neck thick behind, the shoulders broad, the chest expanded, the haunches firm, the intervals of the muscles deeply marked, the tendons apparent through the skin, and all the joints not covered by muscles, seemingly small.

In this temperament, muscular strength prevails over the functions of the other organs, and especially usurps the energies necessary to the production of thought; the perceptions are deficient in quickness, delicacy, accuracy and strength; and all the mental functions are with difficulty excited; but the body is capable of great exertion, and it surmounts great physical resistance when roused.

The Farnese Hercules, says a French physiologist, exhibits a model of the physical attributes of this constitution; and that which fabulous antiquity relates of the exploits of this demigod, gives us the idea of the moral dispositions that accompany it. In the history of his twelve labours, without reflection and as by instinct, we see him courageous, because he is strong, seeking obstacles to conquer them, certain of overwhelming whatever resists him, but joining to such strength so little subtlety, that he is cheated by all the kings he serves, and by all the women he loves.

CHAPTER XIII.

SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY.-BEAUTY OF THE
NUTRITIVE SYSTEM.

WITH the vital system of woman, the capacity of the pelvis and the consequent breadth of the haunches, are still more connected than with the locomotive system; for, with these, all those functions which are most essentially feminineimpregnation, gestation and parturition, are intimately connected.

Camper, in a memoir on physical beauty, read to the Academy of Design, at Amsterdam*, showed, that in tracing the forms of the male and female within two elliptical areas of equal size, the female pelvis extended beyond the ellipsis, while the shoulders were within; and the male shoulders reached beyond their ellipsis, while the pelvis was within. The pelvis of the African woman is said by some to be greater than that of the European.

The abdominal and lumbar portion of the trunk,

Memoire sur le Beau Physique.

In persons

as already said, is longer in woman. above the common stature, there is almost half a face more in the part of the body which is between the mammæ and the bifurcation of the trunk.

The abdomen, placed below the chest, has more projection and roundness in woman than in man : but it has little fulness in a figure capable of serving as a model; and the slightest alteration in its outlines or its polish is injurious.

The waist, which is most distinctly marked in the back and loins, owes all its advantages to its elegance, softness and flexibility.

The neck should, by the gentlest curvature, form an almost insensible transition between the body and the head. It should also present fulness sufficient to conceal the projection of the flute part of the throat in front, and of the two large muscles which descend from behind the ears toward the pit above the breast bone.*

Over all these parts, the predominance of the cellular tissue, and the soft and moderate plump

A curious but true remark is made by Moreau, namely, that if these conditions are met with without being united to a certain expression, and to the most complete combination of the elements of beauty of countenance, they frequently give an air of insensibility and of mental weakness, which greatly enfeebles the impression that a first view had caused.

ness which is connected with it, is a remarkable characteristic of the vital system in woman. While this facilitates the adaptation of the locomotive system to every change, it at the same time obliterates the projection of the muscles, and invests the whole figure with rounded and beautiful forms.

It has been well observed that the principal effect of such forms upon the observer must be referred to the faculties which they reveal; for, as remarked by Roussel, if we examine the greater part of the attributes which constitute beauty, if reason analyse that which instinct judges at a glance, we shall find that these attributes have a reference to real advantages for the species. A light shape, supple movements, whence spring brilliance and grace, are qualities which please, because they announce the good condition of the individual who possesses them, and the greater degree of aptitude for the functions which that individual ought to fulfil.

Beauty, then, of the nutritive system in woman depends especially upon these fundamental facts, and those tendencies of structure which thus distinguish her from man.

In the woman possessing THIS SPECIES of beauty, therefore, the face is generally rounded, to give greater room to the cavities connected with nutri

tion; the eyes are generally of the softest azure, which is similarly associated; the neck is often rather short, in order intimately to connect the head with the nutritive organs in the trunk; the shoulders are softly rounded, and owe any breadth they may possess rather to the expanded chest, containing these organs, than to any bony or muscular size of the shoulders themselves; the bosom, a vital organ, in its luxuriance seems laterally to protrude on the space occupied by the arms; the waist, though sufficiently marked, is, as it were, encroached on by that plumpness of all the contiguous parts which the powerful nutritive system affords;- the haunches are greatly expanded for the vital purposes of gestation and parturition; the thighs are large in proportion; -but the locomotive organs, the limbs and arms, tapering and becoming delicate, terminate in feet and hands which, compared with the ample trunk, are peculiarly small; - the complexion, dependent upon nutrition, has the rose and lily so exquisitely blended, that we are surprised it should defy the usual operation of the elements; -and there is a luxuriant profusion of soft and fine flaxen or auburn hair. -The whole figure is soft and voluptuous in the extreme.

To this class belong all the more feminine, soft and passively voluptuous women.

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