Roxey Ann Caplin

“ Here all the blood in the body comes for the purpose of being transmitted, or rather decanted, from the arteries to the veins, that it may go back to its fountain, the heart, and thence to the lungs, to be renewed with a fresh supply of oxygen; and so numerous are the operations of the skin that, be­sides affording protection and giving beauty to the body, it exudes above thirty different substances, which have become effete and noxious in conse­quence of the almost infinite number of vital and chemical changes which are constantly taking place within. ”

“ There are a variety of colours which are chosen for common apparel which have no character or expression in themselves, and which are chosen for no other reason but because they are convenient for the peculiar occupations or amusements in which we are engaged. Such dress, accordingly, has no beauty; when we say it is a useful or a conve­nient colour we give it all the approbation it is entitled to. ”

“ Our object has been to set down that which is really useful to be known by our fair countrywomen, who are without rivals in all that makes women adorable. We were ambitious to say something worth remembering to those who adorn the present generation by their virtue and beauty, and who are destined to be the mothers of those who shall bear up the ark of England's greatness, when those who bore them shall have passed away. ”

“ Motion and sense often cease without any apparent cause. The body loses its heat; the muscles become flat; and the angular prominences of the bones appear; the lustre of the eye is gone, the cheeks and lips are livid;—­and why? ”

“ The skin itself, as is known to everyone, is an envelope which contains the whole body within it. It is composed of three separate layers, the outer being insensible, and laid on as a protection to the delicate and tender structures which lie beneath. It is hardly possible to convey to the general reader a notion of the intricate and wonderfully complicate nature of the dermis, or true skin. ”

“ In a climate so variable as ours, garments made of cotton and wool are to be preferred to linen. By careful selection they may be obtained as soft and agreeable to the wearer; and they are to be pre­ferred to all other fabrics, except silk, which, from its warmth, lightness, and beauty, is more desirable than any other article from which apparel can be made. ”

“ The first, the greatest, the commonest, the best of all cosmetics, is pure water and good soap used daily on every part of the body in all ages, and, except in sickness, at all times from the cradle to the grave. A daily bath is worth more to preserve the health and improve the personal appearance than all the Kalydor that was ever manufactured in the world. ”

“ Linen is the best article to be worn next to the skin for all persons who are predisposed to heat and irritation of the cuticle; but for others we doubt its advantages, since it predisposes the body to chills and colds, to which it would not otherwise be liable. ”

“ In a former chapter we spoke of the dress and fashion in reference to health, and must here offer a few further observations in reference to taste, or the adaptation of dress to the individual temperament or style of beauty.
By temperament is always meant the peculiar constitution of the individual, such as the develop­ment of the body, whether it be slight, meagre, plump, or fat; the colour and structure of the skin, whether it be fair or dark, coarse or fine; the colour and quality of the hair; the colour of the eyes ”

“ Besides all this, there is a relation of a still more delicate kind between the colours of dress and the character that distinguishes the countenance and form of the person who wears it; which, however little attended to, is one of the most important articles in the composition of dress, which is never observed or violated without either increasing or diminishing the beauty of the person it distinguishes. ”

“ Whatever divides the attention dimi­nishes the beauty of the object; and though each part taken separately may appear beautiful, yet as a whole the effect is destroyed.
"It may be observed," says Mr. Alison, in his work on Taste, "that no dress is beautiful in which there is not some leading or predominant colour displayed, or in which, if I may use the expression, there is not some unity of colour. ”

“ From these observations it will be clear that the substance which is a bad conductor of caloric will be the warmest, because it neither allows the escape of the caloric from the body nor permits any caloric to penetrate it, and consequently leaves the internal heat to concentrate on the surface of the skin; for the body is not warmed from without, but from within, and the feeling of warmth is pro­duced by preventing the heat from going off from the body. ”

“ As the general beauty of the dress depends upon the predominant colour being distinguished by some pleasing or interesting expression, so the beauty of dress in any particular situation or cha­racter depends upon this expression being suited to that particular character or situation. ”

“ The general principle, however, which is applicable to all articles of clothing, and which renders them good or bad, is whether they are conductors or non-conductors of caloric from the quantity of moisture which they imbibe, either from the external air or from the emanations from the body, and from the facility with which they allow it to escape. ”

“ The pallor of ill health; the blotches and pimples which advertise an obstructed perspiration, and in many cases the wrinkles of advancing age, will all disappear before the soothing influence of this agreeable and inex­pensive luxury. Milk baths, once so fashionable and highly esteemed, only clog the skin which they ought to cleanse. ”

“ Again, the skin has a direct and important influ­ence on several of the vital organs, but more parti­cularly on the lungs, the digestive organs, the kid­neys, and the brain: on the lungs, if it does not throw off its proper quantity of carbon, because in this case the blood returns through the veins darker than it should appear, and these organs have a double task to perform ”

“ The capillaries or bloodvessels are finer than hairs, and they are so interlaced and interwoven with nerves that it is impossible to put down the point of the finest needle without wounding several of those minute organs. ”