THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMAN. 221 



Among the women of the most civilized communities the idea of 

 dress has only partly given place to that of clothing. The flow- 

 ing and, upon occasions, even the trailing robe still persists. The 

 hair is uncut and fantastically arranged with bits of shell or 

 metal, and sometimes decorated with ornaments of shell, silver, 

 or gold, or imitations of these. Feathers are still worn upon the 

 headdress, and the headdress itself is purely for adornment, 

 affording little or no protection to the head, and in inclement 

 weather is sometimes left behind for safety or exchanged for 

 a simpler kind. Upon the streets of European towns peasant 

 women in the morning are usually seen with uncovered heads, 

 and in America neighborly women are often so seen passing from 

 house to house, but never upon state occasions. Furs are still 

 worn by both sexes in winter, but much more commonly by 

 women. The use of striking colors, such as red, yellow, blue, 

 green, and purple, is still frequent in the dress of women and 

 children, but much less so in men's dress, where the blacks, grays, 

 and browns prevail. Survivals of the primitive custom of leav- 

 ing parts of the body entirely exposed and unprotected are still 

 seen in woman's evening dress, showing how little the idea of 

 display has given place to that of utility. The use of rare metals 

 and stones as ornaments for the ankles, wrists, fingers, ears, nose, 

 lips, and neck persisted in the dress of women long after it became 

 extinct with men. Rings in the ears were commonly worn by 

 women within the memory of many of us, and rings and stones 

 upon the wrists and fingers are still very common. For these 

 purposes brilliant stones, such as diamonds, are much prized, but 

 are not worn to the same extent by men as by women. Survivals 

 of the neck ornaments are still seen in the various forms of pins 

 and necklaces. Beads, so highly prized by the lower races, still 

 persist to some extent in the bead trimming of woman's dress. 

 The use of paint to decorate the person is now practically extinct 

 with both sexes, but, as a means of decorating the face, was 

 practiced by women within comparatively recent times. In re- 

 spect to various powders and perfumes the evolution has not been 

 so rapid, and they are still in use among women to some extent. 

 Mutilations of the body for ornamental purposes are all but 

 extinct, but among women certain mutilations, such as piercing 

 the ears, unnatural constriction of the waist, and pinching of the 

 feet, have persisted almost to the present time. In countries like 

 China, where the last of these is still practiced, the practice is con- 

 fined to women. In certain other trifling matters there is in 

 woman's dress a suggestive survival of primitive customs. The 

 dress of the primitive man was loosely and irregularly attached 

 to the body, and was fastened with strings or thongs or after- 

 ward with pins of metal. Later these pins were attached to the 



