6o PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



fluid is great, so will the form of the abdomen tend to 

 become more spherical ; for when it is slight the fluid lies 

 at the lowest part, and the contour will vary with the 

 position of the subject the intestines floating on the 

 surface of the fluid. But when this reaches the maximum 

 amount it tests the expansile capability of the abdominal 

 walls to the uttermost, and they become stretched tightly 

 and the abdomen gains a spheroidal shape. 



CHAPTER V. 



ARTIFICIAL ALTERATIONS IN SHAPE. 



IT is the prerogative of civilised man to be the slave 

 of custom and of fashion. Still among savage races 

 there is often as much adhesion to absurd, irrational, 

 and almost .harmful observances as among the so-called 

 cultivated. Setting aside such deformations as have 

 no great significance, we may speak of two barbaric 

 customs only, and then turn to civilised communities 

 and see the analogous instances of ignorant folly, ten 

 times more foolish and stupid (because there they have 

 not the excuse of ignorance), that prevail among them. 

 It is customary among many American races, especially 

 the Peruvians, to subject their infants to a process of 

 compression of the skull, which is carried out to such 



