430 HISTORY OF 



mal, at different ages. The bosom in females 

 seems to unite all our ideas of beauty, where the 

 outline is continually changing, and the grada- 

 tions are soft and regular. 



" The graceful fall of the shoulders, both in 

 man and woman, constitute no small part of beau- 

 ty. In apes, though otherwise made like us, the 

 shoulders are high, and drawn up on each side 

 towards the ears. In man they fall by a gentle 

 declivity ; and the more so, in proportion to* the 

 beauty of his form. In fact, being high-shoulder- 

 ed is not without reason considered as a deform- 

 ity, for we find very sickly persons are always so ; 

 and people, when dying, are ever seen with their 

 shoulders drawn up in a surprising manner. The 

 muscles that serve to raise the ribs, mostly rise 

 near the shoulders ; and the higher we raise the 

 shoulders, we the more easily raise the ribs like- 

 wise. It happens, therefore, in the sickly and 

 the dying, who do not breathe without labour, 

 that to raise the ribs they are obliged to call in 

 the assistance of the shoulders; and thus their 

 bodies assume, from habit, that form which they 

 are so frequently obliged to assume. Women 

 with child also are usually seen to be high- 

 shouldered ; for the weight of the inferior parts 

 drawing down the ribs, they are obliged to use 

 every effort to elevate them, and thws they raise 

 the shoulders of course. During pregnancy, also, 

 the shape, not only of the shoulders, but also of 

 the breast, and even the features of the face, are 

 greatly altered ; for the whole upper fore-part of 

 the body is covered with a broad thin skin, called 



