MAN— BEAQTT. 579 



like variety, and admire each characteristic carried to a moderate 

 extreme.™ Men accustomed to a nearly oval face, to straight and 

 regular features, and to bright colors, admire, as we Europeans 

 know, these points when strongly developed. On the other hand, 

 men accustomed to a broad face, with high cheek-bones, a de- 

 pressed nose, and a black skin, admire these peculiarities when 

 strongly marked. No doubt characters of all kinds may be too 

 much developed for beauty. Hence a perfect beauty, which im- 

 plies many characters modified in a particular manner, will be in 

 every race a prodigy. As the great anatomist Bichat long ago 

 said, if every one were cast in the same mold, there would be no 

 such thing as beauty. If all our women were to become as beau- 

 tiful as the Venus de Medici, we should for a time be charmed; 

 but we should soon wish for variety; and as soon as we had 

 obtained variety, we should wish to see certain characters a little 

 exaggerated beyond the then existing common standard. 



'« Mr. Bain has collected ("Mental and Moral Science," 1868, pp. 304-314) 

 about a, dozen more or less different theories of the idea of beauty; 

 but none are quite the same as that here given. 



