THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FACIAL BEAUTY 



By C. F. BADCOCK 



Nature is prodigal of objects gratifying to the aesthetic sense, 

 but it is universally recognised that such gratification culmin- 

 ates in the contemplation of the " human form divine," of 

 which the beautiful face is at once the concentration and the 

 symbol. In what essentially, we may ask, consists this powerful 

 appeal made by personal beauty ? 



Sir Joshua Reynolds defined beauty as " the medium of 

 form." E. H. Aitken considered that beauty might be defined 

 in terms of motion — that a truly functioning motion, whether 

 in mechanical action or natural growth, will result in beautiful 

 form. " The designer of a yacht," he says, " studied the 

 inexorable laws of dynamics, and produced a form which charms 

 the cultured eye." " Geometry," said Rodin, " is at the bottom 

 of sentiment." 



Aitken remarks, " We discern beauty — as we discern har- 

 mony in music — by sense, the judgments of which are inde- 

 pendent of our ability to give a reason for them," Reasons, 

 however, there are ; and, just as harmony in music rests upon 

 a mathematical basis, so personal beauty should have its 

 biological explanation. 



A good torso and good limbs are beautiful as a concrete 

 expression of perfect and well co-ordinated movement and 

 efficient performance of function. So also with regard to the 

 face, the beauty of which depends largely on good features, 

 but still more on harmony or balance of features. All the 

 featuresfof the face should respectively constitute the outward 

 and visible signs of an inward and organic efficiency ; and the 

 facial movements, whether expressing the emotions or senti- 

 ments, or masticating and insalivating food, must be effectively 

 performed and well co-ordinated if the resulting contours of 

 the face are to be considered beautiful. 



A good deal of the aesthetic value of the face is based upon 

 its faculties of emotional expression and indication of character. 

 In his classical work, The Expression of the Emotions, Darwin 

 emphasises the role of the respiratory system in emotional 

 expression. Its effects are chiefly exhibited by the upper and 



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