300 BEAUTT. 



undersized persons, or for thin spindle-shanks, or 

 for null formation or deformity of any kind. We 

 prefer the well made calves of a cricketer to 

 bandy or bow legs, and we praise a full, round, 

 well j)roportioned arm, rather than a skinny angu- 

 lar elbow. Excess or defect in any part dis- 

 pleases us. What we like to see is the most per- 

 fect adjustment of all the parts to one another. 

 Even very short or very tall people are handsome 

 if they are properly proportioned, but not if they 

 look stunted, or gawky, or overgrown, or have 

 heads too big or too small for their accompan3'ing 

 bodies. Nobody admires a very long nose, nor 

 one too short either ; nobody is favorably im- 

 pressed by a very large mouth, or by immense 

 ears, or by a stumpy neck, or by excessive 

 stoutness. We demand for our standard of 

 beauty the exact mean or perfect central model of 

 the human race. Any very wide divergence from 

 this central and healthy model strikes us as un- 

 comely; if the divergence is in the direction of 

 positive disease or malformation, we usually 

 regard it as distinctly ugly. 



So again, to descend to details, we admire a 

 clear complexion and rosy cheeks, which are the 

 proper accompaniment of high health. We dis- 

 like pallor, wliich goes with exhaustion, or over- 

 work, or a feeble heart , and we are less attracted 

 by sallowness, which in most cases indicates a 



