THE INTEGUMENT, OR SKIN 63 



22. There is a maxim by the chemist Liebig, to the effect, 

 that the civilization of a nation is high, in proportion to the 

 amount of soap that it consumes ; and that it is low, in propor- 

 tion to its use of perfumes. In some degree, we may apply 

 the same test to the refinement of an individual. The soap 

 removes impurity; the perfume covers, while retaining it. 

 (Bead Notes 6 and 7.) 



ings, which in his empire were wont to be most conspicuous and splendid. 

 'And where,' he would ask, ' are your public baths ? ' And if the min- 

 ister of state who was his guide should answer ' O great Caesar, I really 

 do not know. I believe there are some somewhere in some out-of-the-way 

 place ; and I think there have been some meetings lately, and an amateur 

 COD cert, for restoring, by private subscriptions, some baths and wash- 

 houses which had fallen to decay. And there may "be two or three more 

 about the metropolis ; for parishes have power to establish such places, if 

 they think fit, and choose to pay for them out of the rates : ' Then, I 

 think, the august shade might well make answer ' We used to call you, 

 in old Rome, northern barbarians. It seems that you have not lost all 

 your barbarian habits. Are you aware that, in every city in the Roman 

 empire, there were, as a matter of course, public baths open, not only to 

 the poorest freeman, but to the slave, usually for the payment of the 

 smallest current coin, and often gratuitously ? Are you aware that in 

 Rome itself, millionaire after millionaire, emperor after emperor, built 

 baths, and yet more baths ; and connected with them gymnasia for exer- 

 cise, libraries, and porticoes, wherein the people might have shade and 

 shelter, and rest ? Are you aware that these baths were of the most 

 magnificent architecture, decorated with marbles, paintings, sculptures, 

 fountains, what not ? And yet I had heard, in Hades down below, that 

 you prided yourselves here on the study of the learned languages.' " 

 Hev. Charles Kingsley on the Air-mothers. 



6. Care of the Skin and Nails. " Much ignorance prevails amongst 

 the public as to the use of soap and water. Those who have very sensitive 

 skins should use soft water, for the face at all events, and the best water, 

 if it can be had, is rain-water with the cold taken off it. Nor is it every 

 kind of soap which is tolerated by such persons ; probably the safest soaps 

 are, not those which are said to contain, but those which really do contain, 

 a large portion of glycerin. 



"The culture of the nails, which when perfect constitute so great a 

 beauty, is of much importance ; but the tendency is to injure them by too 

 much attention. The scissors should never be used, except to pare the 

 free edges when they have become ragged or too long, and the folds of 

 scarf skin which overlap the roots should not, as a rule, be touched. The 

 upper surfaces of the nails should on no account be touched with the knife, 



22. Liebig's maxim ? What further is added ? 



