Beauty Part 13

It is a curious fact, and strongly confirmative of the preceding arrangements, that one of these parts, the extremities, consists almost entirely of locomotive organs, namely, of bones, ligaments, and muscles; that another, the trunk, consists of all the greater nutritive organs, namely, absorbents, bloodvessels, and glands; and that the third, the head, contains all the thinking organs, namely, the organs of sense, cerebrum, and cerebel.[25]

It is a fact not less curious, nor less confirmative of the preceding arrangements, that, of these parts, those which consist chiefly of locomotive or mechanical organs--organs which, as to mere structure, and considered apart from the influence of the nervous system over them, are common to us with the lowest cla.s.s of beings, namely, minerals[26]--are placed in the lowest situation, namely, the extremities; that which consists chiefly of nutritive or vital organs--organs common to us with a higher cla.s.s of beings, namely, vegetables[27]--is placed in a higher situation, namely, the trunk; and that which consists chiefly of thinking or mental organs--organs peculiar to the highest cla.s.s of beings, namely, animals[28]--is placed in the highest situation, namely, the head.

It is not less remarkable, that this a.n.a.logy is supported even in its minutest details; for, to choose the nutritive organs contained in the trunk as an ill.u.s.tration, it is a fact, that those of absorption and secretion, which are most common to us with plants, a lower cla.s.s of beings, have a lower situation--in the cavity of the abdomen; while those of circulation, which are very imperfect in plants,[29] and more peculiar to animals, a higher cla.s.s of beings, hold a higher situation--in the cavity of the thorax.

It is, moreover, worthy of remark, and still ill.u.s.trative of the preceding arrangements, that, in each of these three situations, the bones differ both in, position and in form. In the extremities, they are situated internally to the soft parts, and are generally of cylindrical form; in the trunk, they begin to a.s.sume a more external situation and a flatter form, because they protect nutritive and more important parts, which they do not, however, altogether cover; and, in the head, they obtain the most external situation and the flattest form, especially in its highest part, because they protect thinking and most important organs, which, in some parts, they completely invest.

The loss of such general views is the consequence of arbitrary methods.[30]

We may now apply these anatomical and physiological views to the art of distinguis.h.i.+ng and judging of beauty in woman.

It is evidently the locomotive or mechanical system which is highly developed in the beauty whose figure is precise, striking, and brilliant.

It is evidently the nutritive or vital system which is highly developed in the beauty whose figure is soft and voluptuous.

It is not less evidently the thinking or mental system which is highly developed in the beauty whose figure is characterized by intellectuality and grace.

Thus can anatomical principles alone at once ill.u.s.trate and establish the accuracy of the three species of beauty which I have a.n.a.lytically described.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE AGES OF WOMAN IN RELATION TO BEAUTY.

The variations of the organization of woman do not distinctly mark the seasons of life. Many connected phenomena glide on imperceptibly; and we can distinguish the strong characters of different and distinct ages, only at periods remote from each other. Although, therefore, woman is perpetually changing, it requires some care to discriminate the princ.i.p.al epochs of her life.

The first age of woman extends from birth to the period of p.u.b.erty.

In beginning the career of life, woman is not yet truly woman; the characters of her s.e.x are not yet decided; she is an equivocal being, who does not differ from the male of the same age even by the delicacy of the organs; and we observe between them a perfect ident.i.ty of wants, functions, and movements. Their existence is, then, purely individual; we perceive none of the relations which afterward establish between them a mutual dependance; each lives only for self.

This conformity and independence of the s.e.xes are the more remarkable, the earlier the age and the less advanced the development.

Confining our view to woman alone, it is not only in dimensions that, at this age, her person differs from that in which the growth is terminated: it presents another model. The various parts have not, in relation to each other, the same proportions.

The head is much more voluminous; and this is not a result of the extent of the face, for that is small and contracted, because the apparatus of smell and of mastication are not yet developed. Nor is the head only more voluminous; it is also more active, and forms a centre toward which is directed all the effort of life.

The spine of the back has not either the minuter prominences or the general inflexions which favor the action of the extensor muscles, a circ.u.mstance which is opposed to standing perpendicularly during the first months. The infant consequently can only crawl like a quadruped.

Little distinction can then be drawn, and that with difficulty, from the comparative width of the haunches, and magnitude of the pelvis. That part is scarcely more developed in the female than in the male; its general form is the same; and its different diameters have similar relations to each other.

The length of the trunk is great in proportion to the limbs, which are slightly and imperfectly developed.

Owing to the great length of the chest, and the imperfection of the inferior members, the middle of the body then corresponds to the region of the umbilicus. An infant having other proportions, would appear to be deprived of the characters of its age.

In the locomotive system, the muscles have not yet acted with sufficient power and frequency to modify the direction of the bones, and to bestow a peculiar character upon their combination in the skeleton. The fleshy and other soft parts do not yet appear to differ from those of the male, either as to form or as to relative volume.

The vital functions of digestion, of circulation and respiration, of nutrition, secretion, and excretion, are performed in the same manner. The want of nourishment is unceasingly renewed, and the movements of the pulse, and of inspiration and expiration, are rapidly performed, owing to the extreme irritability of all the organs.

The mental functions present the same resemblance; the ideas, the appet.i.tes, the pa.s.sions, have the greatest a.n.a.logy; and similar moral dispositions prevail. Little girls, it has been observed, have in some measure the petulance of little boys, and these have in some measure the mobility and the inconstancy of little girls.

Owing to the pelvis not being yet developed, little girls walk nearly like children of the other s.e.x.

These points of resemblance do not continue during a long period: the female begins to acquire a distinct physiognomy, and traits which are peculiar to her, long before we can discern any of the symptoms of p.u.b.erty; and although the especial marks which distinguish her s.e.x do not yet show themselves, the general forms which characterize it may be perceived. These differences, however, are only slight modifications, more easily felt than determined.

The cartilaginous extremities of the bones appear to enlarge; and the mucous substance, which ultimately gives the soft reliefs which distinguish woman, is not yet secreted. She is now perhaps more easily distinguished by the nature of her inclinations and the general character of her mind: while man now seeks to make use of his strength, woman endeavors to acquire agreeable arts. The movements, the gait, of the little girl begin to change.

These shades are so much the more sensible as the development is more advanced. Still, woman, in advancing toward p.u.b.erty, appears to remove less than man from her primitive const.i.tution; she always preserves something of the character proper to children; and the texture of her organs never loses all its original softness.

At the near approach to p.u.b.erty, woman becomes daily more perfect.

We observe a predominance of the action of the lungs and the arteries; the pelvis enlarges; the haunches are rounded; and the figure acquires elegance.

There is in particular a remarkable increase of the capacity of the pelvis, of which the circ.u.mference at last presents the circular form; it being no longer, as in the little girl and in man, the anteroposterior diameter which is the greatest, but the transverse one. It has been observed that the same occurs in the females of the greater quadrupeds.

The pelvis, however, does not acquire, till the moment of perfect p.u.b.erty, its proper form and dimensions.

The changes which the same cause produces at the surface, are a general development of the cellular tissue, the delicacy of all the outlines, the fineness and the animation of the skin, and the new state of the bosom.

The fire of the eyes, and the altogether new expression of the physiognomy, show that there now also exists the sensation of a new want, which various circ.u.mstances may for a time enfeeble or silence, but can never entirely stifle; and with it come those tastes, that direction of the mind, and those habits, which are the effect of an internal power now called into activity.

The gait and bearing of woman are now no longer the same; and the voice changes as well as the physiognomy.

In all that has yet occurred, it will be observed that nutrition and growth take place with great rapidity in woman. Her internal structure, her external form, her faculties, are all developed promptly. It would appear that the parts which compose her body, being less, less compact, and less strong, than those of man, require less time to attain their complete development.

Woman consequently arrives earlier at the age of p.u.b.erty, and her body is commonly, at twenty years of age, as completely formed as that of a man at thirty. Thus beauty and grace, as has been observed, seem to demand of nature less labor and time than the attributes of force and grandeur.

In many women, however, nutrition languishes even until the s.e.xual organs enter into action, and determine a revolution under the influence of which growth is accomplished.

Still it is certain that, for several years, the locomotive system predominates in young women, even in figures promising the ultimate development of the vital system in the highest degree.

The second age of woman extends from p.u.b.erty to the cessation of the menses, or, we may say, from the period of full growth, the general time of bearing children, to the time of ceasing to bear--generally perhaps from twenty to forty.

It is at the beginning of this period that woman has acquired all her attributes, her most seducing graces. She is not now distinguished merely by the organs which are the direct instruments of reproduction: many other differences of structure, having a relation to her part in life, present themselves to our view.

At this maturer age, the whole figure is, in the female, smaller and slenderer than in the male. The ancients accordingly gave seven heads and a half to the Venus, and eight heads and some modules to the Apollo.

The relations between the dimensions of the different parts differ also in the two s.e.xes.

In woman, the head, shoulders, and chest, are small and compact, while the haunches, the hips, the thighs, and the parts connected with the abdomen, are ample and large. Hence, her body tapers upward, as her limbs taper downward. And this is the most remarkable circ.u.mstance in her general form.

Owing to smaller stature, and to greater size of the abdominal region, the middle point, which is at the pubis in the male, is situated higher in the female. This is the next remarkable circ.u.mstance in a general view.

The inferior members still continue shorter.

In general, woman is not only less in stature, and different in her general proportions, but her haunches are more apart, her hips more elevated, her abdomen larger, her members more rounded, her soft parts less compact, her forms more softened, her traits finer.

During youth, especially, and among civilized nations, woman is farther distinguished by the softness, the smoothness, the delicacy, and the polish, of all the forms, by the gradual and easy transitions between all the parts, by the number and the harmony of the undulating lines which these present in every view, by the beautiful outline of the reliefs, and by the fineness and the animation of the skin.