and wrinkles are multiplied; the skin has lost its polish; colour and freshness have fled for ever.

These injuries of time, it has been observed, commonly begin by the abdomen, which loses its polish and its firmness; the hemispheres of the bosom no longer sustain themselves; the clavicles project; the neck becomes meagre; all the reliefs are effaced; all the forms are altered from roundness and softness to angularity and hardness.See Plate IV.*

That which, amidst these ruins, still survives for a long time, is the entireness of the hair, the placidity or the fineness of the look, the air of sentiment, the amiable expression of the countenance, and, in women of elegant mind and great accomplishments, caressing manners and charming graces, which almost make us forget youth and beauty.

Finally, and especially in muscular or nervous women, the temperament changes, and the constitution of woman approaches to that of man ; the organs become rigid; and, in some unhappy cases, a beard protrudes.

Old age and decrepitude finally succeed.

There is a trifling lithographic error here, as to the forefinger of the right hand, and another as to the anterior protuberance of the head of the tibia.

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CHAPTER IX.

OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN.

THE Crossing of races is often spoken of as a means of perfecting the form of man, and of developing beauty; and we are told that it is in this manner that the Persians have become a beautiful people, and that many tribes of Tartar origin have been improved, especially the Turks, who now present to us scarcely any thing of the Mongol.

In these general and vague statements, however, the mere crossing of different races is always deemed sufficient; whereas every improvement depends on the circumstance that the organization of the races subjected to this operation are duly suited to each other. It is in that way only, that we can explain the following facts stated by Moreau.

In one of the great towns of the north of France, the women, half a century ago, were rather ugly than pretty; but a detachment of the guards being quartered there, and remaining during several years, the population changed in ap

pearance, and, favoured by this circumstance, the town is now indebted to strangers for the beauty of the most interesting portion of its inhabitants.

The monks of Citeaux exercised an influence no less remarkable upon the beauty of the inhabitants of the country around their monastery; and it may be stated, as the result of actual observation, that the young female peasants of their neighbourhood were much more beautiful than those of other cantons. And, adds this writer, "there can be no doubt that the same effect occurred in the different places whither religious houses attracted foreign inmates, whom love and pleasure speedily united with the indigenous inhabitants!"

The other circumstances which contribute to female beauty, are a mild climate, a fertile soil, a generous but temperate diet, a regular mode of life, favourable education, the guidance and suppression of passions, easy manners, good moral, social and political institutions, and occupations which do not injure the beautiful proportions of the body.

Beauty accordingly is more especially to be found in certain countries. Thus, as has often been observed, the sanguine temperament is that of the nations of the north; the phlegmatic is that