“A WELL-FORMED WOMAN,”

says a modern physiologist, “should have her head, shoulders, and chest small and compact; arms and limbs relatively short; her haunches apart; her hips elevated; her abdomen large and her thighs voluminous. Hence, she should taper from the center, up and down. Whereas, in a well-formed man the shoulders are more prominent than the hips. Great hollowness of the back, the pressing of the thigh against each other in walking, and the elevation of one hip above the other, are indications of the malformation of the pelvis.”

From the same writer I take the following, which is applicable here. It is very correct in its estimates of beauty in both sexes:—

“The length of the neck should be proportionately less in the male than in the female, because the dependence of the mental system on the vital one is naturally connected with the shorter courses of the vessels of the neck.
“The neck should form a gradual transition between the body and head—its fullness concealing all prominences of the throat.


“The shoulders should slope from the lower part of the neck, because the reverse shows that the upper part of the chest owes its width to the bones and muscles of the shoulders.
“The upper part of the chest should be relatively short and wide, independent of the size of the shoulders, for this shows the vital organs which it contains are sufficiently developed.
“The waist should taper a little farther than the middle of the trunk, and be marked, especially in the back and loins, by the approximation of the hips.
“The waist should be narrower than the upper part of the trunk and its muscles, because the reverse indicates the expansion of the stomach, liver, and great intestine, resulting from their excessive use.
“The back of woman should be more hollow than that of man; for otherwise the pelvis is not of sufficient depth for parturition.

“Women should have more extended loins than men, at the expense of the superior and inferior parts, for this conformation is essential to gestation.
“The abdomen should be larger in woman than in man, for the same reason.
“Over all these parts the cellular tissue, and the plumpness connected with it, should obliterate all distinct projection of muscles.
“The surface of the whole female form should be characterized by its softness, elasticity, smoothness, delicacy, and polish, and by the gradual and easy transition between the parts.
“The moderate plumpness already described should bestow on the organs of woman great suppleness. Plumpness is essential to beauty, especially in mothers, because in them the abdomen necessarily expands, and would afterwards collapse and become wrinkled.

“An excess of plumpness, however, is to be guarded against. Young women who are very fat are cold and prone to barrenness.
“In no case should plumpness be so predominant as to destroy the distinctness of parts.”
A male and female formed on the above models would be well matched and have fine children.