Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/180

 beauty, and consisted of various absurd practices which had really no effect upon human adornment. (There are, however, certain hygienic rules, based upon science, which, if obeyed, will preserve beauty, and, if not bestow it, at least take away all the repulsiveness of ugliness.

"A pretty face will attract where every other element of physical beauty is wanting. This appeals at once to the heart, while the other parts of the human frame make an impression only upon the senses. 'We kiss,' says a gallant Frenchman,' the hand with respect, but we kiss the face with affection.' One of the most essential conditions of its beauty is a good complexion. The emotions of the mind have a remarkable effect upon it. It is, as we all know, red, blue, pale, and white, according to the mental impression of the moment. If this impression is often repeated the complexion becomes permanently changed. Hence, to preserve it in its natural beauty the mind must he kept free from frequent and excessive emotion. Extremes of temperature are also unfavorable to the complexion. Persons naturally of a high color bear cold best, and the pale and - dark, heat best.

" The food and drink have a very decided influence. Excess of either will give, particularly to the high-colored, a coarse ruddiness of complexion, which reveals at once the gross cause. A too meagre nourishment is no less unfavorable, and shows its impoverishment in a pinched face and colorless complexion." [A list of foods, etc., for all persons cannot be made, but every one should avoid everything save what experience has proved to be good, digestible, and productive of most health and pleasure in its consumption. Quite recently I have made the discovery that in nearly all cases great relief and strength will be derived from the habit of occasionally wearing a magnetic plate made of magnesium-alloy perhaps is best (made and sold in Boston by a firm on Washington street), directly over the pit of the stomach, or else worn between the shoulder-blades. I certainly advise all weak and nervous persons to procure such, for they will assuredly find it a very profitable investment.] " Hear what Brillat Savarin says: 'Gourmandise is favorable to beauty. A train of exact and rigid observations has demonstrated that a succulent, delicate, and careful regimen repels to a distance, and, for a length of time, the external appearance of old age. It gives more brilliancy to the eyes, more