Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classificatin of Beauty in Woman

Even this, however, is less conclusive than the pathological or physiological facts stated by Cheselden, as to the boy restored by him to sight, namely, that the first view of a black object gave him great pain, and that that of a negro-woman struck him with horror.

Independently of this, white, as every one is aware, is the color which reflects the greatest number of luminous rays; and, for that reason, it bestows the brilliance and splendor upon beautiful forms with which all are charmed.

Winckelmann, indeed, observes that the head of Scipio the elder, in the Palazzo Rospigliosi, executed in basalt of a deep green, is very beautiful. But, in that case, it is the form, not the color, of the head, that is beautiful. While greenness of complexion would not be beautiful in a man, it would certainly be hideously ugly in a woman.

Moreover, while, in a dead black or any dark color of face, it cannot be pretended that, considering its color only, we should have more than blackness or darkness for admiration, it is evident that, in a fair complexion, we have, in addition to its general brilliance or splendor, the infinite variety of its teints, their exquisite blendings, and the beautiful expression of every transient emotion.

I have now only to expose the sophistry which Payne Knight has employed upon this subject.

“I am aware,” he says, “indeed, that it would be no easy task to persuade a lover that the forms upon which he dotes with such rapture, are not really beautiful, independent of the medium of affection, passion, and appetite, through which he views them. But before he pronounces either the infidel or the skeptic guilty of blasphemy against nature, let him take a mould from the lovely features or lovely bosom of this masterpiece of creation, and cast a plum-pudding in it (an object by no means disgusting to most men’s appetite), and I think he will no longer be in raptures with the form, whatever he may be with the substance.”

Now, it happens that a grosser incongruity can scarcely be supposed than that which exists between lovely features or a lovely bosom and a plum-pudding, or between the sentiment of love and the propensity to gluttony; and therefore to place the substance of the pudding, in which internal composition is alone of importance, and shape of none, under the form of features or a bosom, in which internal structure is unknown or unthought of, and shape or other external properties are alone considered, is a gross and offensive substitution, intended, not to enlighten judgment respecting form, but to pervert it, and to degrade the higher object by comparison with the lower one. The shape, moreover, is a true sign in the one case, and a false one in the other.—Of nearly similar character is the following:—

“If a man, perfectly possessed both of feeling and sight—conversant with, and sensible to the charms of women—were even to be in contact with what he conceived to be the most beautiful and lovely of the sex, and at the moment when he was going to embrace her, he was to discover that the parts which he touched only were feminine or human; and that, in the rest of her form, she was an animal of a different species, or a person of his own sex, the total and instantaneous change of his sentiments from one extreme to another, would abundantly convince him that his sexual desires depended as little upon that abstract sense of touch, as upon that of sight.”

That, in detecting an imposture of this kind, admiration would give place to disgust, only proves that the external qualities which were admired were the natural and appropriate signs of the internal qualities expected to be found under them, and that they now cease to interest only because they have become, not naturally less the signs of these qualities, but because they have by a mere trick been rendered insignificant, because truth and nature have been violated, and because the mind feels only disgust at the imposture. I cannot help saying that if Knight was in earnest when he framed such arguments, his mind was sometimes dull as well as perverse.

“The redness of any morbid inflammation,” he says, “may display a gradation of teint, which, in a pink or a rose, we should think as beautiful as ‘the purple light of love and bloom of young desire;’ and the cadaverous paleness of death or disease, a degree of whiteness, which, in a piece of marble or alabaster, we should deem to be as pure, as that of the most delicate skin of the fairest damsel of the frigid zone: consequently, the mere visible beauty is in both the same; and the difference consists entirely in mental sympathies, excited by certain internal stimuli, and guided by habit.”

There is here the same confusion of heterogeneous and inconsistent objects, as in the preceding cases. To judge of beauty in simple objects, each quality may be separately considered; and in this view, if the inflammation presented the same teint as the pink or the rose, then, as a mere teint, abstracted from every other quality of the respective objects, it would be precisely as beautiful in the one as in the other; but as the color of a rose on the human body would indicate that flow of blood to the skin which can result only from excessive action, it ceases to be considered intrinsically, and is regarded only as a sign of disease. The same observations are applicable to the other case here adduced.

“The African black,” he says, “when he first beholds an European complexion, thinks both its red and white morbid and unnatural, and of course disgusting. His sunburnt beauties express their modesty and sensibility by variations in the sable teints of their countenances, which are equally attractive to him, as the most delicate blush of red to us.”

In treating of the Elements of Beauty, I have endeavored to show, that the more those simpler elements of beauty, which characterize inanimate bodies, are retained in more compound ones, the more beautiful these become; but that the latter retain these elements in very different degrees, dependant upon internal or external circumstances, and that such elementary beauty is often sacrificed to the higher ones of life or mind. Now, in the case of the African, he is born whitish, like the European, but he speedily loses such beauty for that of adaptation, by his color, to the hot climate in which he exists. The latter beauty is the higher and more important one, and forms for the African a profitable exchange; but the European is still more fortunate, because, in the region he inhabits, the simple and elementary beauty is compatible with that of adaptation to climate. The climate of Africa, the cerebral structure of its inhabitants, and the degree of their civilization, are as unfavorable to the existence of beauty as to the power of judging respecting it. What he adds as to variation in sable countenances is a mere exaggeration.

“Were it possible for a person to judge of the beauty of color in his own species, upon the same principles and with the same impartiality as he judges of it in other objects, both animal, vegetable, and mineral, there can be no doubt that mixed teints would be preferred; and a pimpled face have the same superiority over a smooth one, as a zebra has over an ass, a variegated tulip over a plain one, or a column of jasper or porphyry over one of a common red or white marble.”

Here the same mistake is committed. Elementary beauty is preferred to that of adaptation to climate, fitness for physiognomical expression, &c. Knight’s other arguments all involve similar errors, and admit of similar answers.

CHAPTER XI.

THE THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY GENERALLY VIEWED

These have been already briefly mentioned. They are repeated and illustrated here.

The view which is given of them will throw light on the celebrated temperaments of the ancients. It will appear that all the disputes which have occurred respecting these, have arisen from their being founded, not on precise data, but on empirical observation, at a time when the great truths of anatomy and physiology were unknown; that, to the rectification of the doctrine of temperaments, the arrangement of these sciences, laid down in a preceding chapter, is indispensable; that some of these temperaments are comparatively simple, and consist in an excessive or a defective action of locomotive, nutritive, or thinking organs; that others, which have been confounded with these, are, on the contrary, compound; and that, from this want of classification, their nature has been imperfectly understood.

To make this clear, it is necessary to lay before the reader a succinct view of the doctrine of temperaments.

The ancients classed individuals in one or other of four temperaments, founded on the hypothesis of four humors, of which the blood was supposed to be composed—the red part, phlegm, yellow and black bile. These were regarded as the elements of the body, and their respective predominance passed for the cause of the differences which it presented. Hence were derived the names of the sanguine, the phlegmatic, the choleric, and the melancholic temperament.

Although the hypothesis on which this doctrine was founded is universally discarded, the phenomena which observation had taught the ancients, and which they had hypothetically connected with these elements, were so true, that that classification has been more or less employed in all the hypotheses which have since been invented to explain their cause; and their nomenclature has continued in use to the present day.

A temperament may be defined a peculiar state of the system, depending on the relative proportion of its different masses, and the relative energy of its different functions, by which it acquires a tendency to certain actions.

The predominance of any particular organ or system of organs, its excess of force, extends its sphere of activity to all the other functions, and modifies them in a peculiar manner. Thus, conforming in the illustration to the preceding arrangement, in one person, the muscles are more frequently employed than the brain; in another, the stomach or the organs of reproduction are more employed than the muscles; and in a third, the brain and nerves are more employed than either. This predominance or excess establishes the temperament.

The relative feebleness of any organ or system of organs, similarly forms modifications not less important. Thus in one person, the organs of the abdomen are less employed; in another, those of the chest; in a third, the brain.

Disease, it is observed, “commonly enters into the organization by these feeble points: death even attacks them first; extends afterward from one to another; and makes progress more or less rapid, according to the importance of the organ primitively affected.”

Temperaments, however, vary infinitely. It may be said that every individual has a peculiar one, to which he owes his mode of existence and his degree of health, ability, and happiness.

The temperament, moreover, of each individual is not always characterized by well-marked symptoms; and even where it has been strongly marked by nature, education, age, the influence of climate, the exercise of professions and trades, and various habits, produce in it infinite changes.

Temperaments also combine together, so that all men are, in some degree, at once sanguine and bilious, or otherwise compound. Thus all intermediate shades of temperament are produced; and it is often difficult, or, under particular circumstances, impossible, to determine under which temperament individuals may be classed.

The simple temperaments are therefore abstractions, which it is difficult to realize; and the influence of any temperament is sometimes undiscoverable except in some extraordinary circumstances of disorder or disease, during which it may be observed.

Cullen admits the four temperaments of Hippocrates, and remarks concerning them, that it is probable they were first founded upon observation, and afterward adapted to the theory of the ancients, since we find they “have a real existence.”

Dr. Prichard remarks, that “this division of temperaments is by no means a fanciful distinction.”

To the four temperaments of Hippocrates, Gregory adds a fifth, the nervous temperament.

Thus are formed five temperaments generally admitted, namely, 1st, the phlegmatic or relaxed; 2d, the sanguine arterial; 3d, the sanguine venous or bilious; 4th, the nervous; and, 5th, the muscular or athletic.

Some writers join to these the partial temperaments which determine the ascendency of the functions exercised by particular organs; whence principally come the temperaments which they call the cerebral, epigastric, abdominal, hepatic, genital, &c.

As already said, it will in the sequel appear that some of these temperaments are comparatively simple, that others are compound, and that from this want of classification, their nature has been imperfectly understood.32

CHAPTER XII.

FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY—BEAUTY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM

The average stature of woman, as already said, is two or three inches less than that of man.

The bones of woman remain always smaller than those of man; the cylindrical ones being more slender, and the flat ones thinner, while the former are also rounder. The muscles render the surfaces of the bones less uneven; the projections of the latter are less; and all their cavities and impressions have less depth. The bones of woman have likewise less hardness than those of man.

Such being the solid and fundamental parts of this system in woman, the most remarkable circumstances in their combination should next be noticed.

In woman, the magnitude of the pelvis or lower part of the trunk, has the greatest influence on the apparent proportion of parts, and on the general figure.

The most remarkable differences between the two sexes, in relation to this system, are consequently those presented by the inferior and superior part of the trunk in each. The breast and the haunches are in an inverse proportion in the two sexes. Man has the breast larger and wider than that of woman: woman has the haunches less circumscribed than those of man.

The upper part of the body is also less prominent, and the lower part more prominent, in woman than in man; and therefore, when they stand upright, or lie on the back, the breast is most prominent in the male, and the pubes in the female. The indication this affords of the fitness of woman for impregnation, gestation, and parturition, is obvious.

From the same cause, the back of woman is more hollow.

Still farther to increase the capacity of the lower part of the body, woman has the loins more extended than man. This portion of her body is in every way enlarged at the expense of neighboring parts. Hence, the chest is shorter above; and the thighs and legs are shorter below.

The thigh-bones of woman are also more separated superiorly; the knees are more approximated; the feet are smaller; and the base of support is less extended.

The reader desirous of thoroughly understanding these matters, should compare the beautiful plates of the male and female skeletons by Albinus and Sœmmerring.

Beauty of the locomotive 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 somewhat bony and oblong;—the neck, less connected with the nutritive system, is rather long and tapering;—the shoulders, without being angular, are sufficiently broad and definite for muscular attachments;—the bosom, a vital organ, is of but moderate dimensions;—the waist, enclosing smaller nutritive organs, is remarkable for fine proportion, and resembles, in some respects, an inverted cone;—the haunches, for the same reason, are but moderately expanded;—the thighs are proportional;—the arms, as well as the limbs, being formed chiefly of locomotive organs, are rather long and moderately tapering;—the hands and feet are moderately small;—the complexion, owing to the inferiority of the nutritive system, is often rather dark;—and the hair is frequently dark and strong.—The whole figure is precise, striking, and often brilliant.—From its proportions, it sometimes seems almost aerial; and we would imagine, that, if our hands were placed under the lateral parts of the tapering waist of a woman thus characterized, the slightest pressure would suffice to throw her into the air.

To this class belong generally the more firm, vigorous, and even actively-impassioned women: though it may doubtless boast many of greatly modified character.

First Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty

It may here be observed, that the varieties or modifications of each species of beauty naturally correspond with the greater or less development of some one of the various organs on which the species is founded. Thus, the modifications of beauty of the locomotive system correspond with the greater or less development of the bones, the ligaments, or the muscles; those of the nutritive system correspond with the greater or less development of the absorbents, the bloodvessels, or the glands; and those of the thinking system correspond with the greater or less development of the organs of sense, the brain, or the cerebel. A little reflection will show, that some of these modifications will be more, and others less beautiful.

To understand the present variety, the bony structure on which it especially depends, must now be more minutely described.

Commencing with the trunk of the body—the chest in woman is shorter but more expanded; the breast-bone is shorter but wider; the two upper ribs are flatter; the collar-bones are more straight or less curved, and do not present that prominent relief which appears on the chest of man; the shoulders are carried farther back, and project less from the trunk.

The haunches, as already stated, are proportionally wider in woman than in man, and the interior cavity of the pelvis, which is between them, being adapted to gestation, is more capacious. This greater capacity of the pelvis arises from the lateral parts having in woman more convexity outward; from the bones called ossa pubis, which form the anterior part, touching at a smaller number of points, and running obliquely or forming a greater angle, to enlarge the space which is between them and the inferior extremity of the posterior part of the pelvis; from the arch of the pubis being larger; from the greater concavity and breadth of the os sacrum or posterior bone of the pelvis, its posterior part forming a greater prominence outward; and from the whole pelvis being thus wider and less deep, its circumference approaching more to the circular form. The cavities, it may be added, in which the heads of the thigh-bones are received, are of course farther apart: they are also oblique and less deep.

The arms of woman are shorter than in man.—As these members are well marked in beauty of the locomotive system, they may the more fully be considered here.—The arms, and especially their extremities, are susceptible of a degree of beauty of which we see few examples. Their bases, the bones, ligaments, and muscles, belong to the locomotive system; and their fundamental beauty consequently depends upon its proportions; but to the nutritive system are owing the circumstances that, in woman, the arm is fatter and more rounded, has softer forms and more flowing and purer outlines. The hand in woman is smaller, more plump, more soft, and more white. It is peculiarly beautiful when full; when it is gently dimpled over the first joints; when the fingers are long, round, tapering toward the ends; when the other joints are marked by slight reliefs and shadows; and when the fingers are delicate and flexible. Beauty of the hand becomes the more precious, because it is the principal organ of a sense which may be considered as the most valuable of all.

In regard to the lower extremities, it has been observed, that the lateral convexity of the pelvis causes the bones of the thighs attached to them to be farther separated from each other; and this separation of the bones of the thighs causes an increase of the size of the haunches. It is over the posterior part of the space thus produced, that we observe the reliefs which the inferior members present superiorly, and which unite them with the trunk, by forms so beautifully rounded. The thighs are also proportionally larger, on account of this separation: they are more rounded, as well as much more voluminous: they are also more curved before than in man. At their inferior part, they approximate; and the knees project a little inward. It has been truly observed, that this conformation manifests, relatively to gestation and parturition, advantages of which the exterior expression is not found in the women who are commonly regarded as well made, and who, however, are not so, if the best conformation or beauty result from a direct and well-marked relation between the form of the organs and their functions. It is owing to the thighs of woman being thus carried more inward when she walks, that the change of the point of gravity which marks each step, is in her much more remarkable. All the other parts of the inferior members are in general distinguished by forms more softly rounded; the leg is remarkable for its delicacy; the long line of the anterior bone is entirely hid under its envelope; its inferior part is shaped with more elegance; the foot is smaller; and the base of support is less extended. The feet, like the hands, are susceptible of a kind of beauty of which nature is sparing.

From all this it appears that the only bones which nature tends to enlarge in woman are those of the pelvis; that all the rest are small; and that they proportionally diminish in size, as we pass from that central part to the extremities.

The first modification, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in which the development of the bones, those of the pelvis excepted, is proportionally small.

This character will be especially apparent where the long bones approach the surface; as in the arm immediately above the wrist, and, in the leg, immediately above the ankle. Its effect will be proportionally delicate and feminine.

Various subordinate modifications of this kind of beauty are found in various countries, and under the influence of various circumstances.

The women of Rome, we are told, present beauty of the shoulders in the highest degree, when they arrive at that period of life in which plumpness succeeds to juvenile elasticity.

It has been suggested, that the Greek or Ionian women, whose arms were of so perfect a form, owed that beauty in some measure to the custom of leaving them nude, or covered only by loose drapery: as in that case, no pressure constricted the roundness of the fleshy parts, and prevented their development; no ligature, binding the upper part of the arm, altered the color of the skin; and the arm, being always uncovered, received at the toilet the same attention as other parts. Hence, it is supposed antique statuary has left us such admirable models of the beauty of this part.

It is certainly not improbable that we may attribute the absence of this beauty, in some measure, to a custom which, in many cases, medicine may approve, but which is unfavorable to the arm, that of wearing long sleeves; but want of exercise is its great cause.

The form of the hand often announces the occupation of the person to whom it belongs, and sometimes even her particular capabilities. There certainly are hands that we may call intellectual; and there are others that we may call foolish or stupid. Of the hand, Lavater says, that, whether in movement or in repose, its expression cannot be mistaken: its most tranquil position indicates our natural dispositions; its flexions, our actions and our passions.

The ancients, it has been observed, attached much importance to the form of the feet: the philosophers did not neglect it in the general view of the physiognomy; and the historians as well as the poets made mention of their beauty, in speaking of Polyxene, Aspasia, and others; as they did of their deformities in speaking of the emperor Domitian.

Perfection or deformity of the feet is no doubt in general hereditary; but good management will preserve the former of these, and repair the latter. We commonly deform these parts by means of our shoes: the second toe, observes a writer on this subject, which naturally projects most, as we see from the antique, is arrested in its development, and the foot, which ought, in the outline of its extremity, to approach to the elegant form of the ellipsis, is rounded without beauty, and is disfigured by our ridiculous compressions.33