where
 
 2/8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the disease is arrested in its progress, and sometimes radically 
 cured. Certain drugs which promote the nourishment of the 
 body have a share in producing this result, but no medical treat- 
 ment can avail unless it be accompanied by adequate oxidation of 
 the blood by pure air. Simultaneously, the digestive and respira- 
 tory functions are carefully studied by the physician, and exer- 
 cise and ventilation in the house insisted upon by him as indis- 
 pensable to treatment. 
 
 In all fevers, especially when prolonged, it is essential that 
 the sick room should be well ventilated, for fever causes act- 
 ive destruction of the tissues of the body. The popular notion 
 of fever as a sort of fire is quite correct. The exhalations 
 thrown off by the body must be removed by a gentle flow of air 
 through the sickroom. Perfect ventilation is imperatively de- 
 manded in typhoid fever on account of its duration, and the 
 eruptive fevers require equal care. Ventilation is needed in 
 scarlet fever and measles, and in all cases it is incumbent upon 
 the person who has it in charge that a patient shall never be 
 exposed to a draught. In small-pox, purification of the air of 
 the sickroom is of the most urgent necessity for the sake of the 
 patient and that of other persons. 
 
 The essence of hygienic rules is given by a medical writer 
 as follows: 
 
 "Cleanliness covers the whole field of sanitary life. Cleanli- 
 ness, that is, purity of air ; cleanliness, that is, purity of water ; 
 cleanliness in and around the house; cleanliness of persons; 
 cleanliness of dress, cleanliness of food and feeding; cleanliness 
 in work ; cleanliness in habits of the individual man and woman ; 
 cleanliness of life and conversation; purity of life, temperance, 
 all these are in man's power."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH SOME TREAT- 
 MENT FOR IT. 
 
 /^""^OMPLEXION, a word which is usually made to refer only 
 ^ ^ to the qualities of the skin of the face, is one which by 
 rights may refer to the whole body. Complexion depends 
 upon the uniformity of the delicacy and translucency of the true 
 skin and the scarf-skin, the condition of the blood, and of the 
 nervous system. If any one of these elements be defective or 
 disturbed, complexion is seriously marred. Individual differ- 
 ences exist in the thickness of the true skin and in the smooth- 
 ness and lustre of the scarf-skin, and upon these depend the 
 range of beauty inherent in the normal skin. The color of a 
 thick and harsh skin cannot, of course, equal that of a thin, soft, 
 and delicate one. If the blood appreciably departs from its 
 healthy standard, the skin must show loss of color. If the ner- 
 vous apparatus which governs the circulation and the secretions 
 of the body be disordered, the changes of hue in the skin in 
 response to emotion must be diminished. The beauty of the 
 skin is, in a word, affected by a number of causes, constitutional 
 and acquired. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL CONDITION OF THE SKIN. 
 
 A constitutional condition of the skin which is congenitally 
 low is associated with invalidism, to which attention is much 
 more naturally directed than to anything bearing upon the looks 
 of the patient. The paleness of consumption, accentuated by the 
 well-known hectic flush on the cheeks, is ineradicable. There 
 is a disease in which the lymphatic glands, the spleen, and the 
 marrow of the bones produce white corpuscles in the blood to an 
 inordinate degree, and the skin, in consequence, assumes a very 
 peculiar yellowish hue. In cases of illness associated with long 
 
 279
 
 280 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and profuse discharge of matter, the blood becomes changed 
 and various organs of the body undergo a characteristic form of 
 degeneration. The existence of a certain other systemic malady 
 is accompanied by the bronzing of the skin. Imperfect action 
 of the liver is characterized by a sallow complexion. 
 
 PALLOR. 
 
 Anccmia is the name given by the medical profession to the 
 condition of the body in which there is an abnormal reduction 
 of red corpuscles in the blood. It may be due purely to consti- 
 tutional disease, or to an insufficient or improper supply of food, 
 or perhaps to dyspepsia. Nervous influence, such as fear, may 
 occasion anaemia. Dr. Wilkes writes: "I have seen now so 
 many cases of anaemia, some of them fatal, occurring upon a 
 severe shock of the nervous system, that I have no doubt of the 
 fact." In anaemia, the digestion is poor, the extremities low 
 in temperature, the heart feeble and irregular in pulsation, the 
 movements of the body languid. It is of more frequent occur- 
 rence in women than in men. 
 
 GREEN-SICKNESS. 
 
 A peculiar form of anaemia, occurring in young girls, is 
 known medically as chlorosis, a word which means "green- 
 sickness," in reference to the peculiar greenish tint which the 
 skin assumes. Chlorosis is prevalent, or used to be, at girls' 
 boarding-schools. The remedial measures which should be 
 adopted for it consist in removal from school, generous diet, 
 exercise in the open air, and general change of habits ; also the 
 employment of tonics, especially iron. The appetite should be 
 pampered, and animal food eaten to a proper amount. 
 
 BILIOUSNESS. 
 
 When the liver is torpid, the skin and the whites of the 
 eyes become yellowish. With certain persons the condition is 
 chronic, The breath may have so bad an odor as to be discern-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 28 1 
 
 ibie even by the sufferer. The bowels are generally constipated, 
 only occasionally relaxed. In the course of time the complexion 
 becomes impaired. The persons so afflicted must be careful in 
 diet and exercise. They must not lavishly indulge in fats and 
 sweets, and animal food must be eaten in moderation. Malt 
 and spirituous liquors are always bad for such cases. Walking 
 and horseback riding are very advantageous in them, also bathing. 
 In all cases of biliousness, it is important that the bowels should 
 be kept free, not by purges, but by gentle purgatives when neces- 
 sary. Best of all for such cases is the employment of some laxa- 
 tive water. Saratoga, Vichy, Friedrichshall, Hunyadi-Janos, or 
 Carlsbad salts. The fluid extract of cascara sagrada, taken in 
 half teaspoonful doses at night, two or three times a week, serves 
 a good purpose. 
 
 YELLOW DISCOLORATION OF THE SKIN ( JAUNDICE.) 
 
 Jaundice visits the skin with a color varying from that of 
 sulphur, orange, or saffron, even to that of olive. This discolor- 
 ation pervades not only the skin, but the deeper tissues of the 
 body, the secretions, and the excretions. Patients feel weak, 
 spiritless, have coated tongues, no appetite, and often have nau- 
 sea. The pulse is generally very slow and headache is experi- 
 enced. The temperature is sometimes below normal, and drowsi- 
 ness present. The commonest cause of jaundice is obstruction of 
 bile from the liver on its way to the intestinal canal, which leads 
 to the bile being carried into the circulation, just as, in another 
 case, a gall-stone somewhere in the common duct of the liver 
 forms an impediment to the release of bile in the natural way, 
 and in consequence it enters the circulation. Gall-stones are 
 of most frequent occurrence in and after middle-life. They are 
 more frequent in the female than in the male sex. They are more 
 common with fleshy than with thin persons. 
 
 The passage of a large gall-stone along the common duct of 
 the liver is productive of extreme pain, called hepatic or liver 
 colic. When the stone reaches the bowel, the pain rapidly sub-
 
 282 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sides, leaving some tenderness, and the jaundice gradually dis- 
 appears. The passage may be closed by inflammatory obstruc- 
 tions, which make a prolonged, perhaps permanent, jaundice. 
 If this condition cannot be removed, death takes place at a period 
 varying from three months to two years. Chronic inflammation 
 of the stomach, chronic gastritis, may ultimately lead to jaundice 
 by communication to the mucous membrane of the small bowel 
 in the neighborhood of the orifice of the common duct of the 
 liver; the duct itself may become involved. 
 
 In jaundice the diet of the patient must be regulated. 
 Sugars and fats must be avoided. The patient should live upon 
 skimmed milk, fish, oysters, stale bread or toast, the more easily 
 digested vegetables, and strictly avoid fermented and distilled 
 liquors. The bowels must be kept free by the mineral waters 
 previously named, or by Epsom or Rochelle salts, or seidlitz 
 powder. In the phosphate of soda we possess a laxative of spe- 
 cial efficiency in this affection now being discussed. It is given 
 in drachm doses three times a day, dissolved in a little water 
 flavored with syrup of orange, or it may be taken in Apollinaris 
 or Vichy water. Phosphate of soda has a mild, laxative effect. 
 
 Another medicine, of quite an opposite chemical character 
 from phosphate of soda, is of decided usefulness in relieving the 
 catarrh which occasions jaundice. It is hydrochloric acid. This, 
 in a diluted form, improves digestion, diminishes fermentation 
 and flatulence, and favors the escape of bile into the intestine. 
 The dose of the standard dilution is ten drops three times a day, 
 in plenty of water, and the teeth afterwards rinsed with water, 
 or with salt and water, or with a solution of bicarbonate of soda. 
 The injection of cool water into the bowel is advantageous for 
 relieving the catarrh; the temperature from sixty to sixty-five 
 degrees Fahrenheit, the operation performed once a day. In 
 chronic cases, the application of galvanic electricity has proved of 
 much advantage. 
 
 If there is reason to believe that the jaundice is of malarial 
 origin, the administration of quinine and its associated remedies
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 283 
 
 in malarial poisoning is indicated. In such a condition good 
 results are obtained by a combination of iron, quinine, and 
 arsenic in the following pill or capsule : 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 24 grains. 
 
 Dried sulphate of iron 24 grains. 
 
 Arsenious acid 1 grain. 
 
 Mix and make into twelve pills or capsules. Take one three times a 
 day. 
 
 The passage of a very large gall-stone along the duct gives 
 rise to excruciating pain, which may be alleviated, in some 
 measure, by a mustard plaster or by a warm flaxseed poultice 
 applied to the abdomen, or by putting the patient in a warm bath. 
 It is, however, generally necessary to still the pain by adminis- 
 tering a dose of opium. A twenty- to a forty-drop dose of 
 laudanum may be given, but on account of laudanum's rapidity 
 in effect and power, a physician preferably resorts to a hypo- 
 dermic injection of the proper dose of morphine. It is sometimes 
 found advisable to cause the patient to inhale ether or chloro- 
 form. An anaesthetic, however, should be administered only 
 by a physician. It is not necessary that complete unconscious- 
 ness be produced. The physician best knows what degree is 
 desirable. 
 
 Constipation so extreme as to cause jaundice calls for spe- 
 cial treatment. The food of the patient should be nutritious and 
 digestible. Fruits, cracked wheat, graham or bran bread are 
 good for the purpose. If the diseased condition has existed 
 long, it is necessary to administer a brisk purgative and give an 
 injection of cool water. When the constipation is habitual, and 
 there is reason to believe that the muscular coat of the bowel 
 has become weak and relaxed, a pill composed of a purgative 
 and a tonic constituent is efficient, and is better than a frequent 
 resort to saline purgatives. Such a combination is the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Compound extract of colocynth 1 drachm. 
 
 Extract of belladonna 2 grains. 
 
 Sulphate of strychnine % grain. 
 
 Powdered cinnamon 20 grains. 
 
 Mix and make into twenty pills. One pill every night at bedtime.
 
 284 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A pill prescribed by Sir Andrew Clarke is composed of : 
 
 Aloin % grain. 
 
 Extract of belladonna % grain. 
 
 Dried sulphate of iron % grain. 
 
 Extract of nux vomica % grain. 
 
 Powdered ipecac % grain. 
 
 Powdered myrrh */> grain. 
 
 Soap l /2 grain. 
 
 Mix. For one pill 'take a pill an hour before last meal should the 
 bowels not act during the day. 
 
 YELLOW DISCOLORATION OF THE SKIN (JAUNDICE) CAUSED 
 
 BY EMOTION. 
 
 A number of cases showing the intimate connection between 
 mind and body have been medically reported. A young friend of 
 Dr. Tuke's had a severe attack of jaundice which could be 
 traced to nothing else than his anxiety as to passing a pending 
 medical examination. Dr. Anthony Todd Thompson states that 
 a young man in Paris became suddenly jaundiced from alarm 
 at having a musket pointed at him, was taken to the hospital and 
 died. Dr. Budd, an eminent authority on diseases of the liver, 
 observes that jaundice following mental shock, or long-con- 
 tinued anxiety or grief, is often unattended by any alarming 
 symptoms, but adds: "Now and then, after it has existed 
 for some time without any symptoms indicative of especial 
 danger, disorder of the brain, which proves rapidly fatal, comes 
 on." Professor Potain mentions the incident of two duellists, 
 one of whom, as he crossed swords, became so suddenly jaun- 
 diced, that his adversary dropped his weapon in amazement. 
 He likewise cites the case of a man who, feeling very well when 
 he arose in the morning, began to shave, but who, being handed 
 a letter containing bad news, read it, and upon resuming his 
 shaving, found that he had turned yellow. He cites also the 
 case of a woman whose husband was made prisoner by the 
 Paris Commune when in revolt against the government, and 
 who suddenly turned yellow as she saw the platoon of the firing- 
 party take aim at him. He also relates the case of a very ner-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 285 
 
 vous and irascible woman who became jaundiced while in a 
 violent fit of anger. 
 
 ACUTE YELLOW ATROPHY OF THE LIVER, OF NERVOUS ORIGIN. 
 
 There is a very severe and rapidly fatal disease known 
 by the above title. In it, the liver shrinks and becomes disor- 
 ganized. The progress of the disease is attended by nausea, 
 jaundice, excitement, delirium, or stupor, convulsions from 
 stomach and bowels, and eruptions upon the skin. According 
 to Dr. Murchison it may be produced by emotion, especially 
 anxiety, fear, and grief. Sir Thomas Watson observes that 
 scores of cases are on record where jaundice has suddenly ap- 
 peared under such circumstances, and he adds that "these cases 
 are often fatal, with head-symptoms, convulsions, delirium, or 
 coma supervening upon the jaundice." 
 
 DIABETES. 
 
 This grave malady is characterized by excessive thirst and, 
 in many cases, by an inordinate appetite. Boils, carbuncles, tet- 
 ter, and ulcers are common during its progress. In many cases it 
 occurs as the result of nervous shock, anxiety, or mental strain. 
 Hereditary derivation is often recognized in its cases. An in- 
 stance is cited where a man, fifty-seven years of age, whose father 
 had died from diabetes, was seized with diabetes owing to the 
 shock that he received from his daughter's committing suicide. 
 
 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 
 
 It has been positively proved that many, and it is now be- 
 lieved that all, contagious disorders are due to the develop- 
 ment of certain microbes, which are microscopic fungus organ- 
 isms. A certain microbe is the known exciting cause of diph- 
 theria, another of cholera, another of erysipelas, another of con- 
 sumption. It has been fully proved that fear contributes to the 
 spread of contagious diseases through its depressing influence 
 upon vitality. Fear, anxiety, and grief are known to be capable
 
 286 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of precipitating attacks of yellow fever or of cholera. So 
 clear is the evidence that certain cases of cholera are known as 
 "emotional cholera." Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, recognized this 
 fact as long ago as 1783, during the epidemic of yellow fever 
 there. Sir Samuel Baker, in his work "Albert Nyanza," speak- 
 ing of his experiences in Africa, says : "Any severe action of the 
 mind, such as grief or anger, is almost certain to be succeeded 
 by fever in this country, just as full occupation of the mind 
 was found to act .as a prophylactic against it." 
 
 DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 
 
 As the skin is richly supplied with blood-vessels and nerves, 
 and as its circulation is affected by emotional causes, it is not 
 surprising that many disorders follow mental excitement. Some 
 of these affections, as, for instance, neitlerash, betray, from the 
 circumstances of their abruptness of coming and going, the 
 influence that the nervous system has in their creation. Sudden 
 outbreak of tetter, groups of blisters, pain or itching, point to the 
 influence of the nervous system. Sudden fading of erysipelas on 
 one part of the body, and its equally sudden appearance on 
 another, perhaps in a corresponding situation on the opposite 
 side of the body, demonstrate that the attack is derived from 
 nervous conditions. 
 
 In more chronic examples, slower in onset and more gradual 
 in progress and departure, physicians have learned that these 
 too are often connected with nervous disturbances. When the 
 skin loses its proper nervous tone, it is liable to be assailed by 
 a number of affections, some of which may be enumerated: 
 tetter, redness, blisters, hardening ulcers. Disorders of the ner- 
 vous system may likewise produce alterations of the thickness 
 of the skin, anomalies of the secretory functions, and changes 
 in hair and nails. 
 
 GROUPS OF BLISTERS. 
 
 The little blisters that sometimes appear upon the lips, pop- 
 ularly called "cold-sores" or "fever-blisters," are often due to
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 287 
 
 general nervous depression or indigestion. In that form of the 
 disease popularly known as "shingles" nervous causation is 
 very apparent. It is accompanied by pain of neuralgic character. 
 It may come as a consequence of epidemic influenza, la grippe, 
 or of cerebro-spinal meningitis, popularly known as "spotted 
 fever." 
 
 LARGE BLISTER OF THE SKIN, OR PEMPHIGUS. 
 
 Pemphigus is an affection of the skin which has no popular 
 name. It is characterized by large blisters, which may also be 
 numerous. An individual blister may attain the size of a hen's 
 egg. In mild cases the general health may not be much affected ; 
 in severe ones debility and headache are present, and there are 
 forms of the disease so severe that they have a fatal termination. 
 Depressed condition or disease of the nervous system, or of 
 special nerves, may give rise to the eruption. Many cases are 
 recorded in which an outbreak was secondary to some affection 
 of the brain or spinal cord. Excesses, anxiety, overwork, mental 
 strain may bring about the disease. An eruption of the same 
 character sometimes follows or alternates with severe hysterical 
 attacks. Pemphigus occasionally manifests hereditary con- 
 nection. 
 
 REDNESS OF THE SKIN. 
 
 A diffuse redness of the skin, either uniform or interspersed 
 with red pimples of various sizes, may be caused by disturbance 
 of the nervous system. The complicated form of its display 
 is generally symmetrical. Redness may occur as the result of 
 perverted action of the nerves which control the blood-vessels of 
 the skin. It may be due to lowered nutrition of the skin caused 
 by impairment of its nervous power. It may eventually produce 
 thickening and other alterations of the skin. It is often symp- 
 tomatic of disease of the stomach, bowel, or of the spinal cord. 
 
 GLOSSY SKIN. 
 
 In some cases of obstinate neuralgia, injury to nerve-trunks, 
 and disease of the spinal cord, the skin assumes an appearance
 
 288 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 to which the name of "glossy skin" has been aptly applied 
 by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia. It is smooth, shiny, 
 pinkish or reddish, and is the seat of more or less burning pain. 
 The condition occurs most frequently upon the extremities of 
 the body. Hair and nails on the affected surface are lost, and the 
 skin is liable to become rough or cracked. 
 
 DIFFUSE INFLAMMATION OF THE SKIN WITH BLISTERS. 
 
 A peculiar, not very common, disease has been observed of 
 late years, characterized by large and small blisters and white 
 pimples seated upon an area of redness. The affection often 
 becomes chronic and exhibits marked tendency to relapse. The 
 eruption is attended by intense itching, and the resultant scratch- 
 ing often results in raw spots and crusts. It is most frequently 
 found upon the upper or lower limbs, and particularly tends 
 to develop in the bend of the elbow and of the knee. It causes 
 pain as well as itching. It depends upon a disturbed condition of 
 the nervous system. It is often preceded by depression of spirits, 
 grief, or anxiety. Professor Duhring tells of a case where it 
 supervened in a healthy, strong man who, while gunning, got 
 bogged, sank to his armpits in the mud, thought he was lost, and 
 managed to extricate himself at last, exhausted, by getting hold 
 of a tussock of grass. 
 
 DRY TETTER OR PSORIASIS. 
 
 Psoriasis is an obstinate disease of the skin which forms 
 dry, whitish scales. The scales are very abundant, and in cases 
 of long standing are shed in great numbers. The eruption may 
 attack any part of the body, but it displays some preference for 
 the knees and elbows. It excites more or less itching, especially 
 at the beginning of or upon the development of new spots. It 
 generally attacks during adolescence. Not infrequently it is 
 hereditary. Its course has been known in certain cases to have 
 been emotional. A number of caSes have been produced by 
 fright.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 289 
 
 HAEMORRHAGE INTO THE SKIN, OR PURPURA. 
 
 In certain conditions of the nervous system and of the 
 blood, haemorrhage occurs in the substance of the skin, as it 
 sometimes does from mucous membranes, as from the nose, 
 mouth, and other parts. Like the preceding maladies mentioned, 
 it may suddenly supervene after an emotional shock, and a ten- 
 dency to the disease may be inherited. 
 
 DROPSY OF THE SKIN. 
 
 This affection is characterized by the sudden appearance of 
 isolated swellings beneath some part of the skin or of the mucous 
 membrane. The skin itself covering these swellings becomes 
 rose-colored or bright red. The swellings may vary from the 
 width of a silver dollar to that of the palm of the hand. Some- 
 times they give rise to the sensation of tension, but they do not 
 itch or pain. They develop rapidly, continue for a variable 
 time, and when they go, disappear as quickly as they came. This 
 abrupt advent and departure are indicative of causative nervous 
 influence. 
 
 A special form of cutaneous dropsy is that to which the 
 late Professor Charcot gave the name "blue dropsy of hysterical 
 subjects." As indicated by its name, this kind of dropsy of the 
 skin evidences hysterical condition as causative. The skin in 
 these cases is harder than is usual in the others, and the surface 
 pits but little, if at all, upon pressure with the tip of the finger. 
 The skin generally exhibits a violet tinge, though the color is 
 sometimes decidedly red. In some cases, however, the skin 
 retains its usual color. The temperature of the surface is, as a 
 general rule, reduced, and the sufferer experiences the sensation 
 of numbness or of actual pain. The disease is one which does 
 not readily disappear, although it shows abrupt modifications 
 \mder emotional influence.
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 HARDENING OF THE SKIN. 
 
 A disease, happily rare, exists, in which areas or spots on 
 the skin become hard, stiff, and cold. The affected surface is, 
 in most cases, of a pale white or of a waxen hue, but is some- 
 times of a brownish-red color. If the extremities are involved, 
 the limb attacked appears shortened, with distorted joints. 
 When the face is the seat of the disease, the features are drawn 
 out of place, are immovable and expressionless. The skin, at 
 first swollen, has become attached to the deeper structures, even 
 to bones when these do not happen to be covered with thick 
 layers of muscles. In later stages of the disease, ulceration may 
 occur. It is a very stubborn disease and may prove fatal. It 
 may occur at any period of life, although it is most frequent in 
 middle-age. It is more common in the female than in the male 
 sex. This strange malady is intimately connected with the con- 
 dition of the nervous system, as shown by its following severe 
 and prolonged mental strain, violent emotion, mental shock; 
 and it may be associated with disease in some other part of the 
 nervous system. 
 
 FISH-SKIN DISEASE. 
 
 This is an affection characterized by the formation on the 
 skin of scales which may overlap one another like those of a 
 fish. The scales may vary in color from white to a dingy gray, 
 to brownish, or even to black. It generally attacks the extremi- 
 ties, although the face may be involved, sometimes only the lips. 
 Cases vary extremely in severity. In some cases only a small 
 area is involved, and the scales are not very large. In others, 
 a great part of the body is covered with huge, dirty scales. Per- 
 sons suffering from the disease have been exhibited in museums 
 as "alligator boys." The skin is always dry, wrinkled, and sen- 
 sitive to atmospheric changes. In winter it is liable to crack. It 
 generally occurs in early life, is sometimes present at birth, and 
 has a tendency to run in families. It may occur in connection 
 with derangement of the nervous system.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 29! 
 WHITE SPOTS. 
 
 Colorless patches sometimes appear upon the skin in con- 
 sequence of violent emotion or of mental shock. They may be 
 associated with nervous disorders, as neuralgia, epilepsy, and 
 insanity. 
 
 GANGRENE. 
 
 The death of certain areas of the skin sometimes happens 
 upon total cessation of capillary circulation; its failure being 
 occasioned by disease involving the nerve-fibers which preside 
 over the action of the capillary blood-vessels. There is a ner- 
 vous malady which produces symmetrical gangrene of outlying 
 parts; as, for instance, that of the fingers and hands, the toes 
 and the feet. 
 
 SCROFULA. 
 
 Scrofula is a constitutional disease. It can, therefore, be 
 combated only by means of hygienic and medicinal treatment 
 which promotes general nutrition of the body. Inflammation and 
 breaking down of lymphatic glands and extensive ulceration of 
 the skin are only some of the concomitants of the disease. Tet- 
 ter, pimples, redness of the skin in scrofulous children are less 
 amenable to treatment than when children are free from under- 
 lying taint of scrofula. Sore eyes and diseases of bones and 
 joints are frequent manifestations of scrofula. 
 
 There are several remedies which are very efficacious in 
 scrofula. One of these is codliver-oil, given to adults in a dose 
 of one or two teaspoonfuls, and to children in amounts suitable 
 to their ages. With infants and young children it can be ad- 
 ministered by rubbing it into the skin of the armpits, the breast, 
 and other parts of the body where the skin is thin. It contains 
 sulphur, iodine, bromine, phosphorus, fat, and other substances. 
 The absorption of this oil into the tissues is easily effected on 
 account of the character of its composition. However taken, 
 it is a food as well as a medicine. Many children learn to like
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 its taste. A few years ago a gentleman was met who, for 
 twelve years, had taken codliver-oil to suppress broken-down 
 glands of the neck and ulcers of the skin. The taste of it was 
 not at all obnoxious to him, and he had gained in flesh, weight, 
 and appearance. The taking of the oil, however, was only part 
 of his treatment. 
 
 The scrofulous are exceedingly predisposed to catarrhal 
 attacks of the mucous membrane lining the nasal and bronchial 
 passages, and the use of codliver-oil has a tendency to prevent 
 these attacks. If a patient should revolt at the taste of the oil, 
 it can be made into what is called an emulsion for his particular 
 use. A palatable emulsion can be made as follows : 
 
 Codliver-oil 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen 20 drops. 
 
 Syrup of wild-cherry 4 ounces. 
 
 Extract of malt ' 4 ounces. 
 
 Another great remedy is syrup of the iodide of iron. That 
 is because iodine is of great efficacy in scrofula, and iron in 
 combination with it increases its value. The dose for an adult is 
 from ten drops to a teaspoonful. For a child of ten years of age, 
 from a third to a half of that quantity can be given. 
 
 Chlorate of potassium is an excellent medicine in case of 
 scrofula. If it be prescribed before the glands have broken 
 down, it causes their swelling to diminish and redness of the 
 skin to vanish. It promotes the general nutrition of the body, 
 improves the quality of the blood, and checks the formation of 
 matter. If matter has already formed, it limits its production, 
 and its thin, unhealthy character disappears. It is best to begin 
 with a dose of from a half to one grain, given in water before 
 every meal, increasing the quantity gradually until the patient 
 shows improvement. 
 
 Scrofulous patients need fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and 
 nutritious food. 
 
 External treatment in scrofula should be undertaken at an 
 early stage of the disease, in order to check inflammation, and
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 293 
 
 to prevent or to limit suppuration, the consequence of which 
 would be a disfiguring scar. Gentle compression of the swollen 
 glands will often cause them to subside. This may be effected by 
 painting the surface every day with flexible collodion put on 
 with a camel's-hair brush. The efficacy of this treatment is 
 increased by saturating the collodion with iodoform. Another 
 excellent preparation is a solution of iodoform in oleic acid, 
 to be painted over the affected parts two or three times a day. 
 
 When matter has formed within the gland, the case de- 
 mands surgical interference. The matter should be evacuated at 
 the earliest possible moment. When the glands are completely 
 degenerated, and the overlying skin is of a dull, unhealthy color, 
 the surgeon not only liberates the matter, but treats the infil- 
 trated part by special means, without which its circulation and 
 health cannot be restored. By the means which the surgeon 
 adopts the scar is much less extensive and disfiguring than when 
 the aid of surgery is avoided. Moreover, healing is much more 
 rapid by recourse to surgery than by relying upon medicinal 
 action alone. Medication is called in at the same time with sur- 
 gery, to play th? secondary part in importance in such a case as 
 that referred to. 
 
 LIVER-SPOTS; YELLOW SPOTS; BLOTCHES. 
 A certain blemish, which is sometimes the result of anaemia, 
 may be either on the face or on the body. It may be produced 
 by a number of causes. The affection is called by medical men 
 chloasma, and is popularly known as "liver-spot." Patches of 
 chloasma are round or irregular in form, vary in color from 
 light or dark yellow to brown or even black, and are smooth 
 to the touch. The patches are more conspicuous in persons 
 whose complexion is dark than they are in others. Occasion- 
 ally they extend across the forehead from one temple to the 
 other. The skin may seem to be unaffected save for its change 
 of color, but sometimes it is covered with a greasy secretion. 
 Liver-spots, when once formed, spread very slowly, or else do
 
 294 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not increase at all in size. The affection is more common in 
 women than in men. Besides being sometimes produced by 
 anaemia, it may be caused by derangement of internal organs. 
 It may also be caused by local irritation, as by the pressure of 
 a hat, by heat or cold, or by other diseases of the skin. 
 
 As liver-spots generally originate from some disordered 
 condition of organs of the body, it is best to call in the advice 
 of a physician for their treatment. The* following lotions may 
 be used upon the spots and prove of assistance to the internal 
 treatment by a physician: 
 
 Corrosive sublimate . . 10 grains. 
 
 Alcohol 1 ounce. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel 2 ounces. 
 
 Cologne 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Observe that the first lotion has in it corrosive sublimate. 
 Corrosive sublimate is a powerful poison. It should always be 
 kept where it is inaccessible to children. All poisons should be 
 marked "Poison, for external use only." 
 
 YELLOW BLOTCHES, OR TINEA VERSICOLOR. 
 
 An affection of the skin which bears some resemblance to 
 cholasma is medically known as tinea versicolor, or pityriasis 
 versicolor. It is a parasitic disease, caused by the growth upon 
 the horny layer of the skin of a fungous micro-organism. There 
 is one marked difference in respect to the regions of the body 
 which these two diseases respectively attack. Liver-spots fre- 
 quently, if not generally, occur upon the face, but tinea versi- 
 color begins in the form of small, roundish or oval spots of a red- 
 dish or yellow color upon the body. They may become darker, 
 but they do not generally deepen in shade beyond fawn-color. 
 They may be few in number or very abundant, and neighboring 
 patches are covered with fine, mealy scales and generally itch.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 
 
 Although scarcely ever appearing upon the face, tinea versicolor 
 is common upon the chest, back, arms, and shoulders. 
 
 It is advantageous to rub the patches, night and morning, 
 with a fleshbrush. Small patches may be made to disappear by 
 painting them with the tincture of iodine. It is well to begin- by 
 touching them, night and morning, with a solution of three 
 drachms of powdered borax to five ounces of distilled witch- 
 hazel. After this has been used for a few days, and the scales 
 thereby removed, the most effective application is an ointment 
 containing from forty to eighty grains of oleate of copper to an 
 ounce of lard. The patches should be cleansed with the lotion 
 mentioned, and not with water, for the reason that water favors 
 the growth of the parasite. 
 
 OILY SKIN; SCURF; DANDRUFF. 
 
 A very common disease of the skin, and one that sadly 
 mars comeliness, is called seborrhcea, and it is, unfortunately, 
 more common among women than among men. The sebaceous 
 glands are so affected in this disease that instead of furnishing 
 only enough oily matter to lubricate it, they discharge an im- 
 mense amount, which is, at the same time, altered in quality. 
 The oily matter, superfluous in quantity and poor in quality, 
 makes an unsightly deposit upon the surface of the skin. The 
 disease is especially prone to occur upon parts of the body ex- 
 posed to observation: the face, scalp, chest, and back. It may 
 be so slight as not to occasion much annoyance, and may dis- 
 appear with the cause. It tends, however, to be chronic, and 
 may last for months or years. The products of the affection 
 differ, are sometimes an oily fluid, sometimes consist of dry or 
 greasy scales, the latter the commonest form. The forehead, 
 cheeks, and nose are the favorite points for attack. The scales 
 are of a yellowish, greenish, brownish, or blackish color, closely 
 adherent to the skin. Itching and burning sensations are often 
 present. In the oily variety the skin has a greasy appearance 
 and may be either pale or red in color.
 
 296 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Seborrhcea is most common between the ages of fifteen and 
 thirty. It is caused by an impoverished condition of the blood, 
 and by any disease of the skin or of the internal organs which 
 affects the general health. Exposure to heat or cold may give 
 rise to it. As the disease is evidence of lowered vitality, it is 
 of importance to look to the general health. Fresh air, sunlight, 
 and exercise are indispensable. The medicines taken should 
 be such as improve appetite, digestion, and secretion. In the 
 oily form of the disease, the use of a dry and slightly astringent 
 powder is useful, because it absorbs the superabundant discharge, 
 and at the same time improves the tone of the skin. From time 
 to time, too, the skin may be sponged with a mildly stimulative 
 lotion. A good wash consists of: 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Orange flower-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 An absorbent powder which will prove useful contains : 
 
 Oleate of zinc 2 drachms. 
 
 Powdered arrow-root % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Another good powder is thus composed : 
 
 Salicylic acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered oleate of zinc 3 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 When the disease is of the dry variety, the first object 
 should be to get rid of the scales which prevent the lotions from 
 coming in contact with the affected surface. The best method 
 for this is by the application of olive- or almond-oil, or best of 
 all, by the application of the oil of ergot, which is astringent 
 and slightly stimulant. In some cases no further treatment 
 will be needed than cleansing with soap and water. A soap 
 which contains chamomile and sulphur is very beneficial. Boro- 
 glyceride is also of service. If the skin is much inflamed, the 
 oxide of zinc may be used with good effect. The following is 
 a good ointment:
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 297 
 
 Salicylic acid 30 grains. 
 
 Borax 15 grains. 
 
 Peruvian balsam 25 minims. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 20 minims. 
 
 Oil of anise 6 minims. 
 
 Cold cream 1 ounce. 
 
 When, as is often the case, dry seborrhcea attacks the scalp, 
 it will, unless checked by treatment, lead to baldness. It is, in 
 fact, one of the most frequent causes of premature loss of hair. 
 The treatment is virtually the same as that for seborrhcea on the 
 face. It is convenient to annoint the scales upon retiring to rest, 
 using an oil-skin cap. From twelve to twenty-four hours are 
 generally sufficient to detach the scales. If, upon the exposure 
 of the underlying surface, its hue is of unusual paleness, more 
 or less stimulating treatment is needed, whereas, if it shows the 
 red of inflammation, bland lotions only should be applied to it. 
 It is prudent to begin with mild remedies. A solution of table- 
 salt, of the strength of one-fourth to three-fourths of a pound 
 to the pint of water, is cheap, convenient, and will often prove 
 effective. The carbonate of potash, five to fifteen grains to the 
 ounce of water, may give good results. Sometimes equal parts 
 of glycerine and water are beneficial. In those cases where de- 
 cided stimulation is demanded, alcohol, and preparations into 
 which it enters, as the various spirits, ether, the essential oils, 
 etc., are frequently of advantage. 
 
 The nutrition of the scalp is promoted by massage, hot 
 alternating with cold douches of water, by shampooing with 
 either hard or soft soap, and above all, by the use of electricity 
 from the galvanic current. 
 
 The persistence, and especially the increase, of dandruff 
 should always excite attention. Treatment for threatening bald- 
 ness should begin early, be carried on persistently, and in many, 
 perhaps in most cases, it will be rewarded by success. Baldness, 
 as a result of seborrhcea, is noticed here, on account of its close 
 connection with seborrh&a on the face.
 
 298 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 RED AND WHITE PIMPLES. 
 
 A disease which is of very frequent occurrence among 
 young people is acne. It attacks not only the face, but the neck, 
 bosom, and back. It consists of an eruption of pimples of various 
 sizes. They may be as small as a pinhead or as large as a bean. 
 They appear particularly upon the forehead, cheeks, and chin. 
 Sometimes they are few in number and stand well apart ; but, at 
 other times, they are closely clustered. They may be hard and of 
 a dark red color, or they may be full of matter, in which case 
 they are white. Different stages of the eruption can generally 
 be found upon the face at the same time. After middle-age, 
 the disease usually disappears. In the case of large, broken-down 
 pimples, filled with matter, indelible scars may be produced by 
 them. 
 
 Many disordered conditions of the system produce acne: 
 chronic dyspepsia, rapid physiological changes that take place in 
 youth, trouble of mind, local irritation from uncleanliness, the 
 use of powders, paints, and various cosmetics. In some per- 
 sons the use of certain articles of food is sufficient to cause a 
 fresh outbreak. The affection occurs more frequently in blondes 
 than in brunettes. It attacks both sexes and persons in every 
 station in life. Being of constitutional origin, it requires all 
 the skill of the physician to trace it to its remote cause. It 
 would not be justifiable to give minute directions in a work of 
 this class for treatment which, on account of the disease being 
 constitutional, needs a physician to prescribe for the individual 
 case. 
 
 BLACKHEADS. 
 
 Blackheads are a very common blemish on the face. They 
 mostly occur upon the chin and nose, and vary exceedingly in 
 number. The medical name of the affection is comedo, and 
 the blackheads themselves are called comedones. They are 
 caused by a diseased condition of the sebaceous glands. The lit- 
 tle channels by which the oily sebum of the skin reaches the sur-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 299 
 
 face becomes plugged up with that substance, and the comedones 
 end on a level with the surface, becoming blackened by dirt. 
 Sometimes blackheads are in such great clusters as to form dis- 
 tinct bands upon the forehead or distinctly blacken the sides 
 and tip of the nose. 
 
 Although blackheads themselves are, relatively speaking, a 
 trivial affection, and denote nothing more than a local disorder 
 of the skin, yet the distended condition of the oil-ducts proves 
 enfeebled health. A physician often finds that the skin affection 
 depends upon disorder of some internal organ. If the black- 
 heads are associated with some derangement of the general 
 health, that condition must necessarily be corrected. The points 
 should not be roughly treated by squeezing or other exacerba- 
 tion. Washing twice daily with soap and water, followed by 
 friction with a rough towel, is beneficial. The soap should be 
 bland, either plain or medicated with chamomile, salicylic acid, 
 or some other detergent substances. An ointment containing the 
 same ingredients may be used with advantage. 
 
 The following preparations are useful : 
 
 Thymol 10 grains. 
 
 .boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Distilled water of witch-hazel 4 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Sponge over the surface once or twice a day. 
 
 Salicylic acid 30 grains. 
 
 Balsam of Peru 2 drachms. 
 
 Lard 6 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the affected part every night. 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia 1 drachm. 
 
 Simple cerate 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Apply at bedtime. 
 
 RED NOSE AND CHEEKS. 
 
 This is another affection of the face. It is much more com- 
 mon in men than in women. It is most frequently produced by 
 too great indulgence in eating. The disease is, in medical lan- 
 guage, known as rosacea. Its usual site is on the nose, but it 
 may attack other parts of the face. It has great tendency to
 
 3OO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 become chronic, and, if it completes its full course, is divided into 
 three stages. Even in its mildest form it constitutes a serious 
 blemish, while in its last stages, happily rare, it becomes a re- 
 pulsive deformity. 
 
 In the beginning the affected part the tip of the nose, for 
 example is simply red. The redness disappears under pres- 
 sure, but returns at once when the pressure is removed. This 
 redness is caused by the engorgement of the blood-vessels of the 
 part. In this condition the sebaceous glands are generally stim- 
 ulated to excessive activity, and the consequence is that the nose, 
 in addition to being red, has an oily appearance. If the second 
 stage be reached, the blood-vessels become so gorged that they 
 stand out as red lines. The engorgement is so great that the 
 blood-vessels assume a twisted look. In the third and last stage, 
 which, as previously remarked is rare, the whole nose is dense, 
 enlarged, and knobby. This is the condition described by 
 Shakespeare when he makes Fluellen say of Bardolph, "His face 
 is all bubuckles and welks and knobs and flames of fire, and his 
 lip ploughs at his nose, and it is like a coal of fire, sometimes 
 blue and sometimes red." 
 
 Rosacea may be produced by anaemia, chronic disorders of 
 the stomach or liver, by a rheumatic or gouty constitution, or by 
 the use of cosmetics, paints, and irritating lotions. In some 
 cases it follows acne. 
 
 Constitutional treatment should be undertaken under a 
 physician's care. Rich food should be avoided. For outward 
 application the ointment of the oleate of bismuth applied thrice 
 daily is good. When the nose is oily, a dusting powder is pre- 
 ferable to the ointment. It may be the powdered oleate of zinc, 
 or the subnitrate of bismuth, or equal parts of each. Powdered 
 starch with arrowroot, dusted over the ointment, will disguise 
 its greasiness and assist its action. The following ointment is 
 a good one:
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 3OI 
 
 Carbonate of zinc 1 drachm. 
 
 Powdered arrow-root 1 drachm. 
 
 . \mmoniated mercury 10 grains. 
 
 Simple ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Or a soothing lotion may be employed, of: 
 
 Acetate of lead 10 grains. 
 
 Acetate of zinc 10 grains. 
 
 Rose-water 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Other combinations which are of service in this affection 
 are: 
 
 Hydrochlorate of hydrastine 1 grain. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 6 drachms. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Tannic acid 10 grains. 
 
 Sublimed sulphur % drachm. 
 
 Carbonate of zinc 1 drachm. 
 
 Lard 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 For the second stage of the disease, the extract and the tinc- 
 ture of witch-hazel externally in the form of a lotion or an oint- 
 ment are efficacious for reducing the caliber and the twisted con- 
 dition of the engorged blood-vessels. A method which is often 
 of service consists in brushing collodion along the course of the 
 enlarged blood-vessels. The vapor-bath is valuable for both the 
 first and second stages of the disease. 
 
 The electricity of the galvanic battery is very useful in 
 rosacea. 
 
 TETTER ; SALT-RHEUM ; MILK-CRUST. 
 
 The most common disease of the skin is eczema, which, in 
 popular language, is often called "tetter," "moist tetter," or "salt- 
 rheum." Eczema is rather more prevalent in the male than in 
 the female sex, but it may attack either at any age. It not in- 
 frequently appears upon the face and neck. This disease includes 
 about one-third of the sufferers from all diseases of the skin. 
 It is not always easy to identify, because it assumes great diver-
 
 3<D2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sity of forms. Even the same case of it may present various 
 phases. In some cases it begins with a simple redness of the 
 surface, which subsequently becomes moist, and finally dry and 
 thickened. In other cases it manifests itself in the form of 
 little pimples, pustules, or water-blisters, seated upon a red- 
 dened surface and accompanied by heat, swelling, smarting, burn- 
 ing, or itching. Often the blisters become ruptured and their 
 contents, escaping, dry upon the surface and form crusts. Itching 
 is a very constant symptom, varying in intensity from slight 
 annoyance to intolerable distress. 
 
 Eczema may be either acute or chronic. In the former con- 
 dition its action is violent and rapid. The heat and swelling are 
 conspicuous, and there is usually a good deal of discharge from 
 the rupture of the water-blisters "weeping," it is very graph- 
 ically called. In some cases the scarf-skin is destroyed and the 
 raw and red true skin is exposed. Such an attack usually sub- 
 sides within a week, but it leaves a tendency to succeeding out- 
 breaks. It may pass almost imperceptibly into the chronic form 
 of the disorder. 
 
 The manifestations of chronic eczema are like those of the 
 acute kind, but less severe. In addition, the skin gradually be- 
 comes thickened and often cracked. The itching is generally 
 great. Eczema of the face exhibits the characteristics of the 
 disease as just described. It may, besides, excite inflammation 
 of the mucous membrane covering the eyeball and cause the eye 
 to be bloodshot. The general surface becomes disfigured and 
 the ravages of the disease may be aggravated by scratching. The 
 disease is subject to a relapse from the slightest cause. If the 
 eruption confines itself to the nose, it may, in time, excite 
 rosacea. 
 
 Persons of light complexion and hair are more liable to 
 have eczema than those of a temperament indicated by oppo- 
 site attributes. It is usually an hereditary affection, depending 
 upon some constitutional cause. Gouty and rheumatic subjects 
 are more liable than others to its attacks. It may be caused
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 303 
 
 by disease of the lungs, heart, blood-vessels, liver, kidneys, and 
 by diabetes mellitus. Dyspepsia is a common cause of the dis- 
 ease. It may also be brought about by derangement of the ner- 
 vous system. Sometimes it alternates with attacks of asthma 
 or bronchitis. Among local causes may be mentioned atmos- 
 pheric changes, contact of chemical irritants, as in poisonously- 
 dyed drygoods, etc. 
 
 The treatment of eczema, must be addressed both to the 
 system and to the part affected. It is essential that the exciting 
 cause of the disease be removed, and therefore careful medical 
 investigation is indispensable. According to circumstances, al- 
 terative and tonic medicines are demanded. Rheumatic or gouty 
 conditions may be the underlying fact of the eruption. Diet and 
 thorough hygienic practice must be observed. Plethoric persons 
 and dyspeptic ones need different diet; the former a restrained 
 one; the latter the fullest. Certain foods and drinks, however, 
 should be avoided by all patients. Among these may be men- 
 tioned strong coffee or tea, alcoholic fluids, pork, cheese, and 
 shell-fish. Rest, sleep, bathing, suitable clothing, good air, ven- 
 tilation, sunshine, regular exercise, will be of the greatest assist- 
 ance in the treatment of the disease. 
 
 Appropriate local applications are of material assistance. 
 The remedies, however, which are suitable at one stage of the 
 disease may be injurious at another. Acute eczema is usually 
 best treated by bland applications, while the chronic variety gen- 
 erally requires stimulation. If crusts are present, they may be 
 removed by saturating the surface with an oily preparation. It 
 is prudent to begin with a mild remedy or remedies upon a re- 
 stricted surface, and if the application proves beneficial it can be 
 extended over a larger one, and, if desirable, gradually made 
 stronger. Starch-water or an infusion of chamomile often serves 
 well in acute eczema. Equal parts of lime-water, glycerine, and 
 water make a good dressing. A solution of a drachm or two of 
 borax or of bicarbonate of soda, in a pint of water, makes a 
 lotion from which good results may be expected. A valuable 
 prescription is composed as follows:
 
 304 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 4 drachms. 
 
 Spirit of camphor 1 drachm. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Lime-water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 When the surface is very red, moist and weeping, dry 
 powders are often more effective than are liquid applications. 
 Among those which may be applied are starch, arrowroot, rice, 
 buckwheat, lycopodium, carbonate of magnesia, oxide of zinc, 
 carbonate of zinc, oleate of zinc, and subnitrate of bismuth. If 
 there is much burning and itching, a little camphor, in addition, 
 will be of service. The following combination is beneficial : 
 
 Powdered arrow-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered oleate of zinc 2 drachma. 
 
 Powdered camphor % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Any of the powders mentioned may be freely dusted upon 
 the inflamed skin. It is a good practice to apply first a sooth- 
 ing ointment, which makes the powder more adherent to the 
 skin. 
 
 In some cases ointments are more advantageous than pow- 
 ders. They remove crusts as well as acting remedially upon the 
 inflammation. Excellent bland ointments are composed of a 
 drachm of oxide of zinc or of carbonate of zinc, oxide of bis- 
 muth, or of subnitrate of bismuth, to the ounce of lard or cold 
 cream. Cucumber-ointment and cucumber-cream are also excel- 
 lent soothing applications. Some good formulae for ointments 
 are: 
 
 Carbonate of zinc 1 drachm. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of chamomile 10 minims. 
 
 Cold cream 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Calomel 10 grains. 
 
 Powdered starch 1 drachm. 
 
 Powdered camphor 20 grains. 
 
 Powdered oxide of zinc 1 drachm. 
 
 Benzoated lard 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 305 
 
 Instead of ointments, oils may often be employed with 
 admirable effect. Olive, linseed, sweet almond, and palm oil, 
 either alone or in combination, can be recommended. Equal 
 parts of olive-oil and lime-water are serviceable. 
 
 In most cases of chronic eczema, bathing affords much 
 relief. Vapor-baths, either plain or medicated, soften the skin, 
 relieve the itching, and are of great assistance to other remedies 
 employed. So is also the judicious use of medicated soaps. Tar 
 is one of the best applications for the chronic form of eczema. 
 Instead of plain tar, the more elegant preparations, the oil of 
 cade and oil of white birch are preferable. An ointment of 
 average strength may be made, as follows : 
 
 Oil of cade 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of verbena 5 minims. 
 
 Benzoated lard . . . 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 The oil of white birch is very acceptably used in the form 
 of a lotion according to the following formula : 
 
 Oil of white birch % ounce. 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 drachm. 
 
 Cologne 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Itching may often be alleviated by the use of the compound 
 tincture of benzoin, a solution of benzoic acid in cologne, or 
 lotions containing camphor, etc. 
 
 TETTER IN THE INFANT. 
 
 Infants and very young children are very liable to attacks of 
 tetter. It is the commonest disease of childhood. On account of 
 the delicacy of the skin at this early age, tetter differs in children, 
 in some respects, from the same disease among adults. Diminu- 
 tion in the quantity or alteration in the quality of the mother's 
 milk may occasion tetter in an infant. Digestive disturbances 
 in very young children may also occasion an attack of it. Heat 
 and cold, insufficient clothing, woolen garments, or the dye in 
 
 clothes may produce it. The services of a physician are indis- 
 
 20
 
 306 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 pensable at the earliest moment for infants and very young 
 children. No amount of medical knowledge possessed by the lay- 
 man is sufficient to meet their rapid changes. Their lives may 
 be snuffed out in a few hours, or again, as in Mother Goose, 
 where the old woman goes out to get a coffin for her supposedly 
 dead dog, you find them up and about and full of life. But in- 
 asmuch as they are so susceptible, the only way for the wise 
 to do, when children are ill, is to get a physician, and get him 
 quickly. 
 
 REDNESS OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Patches of a rosy-red color often make their appearance 
 upon the skin, especially upon that of infants and very young 
 children. They are very liable also to occur on the tender skin 
 of young women of nervous temperament. The affection is 
 erythema, which means red or rose-colored. The patches often 
 appear very suddenly, and may be numerous and of any size and 
 shape. They may stay but a few hours, although, in some cases, 
 they remain for two or three days. Red patches are generally 
 occasioned by deranged condition of the digestive system. Red 
 patches of similar appearance may, however, be caused by ex- 
 ternal injury, and especially by the action of heat. These differ 
 from the sort caused by internal conditions in being limited 
 strictly to the place injured and in being more persistent than 
 the others. These may be caused by the irritation from dyes and 
 from various mineral and vegetable substances. That form of 
 erythema which is symptomatic of disturbance of the stomach 
 or of the bowels disappears as soon as the cause is removed, and 
 requires no further treatment than the administration of a laxa- 
 tive medicine. The form which depends upon external injury 
 is relieved by the application of a soothing wash or an ointment. 
 
 BURNS AND SCALDS. 
 
 Burns come from dry heat, scalds from moist heat. In a 
 severe form of burn the skin is actually destroyed, and some- 
 times deeper parts. In an extreme case the destruction pene-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 307 
 
 trates to the muscular layers and even to the bones. If life be not 
 extinguished, the dead tissues are cast off by a process of inflam- 
 mation which begins somewhere from the third to the fifth day 
 after the injury and continues for about two weeks. Deep 
 burns occasion severe shock to the nervous system and are fol- 
 lowed by extreme prostration. They are very dangerous to 
 children, to aged persons, and to the debilitated. A burn that 
 involves a third of the surface of the body is always fatal. 
 
 In treatment the first object should be to relieve from the 
 shock and pain. Laudanum, in a dose of from ten to twenty- 
 five drops, for an adult, should be at once administered. When 
 the pain is severe or agonizing, the dose must be increased, even 
 to the extent of forty drops for an adult. If laudanum cannot 
 be had at once, it is best to give a drink of hot ginger-tea or a 
 hot whiskey or brandy punch. The aromatic spirits of ammonia 
 may be given in such a case in the dose of one or two teaspoon- 
 fuls well diluted with water. 
 
 After quickly but gently removing the clothing of the suf- 
 ferer, he should be placed upon the softest possible bed. Loose 
 pieces of flesh are cut away and the burnt parts covered with 
 olive oil and dusted with some bland powder such as the sub- 
 nitrate of bismuth. Equal parts of linseed oil and lime-water 
 make a very good dressing. After the oil has been applied to 
 the burnt surface, it should be covered with a layer of soft cot- 
 ton lint. When large blisters form upon the burnt surface, they 
 should be opened with a sharp knife or pair of scissors and their 
 contents allowed to escape. The covering of the blisters, which 
 is the scarf-skin, must not be removed, but the blisters be 
 merely punctured. After the blisters have collapsed, the sur- 
 face should be cleansed with a very weak solution of table-salt 
 and water. One of the best dressings is gauze impregnated with 
 boric acid or with iodoform. Several layers of this gauze are 
 placed over the burned parts and covered with oil-silk, the whole 
 kept in place with a bandage. The dressing need not be changed 
 for one or two weeks. Iodoform is particularly valuable for the
 
 308 . HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 relief of pain. The only objection to iodoform is its odor. One 
 of the substitutes for it is known as europhen, a light yellow 
 powder having a slight but not unpleasant smell. Ulcers left 
 as a consequence of burns can often be healed by dusting them 
 over with a fine powder of Peruvian bark, called by the drug- 
 gists red cinchona bark. 
 
 It is necessary to be on one's guard against blood-poisoning, 
 excessive inflammation, ulceration, and the formation of vicious 
 cicatrices. Adjacent surfaces must be kept apart, and extensive 
 burns necessitate skin-grafting. Great deformity and maim- 
 ing are sometimes consequent upon extensive burns. To avoid 
 these results is the anxious endeavor of the surgeon. For this 
 reason he carefully separates adjoining surfaces, as, for ex- 
 ample, the arm or the leg is separated from the body by means 
 of softly padded splints. 
 
 In surgical skin-grafting minute pieces of skin are removed 
 from a healthy person and laid with their under surfaces down- 
 ward upon an ulcer, narrow strips of pure rubber being placed 
 over these grafts to retain them in place. Over the rubber are 
 placed, successively, a compress wet with a weak solution of 
 salt and water, a pad of absorbent cotton, and a bandage. An 
 outer dressing of plaster of Paris is useful in the case of children, 
 or in that where the raw surface is near a joint. The dressing 
 requiring readjusting every day or two, the part is then washed 
 with a weak and warm solution of salt and water. Grafts are 
 deposited about half an inch from one another and from the 
 borders of the ulcer. Each of them forms a center from which 
 healing extends. This process accelerates healing, but it is one 
 which can be successfully undertaken only by a competent 
 surgeon. 
 
 CHILBLAINS. 
 
 Extreme cold as well as extreme heat is capable of produc- 
 ing inflammation of the skin and even of the tissues beneath the 
 skin. As the skin is so richly supplied with blood, healthy per-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 309 
 
 sons can bear exposure to cold for a certain period without ill 
 effects, but when the temperature is very low and the exposure 
 much prolonged, chilblains, sometimes called frostbite, may 
 result. Persons whose blood is thin and who are consequently 
 weak, are easily affected in this way by low temperature. More- 
 over, a part that has been once frostbitten remains unusually 
 susceptible to cold. The parts generally attacked are the ex- 
 tremities of the body, where the circulation is most feeble, the 
 hands, feet, tip of the nose, ears, and cheeks. In the first class 
 of the affection, mere redness of skin is produced; in the sec- 
 ond, blisters ; and in the third, the skin, with more or less deeper 
 tissue, is destroyed. 
 
 In a mild form of frostbite the skin is, in the beginning, pale 
 and nearly without sensation. Coming into a warm atmosphere, 
 the blood-vessels dilate and the surface becomes red or purplish. 
 After prolonged and intense exposure blisters are formed which 
 may be followed by ulceration. The most severe form follows 
 long exposure to intense and moist cold. Drunkards, owing 
 to the fact of their languid circulation, are peculiarly liable to 
 be severely attacked. Large blood-blisters come upon the skin, 
 and the underlying tissue mortifies. Sometimes no blisters ap- 
 pear, the affected surface is white or livid, cold, and sensibility 
 is abolished, followed by more or less mortification. 
 
 It is a popular practice to rub the part vigorously with 
 snow or cold water in order to restore the circulation. If, how- 
 ever, the part has been actually frozen, the application of warm 
 water is to be recommended. Afterwards, if the circulation be 
 languid, and the skin unbroken, stimulating applications may be 
 made to the part. A mixture of equal parts of tincture of 
 myrrh and the compound tincture of benzoin is a very good 
 lotion. Half an ounce of spirit of chloroform, added to an 
 ounce and a half of the compound tincture of benzoin, also makes 
 a very good application. Painting the part with tincture of 
 iodine is often useful, if it be used not too freely at one time 
 or at too frequent intervals. Thin-blooded persons should be
 
 3IO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 given a preparation of iron, should be warmly clad, and should 
 avoid sudden and prolonged exposure to cold. If a person be 
 found almost perished from cold, hot applications should be 
 made all over the body, or better still, he should be put in a 
 hot bath, covered with hot blankets upon emerging, be given 
 hot drinks, and be rubbed briskly. The following lotions may 
 be recommended as useful for chilblains : 
 
 Solution of subacetate of lead 1 ounce. 
 
 Laudanum 1 ounce. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This liquid is frequently sponged upon the surface. 
 
 Oil of camphor 20 drops. 
 
 Balsam of Peru ." . 1 drachm. 
 
 Suet 1 ounca. 
 
 Mix. These ingredients are rubbed together to form an ointment which 
 is continually used upon the affected part. 
 
 When ulceration has taken place the surface may be treated- 
 with an ointment composed as follows: 
 
 Balsam of Peru 1 drachm. 
 
 Nitrate of mercury ointment 2 drachms. 
 
 Carbonate of zinc '. 1 drachm. 
 
 Cold cream 1 ounce. 
 
 If mortification takes place, the dead parts should be cut 
 away by scissors or knife. Upon the living surface, exposed by 
 this operation, a mildly stimulating ointment is spread. A good 
 preparation is: 
 
 Boric acid . 2 ounces. 
 
 Oxide of zinc ointment 6 ounces. 
 
 Cold cream 6 ounces. 
 
 ULCERS. 
 
 Ulcers were once defined by a great medical authority as 
 mortification in miniature. They are the result of destructive 
 inflammation. The death of the tissue attacked may be due 
 either to the severity of the inflammatory process or to depravity 
 of the blood. Ulcers may originate from either mechanical or 
 chemical irritation, or from various diseases. They develop 
 rapidly in some instances, and are then called acute. In other
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 3! I 
 
 cases, their onset being slow, they are known as chronic ulcers. 
 Chronic ulcers occur most frequently upon the leg, in conse- 
 quence of the pressure of varicose veins. They may, however, 
 appear upon any part of the body. They may be single, or a 
 number of them may occur at the same time in different regions. 
 
 Rest is an essential in the treatment of ulcers. If the disease 
 is acute the patient must remain in bed. Internal remedies must 
 depend upon the cause of the outbreak and the condition of the 
 patient. If fever be present, a purgative medicine should be 
 given. The citrate of magnesia or Epsom salts is a very good 
 medicine for the purpose. Sweet spirits of nitre, in teaspoonful 
 doses, may be given every two hours, with the neutral mixture, 
 the dose of which is a tablespoonful. The neutral mixture can 
 be prepared at home by neutralizing fresh lemon-juice with bi- 
 carbonate of potassium. It reduces fever, moderates thirst, and 
 allays nausea. If a specific disease is the cause of the ulcer, the 
 internal remedies must, of course, be directed to the constitu- 
 tional disorder. In such a case the ulcer is merely symptomatic 
 and will heal upon the disappearance of the cause which gave 
 it birth. 
 
 The affected part should not only be kept at rest, it must 
 also, when possible, be kept in an elevated position, in order to 
 avoid accumulation of blood there. It is useful to bathe the 
 ulcer from time to time with hot water. When the ulcer's ac- 
 tion is so slow that the patient goes about with difficulty, 
 change of climate will often produce good results. 
 
 The distilled water of witch-hazel is a good application 
 for an ulcerated surface. Most cases of chronic leg-ulcer are 
 benefited by compression by means of a muslin, preferably a 
 rubber bandage. In many cases nothing will do so much good as 
 light incisions into" the raw surface and the consequent bleed- 
 ing, promoted by placing the leg in a pail of water as hot as it 
 can be borne. The loss of blood relieves the engorgement of the 
 capillary blood-vessels and assists the work of repair. Vari- 
 ous medicaments are applied, either with or without compres-
 
 312 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sion, to chronic ulcers. Among the many useful applications are 
 balsam of Peru, iodoform, aristol, a mixture of camphor and 
 salicylic acid, benzoic acid, benzoate of bismuth, subiodide of 
 bismuth. Some of these drugs in the form of a powder are 
 dusted upon the ulcerated parts; others are made into solutions 
 with water and alcohol, or, rubbed up with some fatty substance, 
 form ointments. The following are serviceable formulae: 
 
 Powdered Peruvian bark *. 3 drachma. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 3 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Use as a powder. 
 
 Subiodide of bismuth 1 drachm. 
 
 Powdered cinchona bark 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Use as a powder. 
 
 Tincture of witch-hazel % ounce. 
 
 Hydrate of chloral '. 1 drachm. 
 
 Water : 3^ ounces. 
 
 Mix. Saturate a piece of old muslin or of lint in the solution and apply 
 to the ulcer. 
 
 Iodoform 2 drachms. 
 
 Balsam of Peru 2 drachms. 
 
 Lanolin 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. For old ulcers apply on absorbent cotton. 
 
 Carbonate of zinc '. 1 drachm. 
 
 Creasote 5 drops. 
 
 Powdered starch 1 drachm. 
 
 Carbonate of lead ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. An excellent soothing ointment for acute ulcers. 
 
 Powdered ergot 2 drachms. 
 
 Powdered chlorate of potassium y 2 drachm. 
 
 Lard 1 ounce. 
 
 For chronic ulcer. 
 
 BOILS. 
 
 A boil is an area of inflammation situated in the true skin 
 and the loose cellular tissue beneath it, having a dead center, 
 popularly known as "the core," and ending its activity with the 
 formation of matter and suppuration. The ordinary boil is 
 attended with throbbing and pain. In the case of what are called 
 "blind boils," there is no formation of matter nor suppuration. 
 Boils often come in crops, new ones making their appearance
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 313 
 
 as the old ones are going. Any part of the body may be at- 
 tacked by them, although they exhibit preference for certain 
 localities, which are the face, neck, breast, armpits, and the ex- 
 tremities of the body. They are indicative of some disorder of 
 the system, sometimes of the digestion. They occur frequently in 
 cases of diabetes, scrofula, consumption, gout r rheumatism, etc. 
 When predisposition to them exists, a slight irritation of the skin 
 may lead to an attack. 
 
 A change of air often proves useful in their treatment. A 
 sufferer from them needs fresh air and plain, nutritious diet. If 
 depressed physically, such tonic remedies as iron and codliver- 
 oil are needed. Old people are benefited by the moderate use 
 of malt or spirituous liquors. Young people are often improved 
 by the occasional administration of a purgative. When the 
 boils are appearing in successive crops it is useful to give the 
 sufferer from five to ten grains of the chlorate of potassium, 
 dissolved in water, three or four times a day. If he be pale, a 
 preparation of iron is judiciously added. A tablespoonful or 
 two of yeast before each meal is thought to be efficacious. 
 
 Compression of boils will often, in their formative stage, 
 check their development. Covering the part with soap-plaster 
 tends to expedite the boils coming to a head. Sometimes a 
 touch of lunar caustic on the head of the boil will cause it to 
 disappear. A wash composed of equal parts of tincture of 
 iodine, tincture of arnica, and camphorated alcohol, will, in 
 some instances, prevent the formation of new boils. Other means 
 used for the same purpose are saturating the skin with a solution 
 of salicylic acid and using a solution of two and a half drachms 
 of chloral to ten drachms of glycerine and ten of water. Bella- 
 donna ointment, or a mixture of equal parts of belladonna and 
 mercurial ointment will sometimes accomplish the object. 
 
 If efforts to prevent a boil from coming to a head are a 
 
 * failure, the tension and pain in it are relieved by covering the 
 
 swelling with a solution of one part of laudanum to seven parts 
 
 of leadwater, with diluted tincture of witch-hazel, or the tine-
 
 314 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ture of arnica. If matter begins to form, a warm poultice is 
 useful. As soon as it may be ascertained that the swelling con- 
 tains abundance of matter, a free incision into it should be 
 made. 
 
 CARBUNCLE. 
 
 The formation of a carbuncle is usually accompanied by a 
 chill, fever, pain, weakness, loss of appetite, and sickness at 
 the stomach. The skin eventually ruptures at numerous points, 
 from which blood-stained matter escapes. When the central 
 portion of the carbuncle dies, it must either be discharged piece- 
 meal, or, involving the destruction of a large area of skin, come 
 away entire. The discharge of the core leaves a large, ulcerated 
 cavity, which fills up slowly and leaves a considerable scar. The 
 back of the neck is a favorite location for carbuncles. The car- 
 buncle is dangerous to old people, often causing death. It occurs 
 more frequently in summer than in winter, and in men than in 
 women. 
 
 In a carbuncular attack the system must be supported by good 
 nursing, nutritious diet, and stimulants. As medicines for it, 
 the tincture of iron and quinine are most valuable. About half 
 a teaspoonful of iron may be given in a wineglassful of water 
 every two or three hours, and about nine grains of quinine in 
 three doses during the day. It is generally necessary to admin- 
 ister an opiate in order to mitigate the pain of the carbuncle. 
 From twenty to thirty drops of laudanum may be given to an 
 adult, and this dose repeated every third, fourth, or sixth hour, 
 according to the effect observed. It is always necessary to 
 closely watch the effect of laudanum. If it allays suffering 
 without producing too much drowsiness, no danger need be 
 apprehended. When great drowsiness is caused and the pupil 
 of the eye becomes very small and does not enlarge when the 
 eyelid is held down for a moment or two and then suddenly lifted, 
 the dose of laudanum should not be renewed until decided pajn 
 recurs and the pupil has resumed its natural size.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 315 
 
 In the early stage of the disease, cold compresses, or even 
 ice, are beneficial. Camphor and phenol (carbolic acid), equal 
 parts, is a useful external remedy. So is the diluted extract of 
 witch-hazel. A paste much employed by Professor Leloir in the 
 early stage of both boils and carbuncles is thus composed : 
 
 Mercury 20 parts. 
 
 Turpentine 20 parts. 
 
 Lead plaster 50 parts. 
 
 Resin 10 parts. 
 
 Carbolic acid 7 parts. 
 
 Extract of belladonna 10 parts. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Some of this paste is kept constantly applied for the pur- 
 pose of limiting or checking the formation of matter. 
 
 As soon as matter forms, warm poultices are to be applied 
 and the swelling may be freely incised by a surgeon. It is then 
 washed out and dressed with a mixture of one part of carbolic 
 acid to twenty parts of olive oil, with balsam of Peru or 
 iodoform. 
 
 NETTLE-RASH OR HIVES. 
 
 Urticaria is the medical name of nettle-rash. Among ex- 
 ternal causes of the disease of nettle-rash may be cited contact 
 with the plant called the nettle, with the star-fish, the jelly-fish, 
 the bites of mosquitoes, or other insects, coarse flannel under- 
 wear, some kinds of dyed underwear. 
 
 The internal cause of nettle-rash is, in a majority of cases, 
 an irritation of the digestive system. Certain edibles are par- 
 ticularly apt to cause an outbreak of it : shell-fish, sausage, mush- 
 rooms, oatmeal, rice, berries, and buttermilk. Some drugs also 
 produce it. It may be merely symptomatic of some organic or 
 constitutional disorder. The disease appears on the skin in the 
 form of wheals or hives varying in size from that of a split pea 
 to that of a pigeon's egg. The patient suffers from sensations of 
 burning, stinging, tingling, and itching. A peculiarity of the 
 disease is the abrupt manner in which it appears, disappears, or 
 transfers itself from one to another portion of the body. As a
 
 316 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 general rule, an attack lasts for only a few hours, but there are 
 cases in which it becomes chronic and may remain for years. In 
 weakly or unhealthy children the eruption is more like a pimple 
 than a wheal. In some cases, blisters, as well as wheals, form, or 
 the wheals become large blisters. Some are distinguished by the 
 immense size of the wheals. A variety is complicated with an- 
 other disease, and haemorrhages occur in the substance of the 
 wheals. The eruption is sometimes intermittent, occurring at 
 regular periods of every two or three days, and again on a cer- 
 tain day of every week. The disease may attack persons of any 
 age, but it is most frequent in children. 
 
 It is good practice to empty the stomach and bowels. If 
 an attack comes on soon after a meal, an emetic will often be 
 followed by immediate relief. If some hours have passed \he 
 same result may be secured by a dose of castor-oil, Epsom salts, 
 or Rochelle salts. For a day or two the diet should be very 
 simple, consisting of bread and milk, with soup or broth. Al- 
 coholic liquors should be avoided. If the stomach be irritable 
 the bicarbonate of sodium in from one- to five-grain doses, dis- 
 solved in water and given every second hour, or the subnitrate 
 of bismuth, of the same dose in mucilage of gum-arabic, or 
 stirred into water, will often prove effectual in reducing the irri- 
 tation. If there is a tendency to repeated attacks the following 
 prescription is good : 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia % ounce. 
 
 Sulphate of iron 12 grains. 
 
 Dilute sulphuric acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Water enough to make 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Of this solution two teaspoonfuls are given three times a day in 
 plenty of water, taken through a glass tube or a straw, cleaning the teeth 
 afterward. 
 
 Alkaline mineral waters are also of service. If the di- 
 gestion is habitually disordered, it is advisable to administer after 
 each meal a powder consisting of ten grains of pepsin with one 
 grain of ipecacuanha. Obstinate cases are benefited by the 
 administration of from half a drachm to a drachm of sulphur- 
 ous acid freely diluted with water three times a day.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 317 
 
 When nettle-rash is persistent the administration of ten 
 drops of fluid extract of jaborandi, three times a day, will some- 
 times prove very effective. It allays the itching of the disease 
 and keeps the skin slightly moist, which, in chronic cases, is 
 apt to be dry and harsh. The clothing should be of the lightest 
 and loosest kind. The skin may be sponged with a lotion or cov- 
 ered by an ointment. For sponging, cold water is sometimes all 
 that is needed. Equal parts of vinegar and water may allay 
 the itching, or one part of whiskey to two of water. A hot 
 mustard foot-bath has been known to succeed. A drachm of 
 bicarbonate of sodium or a drachm and a half of bicarbonate of 
 potassium, dissolved in water, makes a good lotion, or a drachm 
 of creosote to a pint of water. The following lotion is a good 
 one: 
 
 Carbolic acid (phenol) % drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 4 drachms. 
 
 Camphor water 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Another good lotion is five grains of menthol dissolved in 
 one ounce of water. Sweet spirits of nitre either plain or 
 diluted with water is sometimes efficacious; also a mixture of 
 one part of ether to two parts of lukewarm water. Thirty 
 grains of chloral or ten drops of chloroform to an ounce of 
 water, or a drachm of alcohol and four ounces of water make 
 good lotions. 
 
 Sometimes relief may be obtained from oxide of zinc oint- 
 ment applied to the skin. Carbolic acid, menthol, cocaine, and 
 other substances may be made into useful ointments for local 
 application. 
 
 PRICKLY HEAT. 
 
 In medicine, prickly heat is called miliaria. It is an affection 
 from atmospheric heat, and one which especially attacks children 
 and fat persons. It generally appears in the form of numerous 
 small, bright-red pimples. In some cases, minute blisters, in- 
 stead of pimples, appear.
 
 318 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Simple treatment is effective in this affection. The clothes 
 worn should be lig"ht, meats and spices should be avoided, and 
 lemonade be drunk with advantage. If the sufferer be debili- 
 tated, iron should be taken. Cold water, freely used, is the best 
 external application, the skin being then dried with a soft cloth 
 and covered with a bland dusting powder, such as the subnitrate 
 of bismuth or the oxide of zinc. If itching is unusually severe, 
 it may be relieved by sponging the parts with a lotion contain- 
 ing three drops of carbolic acid to an ounce of water. Pepper- 
 mint-water or menthol, five grains to the ounce of water, are 
 also useful Creasote water, a drachm to the pint of water, 
 makes a good application. Sometimes ointments are preferable 
 to lotions. 
 
 IVY-POISONING. 
 
 Certain varieties of ivy and sumach excite in some persons 
 an active inflammation of the skin. It is well to know that the 
 poisonous ivy has only three leaves, whereas the five-leaved 
 variety is harmless. The berries of the poisonous sumach are 
 white, whereas the red-berry variety is harmless. Some persons 
 are so susceptible to the poison of the ivy that they can receive 
 it through the atmosphere. 
 
 The inflammation from ivy-poisoning is reduced by soothing 
 and slightly astringent lotions. One of the best of these is 
 made by adding from a half to one drachm of the fluid extract 
 of grind elia robust a to four or six ounces of water. A strong 
 decoction of chestnut-leaves is another useful application. De- 
 coctions of white or of black oak-bark, alder-bark, or geranium 
 maculatum are also serviceable. Keeping the parts covered with 
 a solution of six drachms of hyposulphite of sodium to the quart 
 of water affords relief. Lime-water, lead-water, and laudanum 
 diluted with tincture of witch-hazel, a solution of boric acid or of 
 borax, or a solution of bicarbonate of sodium combined with 
 borax, ice, and ice-water, and distilled witch-hazel-water are like- 
 wise good preparations.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 319 
 
 PARASITES. 
 
 There is a large class of diseases produced by parasites 
 which frequent the body of man. Some of these lowly organ- 
 isms are of animal and others of fungus origin. The animal 
 parasites that dwell upon the skin and excite disease are the itch- 
 mite and the louse. 
 
 ITCH. 
 
 Itch is a contagious affection, as the insect which causes it 
 is transferable from one person to another. It is frequent in 
 camps, ships, schools, tenement-houses, and other places where 
 many persons are congregated. Owing to general attention to 
 cleanliness in this country it is not prevalent here. It is preva- 
 lent in Germany, Austria, France, Norway, and Sweden. This 
 itch, or scabies, as it is medically called, is recognizable by the 
 presence on the skin of many hard and soft, red and white pim- 
 ples, together with blisters. It attacks by preference certain 
 regions of the body, being most common between the fingers, 
 front and back of the fingers, upon the back of the hands, the 
 backs of the arms, the armpits, the breast, the feet, and the toes. 
 The mite is from one-sixtieth to one-seventieth of an inch in 
 length. 
 
 Old cases of itch are attended with considerable discoloration 
 of the skin. The burrows which the mites make appear as dotted, 
 slightly raised lines, whitish or darkish in color, depending upon 
 the occupation of the sufferer. The pimples and blisters occa- 
 sioned by irritation from scratching for relief resembles those 
 of moist tetter, but their occurrence only 'in the situations men- 
 tioned serves to distinguish them from those due to moist tetter. 
 
 The treatment of itch is directed to the destruction of the 
 parasite and the alleviation of the irritation which it has caused. 
 Sulphur is one of the most efficacious remedies, and is adminis- 
 tered in the form of an ointment, from one-half to two or 
 three drachms of it being mixed with an ounce of lard. One 
 ounce of siorax to two ounces of lard, or storax mixed with an
 
 32O HEALTH AND BEAUfV. 
 
 equal amount of olive oil, makes a good application. One part 
 of carbolic acid (phenol) to fifteen parts of olive-oil is effective 
 and the carbolic acid alleviates the itching as well as destroys the 
 mite. Carbolized oil is serviceable in obstinate cases. The 
 most generally beneficial application is naphthol. It, too, both 
 kills the mite and soothes. For an adult an ointment may be 
 made by mixing half a drachm of naphthol with an ounce of 
 fresh lard or of lanolin. The ointment can be made weaker 
 or stronger in proportion to the age of the sufferer or the sen- 
 sitiveness of the skin. Precede the application of any remedy for 
 itch by a hot bath, of a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, containing 
 four ounces of sulphide of potassium to thirty gallons of water. 
 Three baths of this kind are generally given. When the dis- 
 ease has been extirpated, the clothing should be boiled, in order 
 to destroy any parasites adherent to it. Gloves had better be 
 burned. 
 
 LOUSINESS. 
 
 Lice which infest the head are of a different species from 
 those which attack the body and live in the clothing. The 
 favorite location of those which infest the head is on the back 
 of the head. Debilitated and badly-nourished persons suffer 
 more than others from an attack of head-lice. Body-lice cause 
 white pimples and wheals, and hsemorrhagic spots, and in old 
 severe cases, the skin is, at the places attacked, darkened as well 
 as thickened with a discoloration which is sometimes almost 
 black. There is a third variety, called crab-lice, which infests the 
 generative organs and sometimes even the eyebrows, eyelashes, 
 and armpits. Anyone may, in traveling, incur an attack from 
 lice of the different kinds. 
 
 The most cleanly, easy, and effective way to remove head- 
 lice is by naphthol or corrosive sublimate soap, for it removes 
 not only the insects, but the crusts which they have caused. To 
 get rid of body-lice the clothing that has been worn should be 
 burned, or at least subjected to prolonged boiling, and the body
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 32! 
 
 cleansed by a warm bath and the use of either naphthol or 
 corrosive sublimate soap. That species of insects which fre- 
 quents the parts of the body previously mentioned is destroyed 
 by the same means. 
 
 RINGWORM. 
 
 Ringworm is the common name of a great class of skin- 
 diseases. It is caused by a fungus parasite and can be communi- 
 cated from person to person. As it may affect different parts 
 of the body, its varieties are named in accordance with that 
 fact. There is ringworm of the body, the scalp, the beard, and 
 even of the nails. 
 
 RINGWORM OF THE BODY. 
 
 The disease, when on the body, begins with a small, round, 
 slightly raised spot, slightly scaly on top. As spots enlarge 
 they become round patches. The central portion then fades 
 more or less, leaving a ring of redness surrounding a portion 
 of healthy or comparatively healthy skin. In time, the redness 
 of the center is liable to reappear and repeat the fading process. 
 In this way several concentric rings are formed, and the edges 
 of exterior rings may coalesce. In some cases, ringworms dis- 
 appear spontaneously in the course of a few weeks; in others 
 they continue for an indefinite period. Sometimes the disease 
 disappears during summer and is renewed in winter. When 
 chronic the patches are of irregular shape and size, of a dark 
 red or brownish color, and are covered with small scales. Face, 
 neck, back of the hands and arms, are the favorite sites of ring- 
 worm. When the nails are invaded by the parasite they become 
 dry, thick, and brittle, and either crack or separate in layers. 
 
 For treatment of ringworm, sometimes a few applications of 
 the tincture of iodine is all that is necessary. A drachm of sul- 
 phurous acid to an ounce of alcohol is sometimes used with 
 good effect. An ointment of from twenty to thirty grains of 
 carbolic acid to an ounce of lard ; forty grains of salicylic acid, or 
 
 21
 
 322 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 twenty grains of thymol to an ounce of lard may be used with 
 benefit. Preparations of sulphur are good. The very best ap- 
 plication, however, is an ointment of the oleate of copper. Pure 
 oleate of copper has the power of destroying the ringworm 
 parasite. Free use of water upon the surface must be avoided, 
 for it promotes the growth of the parasite and consequently 
 counteracts the effect of the curative application. A good for- 
 mula where the oleate of copper is used is the following: 
 
 Boric acid . . . 30 grains. 
 
 Oleate of copper 24 grains. 
 
 Lanolin % ounce. 
 
 Mix. If it does not prove strong enough, the amount of oleate of copper 
 can be increased. 
 
 BARBER'S ITCH. 
 
 Another form of ringworm is barber's itch. It neces- 
 sarily affects only adult men and the bearded parts of the face. 
 It may be conveyed by contagion, as, for instance, from ring- 
 worm upon another portion of the body, or from a child afflicted 
 with ringworm of the scalp. The usual way in which, however, 
 it is conveyed, is by contaminated instruments of the barber. 
 It is most common between the twentieth and fortieth years of 
 age. The eruption is of small, round, red, and scaly patches 
 upon the lip, cheek, or chin. After a time, deeper portions of 
 the skin become inflamed by the parasite, and larger pimples 
 are formed, roughening the surface, at last suppurating and 
 discharging their contents as thick yellow crusts. As the dis- 
 ease progresses the hairs lose their polish and become dry and 
 brittle. Finally, loss of hair over a large surface may occur. 
 In mild cases, however, the hairs are unaffected. The disease is 
 of an essentially chronic tendency. 
 
 It is not advisable to clip the beard clos'e, to shave, or to 
 pluck out the hairs by the roots. The last two procedures add 
 to the inflammation. An excellent application for barber's itch 
 is the compound known as the fifty per cent, solution of boro- 
 glyccride. The liquid is mopped on the surface night and morn-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 323 
 
 ing, and rubbed in with the tips of the fingers. Oleate of copper, 
 too, is as efficacious in the treatment of barber's itch as it is in 
 the case of ringworm of the body. The formula for it has 
 been already given in connection with the description of ring- 
 worm of the body. Another good application for barber's itch 
 is thus composed: 
 
 Boric acid 4 drachms. 
 
 Sulphuric ether 5 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol enough to make 20 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 It is a good practice, in order to guard against communicat- 
 ing the disease to other persons, to rub into the beard a solution 
 of thymol, of forty-eight grains to the ounce of olive-oil, or of 
 the oil of sweet almonds. 
 
 RINGWORM OF THE SCALP. 
 
 This description of ringworm of the scalp would appear 
 appropriately in a subsequent chapter devoted to diseases of the 
 hair; but as we are considering the subject of ringworm, it 
 will appear just as appropriately in this place. This kind of 
 ringworm generally begins in the form of a round spot of a 
 grayish or pale red tint, slightly raised and covered with fine 
 scales. In the progress of the disease more or less temporary 
 baldness is produced. There is, in this form of the disease, 
 the same tendency to heal in the center of the eruption, and to 
 form rings of the red and scaly character already discussed. In 
 severe cases nearly all the hair of the head may be lost. In 
 scrofulous children much matter may be produced upon the 
 affected surface, which, drying, leaves the head covered with 
 thick, yellow crusts. 
 
 Ringworm of the scalp is a contagious disease, and often 
 spreads through families, children's asylums, and schools. It is 
 essential, therefore, that the sufferer should be, as far as pos- 
 sible, isolated from companionship. Different rooms must be 
 occupied by sufferers, different brushes, combs, etc., used by
 
 324 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 them, different hats, clothing, etc. The heads of other children 
 near them should be washed daily with a weak solution of borax 
 and alcohol, and then anointed with a mixture of ten grains of thy- 
 mol to one ounce of olive-oil. It is beneficial to sponge the erup- 
 tion every day or two with the alcoholic solution of thymol or 
 borax, and subsequently to add to it the fifty per cent, solution of 
 boroglyccride. In its early stage this treatment alone will often 
 cure the disease. In case, however, that it proves unsuccessful, we 
 may then resort to the oleate of copper as already previously 
 described. A small amount of it should, every night and morn- 
 ing, be rubbed into the diseased surface no water being allowed 
 to come into contact with it. After the subsidence of an epidemic 
 of the disease, in asylum or school, the walls should be white- 
 washed or painted, and the floors washed with a solution of cor- 
 rosive sublimate. The brushes and combs of an asylum should 
 be burned. 
 
 SYCOSIS. 
 
 Sycosis strongly resembles barber's itch in respect of the fact 
 that it attacks the beard. But sycosis is not parasitic and is 
 not contagious. It is associated with some failure of the health. 
 It may follow the use of innutritious food or excesses of various 
 kinds. It occurs sometimes during convalescence from severe 
 attacks of disease, and among those persons who are mentally 
 or physically overworked. It begins with pimples situated 
 around the hair-follicles. These generally become filled with 
 matter, and the hairs become loosened by the process of sup- 
 puration. The skin in the neighborhood of the pimples is hot 
 and swollen. Considerable pain accompanies the eruption. Very 
 often the matter within the white pimples is not discharged. 
 When it is discharged it forms crusts. In the milder cases the 
 pimples stand apart. If the inflammation becomes severe, they 
 coalesce, and the part becomes extremely swollen and the for- 
 mation and discharge of matter sufficient to cause permanent 
 scars and loss of hair.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 325 
 
 The appearance of sycosis is unlike that of barber's itch, 
 from the fact that in sycosis the pimples are pierced in the. cen- 
 ter by healthy hairs. The hairs remain firmly fixed until loosened 
 by suppuration. Then they are easily extracted and their roots 
 are found to be swollen and covered with matter. This is not the 
 case in barber's itch. In that the appearance of the hairs is en- 
 tirely different, the dead, nibbled appearance of the hairs, amidst 
 scurvy patches, being entirely different from that of sycosis. 
 
 As sycosis is associated with debility, the sufferer needs 
 a nutritious and digestible diet and tonic medicines quinine, 
 cod-liver oil, maltine, compound syrup of the hypophosphites. 
 The hair may be cut short, but should not be shaved or plucked 
 out. When the disease is in the active stage, nothing but mild, 
 soothing applications should be made to the skin. Crusts can 
 be removed by saturating them with oil, or by the employment 
 of a flaxseed or starch poultice. Lead-water or a weak solution 
 of witch-hazel reduces the inflammation. Olive-oil, the oil of 
 ergot, or codliver-oil serves the same purpose. Oxide of zinc 
 ointment or a salve of subnitrate of bismuth is beneficial. In 
 the chronic form of the disease, an ointment of sulphur, tar, 
 naphthol, or carbolic acid may be used with advantage. Punc- 
 ture of the pimples and swollen tissues is useful, but can be 
 properly performed only by a surgeon. 
 
 GROUPS OF BLISTERS. 
 
 Persons with a delicate, sensitive skin are liable to be at- 
 tacked by small blisters upon various parts of the body. They 
 may be caused by a disordered condition of the mucous mem- 
 brane of the respiratory or of the digestive tracts, and are 
 characterized by being closely grouped together. They may also 
 occur in consequence of cold and other atmospheric causes, and 
 for this reason they are often called "cold-sores." They may 
 sometimes accompany or follow some febrile disturbance, and 
 are therefore known as "fever-blisters." Cold-sores, fever-blis- 
 ters, or herpes, to use the medical name, are blisters rising from
 
 326 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 a red surface and varying in size from that of a pin's head to that 
 of a split pea. Herpes may occur upon almost any part of the 
 body, even in the mouth. It generally lasts about a week. 
 
 A solution of camphor or of menthol is a good application 
 in this affection. It may be made to disappear by moistening it 
 with alcohol in which a little thymol or menthol has been dis- 
 solved ; indeed, alcohol alone may suffice. The liquid should be 
 kept in contact with the sores by means of compresses covered 
 with absorbent cotton held in position by sticking plaster. 
 Among the medicated plasters appropriate are those of bella- 
 donna and boric acid, oxide of zinc, camphor, and opium. The 
 advantage of using plasters is that they remain in position. 
 Whenever the position of the surface admits of it, starch powder, 
 lycopodium, the subnitrate of bismuth, carbonate of lead, calomel, 
 and finely powdered Peruvian bark make excellent dusting- 
 powders. 
 
 SHINGLES. 
 
 There is another form of herpes; the eruption consisting 
 of little blisters upon a reddened skin, but limited in its position 
 by its following the course of some nerve. The line of erup- 
 tion may extend around the body, for which reason one of the 
 medical names of the disease is zona, a "girdle." The develop- 
 ment of shingles is often accompanied by fever, and pain may 
 be experienced days before the outbreak of the eruption. In 
 three or four days the water of the blisters changes into mat- 
 ter, which in a week or two dries into crusts. 
 
 The duration of shingles varies from one week to several 
 weeks. It most frequently attacks young persons, and occurs 
 equally in both sexes. There are regions of the body which are 
 peculiarly liable to its attacks. These are the face, the sides, 
 and the breast. In these situations, the blisters follow the 
 course of the large nerves, which lie not far below the surface. 
 In rare cases of shingles of the face it attacks the eye and 
 causes serious inflammation. Upon the body, shingles, as a
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 327 
 
 general rule, manifests itself only on one side of the body, gen- 
 erally the right. A popular belief exists that if the eruption 
 extends along both sides of the body, and meets in the center, the 
 case will terminate fatally. There is not the slightest ground 
 for this ridiculous notion. When the disease invades the eye 
 it may prove fatal. The characteristic pain of shingles is less 
 in children than in adults. 
 
 To relieve the pain it is desirable to administer an anodyne. 
 Laudanum may be given to an adult in doses of twenty-five, 
 thirty, or forty drops in water, watching the effect, lest it pro- 
 duce too great somnolence, according to directions previously 
 given. In case that laudanum is obnoxious to the patient, 
 for it makes some persons sick at the stomach, resort may 
 be had to bromide of potassium, in doses of from twenty to 
 thirty grains dissolved in water, which, however, may fail of the 
 desired effect. Only a physician can properly prescribe in a 
 case like this. It is often necessary to give tonics to sufferers 
 from shingles ; for they are often weakly and need iron, quinine, 
 maltine, compound syrup of hypophosphites, codliver-oil, etc. 
 
 For the eruption a good treatment is by first washing the 
 affected surface with a solution of boric acid and then applying 
 a paste compounded as follows: 
 
 Boric acid 15 grains. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 30 grains. 
 
 Powdered starch 30 grains. 
 
 Lanolin - 90 grains. 
 
 Rose-water ointment 150 grains. 
 
 Mix. After applying the paste, bind over it a thick layer of absorbent 
 cotton. 
 
 Another compound which relieves pain is : 
 
 Hydrochlorate of cocaine 10 grains. 
 
 Lime-water 3 ounces. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water - . 3 ounces. 
 
 Some of this mixture should be frequently mopped on the surface.
 
 32$ HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ERYSIPELAS. 
 
 Erysipelas is an affection which is also known by the names 
 of "the rose" and "St. Anthony's fire." It is characterized by 
 fever, inflammation of the skin and sometimes of the mucous 
 membranes. It generally begins with a chill and sickness of 
 the stomach. Fever, headache, coated tongue, and other signs 
 of constitutional disturbance soon follow. Twenty-four or 
 thirty-six hours after the chill the eruption appears. The skin 
 assumes a peculiar deep red color, is swollen and glossy, burns, 
 tingles, and itches. Erysipelas commonly appears upon the face, 
 but it may attack any region of the body. When developed on 
 the face, the features are all swollen, the eyes closed, and the 
 sufferer is hardly recognizable by his most intimate friends. The 
 disease may attack the throat, and sometimes first develops there. 
 The eruption reaches its height in three days. The fourth day 
 its color begins to fade and the swelling to subside. The 
 sufferer is convalescent the ninth or tenth day. Erysipelas 
 causes serious depression of strength and sometimes occa- 
 sions delirium; cases in which it appears being sometimes seri- 
 ous, but not necessarily fatal. Many complications are liable to 
 occur in cases of erysipelas. Among them are pleurisy, pneu- 
 monia, and disease of the heart. Drunkards attacked by ery- 
 sipelas generally die. There is a form of erysipelas which is 
 almost certain to be fatal. In it the inflammation of the skin 
 invades the underlying parts. Matter is profusely produced, 
 much tissue destroyed, and the blood poisoned. The disease is 
 most prevalent during spring and autumn, and most frequent 
 between the twentieth and fiftieth years of age. It differs from 
 other eruptive fevers in the peculiarity that it predisposes to 
 other attacks of the same affection. 
 
 The parasite which causes the disease obtains entrance to 
 the body through some break in the skin, however slight. The 
 disease is feebly contagious. That the condition of the system 
 has much to do with the ability of the erysipelas-germ to de-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 329 
 
 velop is proved by the fact that physicians seldom contract the 
 disease from patients. The most generally beneficial form of 
 treatment is by the tincture of chloride of iron in the dose of 
 one-half to one or even two teaspoonfuls in water every third 
 hour. The iron always needs to be well diluted with water, and 
 whenever practicable should be taken through a glass tube, so as 
 to prevent its blacking and corroding the teeth. After each dose 
 the teeth may be cleansed with a cloth dipped in a water-solution 
 of borax, bicarbonate of sodium, or one of common salt. In ad- 
 dition to the iron, three grains of quinine, thrice a day, is advan- 
 tageous. If serious prostration occur, these medicines must be 
 supplemented by the administration of a stimulant, such as wine, 
 whiskey, or brandy. Stimulants are imperatively demanded in 
 these cases where matter is freely formed beneath the skin, 
 occasioning large, diffuse, and destructive abscesses. If the suf- 
 ferer has been in the habit of using malt or spirituous liquors, 
 they should be systematically administered. When the fever is 
 high, cold compresses upon the head, or better still, ice-bags 
 applied to the head, face, or neck, quiet the brain. They also 
 have a good effect upon the inflammation of the skin. In every 
 case the bowels should be kept properly open. 
 
 One of the external preparations in most common use is the 
 tincture of iodine repeatedly (three times a day) painted upon 
 the affected surface, unless it begins to form blisters. A good 
 combination is the following: 
 
 Creasote 2 drops. 
 
 Carbonate of zinc % drachm. 
 
 Bismuth oleate % ounce. 
 
 Cold cream % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 A good domestic remedy is lard spread thickly upon the 
 parts and covered with a layer of absorbent cotton held in place 
 by a bandage. 
 
 Many antiseptic substances for use in erysipelas have been 
 of late years used by physicians, and have undoubtedly resulted 
 in lessening the duration and the severity of the disease, but their
 
 330 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 intelligent employment is possible only under the advice and 
 supervision of a physician. Equal parts of carbolic acid and 
 glycerine, applied every second hour to the affected part, have 
 proved of service. An ointment of corrosive sublimate of the 
 strength of two or three grains to the ounce of lard is good. 
 A mucilage of acacia, holding three to five per cent, of carbolic 
 acid, is good. Salicylate of sodium dissolved in glycerine is 
 highly recommended. 
 
 ABSENCE OF PIGMENT OF THE SKIN (ALBINISM). 
 
 The coloring of the skin may undergo changes in quantity 
 and arrangement. It may increase, diminish, or be distributed 
 irregularly. In certain extreme cases there is an entire absence 
 of pigmentary matter and the skin is of a dead white color, the 
 hair is white, and the eyes of a pinkish tint. This condition is 
 known as "albinism," and the sufferers from it are known as 
 "albinos." The disease may involve only a portion of the skin 
 of the body or it may be general. Partial albinism is more com- 
 mon among the dark-complexioned races than among the white 
 ones, and is sometimes hereditary. 
 
 White spots may be acquired at any age in either sex. This 
 form of the disease generally attacks persons who, by original 
 endowment, had an abundance of pigmentary matter in the skin 
 dark-complexioned whites and negroes. The spots may be of 
 any size and adjacent small spots may coalesce to form a large 
 one. Thus almost the whole body may gradually lose its color. 
 The hairs on the spots are generally, not always, devoid of 
 color. Upon the face the spots make great disfigurement, addi- 
 tionally because they are surrounded by abnormally dark borders. 
 
 This alteration in the natural distribution of the coloring 
 matter of the skin probably depends upon disturbances of its 
 nervous state. The condition has been known to follow an 
 attack of influenza. An attack of epilepsy is recorded in which 
 the onset was preceded by the appearance of white spots over the 
 whole body. Unfortunately no internal or external treatment
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 33! 
 
 has been discovered which will cause the coloring matter to be 
 properly distributed. The best that can be done is to remove, 
 so far as possible, the darkness of the borders around the spots, 
 whose depth of color intensifies the appearance of whiteness in 
 the spots themselves. Tincture of iodine, carbolic acid, and other 
 medicaments are used for this purpose, but the most efficient 
 agent is galvanic electricity. 
 
 MOTHER'S MARKS. 
 
 There are several conditions included under the name of 
 "mother's marks." The two most common are the mole and 
 the claret- or port-wine stain. The mole does not always date 
 from birth, and therefore, strictly speaking, cannot necessarily 
 be called a mother's mark. Nevertheless, the majority of large 
 moles do exist from birth. In extreme cases they are so ex- 
 tensive as to cover a large part of the body. In color they range 
 from yellow to brown and even to black, and may or may not 
 have a growth of hair. It is wonderful that parents can some- 
 times allow children to grow up without having moles removed 
 from their faces, for it is only in very rare instances that they 
 disappear spontaneously. The spot may be removed by either of 
 four processes; by the operation of a surgeon, by means of a 
 ligature, by the galvanic needles, or by caustic. On the face 
 they are a great disfigurement. With age they often become 
 pendant and hang down like a great tear of skin. This kind can 
 be removed in a few seconds by the operation of the galvanic 
 needles. Their vitality thereby becomes sapped, and in a few 
 days they drop off. 
 
 The port-wine or claret-stain is an affection more common 
 in the male than in the female sex. Galvanic electricity is the 
 only application that can ameliorate this form of marking of 
 the skin. They may, when small, be removed by caustic or by 
 surgical interference.
 
 332 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 WARTS. 
 
 Warts may appear in crops, and are common upon the face 
 and the hands. Occasionally they develop beneath the finger- 
 nail. If, as is not uncommon, warts appear in unhealthy or in 
 scrofulous children, tonics must be given them. For internal 
 administration, thuja occidentalis (arbor vita?} is sometimes 
 given in fluid extract or in tincture, ten drops to a teaspoonful 
 of water, three times a day. This variously called thuja occi- 
 dentalis, arbor vita, grows in the north of the United States. 
 Tincture of iodine in ten-drop doses, well diluted with water or 
 glycerine, taken twice a day, is a good medicine. Magnesia, in 
 three- to fifteen-grain doses, twice a day, and also Epsom salts, 
 have been known to cause warts to disappear. 
 
 Direct local treatment for warts is more satisfactory. They 
 may be cut away and the base touched with lunar caustic. A 
 thread tied firmly around the base of a wart will cause it to die 
 and slough away. Galvanic needles will remove it. Touching 
 it with nitric or carbolic acid will also remove it. Vinegar, boric 
 acid, salicylic acid, tincture of iron, and other acid or caustic 
 substances will remove it. Warts, or what seem to be warts, 
 in elderly persons should be regarded with suspicion and should 
 never be irritated with picking. A form of cancer often begins 
 with a small growth which closely resembles a wart. 
 
 CORNS. 
 
 Corns are especially troublesome when occurring on the 
 soles of the feet. There is a popular misapprehension about the 
 constitution of corns which assumes that they have a root. On 
 the contrary, they are simply an abnormal increase of the horny 
 layer of the skin, brought about by its effort to protect the parts 
 injured from pressure. The first aim in treating corns is to 
 remove their exciting cause, whether represented by ill-fitting or 
 by tight shoes. This alone is often followed by the spontaneous 
 disappearance of the evil. If not, they should be treated with
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 333 
 
 perforated pieces of felt in which there is a hole in the center, 
 through which the corn, protruding, is relieved from all pres- 
 sure. The felt appliance may or may not be medicated. A good 
 lotion is made by dissolving thirty grains of salicylic acid in 
 half an ounce of collodion. It is applied with a camel's hair 
 brush twice a day for several successive days. Soft corns, 
 which come between the toes, can be removed by enclosing them 
 in the same manner as that above described, in pieces of white 
 kid, by dusting them with some bland powder, and by keeping 
 a piece of raw cotton between the toes. 
 
 HORNS. 
 
 A very strange and fortunately uncommon affection of the 
 scarf-skin is the growth of veritable horns from its surface. In 
 some cases they have attained the length of a foot. They develop 
 most frequently upon the head, and there have been cases pre- 
 senting several of these excrescences. They occur more frequently 
 in old than in young persons. They grow slowly, are painless, 
 and generally break off after attaining a certain size. If the 
 whole horn is then shed it may not again grow, but it generally 
 forms again. Sometimes, when that is the case, the shedding 
 takes place at an interval of every six or twelve months. They 
 can be finally removed by electricity, caustics, or by surgical 
 methods. The surgical treatment consists in taking them away 
 with a part of the skin surrounding the base and then thoroughly 
 cauterizing the surface left. 
 
 PIGMENTATION. 
 
 Darkening of the skin occurs from numerous causes, and is 
 sometimes transient, sometimes permanent. Chronic inflamma- 
 tion of the skin, irritation, and certain constitutional conditions 
 and diseases lead to the deposition in it of excess of pigment. 
 Removal of the excess of color depends entirely upon ability to 
 remove the condition that causes it, and upon the length of 
 time during which it has persisted. Perfect cleanliness, mas-
 
 334 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sage, and galvanic electricity promote the health of the skin, and 
 may cause gradual absorption of its excess of pigment. The 
 advice and supervision of a surgeon would be necessary in us- 
 ing one of the methods by which the scarf-skin of the part can 
 be removed. 
 
 NERVOUS AFFECTIONS OF THE SKIN. 
 
 The healthy condition of the nerves of the skin can be dis- 
 turbed by many causes, some internal, others external. Sensi- 
 bility in the skin may be heightened, lowered, perverted, or lost. 
 Some diseases of the brain, spinal cord, or of the general ner- 
 vous system are accompanied by so great an exaltation of sensi- 
 bility of the skin that its contact with the clothing, or even with 
 the air, becomes exquisitely painful. Some other diseases lead 
 to a partial or to a total abolition of the skin's sensibility over 
 certain regions of the body. Of course, in cases like these, no 
 household treatment is practicable. A physician's attendance 
 is our only resort. 
 
 NEURALGIA OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Neuralgia of the skin is manifested by the sensations of 
 pricking, burning, or by shooting pain, which may be moderate, 
 severe, transient, intermittent, or constant. Although the pain 
 may be so acute as to be unbearable to a slight touch, hard pres- 
 sure will often afford relief. The affection is more common in 
 women than in men. It appears abruptly, sometimes vanishing in 
 the same way. Instead of pain the sensation may be simply that 
 of cold or of numbness. 
 
 The treatment should depend upon the ascertainment of the 
 cause of the ailment. If the sufferer has indigestion, that should 
 be treated. If the neuralgia is associated with any of the diseases 
 previously mentioned, relief from the underlying disorder will 
 be followed by disappearance of the neuralgia. If the cause can- 
 not be detected, the neuralgia may be relieved by the administra- 
 tion of valerian or by Dover's powder. Dover's powder con-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 335 
 
 tains one grain of opium in ten grains of the powder and it is 
 upon this constituent that the efficacy of the powder chiefly de- 
 pends. Antipyrin has been recommended for treatment of 
 neuralgia of the skin, but it has the objectionable quality that it 
 may cause sickness at the stomach, chill, or weakness of the 
 heart. It has been largely taken by people upon their own pre- 
 scription, but such a powerful drug taken by persons not medi- 
 cally educated is much to be deprecated. A hot water-bag or 
 a vapor-bath is often beneficial. In some cases the applica- 
 tion of cold water or an ice-bag is more efficacious. The pain 
 may be alleviated by rubbing the painful part with solid menthol 
 or by applying from twenty to thirty grains of menthol to from 
 six to eight ounces of cologne. An ointment composed of from 
 five to ten grains of cocaine to the ounce of lard is good. A 
 blister on the affected surface is sometimes beneficial. In certain 
 cases, galvanism succeeds after every other mode of treatment 
 has been tried in vain. 
 
 SCARS. 
 
 Scars, of course, vary in size according to the extent of 
 the injury which caused them. They may be on a level with, 
 above, or below the surrounding skin. As the tendency of scars 
 is to contract, they may cause intense pain by pressing upon some 
 enclosed fiber of nerve. This is the explanation of the cause 
 of pain in an amputated limb. 
 
 The surgical and the electrical are the only treatments to 
 which scars are amenable. If a scar be on the face, it is a great 
 disfigurement. If not .too large it can, however, be entirely re- 
 moved. When the edges of the wound have healed, there will 
 be, it is true, another scar in place of the first, but it will be one 
 in the form of a scarcely perceptible line. 
 
 Scars elevated above the surface of the skin, more urgently 
 than those upon a level with it, demand surgical interference. 
 In the first place, a raised scar is more unsightly than the other 
 kind, and then it is more than the other liable to injury.
 
 336 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Injury to a scar awakens inflammation in it, and in the case of 
 the aged, tendency to degenerate into cancer. If it be not prac- 
 ticable to remove a raised scar, it can sometimes be levelled by 
 massage and by frequent galvanization. 
 
 ITCHING OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Excesses, debility, indigestion, rheumatism, gout, and 
 many other diseases may produce itching of the skin, and it may 
 also be produced by excitement. In the same kind of cases, 
 creeping, tingling, and burning sensation, as well as itching, are 
 experienced. In a recent extreme case, the patient, who was 
 of a very nervous type, had blotches that looked like bruises, 
 which proved a disordered condition of the blood. But the per- 
 version of sensibility here described may be the only manifesta- 
 tions of disease of the skin. 
 
 If the special cause of the disease cannot be discovered by 
 the physician, he endeavors to build up the general system by 
 improving the tone of the digestive organs and correcting the 
 impurity of the blood. In many instances the administration of 
 codliver-oil accomplishes excellent results. When the ailment 
 depends upon digestion, the diet should be simple; spirituous 
 liquors, tea, coffee, tobacco, and indigestible foods should be 
 avoided. A pleasant journey by easy stages is efficacious. The 
 employment of massage and galvanic electricity is beneficial, also 
 Turkish and vapor-baths, the hot and the cold douche. In some 
 cases hot, in others cold water proves beneficial, and in others 
 again, the alternation of hot and cold water. 
 
 The affected surfaces are bathed to advantage with a soap 
 containing five per cent, of menthol. It is used night and morn- 
 ing, and in obstinate cases is allowed to dry upon the body. 
 Anointing the skin after a bath with olive-oil or with glycerine 
 will sometimes allay the itching. Cocaine-ointment is also a 
 good application. Ointments containing camphor, creasote, car- 
 bolic acid, are of service. A dusting-powder will in some cases 
 relieve the irritation. For this, ten parts of powdered subnitrate
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 337 
 
 of bismuth to ninety parts of starch powder may be employed. 
 Medicated plasters produce good results in some cases. Lime- 
 water, alone or mixed with glycerine, lead-water and laudanum, 
 camphorated alcohol, weakened with water and mixed with 
 borax and glycerine, and equal parts of rose-water and glycerine 
 are preparations that may be employed. This disease is apt to 
 be rebellious, and in consequence it may be necessary to try 
 one remedy after another before the particular one adapted to 
 the case is found. 
 
 BITES AND STINGS OF INSECTS. 
 
 Spots of inflammation, with considerable swelling and itch- 
 ing, may be caused by numerous kinds of insects. The effects of 
 these are most severe upon infants, young children, and young 
 women ; in general, upon those having thin, delicate, and there- 
 fore sensitive skins. The most common insect pest in this 
 country is the mosquito, capable of producing in some cases 
 wheals like those of nettle-rash. The irritation produced by the 
 sting of the mosquito may be relieved by sponging the surface 
 of the skin with peppermint-water, ammonia-water, spirits of 
 camphor, or a solution of borax and water. A drachm or two 
 of boric acid, or ten to fifteen grains of betanaphthol, in four 
 ounces of peppermint or camphor-water, constitutes a good 
 lotion. 
 
 The bed-bug causes much irritation to the delicate skin 
 of some persons. Any one is liable in traveling or in other ex- 
 ceptional circumstances, to be attacked by it. Half a drachm 
 of powdered borax to four ounces of camphor- water ; a drachm 
 of boric acid to a pint of water; half a drachm of carbolic acid 
 to a pint of water ; the benzoated oxide of zinc ointment, either 
 alone or combined with boric acid ; all are preparations which 
 may be used to advantage in alleviating irritation from bed-bug 
 bites. 
 
 In case bed-bugs invade a house, as they sometimes do, 
 
 harboring in wall-paper and in other places, the paper should 
 
 22
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 be removed and every place scoured for a few days with a solu- 
 tion of corrosive sublimate and water, a drachm or two to a 
 pint of water. Corrosive sublimate being an active poison, it 
 should be marked as such and placed out of the way of children. 
 
 Ticks sometimes lodge upon and insert themselves beneath 
 the skin of wanderers in certain woods. Removed by violence, 
 there is liability of inflammation from the proboscis of the ani- 
 mal being broken off in the skin and creating inflammation. 
 The application of turpentine, benzine, or tobacco-juice causes 
 the large ticks to release their hold. There is, however, a small 
 variety of ticks, known as seed-ticks, which bury themselves 
 in the skin in the most inaccessible place to be reached by the 
 human hand between the shoulder-blades. To meet this 
 double difficulty growing out of their insertion in the skin and 
 of the locality which is chosen by the insects, it is necessary to 
 strip and let some person apply sweet-oil or some other oily 
 liquid to the surface involved. This procedure, compelling the 
 insects to retreat on account of their exclusion from air, affords 
 perfect relief. 
 
 There are numerous other insects which bite and cause irri- 
 tation and inflammation of the skin. The annoyance can be 
 relieved by sponging with ammonia water. Either a lotion or 
 an ointment containing borax is useful for the same purpose. A 
 raw onion bruised and applied to the spot stung by a hornet 
 will sometimes assuage the pain. 
 
 CANCER. 
 
 Cancer is believed to be upon the increase. It is in some 
 mysterious way a product of civilization, for it has been ascer- 
 tained that it is rare among savages. Hopefulness as to its 
 arrest was never more prevalent than now, for institutions di- 
 rected to searching for the cause of the disease, its ameliora- 
 tion, or its possible cure begin to appear. One in Philadelphia 
 reports that there are three phases of the disease; in the first 
 two of which there is reason to believe it can be arrested, but
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 339 
 
 in the last one of which the case is hopeless with the means 
 at present at command. Research, however, may result in dis- 
 covering the cause of the disease and lead to knowledge of how, 
 in any phase, it may be extirpated. In October, 1906, a similar 
 institution was opened in Baden, Germany. 
 
 If a cancer of a certain superficial sort is surgically removed 
 before ulceration has proceeded far, the probability is that the 
 disease will not return. In a deeper-seated variety the ulcer is 
 funnel-shaped, it easily bleeds, and rapidly increases in width 
 and depth, occasioning agonizing pain, enlargement of neigh- 
 boring glands, impoverishment of the blood, and the sufferer 
 dies of exhaustion. 
 
 Cancer of the skin seldom occurs before middle age, and it 
 is more frequent in men than in women. The face is its favor- 
 ite. location, especially the cheeks and lips. In its early stages 
 it is simply a disease of the skin and the blood is unaltered. This 
 is the point of time, therefore, at which the excresence should 
 be removed by the knife or the x-rays ; as soon, in fact, as it can 
 be pronounced a cancer. A warty excrescence upon the lip of 
 any person more than forty years of age should excite suspicion. 
 It is, anyhow, a serious blemish and had better be removed. 
 There is reason to believe than any long-continued irritation of 
 the skin, as, for instance, by picking at it, may originate cancer. 
 
 The most rational treatment of the disease is early removal 
 of the part where it has appeared. Cancerous growth may be 
 destroyed by caustic, the x-rays, and by iron at white heat. The 
 preferable procedure, however, is radical removal of the growth 
 by the x-rays or the knife. A margin of apparently healthy skin 
 is at the same time taken away. The operation may be so deftly 
 performed as to leave an inconspicuously small scar. The em- 
 ployment of so-called "cancer salves" is responsible for much 
 mischief and sacrifice of life. 
 
 The progress of cancer may be retarded by the restriction 
 of the sufferer to the diet of bread, milk, vegetables, and fruits. 
 Pain is relieved by one of the preparations of opium given with
 
 34-O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the due precaution which only a physician is capable of using. 
 When the disease is superficial, it may sometimes be cured by 
 covering the affected surface with finely-powdered chlorate of 
 potassium, giving the remedy internally at the same time, in 
 ten-grain doses, three times a day. Aristol powder constantly 
 applied to the sore has often produced good results. Strong car- 
 bolic acid used on the spot or spots, two or three times a week, 
 may eradicate a superficial manifestation of the disease. 
 
 FRECKLES. 
 
 This common blemish is caused by the deposition of the 
 coloring matter of the skin, produced in the highest degree by 
 the conjoint influence of sun and wind. They may be removed 
 by some mild caustic wash or ointment. A good ointment for 
 the purpose consists of from five to sixty grains of copper oleate 
 to the ounce of lard, or of lanolin or cold cream. From two to 
 five grains of corrosive sublimate to the ounce of water is a 
 good lotion. The following prescriptions can be recommended : 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 10 grains. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 5 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Mopped upon the surface every day. 
 
 Lactic acid % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine % ounce. 
 
 Rose-water % ounce. 
 
 Mix. Mopped upon the surface every day. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 2 drachms. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 3 grains. 
 
 Distilled water of witch-hazel 2 drachms. 
 
 Glycerine 3 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Apply to the surface once a day. 
 
 Chloride of ammonia 1 ounce. 
 
 Commercially pure hydrochloric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Glycerine 4 ounces. 
 
 Elder- flower water, enough to make % gallon. 
 
 Mix. Apply with a sponge or piece of soft linen. 
 
 Galvanic electricity, applied two or three times a week, often 
 assists in the removal of freckles.
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 34! 
 
 WENS. 
 
 The tumors known as wens are common upon the face and 
 scalp and may occur upon other parts of the body. They arise 
 from obstruction of the canals leading from oil-glands to the 
 surface of the skin. Secretion accumulates within the glands 
 and distends them, while at the same time the walls of the glands 
 become thickened. The middle of the forehead is a favorite 
 location for the appearance of a wen, which may vary from the 
 size of a pea to that of an orange. In most cases there is a 
 single tumor, but sometimes they are numerous. They are of a 
 soft, semi-fluid consistency, according to the nature of their con- 
 tents. They grow slowly, painlessly, and often remain station- 
 ary in size for many years, the skin covering them being per- 
 fectly healthy to all appearance. They generally develop in 
 the range of time from youth to middle age. The only sure 
 method of removing them is by incision. Every part of the 
 inside wall of the tumor must also be removed, or it will be re- 
 produced. The resulting scar is slight and much less disfigur- 
 ing than the wen. 
 
 EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION. 
 
 The cutaneous disorder of excessive perspiration may take 
 place in limited regions of the body, or over its whole surface. 
 It comes from a disordered condition of the sweat-glands, and 
 may accompany consumption, rheumatism, pneumonia, malaria, 
 and diseases of the nervous system, and may also depend upon 
 poverty of the blood. The secretion may be constant or intermit- 
 tent and may bathe one side of the body while the opposite side 
 is entirely dry. It may occur periodically. 
 
 Sometimes the amount perspired is so great that it saturates 
 the wearing apparel and bedclothes, and upon the palms of the 
 hands may be seen to collect in drops and trickle from them in 
 little streams. The scarf-skin, especially in the bends of the 
 toes, peels off, leaving a very sensitive surface. In extreme
 
 342 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 cases large blisters form on the feet. It is at times accom- 
 panied by tingling, itching, and burning sensations, and may 
 lead to other diseases of the skin, especially tetter. 
 
 In this disease digestive disorder must be corrected by a 
 simple diet, exercise, and medicines which promote secretion of 
 the digestive fluids. If the sweating is caused by disturbance 
 of the nervous system it may be controlled by the administra- 
 tion of the ammoniated tincture of valerian in teaspoonful doses, 
 three or four times a day; by twenty grains of the bromide 
 of potassium in water, and by the application of the cold douche. 
 Remedies proper for rheumatism or gout, when the sweating 
 is excited by those maladies, should be used. 
 
 Mild cases are benefited by bathing the affected surface in 
 water as hot as it can be borne, mustard, vinegar, or camphor 
 being added to the water. Bathing the surface with sulphur, tar, 
 or naphthol soap in water may also have a good effect. Boric 
 acid, corrosive sublimate, and salicylic acid dissolved in water 
 or diluted alcohol restrain the secretion. One or two drachms 
 of alum to a pint of water or of alcohol is a useful wash. Dry 
 powders dusted upon the surface are often effectual. The 
 oleate of zinc, salicylic acid, and naphthol are excellent remedies. 
 When the disorder is rebellious to treatment and the feet are 
 affected, diachylon-ointment or lead-ointment is a good appli- 
 cation. The ointment is spread upon soft linen cut large 
 enough to cover the foot, smaller pieces being placed between 
 the toes, the foot bandaged, and the procedure repeated every 
 day for one or two weeks. 
 
 The same chemicals just named in connection with good 
 lotions for excessive perspiration may, of course, be employed 
 in the form of ointments. Aristol, either alone or mixed with 
 carbonate of zinc, subnitrate of bismuth, or some other dry and 
 astringent powder is an excellent application. 
 
 A few formulae for lotions, dusting-powders, and ointments 
 are here appended :
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 343 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 20 grains. 
 
 Distilled water of witch-hazel 4 ounces. 
 
 Cologne 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Use as a lotion. 
 
 Washed sulphur 30 grains. 
 
 Salicylic acid 10 grains. 
 
 Powdered arrow-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Use as a dusting powder. 
 
 Ergotin % drachm. 
 
 Carbonate of magnesium 1 drachm. 
 
 Hydrochlorate of hydrastine 10 grains. 
 
 Cold cream 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the affected surface. 
 
 Aristol 2 drachms. 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 2 drachms. 
 
 Oleate of zinc . 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Dust upon the feet. 
 
 Powdered alum 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered rice 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dust upon the feet or other parts. 
 
 Salicylic acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Powdered arrow-root 2 drachms. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 5 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 2 drops. 
 
 Mix. Dust upon the feet. 
 
 ODOROUS PERSPIRATION. 
 
 Perspiration, like any other animal or vegetable product, 
 acquires in decomposing an offensive odor. In certain cases the 
 exudation has an offensive odor apart from decomposition. A 
 peculiar odor is characteristic of certain races and of certain 
 people, but this of which there is question here may be properly 
 called diseased. Cases there are where it is so pungent and 
 disagreeable that it can be perceived at the distance of a couple 
 of yards. The malady depends upon some disorder of the ner- 
 vous system and is most common in the feet, which sometimes 
 become red and painful. 
 
 The affected parts, wherever they are, should be frequently 
 bathed in water in which soap impregnated with naphthol, car-
 
 344 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 bolic acid, or eucalyptus is used. Remedies calculated to 
 strengthen the nervous system are generally demanded. Boric 
 acid, salicylic acid, naphthol, alum, sulphate of zinc, sulphate of 
 copper, and hydrastine are substances which are especially useful 
 for external application in this complaint, and may be used either 
 in the form of lotions or of ointments. Dusting-powders are 
 also advantageous. The following preparations can be recom- 
 mended : 
 
 Boric acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Rose-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Distilled water of witch-hazel 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Apply frequently to the surface. 
 
 Powdered alum 1 drachm. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 drachm. 
 
 Oxide of zinc ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Use upon the affected parts. 
 
 COLORED PERSPIRATION AND LUMINOUS PERSPIRATION. 
 
 The color of perspiration is sometimes strangely modified, 
 and may appear as blue, green, red, brown, or black. Some of 
 these appearances may depend upon the presence of substances 
 absorbed by the blood from the intestinal canal; the red color 
 is due to the presence of a certain microbe. Some diseases of 
 the nervous system may occasion the escape, through the sweat- 
 glands, of a fluid containing blood. A case has been recorded 
 by Kaster, in which the body-linen was rendered luminous by 
 perspiration flowing after any violent exercise. The phenome- 
 non is attributed to the decomposition of tissue coupled with 
 the formation and oxidation of phosphorus; for in the case of 
 persons taking phosphorus internally, other secretions besides 
 perspiration have sometimes been noticed as luminous. 
 
 SUPPRESSED PERSPIRATION. 
 
 In some cases the perspiration is either partially or com- 
 pletely suppressed. The skin, in consequence, becomes dry and 
 rough ; pricking, itching, or burning sensations are often pres- 
 ent. The affection may be owing to disease of the skin, the 
 most notable manifestation of it being one in which the sur-
 
 DISFIGUREMENT FROM DISEASE, WITH TREATMENT. 345 
 
 face is covered with large scales like those of a fish. It may 
 occur in connection with tetter and other cutaneous diseases, 
 in disorders of the nervous system, in consumption, diabetes, and 
 cancer. It may be temporary or permanent. 
 
 In this affection great care must be taken to promote the 
 health by a liberal diet, fresh air, exercise, and bathing. Mas- 
 sage, also, as promoting the functions of the skin, is beneficial. 
 The Turkish bath, followed by massage, is especially to be 
 recommended. When the skin is dry and cracked, bland oils 
 or ointments should be used upon it. Cold cream, olive-oil, lano- 
 lin, either alone or else combined with a few drops of eucalyp- 
 tus, are excellent applications. There are some medicines which, 
 taken internally, have the power to act upon the sweat-glands. 
 The most remarkable of these drugs is obtained from the leaves 
 of a Brazilian plant, and is known as pilocarpus or jaborandi. 
 These leaves may be made into a tea, but the preferable way 
 of using them is as a fluid extract, the dose of which is from 
 ten drops to a teaspoonful. Free perspiration, which continues 
 for several hours, is soon excited by them and the ultimate 
 effect is beneficial. 
 
 PREMATURE WRINKLES. 
 
 Wrinkles sometimes make their appearance as early as 
 between twenty and thirty years of age, and more commonly in 
 women than in men. Persons of light complexion and thin, 
 delicate skins exhibit the greatest tendency of any to premature 
 wrinkles. Women sometimes unconsciously acquire the habit 
 of moving the skin of the forehead into transverse folds, in the 
 expression of surprise, astonishment, or expectancy. The con- 
 stant repetition of this action inevitably fixes lines which gradually 
 deepen into wrinkles. All grimacing is objectionable from the 
 social point of view, as it is also objectionable from the point of 
 view of good looks. The best preservative against early wrink- 
 ling is a good state of the general health. Health promotes com- 
 posure of mind and placidity of expression.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 
 
 in RUPTIVE fevers represent an important class of diseases 
 * ' in which the different members of it are distinguished 
 from each other by characteristic eruptions. These dis- 
 eases occur, for the most part, during childhood, and, as a gen- 
 eral rule, one attack is protective of the system for life. The dis- 
 eases are measles, scarlet fever, chicken-pox, small-pox, and a 
 peculiar affection known as German measles. 
 
 MEASLES. 
 
 Measles may occur at any time of the year, but it is most 
 prevalent in spring and autumn. Scattered cases always exist 
 in large cities but the disease is apt to sweep epidemically 
 through a community. Most persons have had it in childhood, 
 but cases of it among adults are by no means uncommon. The 
 disease may be communicated by contact, whether directly with 
 the sick person or indirectly with some object upon which its 
 contagious matter has been deposited ; or it may be disseminated 
 through the air. 
 
 Some ten to twenty days after exposure to the disease its 
 symptoms make their appearance. One of them is weakness fol- 
 lowed by chilliness ; and this, in turn, is followed by sickness at 
 the stomach, fever, and headache. The patient sneezes and has a 
 free discharge of mucus from the nose. The eyes become red 
 and watery, the face flushed and swollen, and there is frequent 
 and severe cough. Four to five days after the beginning of the 
 attack, the characteristic rash of measles appears, first upon the 
 face and chest, and then, within twenty-four hours, spreads over 
 all parts of the body, although the eruption is generally most 
 abundant upon the face. The rash is distinct for about two 
 days, when it begins to subside. The patient is generally con- 
 valescent ten or twelve days after the beginning of the attack. 
 
 346
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 347 
 
 Measles, when uncomplicated, and of average severity, is 
 not a dangerous disease. It is, however, liable to complications 
 which may render it serious and even fatal. The most usual 
 of these complications arises from extension of the inflamma- 
 tion of the throat and nose to the bronchial tubes and lungs. 
 Bronchitis differs much in severity, dependent upon whether 
 the large or the small bronchial tubes are affected. Attack of the 
 former generally ends in recovery, whereas that of the latter is 
 frequently, fatal. The presence of bronchitis is announced, in 
 addition to cough, by buzzing and wheezing sounds which are 
 very plainly heard when the ear is laid upon the chest or the 
 back of the sufferer. 
 
 Inflammation of the eye or' of the ear sometimes occurs as a 
 complication of measles. There is a form of the disease known 
 as "black measles." In this the eruption is abundant and is of 
 a dark red or purple color, the fever is high, the breathing 
 rapid, the tongue brown and dry, and blood is discharged be- 
 neath the skin and from mucous membranes. Large discolored 
 blotches appear upon the skin, the whites of the eyes turn scar- 
 let, and haemorrhages take place from the nose, mouth, and 
 other cavities. The sufferer is prostrated in strength and soon 
 falls into a stupor from which he never revives. These severe 
 cases are comparatively rare. They may, however, be common 
 in certain epidemics. When black measles prevails as an epi- 
 demic, ninety per cent, of the persons attacked die. 
 
 A peculiar relation exists between measles, scrofula, and 
 consumption. A child who was previously, to all appearance, in 
 sound health before an attack of measles, may afterward ex- 
 hibit scrofulous symptoms and be afflicted with sore eyes, run- 
 ning ears, various rashes, and swelling of the glands of the 
 neck; and youthful adults after recovery from measles are not 
 infrequently attacked by consumption. 
 
 It is of great importance to be able to recognize early the 
 nature of eruptive fevers. The consequence of mistaking small- 
 pox or scarlatina for measles might be not only prejudicial to
 
 348 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 individuals, but also to whole communities. The final responsi- 
 bility of making true decisions must rest upon physicians; 
 but it is also important that parents should know the main dif- 
 ferences among the symptoms of eruptive diseases. 
 
 In measles the patient should be placed in a well-ventilated 
 room, and should be given a light but nourishing diet, such as 
 milk toast and soup. Drinking freely of cold water or lemonade 
 may be allowed, for they not only assuage the thirst, but have 
 a good influence upon the secretions of the body. It is good 
 practice, too, to bathe the face and neck with cold water four 
 or five times a day. A light purgative should be given at the 
 onset of the disease, and after this has operated, remedies for 
 reducing the fever and allaying the cough are in order. A pre- 
 scription which will answer these requirements is the following: 
 
 Syrup of ipecac 48 drops. 
 
 Sweet spirits of nitre . % ounce. 
 
 Neutral mixture enough to make 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Of this medicine a teaspoonful can be taken every three 
 hours. The dose is calculated for a child of six years of age. 
 For a child of two or three years about half the quantity can 
 be given, while for one of ten or twelve years, the quantity 
 may be increased. If the child is very restless, five grains of the 
 bromide of sodium or potassium may be advantageously given 
 with the above medicine three or four times in the course of the 
 day. When the eruption begins to fade and the fever to decline, 
 the use of the fever mixture can be abandoned. At this stage of 
 the disease it is beneficial to give a grain or two of quinine, ac- 
 cording to the age of the child, three times a day. As, at this 
 period, the cough is the most prominent symptom, a mixture for 
 it may be thus composed : 
 
 Chloride of ammonium 48 grains. 
 
 Tincture of sanguinaria 16 drops. 
 
 Syrup of wild cherry % ounce. 
 
 Water 1% ounce. 
 
 Mix. The dose is a teaspoonful every third or fourth hour.
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 349 
 
 When bronchitis or pneumonia occurs during the course 
 of measles, more energetic measures are demanded. The suf- 
 ferer should be enveloped in a "jacket-poultice." This is made 
 of flaxseed-meal, with which is mixed mustard in the propor- 
 tion of a tablespoonful of mustard to a half pound of the flax- 
 seed-meal. They are made into a warm poultice and spread 
 upon a large piece of soft linen, or included between two layers 
 of linen. The poultice must be large enough to cover the whole 
 of the chest and the back, and when placed in position it should 
 be covered with a layer of oiled silk, which retains the heat and 
 moisture of the poultice. When the poultice is changed another 
 one should be ready to take its place at once. If the mustard 
 burns too much its amount may be reduced, but a goodly amount 
 is requisite. The sudden partial or entire disappearance of the 
 rash announces a dangerous complication. For this reason the 
 mustard poultice is used, to keep, by its stimulation, the circula- 
 tion from departing from the surface of the skin and seeking the 
 interior of the body, followed by the disappearance of the rash, 
 which is popularly known as "striking in," and is a dangerous 
 condition. 
 
 In the complication of bronchitis with measles, especially 
 when the smaller bronchial tubes are involved, one of the best 
 internal remedies is the carbonate of ammonium. This salt is 
 stimulating, aids the breathing, the action of the heart, renders 
 the bronchial secretion more fluid, and facilitates its expulsion by 
 coughing. It may be compounded as follows: 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia 1 drachm. 
 
 Balsam of Peru 2 drachms. 
 
 Water enough to make 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The dose for a child of six years is a teaspoonful, to be repeated 
 every two or three hours. 
 
 Or doses of the following mixture may be given at the same 
 intervals of time to a child of six years of age :
 
 35 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia 1 drachm. 
 
 Powdered gum-Arabic 2 drachms. 
 
 Powdered white sugar 2 drachms. 
 
 Syrup of tolu 1 ounce. 
 
 Water enough to make 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful every second or third hour. 
 
 Bronchitis of the fine bronchial tubes requires also the ad- 
 ministration of wine, whiskey, or brandy, in amounts suitable to 
 the age and the condition of the patient. Generally a half to a tea- 
 spoonful of whiskey or brandy in water may be given to a child 
 of four years of age. If it cause flushing of the face and rest- 
 lessness, the dose should be diminished, or it should be with- 
 held until the excitement has subsided. 
 
 Jacket-poultices and the carbonate of ammonia are also use- 
 ful in pneumonia. There are two varieties of pneumonia. In 
 one of them the attack is abrupt and the bronchial tubes are 
 comparatively unaffected. This is the form which is appro- 
 priately called "lung fever." In the other kind the inflammation 
 spreads from the bronchial tubes to the lung-cells, and is there- 
 fore called broncho-pneumonia. This is the particular form 
 which pneumonia assumes when it complicates with measles. 
 Broncho-pneumonia is relieved by the same treatment which has 
 been described as appropriate to bronchitis. 
 
 Malignant, or so-called "black measles," demands vigorous 
 treatment. Its high fever must be reduced and extreme pros- 
 tration combated. Cold baths are the most efficacious means of 
 lowering the body's temperature. The strength is supported by 
 stimulants, quinine, camphor, carbonate of ammonia, turpentine. 
 The responsibility for the treatment of all varieties of measles 
 can be borne only by a physician. 
 
 SCARLET FEVER. 
 
 In epidemics the disease existing varies very much in 
 severity. For many years the majority of cases are mild in type, 
 and then again they become exceedingly dangerous. Scarlet
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 351 
 
 fever, however, is always to be dreaded, for the lightest cases 
 may be followed by grave or even fatal consequences. 
 
 The period in scarlet fever intervening between contagion 
 and the first symptoms of the disease is shorter than in measles, 
 varying from three to seven days. The first manifestation of 
 the disease may be a chill, vomiting, and sometimes soreness 
 of the throat. In very young or in very nervous children the 
 disease may be ushered in with a convulsion. There are three 
 varieties in its apparent severity in onset that are recognized 
 by physicians. In the lightest form there is only slight sore- 
 ness of the throat; in the next the throat symptoms are severe; 
 and in the next the symptoms are obviously malignant. 
 
 In light scarlet fever the chill, vomiting, or sore throat is 
 succeeded by fever, dry skin, flushed face, rapid breathing, and 
 irritable stomach. The tongue in the middle is yellowish or 
 whitish in color, red on its edges and tip, and the throat un- 
 naturally red, accompanied by pain in swallowing. The glands 
 of the throat are somewhat swollen. After twenty-four or 
 thirty-six hours, the rash appears upon the face, neck, and upper 
 part of the breast before it invades other regions. In exceptional 
 cases only it manifests itself first upon the limbs. This rash, 
 as implied by the name "scarlet fever," is of a Jrfight red color. 
 It is most vivid upon the bends of the joints, the elbows and 
 knees. 
 
 With the development of the rash the tongue assumes an 
 appearance known as "strawberry tongue," from its being stud- 
 ded with small elevations. The fever begins to abate after four 
 or five days, and as it declines the condition of the throat im- 
 proves and the rash gradually fades. This period of subsidence 
 of these symptoms generally lasts about three days. After the 
 rash has disappeared the skin becomes rough and the scarf-skin 
 is shed in small fragments by a process known as "peeling." 
 
 In the second variety of the disease the fever is higher 
 and lasts longer than in the first, and all the symptoms are more 
 intense. The throat is very red, the mucous membrane of
 
 352 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 it swollen, ulcerated in places, and perhaps covered with a 
 yellowish deposit resembling that formed in diphtheria. The 
 act of swallowing is difficult and painful, the glands of the 
 neck are swollen, hard, and painful. The fever often gives rise 
 to delirium, and it is not until the eighth or ninth day that it 
 begins to abate. Convalescence, in this variety of the disease, 
 is not established until the end of the second week. In bad 
 cases extensive ulceration takes place within the mouth, and the 
 patient is utterly prostrated; delirium, stupor, and death may 
 close the scene at the end of a week or ten days. 
 
 Malignant scarlet fever is a terrible and fatal disease. The 
 fever in it is very high, there are convulsions, or else a condi- 
 tion of stupor, the breathing irregular, the throat swollen and 
 covered with membrane, the glands of the neck enlarged; 
 haemorrhages occur, and death usually closes the scene on the 
 third or fourth day. In this variety of the disease the eruption, 
 instead of being scarlet, is of a dark or a purplish color. 
 
 Relapses of scarlet fever occasionally occur from the second 
 to the seventh day after recovery from the first attack, and the 
 second one has all the symptoms of the first. 
 
 After severe cases of scarlet fever the scarf-skin peels off 
 in large flakes. Sometimes it is detached from the fingers or 
 the toes so completely that it looks like a mold of those mem- 
 bers. An attack of the disease may also be followed by loss of 
 the hair and nails. 
 
 Scarlet fever, besides being a dangerous disease, is also to 
 be dreaded on account of the complications to which it may give 
 rise and the consequences which may follow the subsidence of 
 the fever. In mild cases of it the inflammation of the throat is 
 not great and soon subsides ; but in severe ones where the inflam- 
 mation is great, it may spread to neighboring parts. The glands 
 of the neck may become actively inflamed and a large and pain- 
 ful abscess be produced. The cellular tissue of the neck may 
 become involved, large and deep ulcers may form and may 
 cause haemorrhage by dividing blood-vessels. If attacking both
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 353 
 
 sides of the neck, haemorrhage, blood-poisoning, and exhaustion 
 may arise, followed by death. 
 
 From the throat inflammation may extend to the ear, of 
 which there are three parts: the ear external, middle, and in- 
 ternal. Along a canal from the external ear inflammation may 
 extend from the throat to the middle ear. The middle ear, the 
 drum, is connected with the upper and back part of the throat 
 by a canal. Along this canal inflammation may, in consequence, 
 extend from the throat to the middle-ear. When this takes place 
 in scarlet fever the canal becomes swollen and its calibre con- 
 tracted. Matter forms within the middle, the drum of the ear, 
 and produces headache and deafness. The pain is often severe 
 and even agonizing. If a child is too young to explain how it 
 suffers, it will press the ear involved with its finger, or lay its 
 ear against the pillow. If the cause of the distress be not de- 
 tected, the thin membrane involved bursts, the enclosed matter 
 escapes, and a perforation is left in the drum-head of the ear, 
 which means, as a finality, more or less impairment of hearing. 
 The drum-head may, indeed, be entirely destroyed and hearing 
 totally lost in the affected ear. In most cases but one ear is 
 affected, but both ears may be involved, and thus scarlet fever 
 may be followed by total and permanent deafness. 
 
 Sometimes another serious complication of scarlet fever is 
 diphtheria. Malignant scarlet fever has some resemblance to, 
 but is not diphtheria. Diphtheria complicates scarlet fever upon 
 occasions. It is characteristic of diphtheria that it more readily 
 attacks a diseased than a sound surface. This is easily seen in 
 epidemics of diphtheria. Persons who suffer from an ordinary 
 sore throat, from cold or indigestion are particularly liable to 
 contract diphtheria. It is a disease of the general system, and 
 may develop in connection with wounds of the skin. A sore 
 throat that is ulcerated by scarlet fever affords the best possible 
 soil for its development. Then there combine, in that case, 
 two serious diseases co-existing in the same person, and the pros- 
 pects become proportionally gloomy. 
 
 23
 
 354 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Disease of the joints is not an uncommon suite of scarlet 
 fever. Scarlatina-rheumatism, as it is called, principally attacks 
 the ankle, wrist, joints of the fingers and toes, and may shift 
 from one joint to another. This variety of rheumatism agrees 
 with the typical one, in respect that it tends to cause a disease 
 of the heart. A nervous affection which, in a large number of 
 cases, is dependent upon rheumatism, is St. Vitus's dance, which 
 has been occasionally noted as following scarlet fever. 
 
 Pleurisy sometimes follows scarlet fever. Its presence is 
 announced by a rise in temperature, pain in the side, especially 
 upon taking a long breath, and by a dry, hacking cough. Each 
 lung is surrounded by a thin, delicate membrane, known as the 
 pleura. It is inflammation of the pleura that constitutes pleurisy. 
 Soon after the onset of the disease, the limpid fluid contained 
 within the pleura becomes enormously increased, distending the 
 sac with its accumulation. The lung is thus compressed by the 
 fluid surrounding it, and the air may be completely driven out 
 of its cells. When the inflammation subsides, the fluid is rapidly 
 or else slowly absorbed, and the lung is again able to expand 
 to its natural size. There are two varieties of pleurisy. In one 
 of them the fluid is of a watery character, but in the other it 
 consists of matter. It is the latter which is the form more likely 
 than the former to complicate scarlet fever. The symptoms of 
 the two forms are at first identical, but continued presence of 
 matter in one case affords the symptoms of hectic fever, loss of 
 appetite, and progressive debility. 
 
 When dropsy .occurs as a consequence of scarlet fever, it 
 appears when the scarf-skin is peeling. One of the commonest 
 causes of dropsy is disease of the kidney, and it is upon this 
 condition that the dropsy of scarlet fever depends. Mild cases 
 of scarlet fever are almost as likely to be followed by kidney- 
 disease as the severe cases, and the actual danger is perhaps 
 greater in the former than in the latter instance, for the reason 
 that persons who are ignorant of the nature of scarlet fever are 
 apt to relax their vigilance over the convalescent as soon as the
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 355 
 
 fever of the disease has departed. Cases are witnessed in which 
 it is almost impossible to keep the little patient in bed, so light 
 is the fever and so exuberant the child. But, exposed to a 
 draught, the case which begins so mildly may have a fatal ter- 
 mination. The kidneys are often congested from an early 
 period of the disease; but if the child is well watched and pro- 
 tected from draught, they resume their healthy condition. On 
 the other hand, their congestion may, as a consequence of a 
 single imprudence, be converted into inflammation, and death 
 may ensue, or else the foundation of Bright's disease of the 
 kidneys may be laid. 
 
 Dropsy usually makes its appearance as a puffiness beneath 
 the eyelids; the feet and ankles are often swollen, and the legs 
 become enlarged all over by an accumulation of fluid in their 
 tissues. One sign of the presence of fluid is the easy pitting of 
 the skin upon pressure by the tip of the finger. The skin has a 
 doughy feeling, and the indentations made by pressure with the 
 fingers remain for some time. Dropsy of exterior parts is not 
 in itself dangerous, it is only indicative of serious disease of the 
 kidneys. Inflammation of the larynx may reach such a point 
 that, unless surgically relieved, the patient must die, for it may 
 stop the breathing. This acute inflammation of the larynx may 
 occur as a complication of scarlet fever. Dropsy of the larynx, 
 on the other hand, is unaccompanied by inflammation. In it, the 
 attack is usually sudden. The voice may not be at first affected. 
 The prominent symptom is difficulty in the act of taking in the 
 breath. The effort in doing so produces a harsh noise. Develop- 
 ment of swelling is so rapid that within twenty-four to thirty- 
 six hours there is great embarrassment in breathing. It must 
 be obvious, therefore, that dropsy of the larynx is an extremely 
 dangerous affection. The difficulty of breathing is a conse- 
 quence of the presence of the fluid, and the presence of the fluid 
 is caused by grave disease of the kidney. 
 
 Dropsy of the heart is the overwhelming of the organ by 
 fluid. The heart, like the lungs, is enclosed in a membrane.
 
 356 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 When this is invaded by dropsical fluid, the heart beats rapidly, 
 irregularly, and feebly, and the sufferer becomes faint. Blood 
 coagulates within the cavities of the heart, the circulation is 
 arrested, and death ensues. 
 
 In addition to the evidence afforded by the presence of 
 dropsy, that the kidneys are affected, is that afforded by the 
 condition of the urine. The urine becomes scanty, highly col- 
 ored, perhaps from admixture with blood, and of a dark, red- 
 dish brown. As the function of the kidneys is to remove from 
 the blood waste-products which are injurious if retained in the 
 body, it is evident that their diseased condition seriously im- 
 pairs their capacity for work. The sufferer becomes weak, 
 appetite is lost, the breathing is embarrassed, diarrhoea is fre- 
 quent. If the function of the kidneys is very much impaired or 
 abolished entirely, the poison absorbed by the body causes the 
 sufferer to fall into convulsions or into profound stupor. Medical 
 treatment may possibly save, but in many instances the poison 
 in the blood is fatal. Within the brain are several cavities which, 
 in diseases of the kidneys, may become distended by an effusion 
 of fluid. This causing pressure upon the nerve-centers, the 
 patient falls into stupor and death may occur within twenty- 
 four hours. These conditions may occur as superinduced by 
 scarlet fever. 
 
 In treating a child attacked with scarlet fever the follow- 
 ing procedures should be adopted : 
 
 The first essential of treatment is isolation. The child must 
 be placed, if possible, in a room distant from the rooms occu- 
 pied by others of the family, preferably at the top of the house. 
 If practicable, the other children of the family should be sent 
 away, but not, if they are likely to have already experienced con- 
 tagion, to any place where there are other children. The bed- 
 room of the invalid should have a moderate temperature and be 
 well ventilated. The room should be bared of every unneces- 
 sary article of furniture, carpets, pictures, curtains, etc. The 
 physician and the nurse are the only persons who should be
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 357 
 
 allowed to enter the room. It is a good practice to purify the 
 air of the room by a mixture composed of one ounce each of car- 
 bolic acid and the oil of eucalyptus to seven ounces of the oil 
 of turpentine. Two tablespoonfuls are added to a quart of water, 
 put in a flat-bottomed vessel, and kept simmering over a fire. 
 Another good disinfectant is composed of eight ounces of sul- 
 phate of zinc, one ounce of carbolic acid, and three gallons of 
 water. A piece of muslin a foot square, constantly wetted with 
 this solution, may be hung up in the sick-room and another in 
 the adjoining entry. Articles which may have come in contact 
 with the patient should be either disinfected or destroyed by 
 fire. Discharges of any sort should be disinfected and immedi- 
 ately removed. 
 
 The sudden outbreak of the rash in scarlet fever does not 
 usually leave the observer in doubt as to the disease. A chill, 
 or a convulsion, fever, sickness at the stomach, sore throat, and 
 a rapid pulse, aided, perhaps by knowledge that scarlet fever 
 is prevalent, will generally result in a correct opinion of the case. 
 In a week, or a week and a half, the accompanying fever abates, 
 and the question of proper nourishment for the convalescent is 
 not so difficult as it is in fevers of longer duration. Neverthe- 
 less, the fever, although comparatively short, is active while 
 it lasts, and leaves the convalescent much exhausted, and it is 
 therefore important that as much proper nourishment should be 
 supplied as the digestion will permit. Milk, beef-juice, light 
 soup, milk-toast should be given every fourth hour during the 
 day. Unless the prostration be extreme, it is not advisable to 
 wake the convalescent for the purpose of giving food. The 
 watchful nurse can generally find opportunity for the adminis- 
 tration of both medicine and nourishment two or three times 
 during the night. 
 
 External applications of fats or oils moderate the heat of the 
 fever and allay the itching of the skin, contributing much to the 
 comfort of the sufferer. Little children, after having once ex- 
 perienced its pleasantness, often ask to be greased. At a later
 
 358 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 period, when the skin is peeling off, annointing hinders dispersal 
 of the scales and is therefore of use in preventing spread of the 
 disease. Leaf-lard, bacon, and the fat of ham are very good 
 substances for anointing, and so is olive-oil. Cold cream, or 
 simple ointment, which is lard stiffened with one-fourth port 
 of yellow wax, is a good preparation. Carbolic acid, boric acid, 
 menthol, eucalyptus, are among, the substances used in preparing 
 ointments to diminish the heat of the fever and the itching of the 
 skin. The formulae of some serviceable preparations are here- 
 with appended: 
 
 Powdered starch 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of chamomile 5 drops. 
 
 Simple ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the skin. 
 
 Camphor 5 grains. 
 
 Prepared suet 1 ounce. 
 
 Ointment of rose-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the skin. 
 
 Borax % drachm. 
 
 Powdered starch 1 drachm. 
 
 Lard 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the skin. 
 
 Carbolic acid V^ drachm. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus % drachm. 
 
 Olive oil 7 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Spread upon the skin. 
 
 Sulphur is a valuable medicament, but its odor may prove an 
 objection to it in the early stages of scarlet fever, when the stom- 
 ach is irritable. 
 
 In mild cases of scarlet fever, where the throat-symptoms 
 are not distressing, the patient may drink freely of cool water, 
 or if old enough, may be permitted to suck little pieces of ice. If 
 soreness of the throat is a prominent symptom, the deposits of 
 membrane there must be removed by mopping the surface with 
 a solution of common salt, borax, chlorate of potassium, or 
 thymol. Two grains of corrosive sublimate to the pint of water 
 is an excellent disinfectant when mopped on the affected sur- 
 face. Gargles are also serviceable in removing the effete mat-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 359 
 
 ter accumulated in the throat. Yeast makes a very good gargle. 
 A good one is compounded as follows : 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Borax 2 drachms. 
 
 Chlorate of potash 2 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of myrrh 1 ounce. 
 
 Water 7 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Of this mixture about two tablespoonfuls may be added to a glass 
 of water and used freely as a gargle. 
 
 In the event a child is too young to gargle the throat, and in 
 the case of older children, the use of the spray, after the throat 
 has been cleansed, has of late years largely superseded that of 
 mopping. Instruments called atomizers, used for administering 
 the spray, are to be found at all druggists' stores. 
 
 When the throat is covered with unhealthy secretions, .the 
 following mixture will prove useful : 
 
 Chlorate of potash 2 drachms. 
 
 Carbolic acid % drachm. 
 
 Tincture of iron % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Lime-water enough to make % pint. 
 
 Mix. Spray into the throat every two or three hours. 
 
 One of the most cleansing of applications for the throat is 
 peroxide of hydrogen or hydrogen dioxide. It gives pain when 
 applied pure to the mucous membrane or to the skin, and for 
 medicinal purposes is therefore supplied as dissolved by drug- 
 gists, in water. In the diluted form, sprayed into the throat, 
 it exercises remarkable cleansing power, dissipating matter 
 wherever it is met with. N 
 
 Another efficient cleansing agent is chlorine. Properly di- 
 luted, its cleansing power is retained. A preparation contain- 
 ing chlorine is known as Labarraque's solution. This, properly 
 weakened, is another cleansing fluid. Chlorine-water, suitably 
 diluted, also makes another. A teaspoonful either of Labar- 
 raque's solution, or of chlorine water, diluted with three or four 
 ounces of water, makes a strong enough solution for a spray 
 for the throat of scarlet fever patients.
 
 360 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 When the tonsils are greatly swollen they should be painted 
 with the tincture of chloride of iron. If matter appears, it must 
 be liberated by a surgeon's operation. Dropsy of the larynx is so 
 serious an affection that the promptest surgical treatment is 
 demanded. 
 
 Inflammation is frequently found to spread between the 
 back of the throat and the cavity of the nose. The nose thus 
 becomes quite frequently involved in scarlet fever, producing 
 a discharge from it which makes the upper lip sore. For inject- 
 ing into the interior of the nose, for this condition, the same 
 solutions as those used for the throat are applicable; but, inas- 
 much as the lining of the nose is more sensitive than that of 
 the throat, they must be weaker. A teaspoonful of this weak- 
 ened mixture should be injected into each nostril every second, 
 third, or fourth hour, according to the gravity of the case. 
 
 Inflammation of the middle ear is so painful, and the pos- 
 sible consequences already described so serious, that this compli- 
 cation demands the most careful and competent medical supervi- 
 sion. Warm applications, dry or moist, relieve pain. A bag 
 containing hot table-salt or hot chamomile flowers, or a light 
 hop-poultice affords a certain degree of relief. Filling the canal 
 of the external ear with warm water, as hot as it can be borne, 
 to which a few drops of laudanum have been added, is of ser- 
 vice is assuaging the pain. Sweet-oil containing a few drops of 
 laudanum is another application that may be made to the ear. 
 
 If these measures are not speedily efficacious, a leech applied 
 behind the ear will afford relief, and may prevent further pro- 
 gress of the inflammation. If the disease cannot be checked by 
 this procedure, the ear must be inspected by a skilled aurist, 
 and if he find the membrane of the middle ear distended by mat- 
 ter, he will operate so that it shall escape. The sudden deliver- 
 ance from pain which this operation effects is wonderful. The 
 child, worn out by suffering, falls into a gentle sleep. 
 
 Nothing has yet been said about internal treatment for 
 scarlet fever. The question at once arises, Is there any medi- 
 cine that is able to arrest the disease after a child has been ex-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 361 
 
 posed to contagion? The claim that belladonna has this power 
 has not been demonstrated by experience. Other drugs have 
 been employed with the design of neutralizing the disease, but 
 the testimony in their favor is insufficient to produce confidence 
 in their efficacy. 
 
 Mild cases of scarlet fever do not require very active treat- 
 ment by medicine. It is generally advisable to administer two 
 or three doses of laxative medicine at the beginning of the at- 
 tack of the fever. A dose of such medicine may be given every 
 other night. Calcined magnesia and the solution of citrate of 
 magnesia are medicines very good as aperients. As a regular 
 medicine the most efficient is the chlorate of potassium, which 
 can be given to a child of six years in the dose of three or four 
 grains in water. The solution may be prepared according to the 
 following formula: 
 
 Chlorate of potash 2 drachms. 
 
 Syrup of orange-flower water 1 ounce. 
 
 Water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Give a half to a teaspoonful every third hour. 
 
 When the irritability of the stomach has subsided it is well 
 to add five to fifteen drops of the tincture of the chloride of iron 
 to each dose. 
 
 The chlorate of potash is an excellent remedy for soreness 
 of the throat, and hence its peculiar value for that purpose 
 in scarlet fever. It has also good influence upon the blood, tend- 
 ing to prevent extensive destruction of its red corpuscles. 
 
 When the fever has abated, some tonic, such as the tincture 
 of the chloride of iron, or a grain of quinine, three times a day, 
 may be given with advantage. 
 
 In some cases the bowels become loose simultaneously with 
 the onset of the fever. In that event administration of a laxa- 
 tive would be prejudicial; it might even become necessary to 
 administer some corrective for the looseness of the bowels. For 
 a child of about five years of age, a good corrective is a dose 
 of three drops of aromatic sulphuric acid well diluted with
 
 362 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 water. A five-grain powder of subnitrate of bismuth every two 
 or three hours is also generally sufficient to check the looseness. 
 
 The treatment of more severe cases of scarlet fever than the 
 mild one, while the fever is quite high and accompanied by much 
 trouble in the throat, is substantially the same as that which has 
 been already outlined. The most efficient and safest manner of 
 reducing the temperature of the fever is by the employment of 
 cold water. The abstraction of heat from the body by means 
 of cold water retards the consumption of tissue, quiets restless- 
 ness, and produces amelioration of symptoms. It is a good 
 practice to sponge the body three or four times a day with cold 
 water. In cases marked by high fever and a bad sore throat, the 
 application of cloths wrung out in cold water, or even the appli- 
 cation of the ice-bag to the throat, answers the purpose of allay- 
 ing heat, reducing excitement, and improving the condition of 
 the throat. 
 
 It is also useful to cover the head with the ice-bag filled 
 about one-third with cracked ice. Pieces of soft linen, wrung 
 out in ice-water, wrapped around the arms, or laid upon the 
 chest and abdomen, are likewise effectual means of diminishing 
 temperature. The same object may be accomplished by means 
 of the wet-pack. The mattress being protected by a rubber 
 cloth, a sheet saturated with cold water is drawn under the 
 patient and its sides folded over the body. The extreme heat 
 of the body soon warms the sheet and vaporizes the water, 
 whereupon the sheet saturated in cold water must be renewed. 
 Among children the wet-pack possesses the advantage over the 
 cold general bath that it does not create in them so much ner- 
 vous excitement, shrinking, or shock. 
 
 In the most severe cases the poisonous action of the disease 
 upon the brain, spinal cord, and general nervous system is so 
 profound that the patient either suffers from convulsions or lies 
 in an apathetic condition. Convulsions in scarlet fever occur 
 at two different periods, and from two different causes. They 
 may usher in the disease, indicating the disturbance of the ner-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 363 
 
 vous centers, or they may occur during the period of peeling of 
 the skin; indicating, at either time, the presence of disease 
 of the kidneys. The convulsions of the early period are allayed 
 by those measures which reduce the fever. After the fit is over, 
 the application of the ice-bag to the head or of the wet sheet 
 to the body will prevent its recurrence. 
 
 In the worst cases of scarlet fever, especially in those of 
 the malignant variety, it is essential that the patient be immersed 
 in a bath-tub. Such cases show an extremely high temperature, 
 and a fatal result is immediate. The patient should be put in 
 a bath of a temperature of ninety degrees, Fahrenheit. This 
 should be gradually reduced by the addition of cold water until 
 the temperature has fallen to seventy-seven degrees. A medi- 
 cal thermometer should be placed and kept in the patient's mouth 
 until his temperature is reduced by two or three degrees, when 
 he should be placed in bed. If the cold has had too depressant 
 an effect, indicated by shivering or blue lips, he must be stimu- 
 lated by a dose of whiskey and the heaping' up of bed-clothes 
 over him. 
 
 Cases which exhibit great prostration, rapid emaciation, 
 restlessness, and delirium, require the administration of stimu- 
 lants. These may be given in the form of an alpoholic liquor, 
 wine, whiskey, brandy, or what is perhaps better, some prepara- 
 tion of ammonia. The ammonia and the alcoholic liquor may 
 be acceptably combined, as in the following composition: 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia 1 % drachms. 
 
 Whiskey 2 ounces. 
 
 Pulverized white sugar % ounce. 
 
 Powdered gum-Arabic % ounce. 
 
 Water enough to make 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful for a child six years of age. 
 
 It may be better to omit the whiskey from the mixture, and 
 to increase or diminish its amount from observation of the effect 
 produced. Alcoholic liquors are very beneficial if properly used, 
 but they may, otherwise treated, prove very injurious. Intoxi- 
 cation has been occasionally observed in young children in con-
 
 364 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sequence of indiscreet administration of alcoholic drinks. Over- 
 dose of alcoholic liquor weakens the action of the heart and occa- 
 sions serious depression. Ammonia has the advantage over it of 
 not only not causing depression, but of stimulating beneficially 
 the action of the heart and the great blood-vessels. 
 
 If the fever of the disease be happily over, the case has by 
 no means ended. The process of peeling may extend over several 
 weeks, during which time the child must be kept in the house at 
 an equable temperature, and must be sedulously protected 
 against draughts. It should not be allowed to venture out of 
 doors until the healing process has entirely ceased. If signs of 
 ailment should reappear, slight fever, headache, backache, 
 together with scanty and highly colored urine, the kidneys must 
 be relieved by action of the bowels and the skin. The child 
 should be put to bed at once in a room of a temperature from 
 seventy-two to seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. The diet should 
 be composed of milk, soup, corn-starch, tapioca, etc. Render the 
 skin active by giving the child a bath of immersion of a tem- 
 perature from ninety-five to one hundred degrees, Fahrenheit. 
 In a quarter of an hour place the child in bed and cover it with 
 warm blankets. Excite perspiration by putting in the bed bottles 
 of hot water, or the usual rubber bag filled with hot water. The 
 fluid extract of jaborandi, dose five to ten drops in water, in- 
 duces profuse perspiration. This drug is comparatively ineffec- 
 tive in children less than four years of age. In older children 
 and in adults it causes so great a perspiration as to drench the 
 bed-clothing. The dose can be repeated at intervals of a day or 
 two, according to the circumstances of the case. 
 
 It is not advisable in affection of the kidneys following 
 scarlet fever to give medicines which decidedly stimulate the 
 kidneys. Those which are gentle in their effect are of service. 
 The acetate and the bitartrate of potash, or cream-of-tartar, may 
 be given. To a child of six years of age, the dose of the former 
 is from one to twenty grains, three or four times daily ; and of the 
 latter, three to thirty grains. The bowels may be kept open by
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 365 
 
 the administration of calcined magnesia or of the citrate of 
 magnesia. For the same purpose, five to ten grains of the com- 
 pound powder of jalap may be given to a child of six years of age. 
 
 Mustard-poultices, dry-cups, and leeches are useful for the 
 relief of congestion of the kidneys. 
 
 The convulsions of the early stage of scarlet fever may be 
 controlled by the use of bromide of potash and chloral hydrate, 
 each alone or combined. A prescription in which they appear is 
 as follows: 
 
 Bromide of potash 2% drachms. 
 
 Chloral hydrate 40 grains. 
 
 Syrup of orange-flower water 1 % ounce. 
 
 Water % ounce. 
 
 Mix. A teaspoonful is a dose for a child six years of age, every three or 
 four hours. 
 
 Scarlatinal rheumatism following scarlet fever usually 
 passes off within a few days, and the tenderness of the joints is 
 relieved by swathing them in soft cotton wool. The tenderness 
 may also be removed by rubbing the parts with a liniment thus 
 composed : 
 
 Laudanum 2 drachms. 
 
 Chloroform 2 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of aconite 2 drachms. 
 
 Soap-liniment enough to make 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 No prescription beyond the simplest for treatment by medi- 
 cines taken by the mouth for mild cases of scarlet fever have 
 been here given. In the treatment of more severe cases the 
 knowledge of a physician for the administration of powerful 
 remedies that may be necessary is absolutely indispensable. It 
 stands to reason that all that has been here written is for popu- 
 lar information, in order to bring to the average household true 
 appreciation of the seriousness of scarlet fever as a disease 
 through a medium of knowledge that may be useful upon its on- 
 set. When scarlet fever invades a household the very best judg- 
 ment is to at once secure a physician. What has been here 
 descanted upon ought at least to secure one point: that the
 
 366 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 physician be quickly obtained, for after what has been said it is 
 hardly possible that any reader should not recognize the symp- 
 toms of the disease, and perhaps anticipate the coming of the 
 doctor by judicious measures of preparation. 
 
 GERMAN MEASLES. 
 
 The disease of German measles, known also as French 
 measles, is sometimes puzzling, from the similarity of its symp- 
 toms to those of true measles and those of scarlet fever. Ger- 
 man measles, like true measles, generally occurs in childhood. 
 It is a contagious disease. As a general rule one attack of it 
 is protective through the remainder of life. It does not, how- 
 ever, protect the system from an attack of true measles or of 
 scarlet fever, which fact affords conclusive evidence that it is 
 different in its nature from those diseases. Indeed, true measles 
 and German measles may prevail almost simultaneously, and a 
 child have first one and then the other. 
 
 The first symptoms of German measles are fever, headache, 
 and a sensation of languor. The fever is not high, rarely ex- 
 ceeding one hundred and one degrees Fahrenheit in tempera- 
 ture, and the headache is rarely severe. There is slight redness 
 and swelling of the throat, and the eyes may be red and watery. 
 There may be some sickness at the stomach, but the patient does 
 not often vomit. Not infrequently the rash is the first thing 
 noticed. At the end of one or two days, but sometimes not until 
 the third day, the rash develops. As a general rule it makes its 
 first appearance on the scalp and thence rapidly extends to all 
 parts of the body. It consists of small, rose-colored spots, from 
 the size of a pin's head to that of a small pea, slightly elevated 
 above the surface of the skin. It reaches its maximum in about 
 twenty-four hours, remains without much change for a day or 
 two, when it begins to fade away and entirely disappears on the 
 fifth or sixth day. There is no peeling off of the scarf-skin, but 
 a slight discoloration may for some time remain on the skin 
 where the spots of the rash have been.
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 367 
 
 German measles may, at its onset 'and throughout its course, 
 be distinguished by its symptoms from scarlet fever. It lacks the 
 abrupt invasion, the sickness at the stomach, the high fever, and 
 the sore throat of scarlet fever. The rash of scarlet fever is of a 
 bright red color, occurring in large patches, which coalesce so as 
 to cover a large surface of the body. The rash of German measles, 
 on the contrary, is in the form of small and generally separate 
 spots, which, although neighboring spots may coalesce, never do 
 so to the extent of covering a large surface. The rash of true 
 measles consists of comparatively large pimples of a crimson 
 color and crescentic outline, decidedly elevated above the gen- 
 eral level of the skin, presenting a mottled appearance. The 
 face is swollen, the eyes suffused with moisture; there is dis- 
 charge from the nose, sneezing, and a cough. These symptoms, 
 like those of a heavy cold, are entirely absent in German measles, 
 and the eruption does not appear until the third day. 
 
 The disease of German measles is so trivial as scarcely 
 to need medical treatment. It is well to have the bowels acted 
 upon by Epsom salts, citrate of magnesia, or a seidlitz powder. 
 If there is enough fever to make the patient restless, sweet 
 spirits of nitre or neutral mixture may be given. If there 
 is soreness of the throat some chlorate of potash may be added. 
 The diet should be light. 
 
 SMALL-POX. 
 
 The loathsome and disfiguring disease of small-pox seems 
 to have originated in the East. The Chinese were familiar 
 with it looo B. C, and it was also anciently known in India 
 and gradually spread to Europe. That happened in compara- 
 tively modern times, for the disease was unknown to the Greeks 
 and the Romans. It was described in the fifth century of our 
 era by Arabian physicians, and was brought into Western Europe 
 by the Crusaders, whence it found its way to America. 
 
 Four distinct varieties of small-pox are recognized by 
 physicians. They differ as to the abundance of the eruption
 
 368 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and the intensity of other symptoms. The first manifestation 
 of the disease appears from five to fourteen days after contagion. 
 A second attack of it is very rare, but it may happen. 
 
 In the interval between exposure to contagion and the out- 
 break of the disease, there are usually no signs of impaired health. 
 Occasionally, however, and especially towards the end of this 
 period, the approach of the disease is foreshadowed by loss of ap- 
 petite, sleeplessness, and languor. The mildest form of the dis- 
 ease is known as varioloid. It is true small-pox, although light 
 in form. The next form in severity is known as discrete small- 
 pox, because the pock eruptions stand well apart from one 
 another, and scattered. The next variety, growing in severity, 
 is known as confluent small-pox. In this the eruption is so 
 abundant that neighboring pocks coalesce. The last and severest 
 type of the disease is called, on account of its virulence, malig- 
 nant small-pox. 
 
 In varioloid the severity of the disease is mitigated by vac- 
 cination, by previous attack of the disease, or by some personal 
 peculiarity of constitution. It begins with a slight chill, fol- 
 lowed by moderate fever. There is but little disturbance of the 
 stomach, and the backache is not severe. The eruption is gen- 
 erally a day later in making its appearance, coming out upon 
 the evening of the fourth instead of the third day. The pim- 
 ples are transformed into blisters, and these become partially or 
 wholly filled with matter, which, however, soon dries up. There 
 is no secondary fever, little or no pitting, and convalescence is 
 generally rapid. 
 
 Discrete small-pox usually begins with a moderate chill, 
 dull headache, and pain in the small of the back. The stomach 
 is irritable and the patient is disposed to vomit. The chill soon 
 ceases, and is followed by high fever, the headache increases, 
 and the pain leaves the back to center in the hips and thighs. 
 The face is flushed, the eyes red, the breathing rapid, the skin 
 hot and dry. The tongue is heavily coated with a white fur, 
 the mouth parched, thirst incessant, and vomiting frequent. 
 There is much restlessness, and there may be slight delirium.
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 369 
 
 The rash of discrete small-pox comes out at the end of the 
 third or the beginning of the fourth day. It first appears upon 
 the face and scalp and around the lips, spreading thence to the 
 chest and arms, and successively to other parts of the body. 
 The eruption is not confined to the skin ; it also attacks the mucous 
 membrane of the throat, larynx, and windpipe, and may even 
 extend into the lungs, exciting pneumonia. It is upon the skin, 
 however, that the eruption exhibits its stages of evolution. As 
 soon as the eruption begins to appear, the other symptoms of the 
 disease ameliorate" the fever declines, the headache and backache 
 diminish or even disappear, the stomach becomes settled, the 
 patient is able to take nourishment, and indeed feels convales- 
 cent. 
 
 The first appearance of the rash is in the form of small red 
 points. These rapidly enlarge, appearing as extremely hard, 
 red pimples, so hard that they have been likened to shot em- 
 bedded in the skin. Each pimple stands distinctly apart from 
 others, although they sometimes appear as clusters. They gen- 
 erally develop within twenty-four hours and give rise to itching, 
 no increase to their number following their appearance. They 
 slowly grow in size for two or three days until the seventh or 
 eighth day after the beginning of the disease. The water- 
 blisters into which they become transformed have a dent on top, 
 as if drawn inward. This peculiarity is characteristic of the 
 small-pox eruption in the blister stage of the disease, and is not 
 present save in rare cases in any other malady. Taken in con- 
 junction with headache, severe backache, nausea, fever, and pre- 
 ceding outbreak of pimples, the water-blister dented on top, one 
 is enabled confidently to pronounce the case to be one of small- 
 pox. At their maturity, the blisters are of about the size of a 
 small pea, hemispherical in form, and their watery contents are 
 changed into matter. 
 
 With the arrival of the formation of matter in the eruption, 
 the febrile symptoms, which have been in abeyance for four or 
 five days, return. This constitutes the symptomatic or second- 
 
 24
 
 3/O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ary fever, and is higher than the first. The rapid breathing, 
 headache, backache, and vomiting recur in an intensified degree. 
 The skin becomes swollen and the face disfigured even when the 
 eruption is not profuse. The patient sometimes lies in an apa- 
 thetic condition, or may be delirious. The delirium may be of 
 a wild form, or may be of the mild type where the patient con- 
 tinually mutters in a low voice. The nose and throat are in- 
 flamed, and the act of swallowing is painful. Bronchitis, 
 pleurisy, or pneumonia sometimes occurs during this period. 
 There is itching in all stages of the disease. The soft white 
 pimples are often torn by scratching, provoked by the itching 
 of the eruption, by pressure of the bed-clothing, or by spontane- 
 ous rupture, at which times the matter oozes out of them and 
 dries in crusts upon the skin. 
 
 About three days after the formation of matter, it begins 
 to dry up ; a dark brown spot appears in the center of each pim- 
 ple and enlarges until it forms a brown scale closely attached 
 to the surface upon which it rests. This is known as the period 
 of desiccation (drying), and it usually begins on the thirteenth 
 or fourteenth day of the attack. The secondary fever lasts for 
 three or four days and declines as soon as the- matter begins to 
 dry into crusts. The constitutional symptoms abate, and the 
 patient becomes convalescent. The skin heals beneath the crusts ; 
 but as a portion there of the true skin has been destroyed, little 
 pits, representing permanent scars, remain on the skin. The dis- 
 ease lasts about three weeks. During convalescence the hair is 
 often lost and the nails are sometimes shed. 
 
 CONFLUENT SMALL-POX. 
 
 In the confluent variety of small-pox the invasion of the 
 disease is quicker than that just described, the attack more 
 violent, the eruption more extensive, the remission of fever 
 but slight, the secondary fever more severe and dangerous. 
 Complications are also much more frequently encountered. 
 The chill which announces the disease is violent, long-con-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 37! 
 
 tinued, and followed by other chills. The headache and 
 backache are excruciating, the primary fever is very high, quite 
 often there is copious bleeding from the nose, and there is much 
 sick stomach. Convulsions may take the place of chills. The 
 fever is so violent that the attack has sometimes been mistaken 
 for delirium tremens. Cases are not uncommon where patients 
 have escaped from their attendants and wandered in their night- 
 clothes far from home on a bitterly cold winter's night. 
 
 The eruption appears upon the third day and spreads over 
 the whole body in the course of a few hours. The skin is rough 
 from innumerable closely-set, hard, red pimples ; so close, in fact, 
 that scarcely a trace of healthy skin can be discerned. On the 
 day succeeding their appearance they become converted into 
 blisters which may become very large from joining with those 
 close to them. The blisters soon become full of matter and the 
 appearance of great quantities of it on the swollen skin presents 
 a terrible appearance. The coalescence of the blisters upon the 
 face and hands is especially noticeable. The face is enormously 
 swollen, repulsive to sight, hardly recognizable by the most in- 
 timate acquaintance. The eruption also invades the mouth. There 
 unhealthy deposits of yellowish white substance take place, the 
 tongue is swollen and laden with a heavy fur. The voice is lost, 
 breathing and swallowing are difficult. A peculiarly offensive 
 and sickening odor is exhaled. The disease may become compli- 
 cated with erysipelas, with the consequence of much destruction 
 of tissue. Pocks may form upon the eyeballs, causing either 
 opacity of the eye or perforation of the eyeball and consequent 
 blindness. Bronchitis, pleurisy, and pneumonia are of frequent 
 occurrence in this form of small-pox. If recovery eventually 
 takes place the patient is left with a much-scarred and disfigured 
 face. 
 
 MALIGNANT SMALL-POX. 
 
 Still more violent than confluent small-pox is the course of 
 the malignant variety of the disease. The beginning of it is 
 very abrupt, the chill extremely severe, the fever exceedingly
 
 37 2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 high, the acts of breathing rapid and irregular. The headache and 
 backache are excruciating and vomiting is constant. Delirium, 
 usually followed by stupor, soon occurs. The eruption appears 
 upon the third day, its pimples being dark blue or even black in 
 color. The pimples run together and form large, irregular 
 masses. Around them may generally be seen large or small dis- 
 colorations of the skin, indicative of haemorrhage within the 
 skin. The face is immensely swollen and the whites of the eye 
 become blood-red. Haemorrhages from the nose, stomach, and 
 bowels often occur. The disease is usually complicated with 
 bronchitis or with pneumonia. Death results within a week 
 from the beginning of the attack, often upon the third or fourth 
 day, and not infrequently before the development of the eruption. 
 In view of the highly contagious character of small-pox, 
 the rapidity of its spreading, the disfigurement which it causes, 
 and its dangerous character, it is highly desirable that it should 
 be recognized immediately upon its attack. Prior to the appear- 
 ance of the eruption the symptoms upon which reliance should 
 be placed are pain in the back, sickness of the stomach, chill and 
 fever. Whenever these symptoms occur during the presence of 
 a small-pox epidemic an inroad of the disease should be sus- 
 pected and the patient should be at once isolated. When the 
 eruption first makes its appearance it is not easily distinguish- 
 able from that of measles. Both kinds of rashes consist of pim- 
 ples. The pimples of small-pox, however, are much harder than 
 those of measles. The pimples of measles, on the other hand, 
 are larger and crescentic in shape. The rash of small-pox ap- 
 pears upon the third, but that of measles not until the fourth 
 day. Therefore the symptoms of the two diseases do not present 
 similarity except to an inexperienced person. The watery eye, 
 the sneezing, the discharge from the nose, the coughing of 
 measles are absent in small-pox. The excessive pain in the back, 
 the vomiting, the severe chill, the high fever of small-pox do not 
 occur in measles. The rash of measles consists solely of pimples, 
 but in small-pox the hard pimples are converted into water-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 373 
 
 blisters, and these, in turn, become filled with matter. The fever 
 of measles is not very high, but increases rapidly a few hours be- 
 fore the eruption begins, whereas in small-pox the high fever 
 of the first few days subsides with the development of the erup- 
 tion. When the rash of small-pox is in its water-blister stage, 
 it resembles that of chicken-pox. The blisters of chicken-pox, 
 however, never become filled with matter, but come out upon the 
 second day, and seldom occur upon the face. Chicken-pox is a 
 very mild affection, but small-pox is a severe disease. 
 
 In most cases there can scarcely be any difficulty in distin- 
 guishing scarlet fever from small-pox. The eruption of scarlet 
 fever, although accompanied by a slight roughness of the skin, 
 is not elevated above the surface. It occurs in the form of bright 
 red patches. A mistake might occur only in the presence of 
 a malignant case. The constitutional symptoms are similar in 
 both diseases high fever, prostration, delirium, stupor, and 
 haemorrhages. The likeness is heightened by the fact that in 
 malignant small-pox a red rash comes out upon the skin dur- 
 ing the first day or two, before the appearance of its characteris- 
 tic eruption. This red rash resembles that of scarlatina, inas- 
 much as it is not raised above the surface of the skin. It differs, 
 however, from the other, in being less diffuse and more irregular 
 in its development. Doubt is at once set at rest by the speedy 
 occurrence of the characteristic eruption of small-pox. 
 
 Malignant small-pox and malignant measles may be con- 
 founded prior to the appearance in small-pox of blisters and sup- 
 puration. In both diseases the eruption is of pimples; in both 
 the fever is high, prostration great; and in both haemorrhages, 
 delirium and stupor occur. The intense backache with which 
 small-pox begins, and the severe cough of measles, are symptoms 
 which should aid in the formation of an opinion as to the dis- 
 ease with which we are dealing. In the malignant varieties of 
 measles, scarlet fever, and small pox, the system of the patient 
 may be overwhelmed and death occur before the appearance of 
 the rash. The knowledge of the prevalence of a certain epi-
 
 374 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 demic is a guide in diagnosing these diseases. The skill of the 
 physician, however, is indispensable to making a certainty of the 
 conclusion to be reached. 
 
 For the treatment of small-pox the patient must, in the first 
 place, be strictly isolated. The sick-room should be as large as 
 possible, thoroughly well-ventilated and kept at a temperature of 
 sixty-five to seventy degrees, Fahrenheit. Sunlight should be 
 excluded, because it favors the pitting from the eruption. The 
 patient should be as well nourished as is possible, despite the 
 sickness of stomach, which is marked in the early stage of the 
 disease and at the beginning of that of suppuration. Beef-juice, 
 animal-broths, soups, eggs, milk, milk-toast, oysters, may be 
 given at different times so as to avoid sameness of diet. Lemon- 
 ade is useful for allaying thirst, and will sometimes check nau- 
 sea. Ice-water and cracked ice moderate the inflammation of 
 the throat. If gargles can be used, they are of service. If not, 
 the throat can be cleansed and its soreness relieved by mopping 
 the surface from time to time or by application of a spray. The 
 chlorate of potash, ten grains to the ounce of water, constitutes a 
 good gargle. The tincture of myrrh and the compound tincture 
 of cinchona bark, properly diluted with water, are also service- 
 able. 
 
 At the onset of the disease it is well to have the bowels well 
 opened by means of citrate of magnesia, Rochelle salts, or some 
 other efficient purgative. Frequent spraying of the face with 
 cold water is of service. Alcohol or spirits of camphor may 
 be advantageously added to the water. The pain in the back 
 may be relieved by the usual rubber hot-water bag. Fever is 
 reduced by sweet spirits of nitre and neutral mixture, together 
 with more powerful remedies in grave cases. If there is much 
 nervous excitability, restlessness, or delirium, a dose of bromide 
 of potash or of chloral hydrate may be given with the fever 
 mixture. The dose of bromide of potash for an adult is twenty 
 to thirty grains, and that of chloral hydrate, ten grains. Some- 
 times a dose of Dover's powder (ten grains) has a better effect.
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 375 
 
 If bronchitis develops it may be checked by the use of a mixture 
 thus composed: 
 
 Tincture of red pepper 32 drops. 
 
 Tincture of sanguinaria 3 drachms. 
 
 Syrup of squills 5 drachms. 
 
 Water enough to make 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The dose for an adult is a teaspoonful in a wineglassful of water 
 every second or third hour. 
 
 During the secondary fever of the disease it is necessary to 
 give, in addition to whatever fever mixture is used, thirty drops 
 of the tincture of the chloride of iron in a wineglassful of water, 
 four times a day, and two or three grains of quinine at the same 
 time. Alcoholic stimulants, also, are needed at this period, par- 
 ticularly in confluent small-pox. 
 
 A very important feature of treatment relates to the erup- 
 tion. The less the suppuration, the less scarring will be left upon 
 recovery. Something can be done by the exclusion of light, and 
 it is probable that some of the measures adopted largely owe 
 whatever success they achieve to protecting the surface from the 
 influence of light. Those parts of the body which are covered 
 are never so much pitted as those which are exposed. A favorite 
 way with some physicians to make the application for shielding 
 the parts from light is to have a mask made, fitting the face, 
 leaving openings for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Upon the 
 under surface of the mask is spread mercurial ointment stiffened 
 with arrow-root, in the proportion of an ounce of the former to 
 a drachm of the latter. Instead of this ointment, mercurial 
 plaster or sulphur ointment may be applied in the same manner. 
 Tincture of iodine painted on the pimples is a good application. 
 Ten grains to a half a drachm of corrosive sublimate dissolved in 
 an ounce of glycerine and rubbed on the face with a pledget of 
 raw cotton lessens the inflammation and the chance of disfigure- 
 ment. Another preparation which may be used consists of five 
 parts of carbolic acid, forty parts of olive-oil, and sixty parts of 
 precipitated chalk. A paste composed of three per cent, of car- 
 bolic or salicylic acid, made up with starch or oil of sweet
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 almonds, has been used with favorable results for treating the 
 mask. Lotions or baths containing boric acid are beneficial. 
 
 The eyes should be carefully watched. The matter should 
 be kept washed away from them by a solution of boric acid con- 
 taining ten grains to the ounce of water. If little ulcers form 
 upon the eyeball they must be carefully cauterized by a surgeon. 
 When the fever is very high and the patient very restless the use 
 of ice-bags on the head and chest or the bath of immersion, grad- 
 ually cooled, is beneficial. During the stage of suppuration in 
 the confluent form of the disease the patient is much benefited 
 by being placed in a moderately warm bath. The matter is 
 washed away and the danger of blood-poisoning is diminished. 
 
 Malignant small-pox is a disease so violent and fatal that 
 the most powerful stimulant remedies are indicated for its 
 treatment. The disease needs the most careful and enlightened 
 medical supervision. 
 
 Varioloid does not need much medical treatment. The 
 citrate of magnesia or Rochelle salts at the beginning, some sweet 
 spirits of nitre while the fever lasts, and some iron after the dis- 
 ease is well developed, will generally prove sufficient. 
 
 In every case of small-pox all the discharges should be dis- 
 infected. Bed-clothes and wearing apparel must be disinfected 
 or, wherever possible, destroyed. The scales that fall should be 
 burned. After the patient has entirely recovered the room 
 should be disinfected by burning sulphur in it, after which it 
 should be thoroughly ventilated by throwing wide open all its 
 windows. The best agent, however, for disinfecting, is for- 
 maldehyde. 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 Fortunately there is possessed in vaccination a very simple 
 safeguard against small-pox. Immunity from small-pox, 
 through one vaccination, is not always permanent. The opera- 
 tion needs, as a precautionary measure, to be repeated at certain 
 intervals. Children should be vaccinated within six months after
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 377 
 
 birth, and the operation should be repeated about the eighth and 
 fifteenth years of age. If the vaccine virus takes on each occa- 
 sion, life-long immunity from small-pox is generally conferred. 
 Not infrequently even the first vaccination protects for life. It 
 is prudent, however, to be vaccinated when small-pox becomes 
 epidemic, if previous re vaccinations have failed to take. The 
 value of vaccination is incontestible. It is proved by abundance 
 of trustworthy statistics. Epidemics of small-pox are by no 
 means so common or so destructive now as they were before 
 the discovery of vaccination by Dr. Jenner. 
 
 In order to be esteemed truly successful, vaccination must 
 run a typical course. It is not enough merely to cause a sore 
 arm. A good deal of inflammation may follow the operation 
 and yet the result prove entirely abortive. The true appearance 
 of successful vaccination is the coming, three or four days after 
 the operation, of a hard, red pimple. This enlarges, and at the 
 end of the second day it is transformed into a water-blister sur- 
 rounded by a red zone of skin. Three days after the coming 
 of the water-blisters, they become filled with matter instead of 
 water. Two days subsequently to this the vaccination has 
 reached its highest development. The zone of redness around 
 the eruption begins to fade, a brown spot appears on the point, 
 the contents dry up, a mahogany-colored scab is completed upon 
 the fourteenth or sixteenth day after the operation. Healing 
 having gone on below the scab, it detaches itself about the twenty- 
 first or the twenty-third day. This leaves a round, depressed, 
 and pinkish scar, which gradually becomes whiter than the sur- 
 rounding skin, and generally lasts for life. This is the typical 
 course of successful vaccination. During its continuance, some 
 fever, headache, and restlessness may occur, especially in the 
 case of infants, and the glands of the armpit may become swol- 
 len and painful. Occasionally, also, a red rash appears over the 
 whole body. But these symptoms generally last only for a few 
 days.
 
 3/8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CHICKEN-POX. 
 
 Chicken-pox is a mild, contagious disease, attended with 
 some fever and a general eruption. It is a disease confined almost 
 wholly to young children, and is seldom seen after their tenth 
 year. The rash appears after a fever of twenty-four to thirty- 
 six hours duration. The fever is so slight, however, and so free 
 from other constitutional symptoms, that the appearance of the 
 rash is the first thing to call attention to the attack. Sometimes 
 there are headache and restlessness. The eruption comes out 
 first upon the breast and abdomen, and soon spreads to the 
 upper and lower limbs. The rash occasionally attacks the fore- 
 head, scalp, and neck, but is not often seen upon the lower part of 
 the face. It is in the form of small blisters and they sometimes 
 appear upon the eye and invade the mouth. 
 
 The eruption of chicken-pox is fully developed upon the 
 second day, and upon the third day it begins to dry up into 
 little brown or yellowish crusts which, in the course of two or 
 three days, loosen and fall off. A little scar is left in the places 
 where the scabs fall off, but they generally become obliterated ; 
 only in rare cases do a few marks of chicken-pox remain per- 
 manently. 
 
 Chicken-pox is an insignificent disease. The chief medical 
 interest in it consists in differentiating its symptoms from those 
 of measles and small-pox, especially from small-pox. The dif- 
 ference becomes of special value when both small-pox and 
 chicken-pox are simultaneously epidemic in a community. The 
 severe symptoms of small-pox will, however, in a vast majority 
 of cases, mark it as present, and not chicken-pox. 
 
 There may sometimes be some difficulty in distinguishing 
 between varioloid and chicken-pox in a child. The eruption of 
 varioloid, however, does not appear until the third or fourth 
 day. It occurs first in the form of pimples, which subsequently 
 become filled with water and afterwards with matter. It is 
 only in the watery stage that there ought to be any possibility 
 of confounding the two maladies, because the blisters of vario-
 
 ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 379 
 
 loid are generally, whereas those of chicken-pox are seldom, what 
 is medically known as umbilicated that is, dented on top. The 
 eruption of chicken-pox appears from twenty-four to thirty-six 
 hours after the attack of the disease, instead of four days after- 
 wards, as is the case of varioloid. It comes so soon that it is, 
 as already mentioned, the first symptom noticed. Little or no 
 medical treatment is needed in chicken-pox. If there are head- 
 ache, restlessness, and fever, a laxative may be given, together 
 with some sweet spirits of nitre, and perhaps some bromide of 
 potash. The child attacked should be given a light diet and be 
 kept in the house.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 
 
 A MONO the Greeks it appears to have been the custom to pre- 
 ** serve unshorn during life a lock of the hair dedicated to 
 the gods. Proserpine, the wife of Pluto, the god of the 
 infernal regions, was believed, upon the approach of the death 
 of a human being, to cut off this lock. When a Greek died a 
 lock was cut from his hair and placed outside of the door of the 
 house of the deceased, to indicate death within. Virgil, in de- 
 scribing the death of Dido, tells that Iris, the messenger of the 
 gods, appeared, and referring to the sacred lock of Dido's hair, 
 said : "This lock I, as commanded, bear away sacred to Pluto." 
 In Thibet the priest is called in to cut hair from the heads of 
 the dying in order that their souls may placidly depart through 
 the top of the head. 
 
 The races possessing luxuriant hair have always highly 
 esteemed it as an adornment lending importance and dignity to 
 the person. The hair of the head and of the beard has often 
 been associated with religious rites. The ancient Hebrews re- 
 garded shaving as indicative of shame or affliction, and, in pre- 
 dicting the desolation of Moab, the prophets Isaiah and Jere- 
 miah declared that "every head shall be bald and every beard 
 clipped." Tradition taught that Adam was created with a 
 beard, and this growth became among the Jews one of the 
 marks of their faith. They regarded a rude touch of the beard 
 as a great personal indignity. It was allowed only to children 
 and near relatives to touch the beard lovingly, and raising the 
 hands reverentially to the beard was the sign of seeking hospitality. 
 This sentiment for the beard has been shared by the Moham- 
 medans, whose prophet, Mohammed, never suffered his beard to 
 be touched with the razor. The Arabs look with abhorrence upon 
 a bald head, and conclude their solemn oaths with the words: 
 380
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 381 
 
 "If I have done it, then may the Lord turn my locks into a 
 bald head." In Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, the beard was 
 held in high honor. The priests of Nineveh wore long beards, 
 elaborately curled and oiled. The Persian kings had their 
 beards plaited and tied with strands of golden thread. Among 
 the Greeks the beard was generally worn until Alexander the 
 Great, having conquered them, ordered its discontinuance, find- 
 ing that its presence gave great advantage to an enemy in a 
 hand-to-hand conflict. The Romans, until 290 B. C, allowed 
 both hair and beard to grow long. From that time until the 
 reign of Hadrian, A. D. 117, the Romans wore hair and beard 
 short. They afterwards wore the beard long until the decline 
 of the Roman Empire. How the beard was regarded by the 
 ancient Romans we learn from Livy's vivid description of the 
 scene when Rome was captured by the Gauls, who, entering the 
 Senate chamber, and amazed at the sight of that dignified body 
 sitting imperturably in their curule chairs, were at first awed, 
 when one of them, recovering, had the hardihood to stroke a 
 Senator's beard, and was thereupon knocked down by the ivory 
 staff which the Senator held as one of the insignia of his office. 
 Then the Senators were massacred to a man. 
 
 Races characterized in the male sex by a sparse growth of 
 hair upon the face are given to removing the appendage, which, 
 in their case, is certainly not ornamental. The North American 
 Indians were always careful to pluck out their scanty growth 
 of beard. The ancient Egyptians universally practiced shaving, 
 and according to Wilkinson, whenever, as he says, they "in- 
 tended to convey the idea of a man of low condition, or a 
 slovenly person, the artists represented him with a beard. They 
 did not, however, despise it as a mark of manhood, as on cer- 
 tain festivals they assumed false beards, and their male deities 
 were represented as bearded. As a sign of mourning they al- 
 lowed the beard to grow." 
 
 The belief that abundance of hair, especially on the body, 
 is indicative of great strength has survived to the present day.
 
 382 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 This belief, in Christian communities, may have originated from 
 the history of Samson. He said to Delilah: "If I be shaven, 
 then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak and 
 be like any other man." When he was despoiled by Delilah of 
 the "seven locks of his head," captured, and blinded, he had to 
 wait until his hair grew again before he was able to pull down 
 the pillars of the temple in which the multitude was assembled. 
 The ancient Germans allowed the hair to grow very long, 
 and according to the historian Tacitus, so kept it during old age. 
 One of the mediaeval emperors of Germany, Frederick I, was 
 surnamed Barbarossa on account of his having a red beard. 
 There have been, in both ancient and modern times, great fluctu- 
 ations in the fashion of wearing the hair. The greater abun- 
 dance and length of the hair of the head among women has ad- 
 mitted among them the most varied arrangements of the growth. 
 In the Merovingian line of early French kings, long hair was the 
 sign of princely birth and breeding. The flaxen locks of those 
 people were arranged with great care, and flowed over neck and 
 shoulders. Their subjects were compelled to shave the back part 
 of the head, to comb the hair over the forehead, and to content 
 themselves with the ornament of two small whiskers. So the 
 historian Gibbon says, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire." From the thirteenth century monuments we gain an 
 idea of the way in which the hair was worn during that period. 
 The widow of Richard I and Eleanor of Castile are represented 
 with waving hair flowing from beneath their crowns. Towards 
 the close of the century, the ladies' hair was arranged within a 
 network of gold and silver filigree or of silk network. In an 
 effigy of Elizabeth, the wife of Henry VII, at the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, an angular head-dress was worn, from 
 which the hair fell unconfined upon the shoulders. During the 
 reign of Charles II, of England, the ringlets of the ladies fell 
 from a circlet of pearls. Under William III, head-dresses suc- 
 ceeded to flowing ringlets. In the latter part of the eighteenth 
 century a very extravagant style came into fashion. The hair
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 383 
 
 was frizzed up into curls, drawn up high like a military shako, 
 adorned with ribbons, feathers, and jewels, and stiffened with 
 pomatum and powder. The time demanded for the production 
 of these elaborate coiffures was so great and the call upon hair- 
 dressers so insistent that it was frequently necessary for ladies 
 to have their hair dressed a day or two in adv?nce of the fes- 
 tivity in which they were to take part. This, in turn, often in- 
 volved the necessity of their sleeping propped up in a chair until 
 the event took place. 
 
 Men have, at various periods, worn their hair closely cut, 
 or have allowed it to attain its natural length. During the 
 civil war in England between the adherents of Charles I and 
 those of Parliament, the cavaliers of King Charles's party wore 
 their hair flowing, in what the closely-cropped members of the 
 other party contemptuously called "lovelocks." Wigs have been 
 from time immemorial used by both sexes for the purpose of 
 concealing baldness. At certain periods, too, they have also been 
 fashionable as an adornment. When used to conceal baldness, 
 they are made to imitate the natural growth of hair. When em- 
 ployed merely as part of ceremonial attire they have assumed 
 huge and unnatural proportions. The British Museum contains 
 an Egyptian wig which is supposed to be about four thousand 
 years old. Wigs were known to the Greeks and the Romans, 
 and presumably to the Assyrians. The modern large wig, the 
 peruke, worn as an article of dress, was introduced by Louis 
 XIII of France, in order to conceal his baldness. It became 
 generally adopted as a portion of full-dress and maintained its 
 position for a century. There was a time when. Louis XIV, the 
 successor of Louis XIII, objected to a certain high style of dress- 
 ing the hair among the ladies of his court, but the peruke for 
 gentlemen outlasted his reign. The fashion gradually declined, 
 and the only remnant of it now lingers with English judges, bar- 
 risters, and the speaker of the House of Commons, and with 
 those only when in performance of their public functions. 
 
 Powdering the hair was a widespread fashion during the
 
 384 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 eighteenth century. The powder was made of starch, scented 
 with violet or some other perfume. Laws were enacted for- 
 bidding the use for the hair of any other powder but starch. In 
 order to keep the powder in place the hair was first of all 
 pomatumed. In 1795 a tax was imposed in Great Britain upon 
 hair-powder, and for some time considerable revenue was derived 
 from this source. Eventually, however, it had the effect of caus- 
 ing the disuse of hair-powder. 
 
 The style of wearing the hair upon the face has greatly 
 varied in modern times. At certain periods the mustache and 
 imperial were in vogue. In the time of Charles I of England, the 
 Van Dyke, the pointed beard, was the prevailing fashion. In 
 European countries generally the style was set by the reigning 
 monarchs. Beards were highly esteemed by Spaniards until the 
 accession of Philip V to the throne. The circumstance of his 
 having a scanty growth of beard obliged the king to shave, and 
 in consequence the courtiers and people generally imitated his 
 practice. Beards were retained by the French, under Francis I, 
 long after they were out of fashion in other countries, because 
 the king wore a long beard for the purpose of concealing a scar 
 upon the chin. The beard was so highly valued by Juan de 
 Castro, the Portugese admiral, that when he extorted a loan 
 from the city of Goa, he presented that municipality with some of 
 his whiskers, with the remark : "All the gold in the world can- 
 not equal this natural ornament of my valor." Beards some- 
 times attain immense size. That of Johan Mayo, a German 
 painter, was so long that it trailed upon the ground when he 
 stood, and for convenience he was accustomed to tuck it into his 
 girdle. It is told of a certain emissary from England to Rus- 
 sia, in 1555, that his beard was broad, thick, yellow, and meas- 
 ured five feet two inches in length. 
 
 The strange practice of taxing beards occurred both in 
 England and Russia. Men who wished to wear beards were 
 obliged to pay for the privilege under several of the earlier 
 English monarchs, and long afterwards under the Czar Peter, 
 of Russia.
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 385 
 
 Professional care of the hair and beard early led to the 
 existence of the barber, to whom great loquacity has always 
 been ascribed. Countless references to this trait are met with 
 in literature. We see it in George Eliot's "Romola." The 
 village barber was one of the familiars of Don Quixote before 
 he set out on his knight-errantry. The barber of Louis XI, of 
 France, is signalized in history. The occupation of the barber 
 was for centuries combined with that of minor surgery. In the 
 early times, however, such duties did not rise much above the 
 dignity of a handicraft ; the barber-surgeons did not stand upon 
 the same plane as that occupied by physicians and surgeons. It 
 was not until 1745 that, in England, the barber ceased to be a 
 barber-surgeon and became a barber pure and simple. Neverthe- 
 less, the progress of surgery had been promoted by some of these 
 men. Ambrose Pare, who lived in the sixteenth century, was the 
 most illustrious surgeon of his times, and did much to improve 
 the art of surgery. Yet he began his career as a barber-surgeon, 
 and in the zenith of his fame became surgeon-in-chief to the 
 armies of France. The world of that day owed to him a debt 
 of gratitude for one thing alone. He abolished the barbarous 
 practice of applying boiling oil to wounds for the purpose of 
 inducing haemorrhage in them. It was he also who introduced 
 the practice of using ligatures for divided blood-vessels, a pro- 
 cedure which adds to the efficiency and safety of extensive 
 operations. For many years thereafter the barber, no longer 
 the surgeon-barber, plied his trade of snipping hair and beard 
 and making mild suggestions to his customers about the efficacy 
 of his tonic and shampoo, incidentally acquiring his reputation 
 as an inveterate talker about all manner of things within and 
 beyond his ken. His white pole of a sign, wound around with 
 a diagonal red band of paint, is supposed to be the survival of 
 his old trade as barber-surgeon, representing the arm of the 
 patient so wound preparatory to being bled, or blooded, as it 
 was often called. Any keen observer must perceive that the 
 barber's present representatives do not generally deserve the 
 
 25
 
 386 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 reputation of talkativeness which they once acquired. The mod- 
 ern barber reads and has learned of the fun that was poked at 
 him, has now become comparatively silent, and strictly attends 
 to business, although long habit still compels him to whisper, 
 "Tonic, shampoo, your hair is getting rather thin on top." 
 
 The health of the hair, and consequently its beauty, may 
 be affected by various constitutional diseases, by the condition of 
 the scalp, and by nervous and emotional influences. It may also 
 be affected by parasitic invasion. The commonest consequences 
 of these ailments are grayness and baldness. On the contrary, 
 there may be excessive growth of hair upon various portions of 
 the body. 
 
 BALDNESS. 
 
 Loss of hair may be partial or general. It may be prema- 
 ture, incidental to old age, or it may be absent from birth. Ten- 
 dency to early baldness is hereditary. The nourishment of the 
 hair is dependent upon abundant supply of blood to the scalp, its 
 steady nervous support, and absence of constitutional or ac- 
 quired disease. 
 
 Intelligent treatment of the hair should begin in infancy. 
 Indigestion in children generates tetter, scrofula, and parasitic 
 diseases, with which healthy growth of hair is incompatible. 
 Baldness is more common among brain-workers than among 
 artisans. The sedentary habit of the student is favorable to the 
 acquisition of dyspepsia and feeble circulation. Preponderance 
 of blood drawn to the brain in intellectual work is at the ex- 
 pense of that necessary for the nutrition of the scalp. The ner- 
 vous system, also, exercises a powerful influence upon the growth 
 of the hair. When the scalp's nutrition has been long inade- 
 quate, the scalp loses its sensibility, becomes white and shiny, 
 and permanent loss of hair upon it ensues. Loss of sleep, 
 anxiety, grief, excitement, alternate exaltation and depression of 
 spirits, abuse of tobacco and alcoholic liquors, are among many 
 causes which impair nervous force.
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 387 
 
 Loss of hair is occasioned by certain diseases of the scalp, 
 by typhoid and spotted fevers, scarlet fever, erysipelas, and other 
 diseases. Even in anaemia and general debility, the nutrition of 
 the hair is lessened. Unwise habits among women in dressing 
 the hair dispose to its loss. Hair needs ventilation, sun, and 
 air just as more highly organized tissues do. These beneficial 
 influences are often lost even by men, through the practice of 
 some of them in constantly wearing the hat. The best hats are 
 those which are furnished with minute perforations. A sparing 
 use of some fragrant oil on the scalp and hair is conducive to its 
 health and preservation, supplying the scalp's deficient sebum, 
 the natural oil of the skin, and preventing splitting and ragged 
 condition of the ends of the hair. The scalp and beard should 
 be washed once or twice a week with soap and warm water. 
 After a surf-bath the hair should be loosened and thoroughly 
 dried, if possible in the sunlight. 
 
 A good preparation for cleansing the hair can be made by 
 the following formula: 
 
 Borax 1 ounce. 
 
 Bicarbonate of soda % ounce. 
 
 Camphor 1 drachm. 
 
 Glycerine % ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 quart. 
 
 Alcohol 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the camphor in the alcohol and add to the other ingre- 
 dients previously mixed. 
 
 A drying wash for moist hair is made by the following 
 
 formula: 
 
 
 
 Cologne or lavender water 4 ounces. 
 
 Borax % ounce. 
 
 Tincture of cochineal % ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Brilliantine pomatum can be made by melting together in 
 a water-bath six ounces of suet and four ounces of clear amber 
 resin. While at the temperature of about one hundred and 
 seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit, add a solution of five ounces
 
 388 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of caustic soda in ten ounces of alcohol. Heat in a large vessel 
 until a transparent soap is formed. In another vessel heat eight 
 pounds of vaseline in ten pounds of castor-oil, and add gradu- 
 ally, by portions, twenty ounces of the soap mass and three 
 quarts of rectified spirits. Heat the whole product until bubbles 
 rise, pour out, color with gamboge, and scent with three ounces 
 of oil of sweet orange or any other perfume. For this recipe 
 there is the high authority of "The Druggist and Chemist." 
 
 "The British and Colonial Druggist" gives the following 
 formula for a stimulating pomatum : 
 
 Lard 16 ounces. 
 
 Almond-oil 4 ounces. 
 
 Marrow . 20 ounces. 
 
 Balsam of Peru 2 drachms. 
 
 Powdered cinchona 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of cloves 2 drachms. 
 
 Otto of rose 20 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 It is only within comparatively a few years, say at most 
 thirty, that women as well as men relinquished their former 
 practice of using pomatum on the hair and resorted to wearing 
 it dry and often frizzed. It would really seem that this rigid 
 abstention from the use of pomatum has been followed in both 
 sexes by an increase of baldness. 
 
 Combs should have large, coarse, and blunt teeth. The 
 excessive use of the fine-tooth comb, with which, a generation or 
 two ago, people frequently exacerbated their scalps, has happily 
 ceased. Its occasional use is desirable, but it should never, as 
 of old, be dug into the scalp, but be gently drawn over its sur- 
 face. A moderately stfff brush may be used several times a day 
 to free the scalp of dust and dandruff, and to gently stimulate its 
 surface by friction. Bandoline has a tendency to change dark 
 hair to that of a reddish cast. The following is a formula for 
 making it: 
 
 Gum-tragacanth 2 ounces. 
 
 Essential oil of almonds 2 drachms. 
 
 Alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 1 pint. 
 
 Water 7 pints. 
 
 Mix.
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 389 
 
 Rose-water or otto of roses may be substituted for the per- 
 fume of the essential oil of almonds in the above formula. The 
 mixture may be colored pink by the addition of liquid carmine. 
 The gum is dissolved for a day or two in water, stirred well, the 
 solution strained, and finally the alcohol, with the perfume, 
 added. 
 
 Another formula for bandoline is the following : 
 
 Quince seed y 2 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 p i n t. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 The following wash for the hair is given by "The Pharma- 
 ceutical Journal :"- 
 
 Oil of sweet-almonds 40 ounces. 
 
 Solution of borax 10 ounces. 
 
 Solution of potash 6 drachms. 
 
 Essence of lemon y 2 ounce. 
 
 Essence of bergamot 2 drachms. 
 
 Put the oil of almonds in a bottle or other suitable vessel and add thereto 
 the solution of borax. Shake well together, and add the solution of potash, 
 and again shake after a thorough incorporation; lastly, add the essence of 
 lemon and bergamot, and thoroughly mix. This will be found to produce an 
 inseparable and uniform creamy preparation. 
 
 Dusting powders, especially so-called diamond and gold- 
 dust powders, cut the hair and cause it to become dull, brittle, 
 and lifeless. A hair-powder, the ingredients of which are at 
 least harmless, is composed as follows : 
 
 Finely powdered starch 1 pound. 
 
 Orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rhodium 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 For preparations of a brilliant dust for the hair, Christian! 
 gives the following directions for so-called diamond-dust, gold- 
 dust, and silver-dust: 
 
 For diamond-dust, "white smalts (smalts is a glass formed 
 by melting oxide of cobalt with pure quartz sand and carbonate 
 of potassium) are well washed and rubbed into a coarse powder 
 in an iron mortar, after which they are put into paper boxes hold- 
 ing about a quarter of an ounce."
 
 390 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 GOLD-DUST. 
 
 "Florence leaf, such as is used in common gilding, is rubbed 
 to a coarse powder in a Wedgwood mortar, and put into small 
 paper boxes neatly labelled." 
 
 SILVER-DUST. 
 
 "White leaf, or Dutch metal, is rubbed in a mortar and 
 finely divided, and put up in neat boxes holding about a drachm." 
 
 Baldness is much more common in men than in women, for 
 several reasons. In women there is a thicker layer than in men, 
 of connective tissue under the scalp. This involves with them, 
 beyond men, a larger supply of blood-vessels there, with con- 
 sequent nutrient substance from the blood. Women, too, pay 
 much more attention to their hair than men do to theirs. Their 
 usual mode of life exposes them less than men to various excesses 
 iwhich weaken the constitution. 
 
 Women are quick to detect the approach of baldness and 
 skillful in concealing its encroachment. There is one thing upon 
 which, however, they are not always upon their guard, owing 
 to ignorance of a simple physical fact. Each hair-bed is capable 
 of supporting in a healthy condition a hair-shaft of a certain 
 length, no longer. The case is exactly like that of a plant in its 
 dependence upon the soil. Whether or not women are attempt- 
 ing a growth of hair beyond the capacity of the soil of their 
 heads to maintain it is easily discoverable by examination of the 
 ends of the hair. If these are dry, brittle, and split, the ends 
 should be cut off down to the point in the shafts where the 
 healthiness of the growth is evident. Suppose that there comes 
 a period by age, or by some temporary ailment, when the hair 
 is dropping out; manifestly the soil of the hair-beds, whatever 
 it once may have been capable of, is no longer equal to support- 
 ing the length of hair which formerly was habitual, and the 
 remedy is the obvious one just mentioned. Cutting the hair 
 close merely increases the thickness of the shafts at the expense
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 391 
 
 of length. A man's beard is by nature silky, but if he shaves 
 continually the growth becomes coarse. Just so it is with any 
 growth of hair, whether on the head or face. To each individual 
 nature allots a normal length, which is determined by the rich- 
 ness of the soil of connective tissue, and can only be modified 
 by cutting. 
 
 After typhoid and other severe fevers the hair loses its vitality, 
 its lustre, and has a dull, dead appearance, and eventually falls out. 
 It is then advisable to shave the scalp, keeping the head covered 
 with a light cap until a new crop of hair has appeared. The 
 tone of the scalp may, in the mean time, be improved by appro- 
 priate local and constitutional treatment. If the toilet of the 
 hair were generally performed with more intelligence than it 
 is, early baldness would be much less frequent than it is now. 
 
 DRY SHAMPOO. 
 
 A crude species of massage is practiced by barbers and 
 hair-dressers under the name of "dry shampoo." This treat- 
 ment is, nevertheless, of service in maintaining the scalp and hair 
 in healthy condition. It is performed by manipulating the scalp 
 with the finger-tips, drawing it up between the thumb and 
 fingers, and moving it backward and forward and from side to 
 side upon the skull. Then the scalp is washed with a slightly 
 stimulating liquid, as, for instance, equal parts of bay-rum and 
 water, with a little ammonia solution. 
 
 WET SHAMPOO. 
 
 If not too frequently repeated, washing the scalp with soap 
 and water is of use for removing the accumulation of scales of 
 dandruff adhering to the scalp and entangled in the hair. These 
 scales, in profusion, may by their presence impair the nutrition 
 of the hair. Once in two weeks is generally sufficient for this 
 kind of cleansing operation. Take soapy matter, either previously 
 manufactured in liquid form or else made extemporaneously from 
 some pure, bland soap, and let it be rubbed into foam upon the
 
 392 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 head. The entire scalp should be thoroughly gone over with 
 the tips of the fingers and the lather then removed by a douche 
 of warm water over the head while it is held over a basin. The 
 hair ought then to be dried by hot towels. As a finality, some 
 pure animal oil should be rubbed into the scalp with the tips of 
 the fingers. The hair itself will incidentally receive sufficient 
 oiliness. This use of a good oil or pomatum is important, as sup- 
 plying the natural oil of the scalp and hair, lost by the operation 
 of applying soap to them. 
 
 ACUTE AND CHRONIC BALDNESS. 
 
 Premature baldness is correctly divisible into two varieties, 
 acute and chronic. Each of these forms may depend upon the 
 operation of either general or local causes. In the acute variety 
 the hair may be lost within a few days or in the course of three 
 or four months. In some cases the scalp seems entirely free from 
 diseases, but the hair falls spontaneously, or under the movement 
 of the brush. Sometimes neuralgic pains precede loss of hair, 
 but in many cases no sensation whatever is experienced. The 
 hair-shafts themselves may not be changed in appearance. The 
 first manifestation of chronic baldness is the loosening and drop- 
 ping out of the hair when it has attained its usual length, and 
 the supplying of its place by a shorter growth. After this 
 change has been proceeding for a while the second stage pre- 
 sents diminution in the thickness as well as in the length of the 
 individual hairs, and they become weaker and weaker in vitality, 
 until at last they form a mere down. Finally, even this feeble 
 growth may fail. The third stage is reached when the hair has 
 entirely disappeared, when the upper layer of the skin of the 
 scalp becomes thin and shrunken and the bald pate presents a 
 tense, glistening appearance, as smooth and shiny as a billiard 
 ball. The process usually begins at the crown of the head and 
 extends forward to the forehead, but sometimes it begins just 
 above the forehead. 
 
 Various disorders of the scalp cause loss of hair. One of the
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 393 
 
 most frequent causes of early baldness is an oily, scurfy skin. 
 This affection, as previously described, is characterized by the 
 production on the head of exudation mixed with scales of the 
 scarf-skin, forming crusts of a dirty white or yellowish tinge. 
 These crusts obstruct the openings of the ducts on the scalp. 
 The course of the affection is slow. This form of it may occur 
 in youth, or may be postponed until between the thirtieth and 
 fortieth years of age. 
 
 Baldness and scales on the scalp are, of course, consequent 
 upon defective nutrition of the scalp. Excluding the effect of 
 serious diseases, such as consumption and cancer, they generally 
 arise from imperfection of the digestion and the blood-forming 
 system. Including the effect of serious diseases, they may fol- 
 low some attacks of severe fever, or are owing to some obscure 
 local conditions which have impaired the nutrition of the scalp. 
 Among the latter may be cited heat and cold, uncleanliness, use 
 of hair-powder, dyes, irritating lotions, and too severe combing 
 and brushing. 
 
 Tetter of the scalp, whether acute or chronic, seldom gives 
 rise to permanent baldness. In rare cases, however, tetter pro- 
 duces an abscess in the scalp, and the hair becomes thereby irre- 
 trievably lost over the area in which matter has appeared. Some 
 of the parasitic diseases of the scalp cause loss of hair in spots. 
 This is not, however, usual, but occurs only under exceptional 
 circumstances. Herpes, a disease which produces groups of 
 blisters, is among the diseases which attack the scalp, and may 
 produce more or less loss of its hair. 
 
 In an effort to arrest the falling out of the hair and to 
 restore it to a healthy growth, it is not sufficient to adopt only 
 external applications for treatment. The cause of the affection 
 must be sought, and, if found, some internal, constitutional 
 remedies should be administered. The scalp should be kept 
 scrupulously clean, without exacerbating it by harsh treatment. 
 If the hair does not seem altered in appearance, the application 
 of some mildly stimulating astringent, cleansing lotion is of
 
 394 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 advantage. A pleasant and excellent one is the balsam of Peru, 
 which may either be dissolved in diluted alcohol or mixed with 
 some fatty substance and used as a pomatum. It may be incor- 
 porated with lanolin, which is not only oily, but a nutriment for 
 the hair and scalp. Three parts of pure lanolin to one part of 
 benzoated lard makes a mixture of the proper consistency. The 
 tincture or the compound tincture of benzoin may be used instead 
 of the Peruvian balsam. The sulphate of quinine, also, a drachm 
 to an ounce of lard, perfumed with a few drops of some essential 
 oil, makes a very good preparation. An ointment containing a 
 drachm of beta-naphthol to the ounce of lard or of lanolin 
 makes an excellent application. Resorcin may be made into an 
 ointment of the strength of five or ten grains to the ounce of 
 lanolin or of lard. A good emulsion for a lotion may be made 
 by adding olive oil or sweet almond oil to an alcoholic solu- 
 tion of resorcin. A remedy frequently of service for the condi- 
 tion here discussed is a solution of chloral in diluted alcohol or 
 in cologne, in the proportion of one drachm to half a pint. 
 Glycerine may be substituted for the alcohol or cologne. A good 
 preparation is made by mixing equal parts of white precipitate 
 ointment and cold cream, or of oxide of zinc ointment. An 
 occasional shampoo with the tincture of green soap, either of 
 full strength or weakened, would be of assistance to the other 
 procedures recommended. This process cleanses and stimulates 
 the scalp, and may be employed every day if it does not prove 
 too irritant. It is important that after the treatment is fin- 
 ished all the soapy matter should be washed away with salt 
 water, and the hair well dried. After that any one of the oint- 
 ments or of the lotions here described should be applied. 
 
 When the oil-glands of the scalp are diseased, constant care 
 and patience are indispensable to averting loss of hair. As a 
 general rule, both internal and external treatments are demanded. 
 The earlier suitable measures are taken, the better is the prospect 
 of success. The patient should have the benefit of sunlight and 
 exercise, and the diet should be carefully regulated. Sulphur is
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 395 
 
 a valuable constitutional remedy in this complaint. Sulphur is 
 an element naturally occurring in some abundance in the hair, 
 and therefore is instrumental towards its nutrition. To be of 
 effect when an oily, scaly condition of the scalp is present, it 
 should be persistently taken in five-grain doses three times a day, 
 during a considerable time. 
 
 It is not necessary to sacrifice the hair by cutting. It op- 
 poses no obstacle to carrying out the treatment prescribed. The 
 first thing to be done is to remove the crusts on the scalp. This 
 can be easily done by saturating them with oil. A cap can be 
 worn until the oil has had time thoroughly to soak into the 
 foreign matter encrusting the head. Any pure oil will accom- 
 plish the purpose, but the best of all for it is the oil of ergot, 
 which, as oil, not only detaches the crusts, but has a medicative 
 influence upon the seat of the disease. An excellent preparation 
 can be made by mixing one part of the oil of ergot with four 
 parts of olive-oil. A small amount of the oil of eucalyptus forms 
 a very efficient combination with it. A mixture of the oil of 
 ergot with an equal quantity of glycerine, or the fifty per cent, 
 solution of boroglyceride is a good preparation. Of course the 
 addition of a few drops of perfume would increase its pleasant- 
 ness. 
 
 After the crusts have been removed from the scalp, it may 
 present a healthy appearance, or it may be unusually pale or 
 red. In case it be pale, applications that are more or less 
 stimulant are indicated; but in case it be red, only the most 
 bland application should be employed. In mild cases the use 
 of the oil of ergot, together with occasional cleansing of the 
 head with soap and water, may be all that is needed to restore 
 the scalp to a healthy condition. In severe cases, however, more 
 particular measures become necessary. By the cleansing, the 
 disease remains unaffected; the waste products of the disease 
 mixed with scales, forming crusts, again appear upon the sur- 
 face of the scalp. In this case, following the procedure already 
 described for removing the crusts, the scalp should be well
 
 396 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 cleansed with soda-soap and water, with which chamomile or 
 sulphur is advantageously blended, or instead of soap and 
 water a mixture of yelk of egg and lime-water may be bene- 
 ficially employed. The surface of the scalp having been well 
 cleansed, the next treatment is its stimulation. The degree of 
 this must depend upon the character of the affection. It is safer, 
 of course, to essay first the effect of mild stimulation. A solu- 
 tion of table-salt and water, of the strength of a fourth to three- 
 fourths of a pound of salt to the pint of water, is convenient and 
 often effective. Five to fifteen grains of the carbonate of potash 
 to the ounce of water may give good results. Equal parts of 
 glycerine and water are occasionally of benefit. A drachm of 
 carbolic acid to the pint of water is capable of exciting circu- 
 lation in the scalp. An ointment of Peruvian balsam can be 
 recommended. The fluid extract of witch-hazel may be used. 
 Naphthol and resorcin are valuable agents. Two to five grains 
 of corrosive sublimate to the ounce of water, or mixed with an 
 ounce of lard, is a good application. Glycerine, alcohol, or 
 cologne may be substituted for plain water indicated above. An 
 ointment of tar, or a solution of tar in alcohol, is sometimes of 
 benefit. An ointment containing precipitated sulphur often yields 
 good results. Ten grains of tannic acid in solution, to the ounce 
 of glycerine ; an ointment of tannic or of gallic acid will often be 
 of service. An ointment composed of two parts of salicylic acid 
 to three parts of the tincture of benzoin and one hundred parts 
 of neatsfoot oil may be used with some confidence. Jaborandi 
 has a good effect upon the growth of the hair. Half a drachm of 
 the tincture of jaborandi added to equal parts of glycerine and 
 lanolin is a good stimulant to the glands of the scalp, a small 
 amount of the preparation being rubbed on the scalp every night. 
 Alcohol and preparations into which it enters, various spirits, 
 ether, the essential oils, petroleum, turpentine, and solution of 
 ammonia, are frequently beneficial when decided stimulation is 
 demanded. White precipitate ointment, either in full strength 
 or weakened, is likewise useful. A good stimulant is chloral
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 397 
 
 hydrate, in the form of a lotion made by dissolving a drachm 
 in six ounces of alcohol or of cologne and two ounces of glycerine. 
 
 If early baldness is caused by depression, exhaustion, or any 
 other disorder of the nervous system, remedies must be given to 
 restore the tone of that important agent of the body's economy. 
 Change of climate is desirable, sojourn at the seaside, with bath- 
 ing, or a trip among the mountains. Drugs of a tonic sort are 
 required, iron, quinine, cod-liver oil, and others which have 
 influence upon the nervous system. 
 
 The nutrition of the scalp is promoted by the treatment of 
 massage, the use of hot, alternating with cold, douches of water, 
 by shampooing with either hard or soft soap, and, above all, 
 by galvanic electricity. The electrical current from the negative 
 pole may be applied by means of moistened sponges, the hair 
 being moistened to permit its easy passage, and -parted at inter- 
 vals so as to let the scalp and sponges come into contact with each 
 other. Or, the hair having been first dampened, the negative 
 pole of the galvanic battery may be attached to a special brush 
 for the purpose, having wire bristles, which is used on the head 
 with the right hand, while the positive pole, with its moistened 
 sponge, is held in the other hand. Thus the current is sent 
 searching through every portion of the hair and scalp. 
 
 Obstinate cases require, in addition to the means already 
 described for combating this disease of the scalp, drugs of greater 
 strength than those previously mentioned. The effects of these, 
 however, need to be closely watched lest they produce inflam- 
 mation of the scalp instead of relieving it of disease. When 
 baldness has been caused by some constitutional disease, the 
 appetite, digestion, and general health must be improved by 
 careful attention to hygienic rules and by the use of tonics. 
 
 Some formulae are here added for preparations useful for 
 removing dandruff and stimulating the growth of the hair :
 
 39$ HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Boric acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Salicylic acid % drachm. 
 
 Oil of anise 5 drops 
 
 Oil of rose 3 drops. 
 
 Lanolin % ounce. 
 
 Cold cream % ounce. 
 
 Mix. Rub well into the eyebrows, scalp, or any part of hairy surface 
 where there is much dandruff. 
 
 Compound tincture of cinchona 1 ounce. 
 
 Compound tincture of benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Cologne 2 ounces. 
 
 Water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Salol -.. % drachm. 
 
 Tannic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Balsam of Peru % ounce. 
 
 Lanolin % ounce. 
 
 Benzoated lard 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Balsam of Peru % drachm. 
 
 Beta-naphthol 1 drachm. 
 
 Lanolin 6 drachms. 
 
 Benzoated lard 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Carbonate of potash 1 drachm. 
 
 Water of ammonia 6 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of nutmeg 12 drops. 
 
 Cologne enough to make % pint. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Spirits of ammonia % ounce. 
 
 Tincture of capsicum % ounce. 
 
 Spirits of lavender . 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of nux vomica % ounce. 
 
 Camphor liniment 2% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 FOR BALDNESS. 
 
 Tincture of nux vomica % ounce. 
 
 Tincture of capsicum */> ounce. 
 
 Brandy 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 399 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2 drachms. 
 
 Spirits of chloroform . 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of nux vomica 2 drachms. 
 
 Alcohol 2Mj ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Resorcin % drachm. 
 
 Glycerine - 4 ounces. 
 
 Bay-rum 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CIRCUMSCRIBED BALDNESS. 
 
 In the affection of limited baldness the hair falls out in 
 one or more patches. The loss may be sudden, but it may also 
 be gradual. A single patch may suddenly appear, or several 
 may develop in quick succession. This form of baldness may 
 attack any hairy portion of the body, but it generally begins upon 
 the scalp. The affection usually occurs in the case of persons 
 who have previously possessed abundance of hair. The indi- 
 vidual hairs fall out without breaking, and neighboring bare 
 spots may coalesce to form patches of considerable size. The 
 bare spots may, in fact, spread ' so widely as to form gen- 
 eral baldness. As a general rule, however, the bare areas do 
 not increase in size, and thus maintain their isolation. These 
 areas of bare scalp are generally characterized by paleness of 
 skin, and sometimes the skin also looks thin, smooth, and glossy. 
 Usually the surfaces are entirely destitute of hair, but in some 
 cases sparse, unhealthy hairs appear upon them. While the dis- 
 ease is in progress the hair around the bald area or areas is very 
 loose, and falls out upon the slightest stress. If the disease be 
 arrested these hairs become more firmly fixed in their follicles. 
 The fall of the hair is not generally attended with any other per- 
 ceived symptom of disease except, perhaps, itching, which some- 
 times precedes and sometimes accompanies the shedding of the 
 hair. Very often the sensibility of the denuded part or parts 
 is either diminished or entirely lost. 
 
 If curable, the duration of circumscribed baldness depends 
 very much upon the age of the patient, and at any age upon the
 
 4OO HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 condition of the system. At times the rapidity of recovery cor- 
 responds with that of the attack. In some cases months or even 
 years pass before the growth of the hair is renewed, and in some 
 cases, of course, baldness remains permanent. Circumscribed 
 baldness is more disfiguring than general baldness. If the 
 disease be arrested, the new hairs that sprout from the scalp 
 are thin, light-colored, and downy. Gradually they become more 
 numerous, thicker, and more colored, until at length the for- 
 merly bare patch or patches of the scalp are covered with a 
 healthy growth. 
 
 Circumscribed baldness may be distinguished from ring- 
 worm of the scalp by the presence or absence of the nibbled, 
 ragged appearance of the hairs in the ringworm affection. It 
 occurs in both sexes and at all ages, not even children being 
 exempt from it. It is often associated with a depressed condition 
 or actual disease of the nervous system. It has been known to 
 follow emotional shock, neuralgia, epilepsy, debilitating fever, 
 or some other serious illness, such as epidemic influenza or the 
 grippe. It is sometimes produced by an injury. In some cases 
 it seems to be produced by a parasite. The disease has been 
 known to spread from one person to another in schools, hos- 
 pitals, and barracks. 
 
 In most cases of circumscribed baldness it is necessary to 
 build up the system by means of a nutritious diet, fresh air, 
 exercise, change of scene or climate, and tonic remedies. Gal- 
 vanism, codliver-oil, iron, maltine, and the compound syrup of 
 the hypophosphites are useful. The external treatment suitable 
 is the same as that already described for premature general bald- 
 ness. When the patches are pale and smooth, agents that are 
 decidedly stimulative are required. The best preparation of 
 this kind is an ointment containing mercurous oleate. This may 
 be used pure, or else weakened with an equal quantity of lanolin. 
 An ointment of beta-naphthol, containing from ten to sixty 
 grains to the ounce of lard, may be frequently used with good 
 result. Resorcin and thymol are also good applications. They 
 may be combined as follows :
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 40! 
 
 Resorcin 1 drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Thymol % drachm. 
 
 Castor-oil 2 ounces. 
 
 Almond-oil 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 It is of advantage to shave the patches if they become cov- 
 ered with fine down. In the case of small patches which do not 
 seem to be improved by mild applications, it is often of service 
 to use cantharidal collodion. This is a solution of Spanish-fly 
 and gun-cotton in ether. It is applied to the surface with a 
 camel's-hair brush and the operation repeated every week or ten 
 days. If the spots of baldness be large, such energetic treatment 
 is not advisable. A lotion which has been used with advantage is 
 the following: 
 
 Chloride of ammonia 20 grains. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate . 10 grains. 
 
 Distilled water of witch-hazel 2 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 A hot poultice, to which mustard is added, often produces 
 a good effect when the patches are large. 
 
 A number of powerful drugs are used in rebellious cases 
 of circumscribed baldness, but their properties should be 
 thoroughly understood, and they should be prescribed and their 
 effect watched by a physician. The treatment which has been 
 outlined is generally successful with young patients. Among 
 all patients much depends upon securing the general health. Not 
 infrequently, when the general health is restored, the bald spots 
 rapidly become covered with a healthy growth of hair. 
 
 GRAYNESS OF HAIR. 
 
 With advance beyond a certain age, the hair generally loses 
 its original color, becoming at first gray and eventually white. 
 Whereas this is the general law, the hair sometimes has strange 
 
 26
 
 4O2 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 freaks. A case is recorded of a lady whose hair blanched in 
 places during attacks of nervous headache, but resumed its 
 original color upon the cessation of pain. Tendency to become 
 gray in early life is not infrequently hereditary. In rare in- 
 stances grayness of the hair is present from birth. The celebrated 
 Timour, the Tartar, is reported to have been gray almost from 
 the cradle; this phenomenon being regarded by his followers 
 as indicative of precocious maturity. Lamartine, the French his- 
 torian of Turkey, writes of him : "These white hairs on the 
 cheeks of twenty set off the lustre of his complexion and im- 
 pressed a strange but rather agreeable than ungraceful character 
 upon his beauty." 
 
 Cases in grayness are met with in which a single tuft of 
 white hair is inherited for generations. Sir Erasmus Wilson 
 mentions a peculiar case of another kind. In this, the original 
 color of the hair was brown. The loss of pigment in it was not 
 continuous throughout each hair-shaft, but occurred in segments, 
 so that segments of white and brown alternated, as in a porcu- 
 pine's quills. Sir Erasmus Wilson mentions the case of a 
 man who was so frightened, in anticipation of his expected exe- 
 cution, that the color of his hair changed to white; not uni- 
 formly, but with the white interspersed among hairs of the red- 
 dish cast which had been the natural color of his head of hair. 
 
 Cases sometimes occur where the hair of old persons which 
 has long been white assumes a dark color. It is said that both 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, and Marie Antoinette turned gray within 
 a short time. It is even alleged that the hair of Sir Thomas 
 More became gray during the night preceding his execution, and 
 it is reported of a Sepoy prisoner that his hair turned white 
 within half an hour. 
 
 Among the albinoes the hair is generally soft and white. In 
 all persons, when the pigment of the hair is slight, grayness is 
 produced ; but when pigment is entirely absent, the hair is neces- 
 sarily white. Grayness may begin in the beard, but generally it 
 first affects the hair at the temples. Gray hair, as every one
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 403 
 
 knows, generally denotes the flight of years, and, after middle age, 
 is accepted by most persons with equanimity. But resignation 
 should really have no place in the sentiment evoked, if the lines 
 of the face betoken age for in that case the influence of gray 
 hair in conjunction with them is softening. White in the hair 
 has a rejuvenating effect even for youth. When powdering the 
 hair was fashionable, even the youthful looked still more youth- 
 ful; the tint of the complexion was enhanced, and the whole 
 expression beautified. 
 
 A tendency to grayness can sometimes be arrested by the 
 administration of remedies which remove the cause upon which 
 change of color depends. If, however, that fails, and one be 
 dissatisfied with the processes of nature, coloring the hair must 
 be resorted to. The preparations usually employed are either 
 of vegetable or mineral composition. The vegetable kind are 
 generally less harmful than the others, while the effect of the 
 mineral kind is more permanent. The oil of black walnuts, oil 
 of mace, oil of chamomile, and oil of colocynth are all used for 
 darkening the hair. Frequently washing the hair with a tea 
 made from sage also darkens it. Tannic acid or gallic acid, in 
 the proportion of sixty grains of the acid to the ounce of glycer- 
 ine, oil, or lard, will communicate a dark color. 
 
 Skill is needed in the application of hair-dyes. As a pre- 
 liminary the hair is washed with soap and water and a solution 
 of soda or spirits of ammonia with water. After being well 
 dried, the coloring matter is applied. The most efficient vege- 
 table dye is a combination of the powder of dry henna with the 
 powder of the indigo plant. The two powders are mixed sepa- 
 rately with water, so as to form a thick paste. The henna paste 
 is first applied, and in about an hour turns the hair to a red color. 
 The indigo paste is then applied, and after several hours the hair 
 is washed with water, when it is found to be stained a deep black. 
 The formula for a vegetable dye that has been much used is 
 the following:
 
 404 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Green black-walnut hulls 4 ounces. 
 
 Claret 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 The most active mineral dye is the nitrate of silver, used 
 either in solution or in the form of an ointment. The solution 
 is made of various strengths, from fifteen grains to the ounce 
 of water, to sixty grains to the ounce of water. After the hair 
 has been washed in the manner previously described, the oper- 
 ator, holding a large comb in the left hand, raises the hair in 
 places and applies the dye with a soft tooth-brush held in the 
 right hand, the brush being gently moved up and down to insure 
 that the dye is well applied towards the roots of the hair. Rapid 
 fanning hastens the drying of the solution. If a drop of the 
 dye should fall upon the skin it can be removed by immediately 
 sponging the spot with a solution of common table-salt and water. 
 The process requires from two to three hours and needs repeat- 
 ing every month or two. The tint is deep black. 
 
 Light shades of coloring for the hair are produced by the 
 application of rhubarb or of turmeric. The most efficient bleach- 
 ing agent is the peroxide of hydrogen or hydrogen dioxide. 
 The following is a hair-bleaching mixture: 
 
 Muriatic acid 2 ounces. 
 
 Water of ammonia 1 pint. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAIR-CURLING FLUIDS. 
 
 Carrageen moss % ounce. 
 
 Cologne 1 ounce. 
 
 Extract of millefleur 1 ounce. 
 
 Water 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. The moss is allowed to swell in water over night, is then heated 
 until it dissolves, and is then strained, perfumed, and colored red with car- 
 mine, or yellow with tincture of saffron. 
 
 Mucilage of gum-Arabic 2 ounces. 
 
 Salts of tartar 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 % pints. 
 
 Orange-flower water 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Color with carmine.
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 405 
 
 EXCESSIVE HAIRINESS 
 
 Very strange, mortifying disfigurement is sometimes occa- 
 sioned by a great growth of hair in unusual situations on the 
 body. Extreme cases of it are sometimes seen in museums under 
 the designation "bearded woman," or "dog-faced man." Su- 
 perabundant growth of hair is more common in persons of a 
 dark, rather than of a light complexion. One of the most extra- 
 ordinary instances known of excessive hariness was one of a 
 Burman who was covered from head to foot with hair eight 
 inches long upon cheeks, ears, and nose, and from four to five 
 inches upon the breast and shoulders. The daughter and the 
 grandchild of this man had the same peculiarity. Of the 
 daughter and grandchild, Sir Henry Yule wrote: "To-day we 
 had a singular visitor at the Residency. This was Maphoon, the 
 daughter of Shevemaong, the homo hirsutus described and de- 
 picted in Crawford's narrative, where a portrait of her as a young 
 child also appears. Not expecting such a visitor, one started 
 and exclaimed involuntarily as there entered what at first sight 
 seemed an absolute realization in the flesh of the dog-headed 
 Anubis. 
 
 tt "The whole of Maphoon's face was more or less covered 
 with hair. On a part of the cheek and between the nose and 
 mouth this was confined to a short down, but over all the rest 
 of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown color, about 
 the nose and chin, four or five inches long. On the alee [the 
 wings] of the nose, under the eye, and on the cheekbones, this 
 was very fully developed; but it was in and on the ear that it 
 was most extraordinary. Except the extreme upper tip, no part 
 of the ear was visible. All the rest was filled with and veiled by a 
 large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part 
 of the external organ, and hanging in a dependent lock to a 
 length of eight or ten inches. The hair over her forehead was 
 brushed so as to blend with the hair of the head, the latter being 
 dressed (as usual with her countrywomen) a la Chinoise, It 
 was not so thick as to conceal altogether her forehead.
 
 406 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 "The nose was densely covered with hair, as no animal's is 
 that I know of, and with long, fine locks curving out and pen- 
 dant like the wisps of a fine skye terrier's coat, had a most strange 
 appearance. The beard was pale in color and about four inches 
 
 in length, seemingly very soft and silky Her neck, 
 
 bosom, and arms appeared to be covered with a fine, pale down, 
 
 scarcely visible in some lights Her husband and two 
 
 boys accompanied her. The elder boy, about four or five years 
 old, had nothing abnormal about him. The youngest, who was 
 fourteen months old, and still at the breast, was evidently taking 
 after his mother. There was little hair on the head; but the 
 child's ear was full of long, silky floss, and he could boast of 
 a mustache and beard of pale, silky down, that would have 
 cheered the heart of many a coronet. In fact, the appearance 
 of the child agrees almost exactly with what Crawford says 
 of Maphoon herself as an infant. 
 
 "This child is thus the third in descent exhibiting this 
 strange peculiarity, and in this third generation, as in the two 
 preceding, this peculiarity has appeared only in one individual." 
 
 The preceding case of abnormal hairiness is as extraordin- 
 ary as one can possibly be. There was a similar one in that of 
 Julia Pastrana, exhibited in London many years ago. One of less 
 intensity appeared many years ago in this country, in which a 
 mother and child had profuse beards. Nevertheless, it is not 
 uncommon to find individual unnoted men so covered with a 
 short growth of hair that, at a short distance, the body presents 
 a bearlike aspect. Sometimes women have a very decided man- 
 like growth of mustache, which, by the way, they have some- 
 times been so injudicious as habitually to shave, with the inevit- 
 able result of increasing the thickness of the individual hairs and 
 thus making the deformity, shaved or unshaved, still more visible. 
 There is one and only one remedy for this deformity, which, in 
 the case of a woman, is a real affliction. The galvanic needles, 
 used at the root of each individual hair, extirpate it, because the 
 roots are thereby destroyed. It is a comparatively painless
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 407 
 
 operation that is needed to receive in return the boon of removal 
 of feminine unsightliness ; the slight pang of a moment for the 
 removal of each hair, and all is over. 
 
 Growth of hair may be excessive either as to length or as 
 to profuseness. It may affect only those portions of the body 
 upon which hair naturally grows, or it may include places which 
 are ordinarily bare. Excessive hairiness may first appear after 
 recovering from a severe fever. It sometimes occurs in insane 
 persons after injury to the nerves, resulting in paralyzed parts 
 of the body. Sometimes the employment of irritating substances 
 on the skin will excite an unusual growth of hair. 
 
 If hairiness affect only a small area, as, for instance, the 
 surface of a mole, it can easily be removed by the electric needles, 
 in which case the mole itself will be extirpated. It is sometimes 
 a matter of surprise for those conversant with the ease and 
 efficaciousness with which this operation can be performed, to 
 see women of a certain age and condition allow the blemishes 
 of hair or moles to remain upon their faces. What may, in 
 the case of a young girl, be a mere "beauty-spot" of a flat mole, 
 often becomes with age a pendant tear of brown flesh,. 
 
 When abnormal hairiness includes a large area, again the 
 galvanic needles afford the best method of getting rid of it. 
 Lest the reader should imagine, despite the previous assurance 
 that they involve only a slight operation, that it is more serious 
 than represented here, it will now be described. Two little 
 platinum needles, as sharp as cambric ones, are attached respec- 
 tively to the rheophores (the electrically conducting cords) of a 
 galvanic battery. The needles are, first of all, painlessly (their 
 sharpness secures that) passed into opposite sides of the root 
 of a hair or the base of a mole. Then a very light current of 
 electricity is turned on to them for a second ; the patient experi- 
 ences a trifling sensation of prickling, and all is over. Some- 
 times the needle of only the negative pole is made to pierce the 
 point to be treated, and then the patient seizes with one hand a 
 moist sponge attached to the positive pole, and thus himself com-
 
 408 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 pletes the circuit of electricity which in a moment kills hair or 
 mole. Of course the number of treatments necessary to eradi- 
 cate hair over an extensive surface will depend upon the extent 
 of- that surface. If very many individual hairs have been re- 
 moved at a sitting the general surface will have become irritated, 
 but this can be relieved by the action of cocaine. If swelling 
 of the part should supervene after an operation, a water-dress- 
 ing to it or of zinc ointment will relieve the inflammation. 
 
 Some caustic substances are able to destroy hair by obliterat- 
 ing the follicles and papillae of the hair. But they are not to be 
 recommended, because, when strong, they produce not only too 
 great inflammation, but also scarring. A formula for a depila- 
 tory (destroyer of hair) is the following: 
 
 Sulphide of barium 3 drachms. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 2 drachms. 
 
 Arrow-root powder 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 ATROPHY OF THE HAIR. 
 
 Atrophy of the hair involves in it structural change, the 
 thickness of each individual hair's diameter becoming either 
 decreased or increased throughout the whole or only part of its 
 length. Bulbous swellings sometimes appear at a single or at 
 irregular intervals. These swellings may have a dark or a 
 shiny appearance, and the hair is liable to break off there with a 
 ragged end. In some cases the hairs at the points of thickening 
 are alternately bright and dark, producing a beaded appearance. 
 This form of the disease generally attacks the mustache and 
 beard, but may occur upon the back of the head or upon other 
 parts of the body. In other cases the hair becomes very brittle 
 and easily splits and breaks. It may be rough, thin, or flat. The 
 changes may occur within the hairbed, before the shaft of the 
 hair has emerged, and the hairs there curled up may give rise to 
 much irritation. The ragged ends may excite suspicion of the 
 presence of ringworm, but in ringworm the inflamed patches 
 have a circular form,
 
 THE HAIR, ITS FASHIONS AND ITS DISEASES. 409 
 
 Atrophy of the hair may be due either to local or to consti- 
 tutional causes. It may follow fever or other debilitating dis- 
 ease. Tetter, oily disease, or other affection of the skin may 
 also produce it. For its treatment the first object to be achieved 
 is to try to discover its cause. If this can be accomplished there 
 will be reason to hope for the restoration of the hair to a healthy 
 condition. In most cases the general health is impaired, and 
 therefore constitutional remedies, tonics, such as iron and cod- 
 liver-oil would be beneficial. The direct treatment of the af- 
 fected hair usually yields the best results. The broken, ragged 
 ends should be plucked out by the roots. If only a few hairs 
 are affected, an ointment containing ten per cent, of the oleate 
 of mercury, rubbed upon the parts once or twice a day, will pro- 
 mote their nutrition and their restoration to a healthy growth. 
 If a large number of hairs are diseased the best treatment con- 
 sists in clipping off the ragged ends, or else in cutting off the 
 hair to the scalp. The ointment just mentioned is then applied. 
 
 Lanolin is very useful for improving the nutrition of the 
 hair. An ointment of the nitrate of mercury, or one of ammoni- 
 ated mercury, thirty to sixty grains to the ounce of lard, is a 
 good application. The following one has been found service- 
 able : 
 
 Oil of nutmeg 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of chamomile 2 drachms. 
 
 Fluid oleates of mercury ( 10 per cent. )........ 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of verbena 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 2 drops. 
 
 Oil of ergot . . 2% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 The stimulating remedies here previously described as ser- 
 viceable in the treatment of baldness may also do good in cases 
 of atrophy of the hair. When the hair is the subject of bulbous 
 swellings along its shafts, perhaps the best application of all is 
 the tincture of cantharides (Spanish-fly). The affection is very 
 apt to be obstinate, especially in the cases of persons advanced 
 in years,
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE NAILS AND THEIR DISEASES. 
 
 THE nails being appendages of the scarf-skin, merely a modi- 
 fied form of it, deriving their sustenance from the upper 
 portion of the true skin, suffer in consequence of general 
 disease or of a depressed condition of the system. When the 
 blood is impoverished and its red corpuscles are diminished in 
 number, constituting the condition known as anaemia, the nails, 
 as well as the mucous membranes and skin, assume a pallid 
 hue. In chlorosis (green sickness), the nails, instead of looking 
 pink, as they do in health, are very pale. They look even deadly 
 white in leukaemia, a disease characterized by an immense pre- 
 ponderance of the white over the red corpuscles of the blood. In 
 a variety of anaemia called progressive, pernicious anaemia, the 
 nails are apt to become thickened and crack and crumble at the 
 ends. In scurvy, haemorrhages may occur beneath the nails and 
 there excite inflammation of their beds, with consequent loss of 
 the nails. In diabetes mcllitus a total loss of nails is not unusual, 
 and cases occur in the disease where this is one of the first symp- 
 toms of its attack. Nails may drop off simply from failure of 
 their proper nutrition. Their loss may also be caused by inflam- 
 mation under and around them. Serious organic diseases of the 
 nervous system may cause shedding of the nails. 
 
 Nails are sometimes reduced to mere horny plates upon the 
 fingers, or they may become curved in such a manner as to re- 
 semble talons. In some cases they become thick, hard, or crossed 
 by ridges and furrows. In others they are marked by milk-white 
 patches. These are sometimes arranged in the form of trans- 
 verse bands, so that the nail presents alternating stripes of pink 
 and white. Again, the nails sometimes become black, die, and 
 fall off. Hysteria and extreme "fright sometimes lead to spon- 
 taneous shedding of the nails. In chronic rheumatism they may 
 410
 
 THE NAILS AND THEIR DISEASES. 41 1 
 
 become thickened, rough, or furrowed. Spontaneous shedding 
 of the nails sometimes takes place without obvious impairment 
 of the general health, and, at times, very strangely, this loss 
 occurs at periodic intervals. A similar phenomenon has been 
 known to follow typhoid fever. A more common occurrence in 
 typhoid fever is, however, the crossing of the nails by transverse 
 bands or furrows. The part of the nail which grows during 
 the fever is thinner than the following growth of healthy nail, 
 and is also rough and of a dull white. Typhus fever also causes 
 white bands or furrows on the nails. After scarlet fever and 
 small-pox the nails may be shed, or else they may have become 
 grooved. White bands or furrows occur upon the nails after 
 inflammatory rheumatism. In gout the nails may lose their 
 polish and have a tendency to split and break. Sea-sickness, 
 diarrhoea, and nervous exhaustion may produce furrows upon 
 the nails. In consumption they often become thick, curved, and 
 clubbed. In scrofula they are sometimes enlarged, deeply 
 grooved, and are of a firm, horny consistency. 
 
 Malignant onychia is a serious inflammation of the bed of 
 the nails, and sometimes occurs in scrofulous children. It usu- 
 ally attacks a finger-nail. For three or four weeks before the 
 manifestation of inflammation the end of the finger is very pain- 
 ful. Eventually a swelling appears beneath the end of the nail, 
 increases, and an obstinate ulcer is formed there. This ulcer, 
 at first situated under the free edge of the nail, gradually 
 spreads backward until it involves the whole bed of the nail. It 
 bleeds easily, and its discharge is of an unhealthy and offensive 
 character. The nail becomes of a brownish or black color, and 
 is loosened by the ulceration. It may come off altogether, or 
 may come away in fragments. It does not, however, always 
 fall, but sometimes continues to grow in a distorted shape, 
 being apt to point directly upward. The end of the finger hav- 
 ing become enlarged, the nail also may be enlarged and curved. 
 The surrounding skin is hard, shiny, and of a purplish color. 
 This disease is, fortunately, not very common; but it is of a
 
 412 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 very obstinate character when it does occur, the ulcer mani- 
 festing no disposition to heal and sometimes continuing for 
 years. Patients suffering from it require constitutional treat- 
 ment by codliver-oil, syrup of iron, compound syrup of the 
 hypophosphites, etc. An operation is needed for the removal 
 of the diseased nail. The ulcer is treated by covering it with 
 some antiseptic agent, such as iodoform, aristol, europhen, or 
 by a mixture of aristol and europhen, or powdered red cinchona 
 bark. 
 
 Disease of the nails may be caused by injury, by the ex- 
 tension of some disease of the skin to the bed of the nails, or 
 by parasitic invasion. The most common affection is from 
 ingrowing nails, which is, however, only a variety of overgrowth 
 of the nail. In overgrowth of the nail, the nail may be unduly 
 increased in length, thickness, or width ; and it may be increased 
 at the same time in all three of those dimensions, and, in conse- 
 quence, secondary changes may result. When the nail grows to 
 an inordinate length it may curve downward and form a very 
 close resemblance to a claw. Increase in width, which is more 
 common than the other kinds, making encroachment of the nail 
 upon its fleshy borders, causes very painful inflammation. The 
 soft flesh may swell, matter may form, and an ulcer may be 
 developed. Occasionally the affection has been so severe as to 
 attack the bone of the toe. In another form of overgrowth 
 the nail is extremely thickened, is, as a whole or in part, elevated 
 from its bed, and becomes a deformity and source of great dis- 
 comfort if the great toe happens to be the part attacked. When 
 it is the finger-nail that is involved the sensibility of touch is lost, 
 and it becomes impossible for the sufferer to perform any oper- 
 ation requiring nicety of manipulation. The upper surface of the 
 nail is discolored and may be opaque, streaked, yellowish, brown- 
 ish, or black, may be uneven or marked by ridges and furrows. 
 The lower surface is apt to be brittle and of a dirty brown color. 
 The consistency of the nail may be altered, may be thicker or 
 thinner, harder or softer, tougher or more brittle than in the 
 state of health,
 
 THE NAILS AND THEIR DISEASES. 413 
 
 Inflammation of the bed of the nail may lead to alteration in 
 the intimate structure of the nail. There are varieties of this 
 inflammation which attack artisans. Confectioners, and espe- 
 cially makers of candied fruits, suffer from an affection caused 
 by dipping the finger ends into sweet, sour, and hot solutions. 
 The nails become dry, dark, and brittle, and are shed in the 
 form of little chips. 
 
 Strange growths of the nails have been recorded. Some- 
 times two nails have grown upon the same finger or upon the 
 same toe. A nail may be found in a most unnatural situation, as 
 upon the shoulder, or upon the stump of an amputated limb. 
 
 Overgrowth of the nails may affect a single one of them, 
 several, or the whole of them. It is more common upon the 
 toes than upon the fingers. The affection sometimes dates from 
 birth, but, in the vast majority of cases, is acquired in later life. 
 It is due partially to carelessness in the treatment of the parts. 
 Certain diseases of the skin and of the general system also ex- 
 cite overgrowth. The affection is most common in old age. 
 
 When the disease has been produced by another, remedies 
 appropriate to the original one must be administered. Tonics 
 and constitutional remedies generally improve the health of the 
 nails. The excessive growth may be carefully removed by a 
 knife. Paring the free edge of the nails and pressing back the 
 fold of skin which envelops their base and sides tends to restrict 
 the nails to proper growth. In mild cases this treatment, to- 
 gether with the application of a soothing or an astringent oint- 
 ment, will suffice to effect a cure. An ointment containing the 
 oleate of tin or of lead has been found most serviceable. If the 
 edge of the nail be brittle, it may be protected by wax or gum. 
 An ointment of salicylic acid also serves a good purpose. If the 
 affection be due to an invasion of fungus parasites, the use of 
 water upon the part affected must be intermitted for a while, for 
 water is favorable to their growth and multiplication. If the 
 affection be known to be parasitic, the employment of oleate of 
 mercury or of copper ointments is advisable. If the soft parts
 
 414 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 are very red and swollen, it is well to relieve them of the sur- 
 charge of blood by puncturing, by leeching, or by paring off 
 the diseased tissue, after which they can be treated with a sooth- 
 ing lotion. 
 
 Ingrowing nails can, in an early stage of the affection, be 
 relieved by gently introducing a pledget of absorbent cotton be- 
 tween the nail and the fold of the skin by which it is surrounded. 
 By this process the edge of the nail is gradually raised and can 
 at last be cut off without causing pain. If the soft parts of 
 the skin are very irritable, a solution of cocaine can be used to 
 blunt their sensibility before the pledget of cotton is put in 
 place. When the case is more advanced, when the great toe is 
 swollen and painful, a stick of nitrate of silver applied to the 
 affected surface at the inner border of the toe affords decided 
 relief. The cotton pledget can then be worked under the fold of 
 skin surrounding the nail in the manner already described. By 
 this method the nail is saved, the patient avoids an operation, and 
 is not compelled to give up his usual pursuits. 
 
 Another affection of the nails is atrophy. They become 
 small, thin, brittle, and easily bent or broken. Their surface may 
 be smooth and present no alteration in appearance, or it may 
 be opaque, cracked, and yellow. The condition may be present at 
 birth or it may arrive at any age. When it occurs at birth, it 
 is generally accompanied by an imperfect development of the 
 finger-ends and by the absence of hair. Deficient growth of the 
 nails may be caused by fevers, nervous and other constitutional 
 diseases, or by any adverse local condition which affects the nail- 
 bed, and, consequently, the nutrition of the nail. It may be 
 produced by injury, and it may even follow a preceding excessive 
 growth of nail. The nails may crumble away almost entirely and 
 be represented only by layers looking like parchment. In chil- 
 dren the bed of the nail sometimes becomes swollen and painful, 
 and the nail itself raised, when it breaks and almost or entirely 
 disappears. This form of atrophy of the nails attacks several 
 nails in succession, and all of them may eventually become in-
 
 THE NAILS AND THEIR DISEASES. 415 
 
 volved.. If it be possible to discover the cause of the defective 
 growth, measures should be adopted for its removal. If the 
 nails affected are painful and their condition interferes with the 
 occupation of the sufferer, an ointment of the oleate of lead or 
 of zinc and the use of protective wax or gum over them will 
 be useful. The application of olive-oil, codliver-oil, oleate of 
 mercury ointment, or mercurial plaster will sometimes excite 
 towards a healthy growth. 
 
 Tetter of the nails is a disease which generally proceeds from 
 tetter of the hands and ringers. The skin around the sides of 
 the nails becomes red and thickened, the nails lose their natural 
 polish and become rough and uneven. They may become very 
 thin and brittle, and may even assume a worm-eaten appearance. 
 After a while they become broken and are shed, and those which 
 are reproduced may become gradually of a healthy and natural 
 appearance as the disease subsides. Whether situated upon the 
 hands or upon remote parts of the body, tetter usually induces 
 an impaired nutrition of the nails without great alteration in their 
 structure. In exceptional cases eczema is strictly confined to 
 the nails. In these cases there may be redness, swelling, moisture 
 of the surrounding, skin, or it may be dry from beginning to 
 end. In the case of its dryness, the nail is roughened and thick- 
 ened, and fissures run along it lengthwise or across. Sometimes 
 the nail becomes exceedingly arched, and sometimes it is shed. 
 Although no other part of the body may be at the same time 
 affected, it is thus proved, in these cases, that the person attacked 
 must have previously suffered from tetter. The best application 
 for atrophy of the nails is an ointment of oleate of tin. Sali- 
 cylic acid, dissolved in alcohol, and used as a lotion, or made 
 into an ointment, is a useful dressing. Of course, constitutional 
 treatment should accompany the local one. 
 
 The same parasite which produces ringworm of the body 
 occasionally penetrates the substance of the nail. The involved 
 structure becomes, in consequence, dry, opaque, and brittle, is 
 more or less thickened and distorted, and is apt to be shed in
 
 416 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 layers. In exceptional instances ringworm of the nail occurs in 
 the absence of the disease of ringworm upon other portions of 
 the body. In such, it is acquired by adults in taking care of chil- 
 dren suffering from the disease as located upon the scalp. As a 
 general rule, however, ringworm of the nails occurs as a conse- 
 quence of ringworm on the body of the individual sufferer, and 
 the parasite does not usually attack the nails. 
 
 It is well to repeat, lest it be forgotten, that, in parasitic 
 disease, water should be used on the parts affected as little as 
 possible. The diseased portions should be, whenever feasible, 
 removed by the knife, and the surface uncovered treated with a 
 ten to twenty per cent, ointment of the oleate of mercury until 
 the diseased part of the nail has been entirely shed. It is some- 
 times advantageous to employ the ointment of the oleate of 
 copper or of tin, alternately with the oleate of mercury. Paring 
 away the nail is facilitated by softening it with a solution of 
 potash and water.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 COSMETIC preparations as known to the world profess 
 to improve the skin and thus beautify the complexion. 
 It follows, of course, that there must be at least some of 
 them which are useless to that end, even if not injurious. What- 
 ever goodness any of them possess is entirely due to their direct 
 action upon the health of the skin, but this function also depends 
 upon the activity of the nervous system and the purity of the 
 blood. The hygienic methods for securing pure blood and a 
 clear complexion have been amply dwelt upon in the preceding 
 chapters. If the laws of health be transgressed, the skin, com- 
 plexion, and beauty must suffer, despite all the cosmetics in the 
 world. If, however, the chief sources of beauty have been re- 
 garded by following a rational course of life, there can be no 
 objection to the use of certain ones among preparations for the 
 toilet which serve merely to conceal blemishes and enhance 
 physical charms. It need hardly be added that such prepara- 
 tions must be far from injurious to the skin either from their 
 constituents or their strength. Many preparations sold and used 
 are gradually injurious to the skin, which they render rough and 
 harsh, and some are even injurious to the general health, their 
 poisonous ingredients being absorbed through the skin by the 
 blood. ^ 
 
 There are, as every one knows, external conditions which 
 may mar the sightliness of the healthiest skin. Immoderate heat 
 or cold, the bites or stings of insects are causes continually pres- 
 ent, and these are effectually combated by means of various 
 combinations for application to the skin. Among cosmetic prep- 
 arations are naturally included tooth-powder and tooth-lotions, 
 dentrifices of all sorts, the habitual use of which sensibly en- 
 hances the beauty of the teeth, and to these must be added prep- 
 arations that impart curl and lustre to the hair. 
 
 n 417
 
 4l8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The following recipes are drawn from my own experience 
 and the various authorities recognized as among the best in the 
 world. 
 
 Ointments and Pomatums. 
 
 Fatty preparations* are, to a certain extent, food for the 
 skin, and are promotive of its health. Excepting in moderate 
 quantity for the scalp and hair, they cannot be used save at 
 night. But at night, just before retiring, the face, the hands, 
 protected by gloves, may be usefully treated with fatty prepara- 
 tions. Among them nothing is more bland and soothing than 
 cold cream. The following formula represents a very fine and 
 what druggists call elegant preparation of this household remedy 
 for many applications to children and grown persons: 
 
 COLD CREAM. 
 
 Oil of sweet almonds 26 ounces. 
 
 Odorless castor-oil 6 ounces. 
 
 Pure benzoated lard 8 ounces. 
 
 Genuine white wax 8 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water (in winter less, in summer more, than 
 amount named) 12 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose !/ ounce. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 6 drachms. 
 
 Extract of cassia 4 drachms. 
 
 Powdered borax 2 ounces. 
 
 Pure glycerine 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Melt the oil of sweet almonds and the lard together and stir in 
 the castor-oil. Make a solution of the borax in the glycerine, rose, and orange 
 waters, and add this solution gradually to the melted fats, stirring constantly 
 to ensure the thorough incorporation of all the ingredients. Finally, add the 
 oil of rose, dissolved in the extracts, and beat up the ointment until cold. 
 
 With cold cream prepared in the preceding manner as one 
 of its constituents, a fatty application for the skin can be pre- 
 pared as follows: 
 
 * For further information on fatty preparations, see author's work on 
 "Ointments and Oleates," second edition, F. A. Davis, publisher, Philadelphia, 
 Pa., 1890.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 419 
 
 Cold cream 1 pound. 
 
 Glycerine 4 drachms. 
 
 Best carmine 6 grains. 
 
 Mix. Rub the carmine well into the glycerine, and then incorporate them 
 with the cold cream. 
 
 Another formula for cold cream is the following: 
 
 Spermaceti 3 ounces. 
 
 White wax 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of almonds 8 ounces 
 
 Borax y 2 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 2 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose 10 minims. 
 
 Extract of jasmine % ounce 
 
 Mix. Mix the wax, oil of almonds and spermaceti, and melt at a low 
 heat. Dissolve the borax in the glycerine and rose-water previously mixed. 
 Pour this solution gradually, and with constant stirring, into the melted mix- 
 ture until the product becomes snow-white. Then add the perfume. 
 
 The formulae for the making- of cold cream are various. 
 The following ones are taken from "The Pharmaceutical Jour- 
 nal" . 
 
 COLD CREAM. 
 
 White wax 3 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 3 ounces. 
 
 Almond-oil 16 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 8 ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 20 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLD CREAM (VASELINE). 
 
 Vaseline 14 ounces. 
 
 Paraffine 1 ounce. 
 
 Lanolin 4 ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 5 drops. 
 
 Vanilla 4 grains. 
 
 Rectified spirits 2 drachms. 
 
 Water 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLD CREAM. 
 
 White wax 2 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 3 ounces. 
 
 Almond-oil 8 ounces. 
 
 Prepared lard 5 ounces. 
 
 Water 6 ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 10 drops. 
 
 Mix.
 
 42O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 There is a similar preparation to this made by the introduc- 
 tion of cotton-seed oil, as follows: 
 
 COLD CREAM. 
 
 Cotton-seed oil 15 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 3% ounces. 
 
 White wax 3% ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender-flowers 12 drops. 
 
 Rose-water 7% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CREAM OF NUTS (CREME DE NOUVEAUX). 
 
 Bitter almonds (blanched and beaten) 1 ounce. 
 
 Proof spirits 10 ounces. 
 
 Sugar 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This preparation is sometimes colored with cochineal. 
 
 COLD CREAM ( VIOLET). 
 
 Oil of violets 2 pints. 
 
 Violet-water 2 pints. 
 
 Wax 2 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 The composition of cold cream may be further modified as 
 follows : 
 
 CAMPHOR COLD CREAM ( CAMPHOR-ICE) . 
 
 Oil of almonds 2 pints. 
 
 Rose-water 2 pints. 
 
 Wax 2 ounces. 
 
 Camphor 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. . 
 
 Another recipe for cold cream of the form of a camphor- 
 ice is as follows: 
 
 CAMPHOR-ICE. 
 
 White vaseline 8 ounces. 
 
 Hard paraffine 5 ounces. 
 
 Camphor 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This is an excellent application for chapped hands, fever blisters, etc.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 421 
 
 CREAM SHAMPOO. 
 
 Shredded fine white soap y 2 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Solution of ammonia 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol or bay rum y 2 ounce. 
 
 Rain-water 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the soap in the heated rain-wat^r. When nearly cool add 
 the ammonia, rose-water, and the alcohol, stirring constantly. 
 
 COLD CREAM (HONEY-AND-ALMOND). 
 
 Cold cream . 5 parts. 
 
 Oil of sweet almonds 5 parts. 
 
 Glycerine 5 parts. 
 
 Boric acid 5 parts. 
 
 Solution of soda 2 parts. 
 
 Mucilage of quince seed (2 drachms to a pint) ... 25 parts. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds and oil of rose (enough to 
 ' perfume ) . 
 
 Water enough to make 200 parts. 
 
 Mix. Heat the cold cream, oil, and the solution of soda together, stir- 
 ring until an emulsion is formed. Warm together the glycerine, acid, mucilage, 
 and about one hundred and fifty parts of the water, and mix with the emulsion. 
 Stir until eold, and make up to the two hundred parts by adding the rest of 
 the water. Add the perfume. To make the skin soft and elastic. 
 
 CREAM (RECAMIER). 
 
 Oxide of zinc 4 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 13 drachms. 
 
 Spirits of rose (four drachms to a pint) 1 drachm. 
 
 Water 5 drachms. 
 
 Mix. A valuable face cream. 
 
 CREAM (QUINCE-SEED). 
 
 Quince-seed 3 drachms. 
 
 Boric acid 8 grains. 
 
 Glycerine 4 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 6 ounces. 
 
 Carbolic acid 20 grains. 
 
 Cologne 4 drachms. 
 
 Oil of lavender 40 drops. 
 
 Glycerine of starch 4 ounces. 
 
 Water enough to make 2 pints. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the boric acid in eight ounces of water, bruise the quince- 
 seed, and macerate in the solution for three hours. Press through a straining 
 cloth. Add the glycerine, carbolic acid, and glycerine of starch, and mix thor- 
 oughly. Mix the cologne and the oil of lavender with the alcohol, add them 
 to the mucilage and mix again thoroughly. For a dry and irritable skin.
 
 422 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CREAM-BALM. 
 
 White wax 1 drachm. 
 
 Paraffine % drachm. 
 
 Oil of sweet almonds 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Stir well until cold. Having dissolved in a mortar a half drachm 
 of the nitrate of soda in half a drachm of water, mix thoroughly the above 
 ingredients of salve with this solution and finally add 
 
 Oil of lemon 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of orange 2 drops. 
 
 COLD CREAM ( CUCUMBER). 
 
 Oil of almonds - 2 pints. 
 
 Green oil 2 ounces. 
 
 Cucumber juice 2 pints. 
 
 White wax 2 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 2 ounces. 
 
 Cucumber essence 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The cucumbers are squeezed, the juice boiled and skimmed, quickly 
 cooled, and filtered through linen. As, however, . the aroma of the cucumber 
 is destroyed by heat, a better proceeding is to slice the cucumbers as thin as 
 possible, place them in olive oil, and allow them to stand immersed for twenty- 
 four hours. The oil should then be filtered off and fresh slices of cucumber be 
 placed in it. After they have stood in it, the oil is ready to be incorporated 
 with cold cream prepared in the manner heretofore described. 
 
 Ointments similar to cold cream are prepared in like man- 
 ner. The one immediately following was at one time famous 
 when pomatum was largely used by both sexes for the hair : 
 
 COLD CREAM (POMMADE-DIVINE) . 
 
 Lard 1 pound. 
 
 Spermaceti % pound. 
 
 Oil of almonds 1% pounds. 
 
 Benzoin % pound. 
 
 Vanilla 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The ingredients are heated together at a temperature not exceed- 
 ing one hundred and sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit. After five or six hours they 
 are strained and put into pots. 
 
 CAMPHOR-PASTE. 
 
 Purified lard % pound. 
 
 Wax 2 ounces. 
 
 Spermaceti 2 ounces. 
 
 Camphor - 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of almonds 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. The ingredients to be melted and then beaten up together until cold.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 423 
 
 CREAM OR MARROW POMADE. 
 
 Lard 8 pounds. 
 
 Ox-marrow 4 pounds. 
 
 Oil of lemon 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves 5 drachms. 
 
 Mix. The fats are melted and beaten up for half an hour, or longer, 
 until they have become cold. Use for the hair as a pomade. 
 
 Perfumes, Soaps, Colognes, Etc. 
 
 COMPOUND ESSENCE OF ORRIS-ROOT. 
 
 Vanilla-bean cut fine 2 drachms. 
 
 Bruised orris-root 6 drachms. 
 
 Essence of Peruvian balsam 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 16 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Macerate for fourteen days and then filter. 
 
 WHITE-LILAC EXTRACT. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 3 drops. 
 
 Extract of civet % ounce. 
 
 Mix. The extract of civet is added only for the purpose of rendering the 
 mixture more stable. 
 
 JONQUILLE-EXTRACT. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 14 ounces. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 14 ounces. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 7 ounces. 
 
 Extract of vanilla % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VERBENA-EXTRACT. 
 
 Rectified alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of verbena 2% drachms. 
 
 Oil of lemon-peel 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VERBENA-EXTRACT. 
 
 Rectified alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of lemon-peel 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of verbena 2% drachms. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 6*4 ounces. 
 
 Spirit of rose Vz pint. 
 
 Mix.
 
 424 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 VVINTERGREEN-EXTRACT. 
 
 Spirit of rose 1 pint. 
 
 Essence of lavender 4 ounces. 
 
 Extract of neroli % pint. 
 
 Extract of vanilla 4 ounces. 
 
 Extract of vilivert 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 LILY-OF-THE-V ALLEY EXTRACT. 
 
 Essence of tuberose 8 ounces. 
 
 Jasmine essence 1 ounce. 
 
 Orange-flower essence 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-spirit 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-essence 1 ounce. 
 
 Bitter almond-oil 5 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MIGNONETTE-EXTRACT. 
 
 Rose-extract 4 ounces. 
 
 Cassia 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of myrrh 4 ounces. 
 
 Violet-extract 1 % ounces. 
 
 Jasmine-extract 1 % ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 NEW-MOWN-HAY EXTRACT. 
 
 Extract of Tonka-bean 4 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Rose-spirit 2 ounces. 
 
 Rose-extract 2 ounces. 
 
 Jasmine 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium 60 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 STEPHANOTIS-EXTRACT. 
 
 Cassia extract 1 % ounces. 
 
 Tuberose 1 % ounces. 
 
 Jasmine 14 ounces. 
 
 Musk 14 ounces. 
 
 Extract of orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Extract of Tonka-bean 1% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of storax 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot % ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose 15 minims. 
 
 Oil of neroli 15 minims. 
 
 Alcohol 9 ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 425 
 
 ORANGE-FLOWER EXTRACT. 
 
 Orange-flower essence 11 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 1% ounces. 
 
 Cassia extract 1% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MUSK EXTRACT. 
 
 Tincture of musk 11 ounces. 
 
 Rose-spirit 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of civet 6 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 i 
 
 MARIE STUART EXTRACT. 
 
 Rose-extract 8 ounces. 
 
 Jasmine 8 ounces. 
 
 Violet 8 ounces. 
 
 Cassia 8 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 8 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of ambra 1% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of Tonka-bean 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of civet 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of rose-oil ] / drachm. 
 
 Tincture of sandalwood % drachm. 
 
 Tincture of oil of neroli 1 % drachms. 
 
 Tincture of oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-spirit 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VIOLET-EXTRACT. 
 
 Violet-essence 14 ounces. 
 
 Rose-extract 4 ounces. 
 
 Cinnamon-extract 4 ounces. 
 
 Jasmine-essence 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 WOOD-VIOLET EXTRACT. 
 
 Violet-extract 8 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of cassia 1 Vj ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 1 % ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 1 % ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 426 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The three following recipes are for inexpensive perfumes : 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of French lavender % ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot % ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of verbena Vz ounce. 
 
 Oil of lemon : 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SICILIAN ESSENCE. 
 
 Matured oil of English lavender 3 drachms. 
 
 Oil of English cloves % drachm. 
 
 Essence of musk 12 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 4 drachms. 
 
 Oil of yellow sandahvood 40 drops. 
 
 Essence of ambergris 4 drachms. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 drachm. 
 
 Heliotrope bouquet (given above) 4 drachms. 
 
 Extrait Marechal 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 7 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HANDKERCHIEF PERFUME. 
 
 Essence of musk 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ^ drachms. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of English lavender % drachm. 
 
 Oil of neroli % drachm. 
 
 Oil of patchouli 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of cloves 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 1% drachms. 
 
 Oil of .verbena 16 drops. 
 
 Oil of cassia 10 drops. 
 
 Alcohol enough to make, all told 80 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Macerate for one month, then filter three times. 
 
 ESSENCE OF PERUVIAN BALSAM. 
 
 Peruvian balsam 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 9 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Macerate for two days and then filter.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 427 
 
 HELIOTROPE-BOUQUET. 
 
 Heliotropin 4 drachms. 
 
 Compound essence of orris-root 30 ounces. 
 
 Extract of rose g ounces. 
 
 Extract of jasmine g ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli 100 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 drachms. 
 
 Essence of musk 4 ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 2 drachms. 
 
 Compound essence of Tonquin bean 8 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol gO ounces. 
 
 Mix. Allow mixture to stand for fourteen days, then strain three times 
 through English gray filtering-paper. 
 
 MIXED SCENT. 
 
 Oil of lemon 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 drachms. 
 
 Essence of musk 2 drachms. 
 
 English oil of lavender 20 minims. 
 
 Oil of pimento 20 minims. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COMPOUND ESSENCE OF TONQUIN-BEAN. 
 
 Bruised orris-root 2 drachms. 
 
 Tonquin-bean cut fine 6 drachms. 
 
 Essence of ambergris 30 drops. 
 
 Oil of Ylang-ylang 60 drops. 
 
 Compound essence of orris-root : 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon % drachm. 
 
 Otto of rose % drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 160 drops. 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. Macerate for fourteen days and then filter. 
 
 HELIOTROPE-WATER. 
 
 Oil of rhodium 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of almonds 20 drops. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root % pint. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla % pint. 
 
 Tincture of musk 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 3 pints. 
 
 Triple rose-water 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 428 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CHRISTIANAS VOLATILE ESSENCE. 
 
 Oil of lavender % ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot % ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves ^4 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rhodium 1 drachm. 
 
 Strong aqua-ammonia 2% ounces. 
 
 Mix. The above mixture is useful as a perfumed pungent to take the 
 place of ordinary pungents, or smelling-salts. 
 
 NEW-MOWN HAY. 
 
 Extract of Tonka-bean 2 pints. 
 
 Extract of rose-geranium 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of rose-leaves 1 pint. 
 
 Triple spirit-of-rose 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 NEW GARDEN NOSEGAY. 
 
 Extract of orange-petals 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of cassia V. 2 pint. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 3 /& pint. 
 
 Extract of jasmine % pint. 
 
 Extract of rose-geranium % pint. 
 
 Essence of musk 1 % ounces. 
 
 Essence of ambergris 1 y 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Various scented preparations are made for filling sachet- 
 bags, etc. The substances used for the purpose are such as 
 emit a perfume at ordinary temperatures. 
 
 POWDER OF A THOUSAND FLOWERS. 
 
 Powdered lavender-flowers 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered rose-leaves 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered benzoin 2 1 / pounds. 
 
 Powdered Tonka-bean 6 ounces. 
 
 Powdered vanilla 6 ounces. 
 
 Powdered sandalwood 6 ounces. 
 
 Musk y 2 drachm. 
 
 Civet y 2 drachm. 
 
 Powdered cloves 6 ounces. 
 
 Powdered cinnamon 3 ounces. 
 
 Powdered allspic 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 429 
 
 LAVENDER-POWDER. 
 
 Powdered lavender-flowers 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered benzoin 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender y> ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 ROSE-POWDER. 
 
 Rose-ieaves 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered sandalwood 1 y 4 pounds. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VERBENA-POWDER. 
 
 Dried and powdered lemon-peel 2% pounds. 
 
 Thyme 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of verbena 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of lemon-peel 1 ounce. 
 
 * Oil of bergamot 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VIOLET-POWDER. 
 
 Black currant-leaves 2% pounds. 
 
 Cassia 2% pounds. 
 
 Rose-leaves 2% pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 5 pounds. 
 
 Oil of bittr almonds % drachm. 
 
 Granulated musk 15 grains. 
 
 Powdered benzoin *4 pound. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Christian! gives the formulae for various sachet-powders 
 from which the following selections are made : 
 
 HELIOTROPE-SACHET. 
 
 Ground rose-leaves 1% pounds. 
 
 Ground orris-root 2 pounds. 
 
 Ground Tonquin-bean % pound. 
 
 Ground vanilla % pound. 
 
 Ground gum-benzoin % pound. 
 
 Ground musk-pods % ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose % drachm. 
 
 Oil of almonds % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 GERANIUM-SACHET. 
 
 Ground rose-geranium leaves 1 pound. 
 
 Ground orris-root ' 2 pounds. 
 
 Ground rhodium-wood % pound. 
 
 Ground gum-benzoin % pound. 
 
 Oil of geranium % ounce. 
 
 Mix.
 
 43O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A class of perfumes has lately been devised which is made 
 by perfuming hard paraffine. The paraffine is melted and per- 
 fumed without its being raised to a very high temperature. The 
 
 lids of ordinary two-drachm tin boxes may be utilized for 
 moulds. From one to five drops of the liquid perfume are added 
 to each mould. 
 
 The following formulae are taken from Zielig's, for Solid 
 
 Perfumes, as given in "The British and Colonial Druggist" : 
 
 WHITE-ROSE SOLID PERFUME. 
 
 Oil of geranium Vs drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot % drachm. 
 
 Oil of patchouli 5 minims. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 LAVENDER SOLID PERFUME. 
 
 Oil of lavender 2 ounces. 
 
 Essence of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cassia 5 minims. 
 
 Oil of geranium 40 minims. 
 
 Oil of orange 5 minims. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 BOUQUET SOLID PERFUME. 
 
 Oil of coriander 18 minims. 
 
 Oil of cloves 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of nutmeg 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of lavender 3 drachms. 
 
 Oil of sandalwood 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Otto of rose i/> drachm. 
 
 Oil of geranium y 2 drachm. 
 
 Oil of orange 10 minims. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLOGNE SOLID PERFUME. 
 
 Essence of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Essence of lemon 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of citronella % ounce. 
 
 Oil of neroli y 2 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 80 minims. 
 
 Oil of geranium 10 minims. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 43! 
 
 From the same source as that mentioned above the following 
 formulae for scented soaps are taken: 
 
 ROSE-SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap ................................... ISTVa pounds. 
 
 White oil soap ............................... 63 pounds. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium ......................... 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of palm-rose ............................. 13 ounces. 
 
 Oil of patchouli .............................. 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of cloves ................................. 9 ounce? 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VANILLA-SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap ................................... 125 pounds. 
 
 Yellow soap ................... '. ............. 125 pounds. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin ........................... 4% pints. 
 
 Extract of cumarin ....... ................... 1% pints. 
 
 Peruvian balsam ............................. 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender ............................... 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium ......................... 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 FRANGIPANI-SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap ................................... 125 pounds. 
 
 Civet (rubbed up with sugar) .................. 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli ................................. 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of sandalwood ............................ 15 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose .................................. 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of vitivert ............................... 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 LAVENDER-SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap ................................... 100 pounds. 
 
 Palm-soap ..................... .............. 25 pounds. 
 
 Oil of lavender ............................... *> ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose .................................. 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium ......................... 1% ounces. 
 
 Civet (rubbed up with sugar) ............... % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 ORANGE-FLOWER SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap ................................... 100 pounds. 
 
 Palm-soap ................................... 25 pounds. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel .......................... 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli .................................. 6 % ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose .............................. 5 drachms. 
 
 Musk ( rubbed with sugar) ........... 15 grains. 
 
 Mix.
 
 432 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CEDAR-SOAP. 
 
 Curd-soap 125 pounds. 
 
 Oil of cedarwood 17 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose 1% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SHAVING SOAP. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era,.) 
 
 Best soft soap 2 ounces. 
 
 Cold cream 1 ounce. 
 
 Good white soap 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of citronella 20 drops. 
 
 Essence of lemon 20 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 PERSIAN-BOUQUET. 
 
 Oil of rhodium 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of bitter-almonds 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of cloves 10 drops. 
 
 Oil little grain 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 8 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 4 ounces. 
 
 Cologne enough to make, all told 4 pints. 
 
 Mix the oils and the tinctures with the cologne, and then add the rose- 
 water. Shake well, allow to stand for three days, then filter. 
 
 FLORIDA-WATER. 
 
 Oil of lemon 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon-grass 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of cloves 4 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 5 gallons. 
 
 Distilled water 10 pints. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 FLORIDA-WATER. 
 
 Oil of lavender 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 drachma. 
 
 Oil of lemon .' 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of neroli 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of melissa 30 minims. 
 
 Otto of rose 10 minims. 
 
 Tincture of turmeric 1 drachm. 
 
 Spirituous menstruum 32 ounces. 
 
 Mix. "Spirituous menstrum" means alcoholic liquid.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 433 
 
 FLORIDA- WATER. 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of lemon 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of cinnamon 1 drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 14 scruple. 
 
 Mix, add a gallon of water, and filter. 
 
 EAU-DU-PORTUGAL. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of lemon 2*4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel y 2 pound. 
 
 Oil of rose 14 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 10 pints. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 EAU-DU-BOTOT. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 60 drops. 
 
 Oil of spearmint 30 drops. 
 
 Oil of cloves 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of red-cedar wood 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of myrrh 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. Color with cochineal. The oil of cedar tops will not do instead 
 of the oil of the wood. The oil of cedar tops smells like turpentine, whereas 
 that of the wood is fragrant. 
 
 ORANGE-FLOWER WATER. 
 
 Take three or four drops of a fine quality of oil of neroli- 
 petals and drop them on a piece of filter-paper three inches 
 square. Put the paper in a quart bottle, pour into it four fluid- 
 ounces of warm, distilled water, at a temperature of about one 
 hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and shake it well for a couple of 
 minutes. Then add warm, distilled water, to the amount of a 
 pint, and shake the bottle again until its contents become cold. 
 Lastly, filter. For perfumery, add two drachms of rose-water 
 to the pint of the mixture. 
 
 VIOLET-WATER. 
 
 Essence of violet 4 ounces. 
 
 Essence of cassia 1% ounces. 
 
 Essence of rose 1% ounces. 
 
 Deodorized alcohol 2 pints. 
 
 Mix.
 
 434 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 LAVENDER-WATER. 
 
 English oil of lavender 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2% ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 1 % drachms. 
 
 Oil of neroli % drachm. 
 
 Spirit of nitrous ether 2V ounces. 
 
 Grain-musk 15 grains. 
 
 Triple rose-water 12 ounces. 
 
 Rectified spirit 100 ounces. 
 
 Mix and keep for six weeks. 
 
 LAVENDER-WATER. 
 
 English oil of lavender .' 4 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 45 minims. 
 
 Essence of musk ( four grains to an ounce ) 2 drachms. 
 
 Essence of ambergris (eight grains to an ounce) . . 1 drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 19 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Set aside for a few weeks to clear. 
 
 GERANIUM- WATER. 
 
 French oil of rose-geranium 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of ambrette 4 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 3 pints. 
 
 Rose-water % pint. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HUNGARY-V/ATER. 
 
 Spirit of lavender 1 part. 
 
 Spirit of sage 1 part. 
 
 Spirit of rosemary 3 parts. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HUNGARY-WATER. 
 
 Grape spirit 1 gallon. 
 
 Otto of Hungarian rosemary 2 ounces. 
 
 Otto of lemon-peel 1 ounce. 
 
 Otto of melissa balm 1 ounce. 
 
 Otto of spearmint % drachm. 
 
 Triple esprit -de-rose 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 TRIPLE ESPRIT-DE-ROSE. 
 
 t 
 
 Rectified alcohol 1 gallon. 
 
 Otto of rose . . 3 ounces.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 435 
 
 EUCALYPTUS-WATER. 
 
 Balsam of Peru 20 minims. 
 
 Tincture of tolu 80 minims. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 80 minims. 
 
 Tincture of Tonka bean 120 minims. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 160 minims. 
 
 Tincture of musk 100 minims. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus 30 minims. 
 
 Oil of neroli 4 minims. 
 
 Rose-water 6 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 6 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 20 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MAGNOLIA-SACHET. 
 
 Ground rose-leaves 1 pound. 
 
 Ground orange-flowers % pound. 
 
 Ground orris-root 2 pounds. 
 
 Ground benzoin Vt pound. 
 
 Ground orange-peel y t pound. 
 
 Oil of almonds 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of cedrat 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 ROSE-SACHET. 
 
 Ground rose-leaves 1 */*> pounds. 
 
 Ground orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Ground rhodium-wood 1 pound. 
 
 Ground santal % pound. 
 
 Ground benzoin % pound. 
 
 Otto-of-rose 2 drachms. 
 
 Brazil-wood 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VERBENA-SACHET. 
 
 Ground lemon-thyme 1 pound. 
 
 Ground lemon-peel 2 pounds. 
 
 Ground orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Oil of lemon-grass % ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 , ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 VIOLET-SACHET. 
 
 Ground orris-root 2 pounds. 
 
 Ground rhodium-wood % pound. 
 
 Ground rose-leaves % pound. 
 
 Mix.
 
 436 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The two following are taken from Sniveley's "Manufacture 
 of Perfumes": 
 
 VIOLET-SACHET. 
 
 Powdered orris-root ounces. 
 
 Ground red-rose petals 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 Tonquin musk 8 grains. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 2 minims. 
 
 Mix. A little violet essence is a desirable addition. 
 
 ROSE-SACHET. 
 
 Ground red-rose petals 6 ounces. 
 
 Ground sandalwood 1 % ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose % drachm. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium % drachm. 
 
 Mix. The above may be converted into white-rose sachet by the addition 
 of a small amount of the extract of patchouli. 
 
 SACHET-POWDER. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.\ 
 
 Powdered coriander-seeds 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Dried rose-leaves ( crushed ) 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered aromatic flag- root 1 % ounces. 
 
 Dried lavender flowers 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rhodium , , . 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 30 drops. 
 
 Musk ( in grain ) 5 grains. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 A number of elegant preparations for the making of 
 cologne are known. 
 
 FIRST-QUALITY COLOGNE. 
 
 Alcohol (eighty-five degrees) 56 pints. 
 
 Oil of neroli-petals 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli bigarade 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 1 ounce. 
 
 Expressed oil of orange-peel 5 ounces. 
 
 Expressed oil of lemon 5 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The mixture should be allowed to stand for several days before 
 being bottled.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 437 
 
 FIRST-QUALITY COLOGNE. 
 
 Best alcohol (ninety degrees) '. 50 pints. 
 
 Oil of orange 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of little grain 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel 2% ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 6 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rosemary % ounce. 
 
 Oil of English lavender % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SECOND-QUALITY COLOGNE. 
 
 Purified corn-spirit 56 pints. 
 
 Oil of little grain 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli-petals 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SECOND-QUALITY COLOGNE. 
 
 Finest alcohol ( eighty- five degrees ) 80 pints. 
 
 Oil of neroli 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of little grain 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of orange-peel 1% ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 20 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of thyme 2 1 /*. drachms. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 2% drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 THUM'S COLOGNE. 
 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.) 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of lemon 2 drachms. 
 
 Alcohol 4 pints. 
 
 Distilled water 4 ounces. 
 
 Orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin % ounce. 
 
 Tobac-vanilla 10 grains. 
 
 Musk 1 grain. 
 
 Jasmine % ounce. 
 
 Mix. Let stand for some time, then filter.
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 FARINA-COLOGNE. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon 1 % ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli bigarade 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 3 ounces. 
 
 Oil of cloves % ounce. 
 
 Oil of lavender % ounce. 
 
 Deodorized alcohol 2% gallons. 
 
 Rectified spirits 1 % gallons. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLOGNE. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.) 
 
 Cologne spirits 3 pints. 
 
 Triple extract of rose 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of musk 3% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of ambergris 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 8% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of Tonka-bean 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLOGNE. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.) 
 
 Oil of neroli 1 part. 
 
 Oil of patcnouli 2 parts. 
 
 Oil of sandalwood 2 parts. 
 
 Oil of lavender 3 parts. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium 3 parts. 
 
 Oil of Canada snake-root 9 parts. 
 
 . Tincture of musk 40 parts. 
 
 Water 140 parts. 
 
 Deodorized alcohol 800 parts. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 GRAVES'S WHITE-ROSE COLOGNE. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 % drachms. 
 
 Oil of patchouli 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of sweet oranges 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 8 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of musk 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of civet 2 ounces. 
 
 Extract jasmine ( from pomade ) 4 ounces. 
 
 Cologne spirit (deodorized alcohol) 4 1 /; pints. 
 
 Rose-water 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the oils in the spirit, add the tinctures, and lastly, add 
 
 the rose-water. Let stand three days, and filter with a half-ounce of mag- 
 nesia. Color green, if desired, with tincture of ambergris, a few grains of 
 green aniline dissolved in alcohol, or with tincture of chlorophyl.
 
 JCOSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 439 
 
 ANTISEPTIC COLOGNE. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.) 
 
 Cologne water 8 ounces. 
 
 Chloral hydrate 2 drachms. 
 
 Quinine (alkaloid) 10 grains. 
 
 Carbolic acid 30 grains. 
 
 Oil of lavender 20 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 WHITE-ROSE COLOGNE. 
 (Pharmaceutical Era.) 
 
 Triple extract of white rose 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose 3 drops. 
 
 Oil of geranium 3 drops. 
 
 Cologne spirit 26 ounces. 
 
 Hot water 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Coloring (a sufficient quantity). 
 
 CHRISTIANAS AMMONIATED COLOGNE. 
 
 Cologne essence 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 2 pints. 
 
 Ammonia-water F. F. F 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MYRTLE-COLOGNE. 
 
 Extract of jasmine % pint. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 2 pints. 
 
 Extract of rose 4 pints. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 2 pints. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 2 pints. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 NARCISSUS-COLOGNE. 
 
 Extract of jonquille 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 3 pints. 
 
 Tincture of storax 4 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of tolu 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 PINK-COLOGNE. 
 
 Extract of cassia 2% pints. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers ^ 2% pints. 
 
 Extract of rose * pints. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 20 ounces. 
 
 Oil of cloves 75 grains. 
 
 Mix.
 
 44O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 SWEET-PEA COLOGNE. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 2 pints. 
 
 Extract of orange-flowers 2 pints. 
 
 Extract of rose 2 pints. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 5% ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 POLYANTHUS-COLOGNE. 
 
 Extract of rose 2 pints. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 1 pint. 
 
 Extract of violet % pint. 
 
 Tincture of musk 2% drachms. 
 
 Oil of neroli % ounce. 
 
 Oil of lemon % ounce. 
 
 Deodorized alcohol 4 . pints. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Toilet Preparations. 
 
 The following toilet requisites are of practical advantage. 
 
 ANTISEPTIC SOLUTION. 
 
 Benzoic acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Borax 2 drachms. 
 
 Boric acid 4 drachms. 
 
 Thymol % drachm. 
 
 Eucalyptol 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 6 drops. 
 
 Oil of thyme 2 drops. 
 
 Rectified spirits 5% ounces. 
 
 Water, enough to make, all told 31 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This is a pleasant antiseptic fluid for cleansing the skin and 
 relieving any irritation and inflammation. 
 
 BAY RUM. 
 
 Oil of bay-leaves 2 drachms. 
 
 Proof Jamaica rum 10 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 20 ounces. 
 
 Distilled water 10 ounces. 
 
 Mix and let stand for a week, and then filter. 
 
 BLEACH (MADAME RUPERT'S FACE-BLEACH). 
 
 ( Christiani. ) 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 7% grains. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 drachm. 
 
 Water % pint. 
 
 Mix,
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 44! 
 
 BLONDE POWDER. 
 (Christiani.) 
 
 Levigated talc 1 pound. 
 
 Yellow-lake, a sufficient quantity. 
 Mix. 
 
 BLONDE POM MADE. 
 (Christiani.) 
 
 Soft body 1 pound. 
 
 Yellow-lake, a sufficient quantity. 
 Mix. Perfume as desired. 
 
 COMPLEXION- WASH (LAIT-VIRGINAL). 
 
 Tincture of benzoin % ounce. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 2 drachms. 
 
 Rose-water 1 1, pints. 
 
 Mix. Add the water very slowly to the tincture, in order to ensure a 
 perfectly milky emulsion which will not precipitate. 
 
 COMPLEXION-WASH 
 
 Rose-water 4 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 4 ounces. 
 
 Borax 2% drachms. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 ounce. 
 
 This is a serviceable prescription, especially to give the skin 
 a fresh and healthy appearance in a dry or oily condition of the 
 face or hands. 
 
 DENTIFRICE. 
 
 Heavy carbonate of magnesia 7 ounces. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 24 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Fresh powdered Castile-soap 4 ounces. 
 
 Carmine 20 grains. 
 
 Oil of clover 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of cinnamon 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of origanum 2 drops. 
 
 Oil of geranium 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of rose 1 drachm. 
 
 Essence of musk 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix well and pass several times through a fine drum sieve. 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER (QUININE). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered starch 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix.
 
 442 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (ANTISEPTIC). 
 
 Powdered orris-root 3 drachms. 
 
 Powdered liquorice 2 drachms. 
 
 Fresh powdered Castile-soap 5 drachms. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 1 ounce. 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Benzoic acid 20 grains. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus 40 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 10 drops. 
 
 Oil of lemon 20 drops. 
 
 Heavy carbonate of iron enough to make altogether 4 ounces. 
 Mix the ingredients in the order as given above, and pass the product 
 through a fine drum-sieve. If color be wished, add 20 grains of carmine for 
 an elegant tint. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (FRENCH). 
 
 Powdered camphor 16 ouYices. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 5 pounds. 
 
 Carmine 1 y drachms. 
 
 Oil of rose 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. After being thoroughly mixed, pass through a fine drum-sieve. To 
 bring out the beautiful color of the dentifrice, it should be passed through the 
 sieve twenty times. 
 
 DENTIFRICE ( CAMPHOR-CHALK). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered camphor % pound. 
 
 Mix. The camphor should be first rubbed up in a mortar with a little 
 alcohol before being mixed with the other ingredients. On account of the vola- 
 tility of camphor, the powder should be kept in a tight box. 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER ( SEPIA). 
 
 Powdered cuttle-fish bone 1 pound. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Oil of lemon 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of neroli % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER (PERUVIAN BARK). 
 
 Finely powdered Peruvian bark 9 ounces. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 18 ounces. 
 
 Finely powdered oyster shells 9 ounces. 
 
 Powdered myrrh 5% ounces. 
 
 Oil of peppermint .....,, 2% drachms. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 443 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER (BORAX-AND-MYRRH). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered borax 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered myrrh % pound. 
 
 Powdered orris-root i/ 2 pound 
 
 Mix. 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER (ROSE). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 pound. 
 
 Carmine y 2 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of sandal-wood y, 2 drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (REH/S ANTISEPTIC LIQUID). 
 
 Thymol 2 grains. 
 
 Carbolic acid 5 drops. 
 
 Oil of sassafras 8 drops. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen 8 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium 8 drops. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus 3 drops. 
 
 Oil of calamus 5 drops. 
 
 Oil of pinus pumilis 20 drops. 
 
 Glycerine 2 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 41/2 ounces. 
 
 White Castile-soap 2 drachms. 
 
 Distilled water enough to make 16 ounces. 
 
 Phosphate of lime enough. 
 
 Caramel and tincture of cudbear enough. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the soap in five ounces of warm water. Dissolve the acids 
 and oils in the alcohol, and add them to the soap solution. Filter through 
 paper containing a small quantity of phosphate of lime. Add glycerine. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (RUSH MERE LIQUID). 
 
 Ground soap-bark 2 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 1 % ounces. 
 
 Salicylate of sodium 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bergamot i/ 2 drachm. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen % drachm. 
 
 Oil of cloves 10 drops. 
 
 Alcohol 1 ounce. 
 
 Solution of carmine enough. 
 
 Dilute alcohol, enough to make, all told 16 ounces. 
 
 Macerate the soap-bark with the diluted alcohol and glycerine, then 
 strain. To the strained liquids add the oils dissolved in alcohol. To this add 
 the salicylate of sodium and a sufficient solution of carmine to color. Shake 
 thoroughly, and filter through wet talc, returning the first portion of the 
 filtered liquids while it runs clear, and add enough dilute alcohol through the 
 filter to make* the amount, all-told, one pint.
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 TOOTH-POWDER (PERUVIAN BARK). 
 
 Finely powdered Peruvian bark 1 pound. 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2 pounds. 
 
 Powdered cinnamon 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered myrrh 1 pound. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 1 pound. 
 
 Oil of cloves % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (EAST INDIA LIQUID). 
 
 Shavings of white Castile-soap 12 ounces. 
 
 Carbonate of potash 2^ ounces. 
 
 Powdered rhatany 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 30 ounces. 
 
 Sugar 30 ounces. 
 
 Water enough. 
 
 Alcohol 1 gallon. 
 
 Oil of true cinnamon % ounce. 
 
 Oil of gaultheria 6 drachms. 
 
 Oil of aniseed 6 drachms. 
 
 Oil of cloves % ounce. 
 
 Oil of peppermint y 2 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Put the soap in one gallon of cold water and add the carbonate 
 of potash. Dissolve the oils in the alcohol. Add the sugar, glycerine, and 
 rhatany to one gallon of cold water, and to the mixture add the soap solution 
 and the oils' solution. Lastly, add cold water to make a five-gallon mixture all- 
 told. Shake daily for two weeks, then leave undisturbed for two weeks. Draw 
 off the clear part of the solution and filter the rest. 
 
 TOOTH-PASTE (RUBY). 
 
 Powdered Castile-soap 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 6 ounces. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 6 ounces. 
 
 Honey 6, ounces. 
 
 Powdered cuttle-fish bone 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered pumice-stone 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered catechu % ounce. 
 
 Powdered cinchona % ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves % ounce. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen % ounce. 
 
 Oil of nutmeg % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine enough to make paste. 
 Solution of carmine enough to color. 
 Mix. The essential oils should be rubbed up with the dry powder.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 445 
 
 DENTIFRICE (TANNIN). 
 
 Sugar of milk 32- ounces. 
 
 Carmine 150 grains. 
 
 Pure tannin % ounce. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of aniseed 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of orange-flowers 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. Blend the carmine with the tannin, add the sugar of milk gradu- 
 ally, and finally the oils. 
 
 
 
 TOOTH-PASTE ( SOAP-BARK AND ARECA). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 8 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 8 ounces. 
 
 Powdered areca 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered cuttle-fish bone 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered quillaia 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered borax 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves 40 minims. 
 
 Oil of nutmeg 40 minims. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 30 minims. 
 
 Oil of rose 40 minims. 
 
 Mix. Add enough glycerine, honey, and mucilage to make a paste. Add 
 the oils last, and color with a solution of carmine. 
 
 DENTIFRICE (WILD CHERRY). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 4 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Powdered soap 1 ounce. 
 
 Fluid extract of wild-cherry 8 ounces. 
 
 Infusion of red-rose leaves 12 ounces. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen % drachm. 
 
 Essential oil of almonds 8 drops. 
 
 Glycerine, (one part to two parts of water) 12 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CREAM (ANTISEPTIC DENTAL). 
 
 Precipitated chalk 5 drachms. 
 
 Powdered white Castile-soap 1 drachm. 
 
 Salicylate of soda 30 grains. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium 4 drops. 
 
 Oil of wintergreen 4 drops. 
 
 Solution of carmine 2 drops. 
 
 Glycerine 4 dr P 8 - 
 
 Mix. For this recipe was awarded prize by "The Pharmaceutical 
 Record."
 
 44^ HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 As the following recipes are for emulsions it will be well, 
 first of all, to explain what constitutes an emulsion. It is an 
 intimate mixture of a fatty substance with water, where they 
 are prevented by some viscid substance from separating. Cos- 
 metically it protects the skin and renders it soft and smooth. 
 
 EMULSION (ROSE). 
 
 Blanched Valentia almonds 8 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 1 % pints. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 14 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose 1*4 drachms. 
 
 Spermaceti % ounce. 
 
 White wax y 2 ounce. 
 
 Castile soap - y 2 ounce. 
 
 Mix. The soap is pared and placed in a kettle which can be heated in 
 a water-bath. From two to three ounces of rose-water are added to and 
 heated with the soap until it is completely dissolved. The wax and the sper- 
 maceti are then added while the mixture is gently stirred. Boiling water 
 having been poured over the shelled almonds, and then made into a paste in a 
 clean mortar, they are rubbed up with the remainder of the rose-water. The 
 almond mixture is then, without pressure, strained through wash-muslin. The 
 soap-solution is then placed in the mortar and the almond mixture slowly 
 added and carefully mixed with it. After all the milk of almonds has been 
 added, the alcohol in which the oil of rose has been dissolved is emptied into 
 the mortar. The alcohol must be added slowly, or else it will cause the milk 
 of almonds to coagulate. The first mixture must be made without the aid of 
 heat. Finally, it is strained and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours. 
 
 EMULSION (ROSE). 
 
 White soap Vs ounce. 
 
 Blanched almonds 2 ounces. 
 
 Liquid carmine 10 drops. 
 
 Rose-water 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 EYEBROW-PENCIL. 
 
 Suet 1 pound. 
 
 Curd-soap % pound. 
 
 Ivory-black, a sufficient quantity. 
 Mix. 
 
 EYE WASH. 
 
 Camphor water 1 ounce. 
 
 Infusion of sassafras-pith 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered borax 3 grains. 
 
 Cocaine hydrochlorate % grain. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Drop in the eye frequently for congestion or inflam- 
 mation.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 447 
 
 EYE-LID PASTE (KOHL). 
 
 (Christiani.) 
 
 When camphor is burned and the smoke condensed and col- 
 lected, it can be formed into a paste and used as the Eastern 
 ladies do, by applying it to the eyelids, in order to give a brilliant 
 effect to the eyes. 
 
 GLYCERINE-BALSAM. 
 
 White wax 1 ounce. 
 
 Spermaceti 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of almonds 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose i/ 2 drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 GLYCERINE FRAGRANT CREAM, 
 i 
 
 Flaxseed 2 ounces 
 
 Salicylic acid X grains. 
 
 Glycerine 12% ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 2% ounces. 
 
 Carbolic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Cologne 1 y 2 drachms. 
 
 Water 1 % ounces. 
 
 Mix. This recipe is valuable for rough and irritable skin. Make a 
 mucilage by steeping the flaxseed in the water for three days, with frequent 
 shaking, and then strain through muslin. Dissolve the salicylic acid in the 
 alcohol, and to the product add the glycerine and the other ingredients. Shake 
 well and let the whole stand for twenty-four hours. Strain through muslin 
 and bottle. Quince-seed mucilage may be substituted to advantage for that 
 made with the flaxseed and water. 
 
 GLYCERINE-BALSAM. 
 
 Glycerine 20 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 8 ounces. 
 
 Otto of rose 16 drops. 
 
 Distilled water, enough to make 80 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Add solution of rosaniline sufficient to give a faint pink tinge to 
 the mixture. Useful for pale and irritable skin. 
 
 GLYCERINE-LOTION. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of arnica 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 1 ounce. 
 
 Aromatic spirits of ammonia 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Valuable to employ in foetid odor of the skin.
 
 448 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 GLYCERINE-CREAM. 
 
 Glycerine 6 ounces. 
 
 Powdered tragaeanth (or enough to thicken the 
 
 mixture) % ounce. 
 
 Extract of cassia % ounce. 
 
 Powdered borax % ounce. 
 
 Powdered Florentine orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. This is a good preparation for healing a skin roughened by sun 
 and wind. Mix the extracts with the powdered orris-root. Dissolve the borax 
 in the glycerine, and mix them with the tragaeanth, adding the extract and 
 orris-root with thorough blending. Put the mixture in collapsible tubes or in 
 wide-mouthed vials. 
 
 GLYCERINE OR BOROGLYCERIDE CREAM. 
 
 Boric acid 1 part. 
 
 Glycerine 24 parts. 
 
 Anhydrous lanolin .*...... 5 parts. 
 
 Vaseline 70 parts. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the boric acid in the glycerine and add the lanolin and 
 vaseline. Perfume and tint to suit. For cracks and chaps of the skin, espe- 
 cially in irritable lips. 
 
 GLYCERINE- JELLY ( PLAIN). 
 
 Thin French gelatine % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine of borax 10 ounces. 
 
 Triple rose-water 6 ounces. 
 
 Water 5 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Soak the gelatine in the water all night in a gallipot, and next 
 morning place the pot in a saucepan with water, and heat until the gelatine 
 is dissolved. Then add the glycerine and the rose-water. The preparation 
 may be colored with a little cochineal or saffron. Serviceable in greasy and 
 rough skin. 
 
 GLYCERINE- JELLY (CARBOLATED) . 
 
 Isinglass 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 16 ounces. 
 
 Carbolic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Prepare in the same manner as described above. To be tised in 
 similar conditions as above formula. 
 
 GLYCERINE-JELLY ( SOLID). 
 
 French gelatine 20 grains. 
 
 Glycerine 1 % ounces. 
 
 Otto of roses 1 drop. 
 
 Water % ounce. 
 
 Mix. Make up as before, adding the otto of roses when the jelly is 
 lukewarm, and pour into moulds.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 449 
 
 When applied undiluted to chapped skin, and sometimes 
 even to sound skin, glycerine irritates instead of benefitting it. 
 It is therefore advisable to mix the glycerine with water or with 
 some fatty substance. 
 
 GLYCERINE-LOTION (BORATED). 
 
 Boric acid 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 20 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 16 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 12 ounces. 
 
 Distilled water, enough to make 1 gallon. 
 
 Mix. Useful in dandruff and irritable skin. 
 
 , GLYCERINE-CREAM. 
 
 Powdered tragacanth 1 ounce. 
 
 Orange-flower water 3 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 5 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 ounce. 
 
 Boric acid % ounce. 
 
 Oil of roses 8 drops. 
 
 Mix. Make into a paste. It may, on retiring, be rubbed into a rough 
 or inflamed skin, and washed off in the morning. 
 
 GLYCERINE COLD CREAM. 
 
 Arrow-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Orange-flower water 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 22 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose 15 drops. 
 
 Oil of neroli 15 drops. 
 
 Extract of jasmine Vz ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION (QUININE-AND-GLYCERINE) . 
 
 Cologne 2 ounces. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 15 grains. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides 2 drachms. 
 
 Borax 1 drachm. 
 
 Ammonia-water 1 drachm. 
 
 Glycerine 3 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of sacchar 1 drachm . 
 
 Bay-rum enough to make, all told 1 pint. 
 
 Mix and filter. 
 
 29
 
 45O HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 HAIR-OIL (LEMON). 
 
 Olive oil 2 pints. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 % ounces. 
 
 Oil of lemon 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves J /2 ounce. 
 
 Oil of cinnamon *4 drachm. 
 
 Oil of neroli 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION. 
 
 Castor-oil 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 40 drops. 
 
 Glycerine 3% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides 4 drachms. 
 
 Ammonia-water 4 drachms. 
 
 Alcohol enough to make, all told 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the oils in the alcohol, add the tincture, and gradually 
 add the mixed ammonia and glycerine. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 20 grains. 
 
 Powdered borax % drachm. 
 
 Ammonia-water 2 drachms. 
 
 Compound tincture of cinchona *A ounce. 
 
 Bay-rum enough to make, all told 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. To one ounce of the bay-rum add the quinine and the borax, and 
 
 then add another ounce of the bay-rum; gradually add the ammonia, and then 
 enough bay rum to make the four ounces, all told, of liquid. Finally, filter. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION. 
 
 Powdered borax 2 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides % ounce. 
 
 Aromatic spirit of ammonia % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 2 ounces. 
 
 Extract of Japanese lilac 1 drachm. 
 
 Bay-rum 2 ounces. 
 
 Sage-tea, enough to make, all told 1 pint. 
 
 Mix. Take one ounce of sage and steep it in a pint of soft water; filter, 
 and dissolve the borax in the tea, then add all the other ingredients. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION (QUININE). 
 
 Sulphate of quinine % drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of capsicum % drachm. 
 
 Ammonia-water 4 drachms. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Bay-rum enough to make, all told 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 451 
 
 HAIR-LOTION ( CROWN). 
 
 Tincture of capsicum 3 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of cantharides 3 drachms. 
 
 Aromatic spirits of ammonia 1 y 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of cinchona 2 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol enough to make, all told 16 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION (CjUINO-JABORANDl). 
 
 Fluid extract of jaborandi 1 ounce. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 20 grains. 
 
 Glycerine : 2 ounces. 
 
 Cologne 4 ounces. 
 
 Bay-rum 4 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 20 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAIR-CURLING FLUID. 
 
 Quince-seed juice 3 ounces. 
 
 Tragacanth 2 drachms. 
 
 Boric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Spirit of camphor % ounce. 
 
 Water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Upon retiring for the night, apply to the hair with the hand or 
 with a soft sponge, after which roll the hair over paper with hairpins. 
 
 HAIR-LOTION. 
 
 Tincture of Spanish-fly 1 ounce. 
 
 Spirit of rosemary 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of sweet almonds 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 40 drops. 
 
 Oil of rose 8 drops. 
 
 Mix. To be applied every other morning, shaking the bottle well before 
 using. 
 
 LANOLIN-MILK. 
 
 This preparation is made by simply rubbing together fifteen 
 grains of borax with one hundred and fifty grains of lanolin, 
 and gradually adding twenty-five drachms of orange-flower 
 water. 
 
 LANOLIN-CREAM. 
 
 Anhydrous lanolin 2% drachms. 
 
 Benzoated lard 45 grains. 
 
 Mix.
 
 45- HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 LANOLIN-CREAM. 
 
 Anhydrous lanolin 3 drachms. 
 
 Yellow vaseline 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of rose 5 drops. 
 
 Tincture of vanilla 5 drops. 
 
 Spirit of mignonette 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 LANOLIN-CREAM. 
 
 Oil of citron 1 drop. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 3 drops. 
 
 Spirit of mignonette 8 drops. 
 
 Anhydrous lanolin 2^4 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 LANOLIN-CREAM. 
 
 Anhydrous lanolin 2^ drachms. 
 
 Oil of almonds 8 drops. 
 
 Oil of cacao 8 drops. 
 
 Benzoic acid 1% grains. 
 
 Lanolin creams are of service for all dry and irritable con- 
 ditions of the skin, and for all sores, especially bed-sores. 
 
 MAY-DEW MILK. 
 
 Red-rose leaves 2 ounces. 
 
 Borax % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 1 % pints. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MILK OF ELDER-FLOWERS. 
 
 , Hulled sweet almonds 4 ounces. 
 
 Elder-flower water 14 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol ( ninety-five degrees ) 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds % drachm. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MILK OF DANDELION. 
 
 Hulled sweet almonds 4 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 14 ounces. 
 
 Juice of dandelion root 1 ounce. 
 
 Extract of tuberose 8 ounces. 
 
 Green oil % ounce. 
 
 Wax % ounce. 
 
 Curd soap % ounce. 
 
 Mix. The dandelion must be fresh.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 453 
 
 MILK OF BITTER ALMONDS. 
 
 Hulled bitter almonds 9 ounces. 
 
 Distilled water or rose-water 1% pints. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 10% ounces. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds i/, drachm. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 drachms. 
 
 Wax % ounce. 
 
 Spermaceti % ounce. 
 
 Oil of almonds % ounce. 
 
 Curd soap y 2 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MILK OF BITTER ALMONDS. 
 
 Blanched bitter almonds 4 ounces. 
 
 Orange-flower water 12 ounces. 
 
 Curd soap y 2 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol (sixty-five degrees) 4 drachms. 
 
 Oil of almonds 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the soap in a water-bath apparatus with the orange- 
 flower water, heat the almonds in a clean marble mortar, gradually adding 
 the soap and water. Strain through muslin, and return the product to the 
 mortar, and while gradually stirring it add the alcohol in which the oils have 
 been dissolved. 
 
 MILK OF BITTER ALMONDS. 
 
 Blanched sweet almonds 5 ounces. 
 
 White Castile-soap 2 drachms. 
 
 White wax 2 drachms. 
 
 Spermaceti 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 20 drops. 
 
 Oil of bergamot 40 drops. 
 
 Alcohol 6 ounces. 
 
 Water (a sufficient quantity). 
 
 Mix. The almonds should be beaten in a smooth mortar, and the water 
 gradually added in small quantities, the beating in the mortar being continued 
 until a smooth paste is obtained. Add gradually to this paste one pint of 
 water, stirring well all the time. The emulsion thus made should be strained 
 without pressure through clean cotton cloth. Add through the strainer enougli 
 water to bring the amount of the liquid to one pint. The soap, shaved into 
 thin slices, should be at the same time, with enough water to cover it, melted 
 directly over a very gentle fire or in a water-bath. When liquid, the wax and 
 spermaceti should be added to it in large pieces, in order to have them melt 
 slowly and thereby become better incorporated with the soap, and the mixture 
 should be stirred occasionally. This soapy mixture being put into the mortar, 
 the emulsion should be slowly poured into it, while the pestle is kept in 
 movement constantly to secure perfect blending of the whole liquid. Lastly, 
 add the alcohol, in which the perfumes have been previously dissolved.
 
 454 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 MILK OF CUCUMBER. 
 
 Sweet almonds 4 ounces. 
 
 Cucumber juice 14 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 8 ounces. 
 
 Essence of cucumber 3% ounces. 
 
 Green oil 2 drachms. 
 
 Wax 2 drachms. 
 
 Curd soap 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MAGNOLIA-BALM. 
 
 Florida-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine % ounce. 
 
 Prepared chalk 2 ounces. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 1 ounce. 
 
 Water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Tint with carmine, if desired. A very good toilet water. 
 
 NAIL AND LIP POMADE (ROSALINE). 
 ( Pharmaceu tica I Era. ) 
 
 Eosin 10 parts. 
 
 Spermaceti 30 parts. 
 
 White wax 30 parts. 
 
 Vaseline 410 parts. 
 
 Mix. For communicating a rose-tint to the nails and lips. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (DISINFECTANT). 
 
 Thymol 3 grains. 
 
 Benzoic acid 40 grains. 
 
 Tincture of eucalyptus 3 drachms. 
 
 Essence of peppermint 10 drops. 
 
 Alcohol 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Pour enough into a glassful of water to make it turbid. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (HORSE-RADISH). 
 
 Horse-radish root (ground) 1 ounce. 
 
 Boiling water 1 pint. 
 
 Tincture of rhatany 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (HONEY). 
 
 Gum myrrh 2 drachms. 
 
 Gum-Arabic 1 drachm. 
 
 Alcohol % drachm. 
 
 Water 7^ drachms. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 455 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (MENTHOLINE) . 
 
 Menthol 40 grains. 
 
 Oil of cloves 1% drachms. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 1% drachms. 
 
 Boric acid 9 drachms. 
 
 Tincture of myrrh 4% ounces. 
 
 Tincture of cudbear 2 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol enough to make, all told 36 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the menthol and the boric acid in twenty ounces of alco- 
 hol, add the oils and the tinctures, filter, and add enough alcohol to make the 
 thirty-six ounces. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (COSMOS). 
 
 Saccharin 37% grains. 
 
 Benzoic acid 45 grains. 
 
 Tincture of krameria % ounce. 
 
 Absolute alcohol 25 drachms. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 15 drops. 
 
 Oil of cinnamon 15 drops. 
 
 Mix. Add three parts of the mixture to twenty-seven parts of a 4-per- 
 cent, solution of peroxide of hydrogen. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH ( VIOLET). 
 
 Tincture of violet-root 7 ounces. 
 
 Spirit of rose 7 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 7 ounces. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds 5 drops. 
 
 Mix. Use a teaspoonful in a glassful of warm water. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH. 
 
 Permanganate of potash 5 grains. 
 
 Distilled water 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH. 
 
 Infusion of sage 8 ounces. 
 
 Pure glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of myrrh 3 drachms. 
 
 Solution of chlorate of soda 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH. 
 
 Salol 8 grains. 
 
 Alcohol 8 grains. 
 
 Tincture of cinnamon 00 drops. 
 
 Oil of mint - 4 dr P s - 
 
 Mix. This can also be used for a dentifrice and for receding guma.
 
 45^ HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH. 
 
 Saccharin 15 grains. 
 
 Bicarbonate of sodium 15 grains. 
 
 Salicylic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Alcohol 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. A few drops of the mixture are used in a glassful of water as a 
 gargle. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH. 
 
 Bromo-chloral 20 to 30 drops. 
 
 Syrup 1 teaspoonful. 
 
 Mix. This preparation is recommended as excellent for removing the 
 odor of smoking from the breath. 
 
 MOUTH-WASH (DISINFECTANT). 
 
 Benzoic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of eucalyptus 5 drachms. 
 
 Absolute alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of peppermint 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Perfumed powders are useful and agreeable. They neu- 
 tralize excessive moisture of the skin, whether derived from 
 superabundance on it of perspiration or of oil. 
 
 PERFUMED POWDER. 
 
 Powdered Florentine orris-root 4 ounces. 
 
 Powdered talc 12 ounces. 
 
 English precipitated chalk 4 pounds. 
 
 Powdered boric acid 2% ounces. 
 
 Extract of cassia % ounce. 
 
 Extract of jasmine % ounce. 
 
 Extract of white rose 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and sift through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 PERFUMED POWDER. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Heavy carbonate of magnesia '. 1 ounce. 
 
 Starch powder 4 ounces. 
 
 French chalk 2 ounces. 
 
 Otto of roses 16 drops. 
 
 Mix.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 457 
 
 VIOLET-POWDER. 
 
 Cornstarch 12 pounds. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2 pounds. 
 
 Oil of citron % ounce 
 
 Oil of bergamot 2 y 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of cloves 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 ROSE-POWDER. 
 
 Finest rice-flour 14 pounds. 
 
 Oil of rose 5 drachms. 
 
 Oil of sandal-wood 5 drachms. 
 
 Mix. If a pink color be desired, it can be obtained by the addition of 
 one and a quarter drachms of the best carmine. 
 
 PEARL POWDER. 
 
 Venetian cnalk 2 pounds. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 2 ounces. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 Inasmuch as this powder contains metallic substances it 
 must be used with caution, as it is capable of causing a brownish 
 discoloration of the skin. 
 
 FACE-POWDER ( WHITE ROSE). 
 
 Oxide of zinc 7 ounces. 
 
 Powdered talc 9 ounces. 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia 1 ounce. 
 
 Triple extract of jasmine 25 drops. 
 
 Triple extract of white-rose 10 drops. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 FACE-POWDER (RED ROSE). 
 
 Oxide of zinc 7 ounces. 
 
 Purified talc 9 ounces. 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia 1 ounce. 
 
 Triple extract of jasmine 25 drops. 
 
 Triple extract of rose 10 drops. 
 
 Solution of carmine 17 drops. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 FACE-POWDER (CUBAN BELLE). 
 
 White-rose face-powder 4 ounces. 
 
 Red-rose face-powder 4 ounces. 
 
 Oxford ochre 4 drachms. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. For brunette com- 
 plexion.
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 FACE-POWDER ( FLEUR-DE-LYS ) . 
 
 Bismuth subnitrate % drachm. 
 
 Purified talc 1 % ounces. 
 
 Wheat-starch 2 ounces. 
 
 Gypsum 3 ounces. 
 
 Triple extract of fleur-de-lys 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 FACE-POWDER (NILE-LILY). 
 
 Bismuth subcarbonate 2 drachms. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 2 ounces. 
 
 Purified talc 2 1 /a ounces. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 2% ounces. 
 
 Wheat-starch 3% ounces. 
 
 Oil of geranium 20 drops. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 FACE-POWDER (RICE). 
 
 Finely powdered rice 3% ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose-geranium 10 drops. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 WHITE COMPLEXION POWDER. 
 
 Powdered rice 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered talcum 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered carbonate of magnesia 1 drachm. 
 
 Ext. rose 3 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 PINK COMPLEXION POWDER. 
 
 Powdered starch 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered carbonate of zinc 4 drachms. 
 
 Powdered carbonate of magnesia 1 drachm. 
 
 Carmine, sufficient quantity to color pink. 
 
 Mix. Starch, rice, and zinc, or magnesia alone, colored pink, make good 
 and useful complexion dusting powders. 
 
 FACE-POWDER (SWANSDOWN). 
 
 Oxide of zinc 8 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2% ounces. 
 
 Purified talc 10 ounces. 
 
 Extract of musk 12 drops. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 40 drops. 
 
 Extract of white-rose 40 drops. 
 
 Extract of cassia 40 drops. 
 
 Mix thoroughly and pass through fine bolting-cloth.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 459 
 
 COMPLEXION POWDER. 
 
 Corn-starch 5 pounds. 
 
 Precipitated chalk 3 pounds. 
 
 Powdered talc 2 pounds. 
 
 Oil of neroli 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of citron 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of orange 2 drachma. 
 
 Extract of jasmine 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 HAND-POWDER. 
 ( Christiani. ) 
 
 Powdered white Castile soap 4 ounces. 
 
 Powdered cuttle-fish bone 4 ounces. 
 
 Bleached almonds 8 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of cloves y 2 drachm. 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix. Use as soap-powder. 
 
 WHITENING SKIN-POWDER. 
 ( Christiani. ) 
 
 Powdered marshmallow root 2 ounces. 
 
 Carbonate of soda 2 ounces. 
 
 Barley-meal 12 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Use as soap-powder. 
 
 NAIL-POWDER. 
 
 A cosmetic preparation for treatment of the finger-nails 
 consists of finely-powdered oxide of tin, to which may be added 
 a little oil of lavender or other agreeable perfume. It may be 
 colored with carmine and can be applied by hand or with a nail- 
 polisher. 
 
 The following recipes for dusting-powders for the skin of 
 infants have been collected from various trustworthy sources : 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Purified talc 8 ounces. 
 
 Powdered fuller's earth 4 ounces. 
 
 Lycopodium 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose 5 drops. 
 
 Mix. Rub the oil of rose into the fuller s earth in a mortar until they 
 are thoroughly incorporated with each other. Then add the talc and lycopo- 
 dium, mixing thoroughly. Pass through fine bolting-cloth.
 
 460 
 
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Powdered French chalk ....................... 14 ounces. 
 
 Powdered boric acid .......................... 2 ounces. 
 
 Extract of jasmine ........................... 1% drachms. 
 
 Extract of musk ............................. % drachm. 
 
 Mix. Pass through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Gum camphor ............................... % ounce. 
 
 Carbolic acid ................................ 15 drops. 
 
 Oxide of zinc ................................ % ounce. 
 
 English precipitated chalk .................... 2 ounces. 
 
 Oil of rose ................................... 2 drops. 
 
 Mix. Rub the camphor to a fine powder in a mortar. Use alcohol to 
 reduce it to liquid form, and mix the other components thoroughly. Pass 
 through fine bolting-cloth. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Kaolin ...................................... 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered orris-root .......................... 4 ounces. 
 
 Oil of sandal-wood ........................... 40 drops. 
 
 Mix. Pass through fine bolting-cloh. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Carbolic acid .......... ...................... 50 drops. 
 
 Boric acid ................................... 1% ounces. 
 
 Powdered French chalk ....................... 14% ounces. 
 
 Mix thoroughly the French chalk, with the carbolic acid gradually added. 
 
 Then add the boric acid, and thoroughly mix all together. Pass through fine 
 bolting-cloth. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Oxide of zinc ................................ % ounce. 
 
 Powdered starch .............................. 1 % ounces. 
 
 Boric acid ................................... 20 grains. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus ............................. 10 drops. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 INFANT-POWDER. 
 
 Powdered fuller's earth ....................... 9 ounces. 
 
 Powdered boric acid .......................... 1% ounces. 
 
 Powdered oxide of zinc ........................ 3 ounces. 
 
 Powdered starch ............................. 9 ounces. 
 
 Powdered orris-root .......................... 1% ounces. 
 
 Oil of bergamot .............................. 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix the powders thoroughly together and pass the mixture through fine 
 bolting-cloth.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 461 
 
 "The Druggist's Circular and Chemical Gazette" gives the 
 following formulae for talc powders: 
 
 PERFUMED TALC. 
 
 Powdered talc 1 pound. 
 
 Extract of jasmine % ounce. 
 
 Extract of musk % ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose 8 drops 
 
 Mix. 
 
 BORATED TALC. 
 
 Powdered talc 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered boric acid 1 pound. 
 
 Mix. This powder is beneficially used for healing reddened and cracked 
 skin. 
 
 TANNATED TALC. 
 
 Powdered talc . 5 pounds. 
 
 Tannic acid 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Tannated talc is a serviceable application for excoriated and sup- 
 purating surfaces. 
 
 SALICYLATED TALC. 
 
 Powdered talc 5 pounds. 
 
 Salicylic acid 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This preparation is of value for preventing and curing offensive 
 perspiration. 
 
 CARBOLATED TALC. 
 
 Powdered talc 1 pound. 
 
 Carbolic acid *4 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Carbolated talc is a good antiseptic preparation. With the use of 
 the same proportions as for carbolated talc, mentholated and thymolated talc 
 may be prepared. 
 
 AROMATIC VINEGAR. 
 
 Glacial acetic acid 8 ounces. 
 
 Oil of lavender 2 drachms. 
 
 Oil of rosemary 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of cloves 1 drachm. 
 
 Camphor 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. The powdered camphor is first dissolved in the acetic acid, the 
 essential oils are then added; the mixture is set aside for several days, but 
 frequently shaken, and finally it is filtered.
 
 462 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 HYGIENIC VINEGAR. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 1 pint. 
 
 Oil of cloves 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of lavender 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of marjoram Vz drachm. 
 
 Mix and add acetic acid ( thirty degrees ) y 2 pint. 
 
 Mix. Shake well. Let stand for several days, then filter. 
 
 COSMETIC VINEGAR. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2 pints. 
 
 Aromatic vinegar 3 ounces. 
 
 Peruvian balsam 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of nutmeg % drachm. 
 
 Oil of neroli 1*4 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 COLOGNE-VINEGAR. 
 
 Cologne 6^ ounces. 
 
 Glacial acetic acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 TOILET VINEGAR. 
 ( Pharmaceutical Era. ) 
 
 Essence of bergamot 20 minims. 
 
 Essence of ambergris 4 drachms. 
 
 Essence of vanilla 30 minims. 
 
 Oil of neroli 30 minims. 
 
 Strong acetic acid 160 minims. 
 
 Alcohol (eighty-four degrees) 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 DE BULLY'S VINAIGRE-AROMATIQUE. 
 
 Oil of lemon 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of lavender (English ) % ounce. 
 
 Oil of rosemary-flower % ounce. 
 
 Oil of cloves y t ounce. 
 
 Gum camphor 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of orris-root 2 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of storax 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of Tonquin-bean 1 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of musk 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol (ninety-five degrees) 4 1 /4 pints. 
 
 Acetic acid 1 pint. 
 
 Triple rose-water 1% pints. 
 
 Mix. Dissolve the oils and camphor in the alcohol, add the tinctures, 
 
 then the acid, lastly the rose-water. Let stand a fortnight before filtering.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 463 
 
 WIG-PASTE. 
 (Christiani.) 
 
 Isinglass 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 8 ounces. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 White turpentine 2 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. The isinglass is dissolved in the rose-water; the turpentine, the 
 tincture, and the two solutions are then mixed. 
 
 The appended combinations are serviceable for the diseases 
 and disorders named. 
 
 BALDNESS. 
 Ointment of oleate of mercury ( 10 to 20 per cent. ) 1 ounce. 
 
 Ol. eucalyptus 1 drachm. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Rub into the bald spots once or twice a day. 
 
 BOILS. 
 
 Chloral hydrate 10 grains. 
 
 Camphor 10 grains. 
 
 Phenolis (carbolic acid) 10 drops. 
 
 Sublimed sulphur */% drachm. 
 
 Subacetate of lead ointment % ounce. 
 
 Benzoated zinc ointment V ounce. 
 
 Mix. Apply with old muslin or lint to the boil. Change dressing two or 
 three times a day. 
 
 BURNS. 
 
 Salol 1 part. 
 
 Olive oil 70 parts. 
 
 Lime-water 70 parts. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 BURNS. 
 
 Cocaine hydrochlorate 3 grains. 
 
 Beechwood creosote 5 drops. 
 
 Lime water 3 ounces. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Mop over the surface or apply with old muslin. 
 
 BURNS. 
 
 Powdered bicarbonate of soda % ounce. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth % ounce. 
 
 Beechwood creosote 5 drops. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Dust frequently over the burn.
 
 464 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CARBUNCLE. 
 
 Compound resin-ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered opium 2 grains. 
 
 Powdered camphor 5 grains. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply on lint or old muslin to the carbuncle. 
 
 CHAPPED LIPS. 
 
 Solution of borogl yceride ( 50 per cent. ) 3 drachms. 
 
 Lanolin 4 drachms. 
 
 Rose-ointment 4 drachms. A 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CRACKS OR FISSURES OF HANDS, FEET, AND LIPS 
 
 Prepared suet 1 ounce. 
 
 Rose ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Salicylic acid 30 grains. 
 
 Sublimed sulphur 30 grains. 
 
 Mix. The suet can be prepared as follows: Melt the fresh suet over 
 a slow fire, add while the suet is fluid from 10 to 30 grains of gum camphor 
 to the ounce of suet. After the camphor and suet have been thoroughly mixed, 
 remove from fire and beat up the whole well, and after cool incorporate with 
 the above combination. 
 
 CHAPPED HANDS. 
 
 Tannic acid 8 grains. 
 
 Glycerine 5 drachms. 
 
 Rose-water 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. This prescription is given by Monsieur Vigier, a French physician, 
 in Le Journal de Medicine. 
 
 CHAPPED HANDS. 
 
 Lanolin 3 to 6 ounces. 
 
 Vanilla 1 y 2 grains. 
 
 Paraffin 3 to 6 drachms. 
 
 Essence of rose 1 drop. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CHAPPED HANDS. 
 
 Green soap !/4 ounce. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin . 2 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 4 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 8 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CHAPPED AND INFLAMED HANDS. 
 
 Salol 1 drachm. 
 
 Menthol % drachm. 
 
 Olive oil 1 drachm. 
 
 Lanolin 30 drachms. 
 
 Mix. Apply two or three times a day.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 465 
 
 Salol, an ingredient in the above application, is a combina- 
 tion of carbolic acid and salicylic acid. By virtue of its antisep- 
 tic properties, it allays inflammation. Menthol, also an ingre- 
 dient of the above application, is a constituent of peppermint- 
 oil, and allays pain and itching. The same ingredients also enter 
 into the following preparation : 
 
 CHAPPED HANDS. 
 
 Menthol % drachm. 
 
 Quince-seed % ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol 4 ounces. 
 
 Water, a sufficient quantity to make a mucilage . . 
 
 The quince-seed is soaked in a pint of water for twenty-four hours, fre- 
 quently stirred, and then strained with gentle pressure through muslin, and 
 the full volume with water made up to one pint. The glycerine is then added, 
 and finally the alcohol and menthol ; the whole being then briskly stirred. 
 
 CHAPPED AND INFLAMED SKIN. 
 
 Salol 40 grains. 
 
 Menthol 10 grains. 
 
 Olive oil 1 drachm. 
 
 Lanolin % ounce. 
 
 Cold cream % ounce. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 CORNS AND BUNIONS. 
 
 Salicylic acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Flexible collodion 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix and put a camel's hair brush through the cork of the bottle. Direc- 
 tions: Paint over the corn or bunion every day or two. 
 
 Salicylic acid plaster can be used in place of the above combination upon 
 corns, bunions, or a thickened state of the skin with great benefit. 
 
 DANDRUFF. 
 
 Tincture of capsicum % ounce. 
 
 Tincture of nux vomica % ounce. 
 
 Spirits rosemary t 3 ounces. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Rub in well with a sponge every night on retiring. 
 
 DRY SKIN. 
 
 Glycerine 2 ounces. 
 
 Lime water 2 ounces. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Apply with cotton once or twice a day. 
 
 30
 
 466 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 FALLING OF HAIR. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 10 grains. 
 
 Chloride of ammonia 2 drachms. 
 
 Water of eucalyptus 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Rub into the scalp at night on retiring by means of 
 a small sponge or piece of cotton. 
 
 FRECKLES. 
 
 Horse-radish root 1 ounce. 
 
 Boiling water 1 pint. 
 
 Borax 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. This lotion is serviceable for removing freckles, tan, etc. 
 
 FRECKLES OR LIVER SPOTS. 
 
 Chloride of ammonia 1 drachm. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate 10 grains. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 3 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply with sponge once or twice a day. 
 
 FRECKLES, BLACKHEADS, TAN, ETC. 
 
 Solution of ammonia 2 ounces. 
 
 Bay rum 2 ounces. 
 
 Rose-water 2 ounces. 
 
 Powdered borax 2 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Distilled water 20 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 FRECKLES AND TAN. 
 
 Rose-water 6 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine % ounce. 
 
 Bitter almond water 2% drachms. 
 
 Tincture of benzoin 2^ drachms. 
 
 Borax 1% drachms. 
 
 Mix. This is Dr. Chevasse's preparation for tan, freckles, pimples, etc. 
 Rub the borax up with the glycerine, gradually adding the rose and almond 
 waters, lastly the tincture of benzoin, agitating the mixture all the time. 
 Apply night and morning. 
 
 FROSTBITE. 
 
 Camphor 10 grains. 
 
 Chloral hydrate 20 grains. 
 
 Phenol (carbolic acid) 20 drops. 
 
 Atropine sulphate 3 grains. 
 
 Morphine sulphate 3 grains. 
 
 Cocaine hydrochlorate 5 grains. 
 
 Alcohol 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply frequently to the frost-bite by means of cotton 
 or a camel's hair brush.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 467 
 
 FROSTBITE. 
 
 Compound tincture of benzoin 2 ounces. 
 
 Phenol (carbolic acid) % drachm. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Paint over the frost-bite once or twice a day. 
 
 ITCHING OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Beechwood creosote 10 drops. 
 
 Glycerine 3 ounces. 
 
 Rose water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Mop frequently over the skin. 
 
 ITCHING PILES OR HEMORRHOIDS. 
 
 Sublimed sulphur * drachm. 
 
 Cocaine hydrochlorate 5 grains. 
 
 Atropine sulphate 3 grains. 
 
 Camphor 10 grains. 
 
 Chloral hydrate 10 grains. 
 
 Tannic acid 20 grains. 
 
 Benzoated zinc ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply to the piles once or twice a day after bathing 
 the parts well with hot distilled witchhazel water. 
 
 The internal use of 2 to 4 grains of precipitated sulphur, three to four 
 times a day, will assist in relieving all pain. 
 
 MOSQUITO-POWDER. 
 
 Eucalyptol 5 parts. 
 
 Talc 10 parts. 
 
 Corn-starch 85 parts. 
 
 Mix. This preparation may be rendered even more effective by substi- 
 tuting 50 per cent, or more of the corn-starch by naptholine. 
 
 OILY OR GREASY SKIN, ESPECIALLY OF THE FACE. 
 
 Boric acid % drachm. 
 
 Alcohol % ounce. 
 
 Rose-water 5% ounces. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Mop off the surface night and morning with this 
 solution, after which dust over the face rice or complexion powder. 
 
 ODOROUS OR STINKING SWEAT, ESPECIALLY OF HANDS, FEET, 
 ARMPITS AND OTHER PARTS OF THE BODY. 
 
 Powdered boric acid % ounce. 
 
 Powdered alum % ounce. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus 20 drops. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Oil of rose 3 drops. 
 
 Oil of verbena 5 drops. 
 
 Mix. Directions : The surface should first be washed with pure "hydro- 
 gen dioxide or peroxide of hydrogen, and the powder afterward dusted well 
 upon the parts.
 
 468 HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 PIMPLES, BLOTCHES, TETTER, AND IRRITATION 
 OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Sulphocarbolate of zinc 20 grains. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 2 drachms. 
 
 Precipitated sulphur 1 drachm. 
 
 Cologne 6 drachms. 
 
 Glycerine 6 drachms. 
 
 Carmine 2 grains. 
 
 Rose-water, enougli to make, all told 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 PIMPLES ON THE FACE. 
 
 Phenolis (carbolic acid) 10 drops. 
 
 Salicylic acid 20 grains. 
 
 Gum camphor 10 grains. 
 
 Benzoated zinc ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply at bed time. 
 
 PROTECTION AGAINST INSECT BITES. 
 (Western Druggist.) 
 
 Acetic ether 5 parts. 
 
 Eucalyptol 10 parts. 
 
 Cologne 40 parts. 
 
 Tincture of pyrethrum 50 parts. 
 
 Mix. Dilute with from three to six parts of water before applying to 
 the skin. 
 
 REDNESS OF SKIN, SUNBURN, CHAFING. 
 
 Powdered carbonate of zinc 4 drachms. 
 
 Powdered carbonate of magnesia % drachm. 
 
 Lime water 4 ounces. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Distilled witch-hazel water 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Mop frequently over the surface. 
 
 RED NOSE AND CHEEKS. 
 
 Hydrastine hydrochlorate (colorless) 5 grains. 
 
 Oil of chamomile 5 drops. 
 
 Oil of eucalyptus 5 drops. 
 
 Benzoated zinc ointment 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Apply to the surface once or twice a day. 
 
 SORES OR ULCERS OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Powdered red cinchona bark 1 ounce. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Wash off the surface with hydrogen dioxide and then 
 dust on the powder once or twice a day.
 
 COSMETIC PREPARATIONS. 469 
 
 STINGS OF INSECTS. 
 
 Powdered ipecacuanha i ounce. 
 
 Alcohol y 2 ounce! 
 
 Sulphuric ether % ounce> 
 
 Mix. 
 
 STYE LOTION. 
 
 Camphor-water 1 ounce. 
 
 Muriate of morphine 2 grains 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SUNBURN. 
 
 Citric acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Crystallized sulphate of iron 18 grains. 
 
 Camphor 2 grains. 
 
 Elderflower-water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 SWEATING OF HANDS, FEET, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE BODY. 
 
 Salicylic acid 2 drachms. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth 1 ounce. 
 
 Powdered talcum 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dust well and frequently over the parts. 
 
 TETTER. 
 
 Carbonate of potash 1 part. 
 
 Olive oil 10 parts. 
 
 Oxide of zinc 15 parts. 
 
 Starch 15 parts. 
 
 Salol 5 parts. 
 
 Sulphur 6 parts. 
 
 Lanolin 100 parts. 
 
 Mix. The preceding is Dr. Saalfeld's prescription. 
 
 WARTS AND CORNS. 
 (British and Colonial Druggist.) 
 
 Strong acetic acid > 1 drachm. 
 
 Tincture of iodine 1 drachm. 
 
 Mucilage 2 drachms. 
 
 Mix. 
 
 WAX IN THE EAR. 
 
 Solution of boroglyceride (50 per cent.) 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce. 
 
 Cocaine hydrochlorate % grain. 
 
 Mix. Directions: Warm the mixture in a teaspoon over the flame 
 of a lamp, and pour a few drops in the ear several times a day.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abernethy, 198. 
 Acacius, 62. 
 Actium, 60. 
 Albinism, 330. 
 Anaemia, 280. 
 Anne, Queen, 226. 
 Antony, Mark, 60. 
 Arc, Joan of, 213. 
 Atmosphere, 238, 267. 
 weight of, 262. 
 
 Baker, Sir Samuel, 41. 
 Baldness, 386, 463. 
 
 acute, 392. 
 
 cause of, 386. 
 
 chronic, 392. 
 
 circumscribed, 399. 
 
 treatment of, 387, 393. 
 Banting, Mr., 54. 
 Bath, 91. 
 
 cold, 92. 
 
 douche, no. 
 
 effect, medically of, 108. 
 
 general, 95. 
 
 in deranged perspiratory func- 
 tion, 1 08. 
 
 in diseases of skin, 108. 
 
 in excessive perspiration, 108. 
 
 Russian, 103. 
 
 sea, 98. 
 
 shower, 96. 
 
 time of, 98. 
 
 warm, 92, 108. 
 Beaumont, Dr., 121. 
 Beauty, elements of, 40. 
 Biliousness, 280. 
 
 Bites and stings, 336, 468. 
 
 Blackheads, 298, 466. 
 
 Blackmore, 205. 
 
 Blisters, 286, 325. 
 
 Boils, 312, 463. 
 
 Bois-Gilbert, Sir Brian de, 150. 
 
 Bronte, Charlotte, 215. 
 
 Brown Dr. John, 203. 
 
 Browning, 147. 
 
 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 215. 
 
 Budd, Dr., 284. 
 
 Bunions, 465. 
 
 Burns and scalds, 306, 463. 
 
 Caesar, Augustus, 60. 
 
 Caesar, Caius Julius, 60. 
 
 Calcutta, 275. 
 
 Camphor ice, 420. 
 
 Caracalla, Antonius, 102. 
 
 Carbuncle, 314, 464. 
 
 Carlyle, 139, 205. 
 
 Carpenter, Dr., 22. 
 
 Castro, Juan de, 384. 
 
 Catarrh, chronic bronchial, 250. 
 
 Caucasian, 6. 
 
 Chapped hands, 464, 465. 
 
 Charcot, Professor, 289. 
 
 Chatterton, Thomas, 191. 
 
 Chicken-pox, 378. 
 
 Chilblains, 308. 
 
 Chlorosis, 280. 
 
 Chin, 47. 
 
 Churchill, John, 60. 
 
 Clarke, Sir Andrew, 284. 
 
 Clarke, Dr. Joseph, 276. 
 
 Cleopatra, 59. 
 
 471
 
 472 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Climate, 243. 
 
 effect on diseases, 249. 
 
 effect on temperature, 257. 
 
 effect of forests on, 265. 
 
 effect of soil on, 266. 
 
 of islands, 246. 
 
 of mainland, 248. 
 
 of seashore, 246. 
 Clothing, character of, 227. 
 
 purpose of, 221. 
 
 style of, 222. 
 
 substance of, 228. 
 Cold cream, 418. 
 Coleridge, 76, 82. 
 Cologne, 423, 436. 
 Complexion, 31, 279. 
 
 effect of climate on, 32, 245. 
 
 effect of blood on, 31. 
 
 effect of nerves on, 35. 
 Cooper, Sir Astley, 198. 
 Corns, 465, 469. 
 Cosmetics, 417. 
 
 cold cream, 418. 
 
 eye-lid paste, 447. 
 
 hair-lotion, 450. 
 
 infant-powder, 459. 
 
 mouth-wash, 454. 
 
 nail-powder, 459. 
 
 ointments, 418. 
 
 perfumes, 423. 
 
 skin-lotions, 451. 
 
 toilet-preparations, 440. 
 
 usefulness of, 417. 
 Coxwell, 262. 
 Curie, Madame, 216. 
 Currie, Dr. James, 19. 
 
 Dandruff, 295, 465. 
 
 Dante, 85. 
 
 Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, 23. 
 
 Dickens, Charles, 150, 171, 205, 
 
 274. 
 Digestion and indigestion, 44. 
 
 aids to, 117. 
 Diocletian, 102. 
 
 Diseases, disfigurement from, and 
 treatment of, 279. 
 
 albinism, 330. 
 
 barbers' itch, 322. 
 
 black-heads, 298. 
 
 boils, 312. 
 
 burns and scalds, 306. 
 
 cancer, 338. 
 
 carbuncle, 314. 
 
 chilblains, 308. 
 
 contagious, 278. 
 
 corns, 332. 
 
 dandruff, 295, 465. 
 
 diffuse inflammatory, 288. 
 
 diphtheria, 352. 
 
 dropsy, 289, 354. 
 
 eczema, 301. 
 
 erysipelas, 328. 
 
 fish-skin, 290. 
 
 freckles, 340. 
 
 gangrene, 291. 
 
 glossy skin, 287. 
 
 green sickness, 280. 
 
 hardening of skin, 290. 
 
 herpes, 326. 
 
 horns, 333. 
 
 itch, 319, 336. 
 
 ivy-poisoning, 318. 
 
 jaundice, 281, 318. 
 
 liver-spots, 292. 
 
 lousiness, 320. 
 
 mothers' marks, 331. 
 
 nervous affections of skin, 324. 
 
 nettle-rash, 315. 
 
 neuralgia of the skin, 324. 
 
 pallor, 280.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 473 
 
 Diseases (continued). 
 parasites, 319. 
 pemphigus, 287. 
 perspiration, 341. 
 pigmentation, 333. 
 prickly heat, 317. 
 psoriasis, 288. 
 purpura, 289. 
 redness of skin, 287, 306. 
 ringworms, 321. 
 scars, 335. 
 scrofula, 291. 
 seborrhoea, 296. 
 sycosis, 324. 
 tetter, 301. 
 tinea versicolor, 294. 
 ulcers, 310. 
 wens, 341. 
 
 wrinkles, premature, 345. 
 Drexel, Anthony J., 195. 
 
 Ears, 46. 
 Eating, 119. 
 Eczema, 301. 
 
 of infants, 305. 
 Eliot, George, 32, 73, 168, 241. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 214, 224. 
 Emulsion, 446. 
 Erysipelas, 328. 
 Essence, 426, 427, 428. 
 Evans, Marian, 216. 
 Expression, 48, 68. 
 Extracts, 423. 
 Eyelid-paste, 447. 
 
 Face-powder, 457. 
 Faraday, Michael, 199. 
 Fevers, eruptive, 346. 
 
 chicken-pox, 378. 
 
 German measles, 366. 
 
 measles, 346. 
 
 scarlet-fever, 350. 
 
 small-pox, 367. 
 Fish-skin, 290. 
 Ford, Horace A., 167. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 135, 161, 199. 
 Freckles, 340, 466. 
 Frederick the Great, 62, 199. 
 French Revolution, 226. 
 Frost-bite, 467. 
 
 Galen, 5. 
 
 Gangrene, 291. 
 
 George I, 226. 
 
 Gibbon, 11, 63, 101, 166, 191, 211, 
 
 382. 
 
 Gladstone, 70, 118. 
 Glaisher, James, 262. 
 Glossy skin, 287. 
 Goethe, 76, 191. 
 Gratiolet, 26. 
 Green sickness, 280. 
 Grignan, Madame de, 75. 
 Gross, Prof. Samuel D., 198. 
 Groups of blisters, 325. 
 
 Haemorrhoids, 467. 
 Hail, 260. 
 Hair, 6, 28, 380. 
 
 atrophy of, 408. 
 
 color of, 9. 
 
 effect of climate on, 7. 
 
 effect of race on, 8. 
 
 elasticity of, 9, 29. 
 
 grayness of, 451. 
 
 growth of, 78. 
 
 protection of, 29. 
 
 roots of, 6. 
 
 treatment, 391. 
 Hamilton, W. R., 191. 
 Hand, chapped, 464. 
 
 powder, 459.
 
 474 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hardening of skin, 290. 
 Hawthorne, 73. 
 Head, Sir Francis, 137. 
 Health, 243. 
 Heart, 182. 
 Herpes, 326. 
 Homer, 58, 126. 
 Homes, 333. 
 Houghton, Lord, 52. 
 Howe, Dr., 21. 
 Humboldt, 137. 
 
 Icelanders, 275. 
 Indian, 6. 
 Imagination, 202. 
 Indigestion, 114. 
 Infant-powder, 459. 
 Inflammation, diffuse, 288. 
 Itch, 319. 
 
 Itching of skin, 336. 
 Ivy-poisoning, 318. 
 
 James, I, 235. 
 Jaundice, 281. 
 Javelli, Leon, 179. 
 Jenner, 198. 
 Justinian, 62, 132. 
 
 Kane, Dr., 117. 
 Key, Professor, 159. 
 Kitto, Dr., 21. 
 Klaproth, 190. 
 Kneipp cure, in. 
 Kubisee, Monsieur, 71. 
 
 Lacroix, M., 222. 
 
 Lafayette, Madame de, 75. 
 
 Langes, Monsieur, 71. 
 
 Laplace, 214. 
 
 Lavater, 68, 78. 
 
 Leidy, Prof. Joseph, 197. 
 
 Lips, chapped, 463. 
 Liver-spots, 292, 466. 
 Livy, 381. 
 Lotions, 449. 
 Louis XV, 62, 71. 
 Lousiness, 320. 
 
 Macaulay, 52. 
 Maclaren, Dr., 160. 
 Macleod, 13. 
 Magitot, Dr., 41. 
 Marathon, 147. 
 Marrel, L. H., 217. 
 Martin, Dr., 160. 
 Massage, 185. 
 Mastication, 118. 
 Measles, 346. 
 
 German, 366. 
 
 Mitchell, Dr. S. Wier, 198. 
 Mosquito-powder, 467. 
 Mothers' marks, 331. 
 Mouth, 45. 
 Mouth-wash, 454. 
 Murchison, Dr., 285. 
 
 Nails, 9, 410. 
 
 biting of, n. 
 
 care of, n. 
 
 color of, 10. 
 
 diseases of, 410. 
 
 growth of, 10. 
 
 treatment of, 413. 
 Nail-powder, 459. 
 Napoleon, 61, 151. 
 Nephritis, 356. 
 Nerves, n. 
 
 Nervous affection of skin, 324. 
 Nettle-rash, 315. 
 Neuralgia of the skin, 324. 
 Nose, red, 299.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 475 
 
 Octavia, 60. 
 Ointments, 418. 
 Onychia, 411. 
 Orange-flower water, 433. 
 Oxygen, 267. 
 Ozone, 265. 
 
 Pain, 24. 
 
 Pancoast, Prof. Joseph, 198. 
 
 Pancoast, Prof. Wm. H., 37. 
 
 Pancreatic juice, 124. 
 
 Parasites, 319. 
 
 Pare, Ambrose, 385. 
 
 Parkman, Francis, 25. 
 
 Pascal, 192. 
 
 Pemphigus, 287. 
 
 Pepper, Prof. Wm., 198. 
 
 Perfumes, 423. 
 
 Perfumed powder, 456. 
 
 Pericles, 59. 
 
 Perspiration, 15. 
 
 colored, 344. 
 
 excessive, 341. 
 
 odorous, 343. 
 
 purpose of, 17. 
 
 suppressed, 344. 
 Petrarch, 85. 
 
 Physick, Dr. Philip Syng, 198. 
 Piedmont, 139. 
 Pigmentation, 333. 
 Pimples, 468. 
 Plato, 126. 
 Pleurisy, 334. 
 Pomatum, 418. 
 Pope, 191. 
 
 Potain, Professor, 284. 
 Prickly-heat, 317. 
 Psoriasis, 288. 
 Purpura, 289. 
 
 Rain, 259. 
 
 Recamier, Madame, 61. 
 
 Redness of skin, 287, 306. 
 
 Red nose, 299. 
 
 Red pimples, 289. 
 
 Revolution, French, 226. 
 
 Rheumatism, chronic, 252, 354. 
 
 Ring-worm, 321. 
 
 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 151. 
 
 Sachet, 429, 435. 
 
 Saliva, 118. 
 
 Sandow, 178. 
 
 Saunderson, Professor, 20. 
 
 Savarin, Brillat, 52. 
 
 Scarlet-fever, 350. 
 
 Schliemann, Dr., 58. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 76, 150, 206, 
 
 215. 
 
 Seborrhcea, 296. 
 Sebum, 18. 
 Severus, 166. 
 Sevigne, Madame de, 75. 
 Shakespeare, 60, 70, 100. 
 Shingles, 326. 
 Skin, absorbing power of, 19. 
 
 appendages of, 6. 
 
 affected by climate, 245. 
 
 blood-vessels of, 2, 14. 
 
 chapped, 465. 
 
 color of, 4. 
 
 connective tissue of, I. 
 
 diseases of, 286. 
 
 dry, 465. 
 
 electric condition of, 27. 
 
 glands of, i, 3, 15. 
 
 grea'sy, 467. 
 
 itching of, 26, 336, 467. 
 
 lotion, 451. 
 
 mobility of, 5. 
 
 neuralgia of, 324. 
 
 nervous affection of, 324. 
 
 odor of, 27.
 
 476 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Skin (continued). 
 
 redness of, 287, 306, 468. 
 
 scrofula of, 249, 291. 
 
 sensibility of, 19. 
 
 structure of, 5. 
 
 ulcers of, 468. 
 
 usefulness of, 13. 
 Small-pox, 367. 
 Snow, 261. 
 Soaps, 423, 431. 
 Somerville, Mrs. Mary, 214. 
 Spencer, 81. 
 
 Stael, Madame de, 61, 215. 
 Sting of insects, 469. 
 Stylites, St. Simeon, 26. 
 Sullivan, James E., 147. 
 Sunbeams, 469. 
 Sycosis, 324. 
 
 Symonds, J. Addington, 85. 
 Sysmonde, 75. 
 
 Talc-powder, 461. 
 
 Tan, 466. 
 
 Teeth, 45. 
 
 Temperature, effect of high, 15. 
 
 effect of low, 16. 
 Tennyson, 55, 73. 
 Tetter, 469. 
 Thackeray, 140, 205. 
 Theodora, 62. 
 
 Thompson, 284. 
 
 Toilet preparations, 440. 
 
 Tuke, Dr. D. Hack, 25. 
 
 Ulcers, 308. 
 
 Vaccination, 376. 
 Ventilation, 267. 
 
 aids to, 270. 
 
 purpose of, 272. 
 Villars, Monsieur Paul, 70. 
 Vinegar, toilet, 461. 
 Virgil, 380. 
 
 Walton, 163. 
 
 Warts, 332, 469. 
 
 Water, effect on climate, 264. 
 
 orange-flower, 432. 
 Watts, Theodore, 211. 
 Wens, 341. 
 Wilkinson, 381. 
 William III, 225. 
 Wilson, Sir Erasmus, 7. 
 Wind, 287. 
 Winship, Dr., 179. 
 Wordsworth, 55. 
 
 Young, Dr. Thomas, 191. 
 Yule, Sir Henry, 405. 
 
 Zenobia, 211.
 
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