Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/248

 *dotte was no longer sergeant-major, but was Charles XIV., King of Sweden, the republican emblems on his hand were beyond all expression annoying, and ''mal apropos''. If a man ever wished to rid himself of such a brand, Bernadotte did. As he was rich, powerful, and a king, he succeeded. The same method, we are glad to add, can be applied to one who is neither of these. We shall relate it.

An ingenious surgeon hit upon the following device. He took one of those metallic blanches we have spoken of in the section on whitening the skin, moistened it to a half liquid, and tinged it with fine rouge to the exact color of the skin. This he spread in a thin film, very exactly and evenly over the tattoo marks, and then taking an instrument formed of several fine needles, pricked the skin, so as to allow the paste to enter, and form a layer above the carbon. This answered the purpose completely, and the last emblem of the republic disappeared from Sweden. As we have said, this process can be repeated with uniform success, and it is the only process which holds out any prospect of concealing such marks. It can also be extended to certain varieties of birth-marks, discolored scars, and stains from explosions of gunpowder. Occasionally it may wear, and require to be repeated after some years, but this is no serious matter.