Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/232

 of the brunette, or mixes in the crimson current to produce the mantling blush, the ruby lip, and the—

"Streaks of red that mingle there, Such as are on a Catherine pear, The side that's next the sun."

But it is not enough to adopt such a diet, or to commence a course of such medicines as shall introduce into the system these indispensable materials in the form best adapted to be readily taken up by the blood. This is, indeed, essential, but, beyond this, the surface of the body must be stimulated by regular and prolonged frictions.

We all know that if we rub a part it will soon become red. This is because the minute bloodvessels in the true skin are brought into increased activity, and carry a larger amount of the crimson fluid. Let them frequently be so excited, and this habit will become their nature, and a permanent florid hue will result. There is no need to explain with what advantage we can apply what we learn from this simple fact to the improvement of the looks, nor to dilate on the value of friction when it is so readily perceived.

Still another step must be taken, and this for most people the hardest of all. Professor MaxMüller, the philologist, has a favorite theory that the degeneration of languages is owing to the universal laziness of the human race. People are too indolent to pronounce the whole of a word or phrase, so they clip it to