594 
Fashions and Evolution . 
[October, 
under the arm-pits to the hips.* Was it only the idle 
fancy of the sculpturer, in direct variance with faCl ? Had 
the bevy of young ladies who formed Zeno’s models of Venus 
all this “ fault ” ? In her loose elegant garb the girl of 
ancient Hellas could expand and develope naturally ; we do 
not suppose the “virgin cord ” would be drawn very tight. 
Look at the figure of “Venus, from the baths of Claudius ”f 
— the uplifted arm gives the taper there. Nevertheless, 
though they seem straight, or even outwardly tapered, it 
must be admitted that the tendency to a thin waist is there, 
though very remote from the modern “eighteen inches round, 
my dear ” ! Mr. Park Harrison, M.A., in a recent paper, 
would seem to throw considerable doubt on the veracity of 
these figures as representing the Greek proper of their day.J 
If we will now consult engravings of modern art§ I think 
we shall be at once struck with the (unconscience ?) produc- 
tion in accordance with modern taste : the waist is made 
decidedly thinner. 
Thin waists are not uncommonly natural now-a-days, and 
may be the result of “ fashion.” It is well known how the 
cultivation, amongst savage tribes, of monstrosities — e.g., 
thick and protruding lips, large ear-lappets, &c. — tends to 
“ improve ” them, although they would probably disappear 
speedily if neglected, “ unless the variety became the spe- 
cies ” through a majority of numbers : the permanency of 
the Hapsburg lip is notorious as well as creditable. 
Again, according to the same statues, man always possessed 
a contracted waist, and possibly the distinction may have 
been exaggerated to give a more sensuous livingness to the 
stone “ creations.” There is an entire absence of the ugly 
breasts that disfigure the “ savage breast ” of a female (seen 
in Hindoo figures), nor is it imaginable that the ladies of 
Thebes or Athens ever wore “ stays.” 
I cannot close these remarks without drawing attention to 
the faCt how very English the busts of the most famous 
men of old look : observe them. Were they to rise from the 
dead and don the modern breeches they would pass unheeded 
even in our quietest villages. Imagine Julius Caesar, Cicero, 
Aristotle, &c., with chimney-pots on their heads ! 
* Ibid., e.g., fig. 816, p. 228. 
f Ibid., fig. 803, p. 225. See also Figures of Venus, 846, p. 233. 
X See Report of the British Association, 1880, p. 625, &c. 
^ See, e.g., The Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of 1851, published 
with the Art Journal, pp. 2, .48, 151, 225, 234, &c. 
