Teeth.
Water is not always sufficient to clean the teeth, but great caution should be used as to the dentifrices employed.
Charcoal, reduced to an impalpable powder, and mixed with an equal quant.i.ty of magnesia, renders the teeth white, and stops putrefaction.
Also two ounces of prepared chalk, mixed with half the quant.i.ty of powdered myrrh, may be used with confidence.
Or, one ounce of finely powdered charcoal, one ounce of red kino, and a table spoonful of the leaves of sage, dried and powdered.
A most excellent dentifrice, which cleans and preserves the teeth, is made by mixing together two ounces of brown rappee snuff, one of powder of bark, and one ounce and a half of powder of myrrh. When the gums are inclined to shrink from the teeth, cold water should be used frequently to rinse the mouth; a little alum, dissolved in a pint of water, a tea-cup full of sherry wine, and a little tincture of myrrh or bark, will be found extremely beneficial in restoring the gums to a firm and healthy state. This receipt was given verbally by one of our first dentists.
Every precaution should be used to prevent the acc.u.mulation of tartar upon the teeth; this is best done by a regular attention to cleanliness, especially during and after illness. "Prevention is always better than cure," and the operation of scaling often leaves the teeth weak and liable to decay.
Acids of all sorts are injurious to the teeth, and very hot or cold liquids discolour them.
The best toothpick is a finely-pointed stick of cedar. Toothbrushes should not be too hard, and should be used, not only to the teeth, but to the gums, as friction is highly salutary to them. To polish the front teeth, it is better to use a piece of flannel than a brush.
Toothache is a very painful malady, and the sufferer often flies to the most powerful spirits to obtain relief; but they afford only temporary ease, and lay the foundation for increased pain. A poultice laid on the gum not too hot takes off inflammation, or laudanum and spirits of camphor applied to the cheek externally; or mix with spirits of camphor an equal quant.i.ty of myrrh, dilute it with warm water, and hold it in the mouth; also a few drops of laudanum and oil of cloves applied to decayed teeth often affords instantaneous relief.
Powdered cloves and powdered alum, rubbed on the gum and put in the diseased tooth will sometimes lessen the pain.
Toothache often proceeds from some irritation in the digestive organs or the nervous system: in such cases pain can only be removed by proper medical treatment.
CHAPTER IV.
Hands.
Nothing contributes more to the elegance and refinement of a lady"s appearance than delicate hands; and it is surprising how much it is in the power of all, by proper care and attention, to improve them. Gloves should be worn at every opportunity, and these should invariably be of kid; silk gloves and mittens, although pretty and tasteful, are far from fulfilling the same object. The hands should be regularly washed in tepid water, as cold water hardens, and renders them liable to chap, while hot water wrinkles them. All stains of ink, &c., should be immediately removed with lemon-juice and salt: every lady should have a bottle of this mixture on her toilette ready prepared for the purpose. The receipts which we have already given as emollients for the skin are suitable for softening the hands and rendering them smooth and delicate. The nails require daily attention: they should be cut every two or three days in an oval form. A piece of flannel is better than a nail-brush to clean them with, as it does not separate the nail from the finger.
When dried, a little pummice-stone, finely powdered, with powdered orris-root, in the proportion of a quarter of a tea-spoonful to a tea-spoonful of the former, mixed together, and rubbed on the nails gently, gives them a fine polish, and removes all inequalities.
A piece of sponge, dipped in oil of roses and emery, may be used for the same purpose.
When the nails are disposed to break, a little oil or cold cream should be applied at night.
Sand-b.a.l.l.s are excellent for removing hardness of the hands. Palm soap, Castille soap, and those which are the least perfumed, should always be preferred. Night-gloves are considered to make the hands white and soft, but they are attended with inconvenience, besides being very unwholesome; and the hands may be rendered as white as the nature of the complexion will allow, by constantly wearing gloves in the day-time, and using any of the emollients we have recommended for softening and improving the skin.
CHAPTER V.
Dress.
In dress, simplicity should be preferred to magnificence: it is surely more gratifying to be admired for a refined taste, than for an elaborate and dazzling splendour;--the former always produces pleasing impressions, while the latter generally only provokes criticism.
Too costly an attire forms a sort of fortification around a woman which wards off the admiration she might otherwise attract. The true art of dress is to make it harmonize so perfectly with the style of countenance and figure as to identify it, as it were, with the character of the wearer.
All ornaments and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs should be adopted sparingly; trinkets and jewellery should seldom appear to be worn merely for display; they should be so selected and arranged as to seem necessary, either for the proper adjustment of some part of the dress, or worn for the sake of pleasing a.s.sociations.
Fashion should never be followed too closely, still less should a singularity of style be affected; the prevailing mode should be modified and adapted to suit individual peculiarity. The different effect of colours and the various forms of dress should be duly considered by every lady, as a refined taste in dress indicates a correct judgment.
A short stout figure should avoid the loose flowing robes and ample drapery suitable for tall slight women; while these again should be cautious of adopting fashions which compress the figure, give formality, or display angles. The close-fitting corsage and tight sleeve, becoming to the short, plump female, should be modified with simple tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, to give fullness and width across the shoulders and bust, and a rounded contour to the arms. Flounces and tucks, which rise high in the skirt, are not suitable to short persons; they cut the figure and destroy symetry. To tall women, on the contrary, they add grace and dignity. Dresses made half high are extremely unbecoming; they should either be cut close up to the throat or low.
It is, however, in bad taste to wear them very low on the shoulders and bosom: in youth, it gives evidence of the absence of that modesty which is one of its greatest attractions; and in maturer years it is the indication of a depraved coquetry, which checks the admiration it invites.
It is always requisite for a lady to exert her own taste in the choice of form, colour, and style, and not leave it to the fancy of her dress-maker, as although the person she employs may be eminently qualified for her profession, a lady who possesses any discernment can best judge of what is suitable to her style of countenance and figure.
In dress there should be but one prevailing colour, to which all others should be adapted, either by harmonising with it, or by contrast; in the latter case the relieving color should be in small quant.i.ty, or it would overpower the other in effect, as a general rule, sombre negative colours show off a woman to the greatest advantage, just as the beauties of a painting are enhanced by being set in a dull frame; still, there are some occasions with which the gayer tints accord better, and as propriety and fitness are matters of high consideration, the woman of taste must be guided in the selection of her apparel by the knowledge of the purport for which it is intended, always endeavouring to fix on that shade of colour which best becomes her complexion.
CHAPTER VI.
Effect of Diet on Complexion.
As the color of the skin depends upon the secretions of the _rete mucuosum_, or skin, which lies immediately beneath the _epedirmis_, or scarf skin, and as diet is capable of greatly influencing the nature of these secretions, a few words respecting it may not be here entirely misplaced.
All that is likely to produce acrid humours, and an inflamatory or impoverished state of the blood, engenders vicious secretions, which nature struggles to free herself from by the natural outlet of the skin, for this organ is fitted equally, to _excrete and secrete_.
Fermented and spirituous liquors, strong tea and coffee should be avoided, for they stimulate and exhaust the vital organs, and interrupt the digestive functions, thereby producing irritation of the internal linings of the stomach, with which the skin sympathises.
Water, on the other hand, is the most wholesome of all beverages, it dilutes and corrects what is taken into the stomach, and contributes to the formation of a perfect chyle.
Milk is very nutritious, it produces a full habit of body, and promotes plumpness, restores vigour and freshness, besides possessing the property of calming the pa.s.sions, and equalising the temper.
Eggs are, in general, considered bilious, except in a raw state, when they are precisely the reverse; this is a fact, now so universally acknowledged, that they are always recommended in cases of jaundice and other disorders of the bile.
Spices, and highly seasoned meats import a dryness to the skin, and render the body thin and meagre.
Animal food taken daily requires constant exercise, or it is apt to render the appearance coa.r.s.e and gross. It should be combined with farinaceous and vegetable food, in order to correct the heating effects of a concentrated animal diet.
Excess as to quant.i.ty should be strictly guarded against. When the stomach is overloaded it distributes a badly digested ma.s.s throughout the system, which is sure to be followed by irritation and disease, and by undermining the const.i.tution, is one of the most certain methods of destroying beauty.
CHAPTER VII.
Influence of the Mind as regards Beauty.
All pa.s.sions give their corresponding expression to the countenance; if of frequent occurrence they mark it with lines as indelible as those of age, and far more unbecoming. To keep these under proper _control_ is, therefore, of high importance to beauty. Nature has ordained that pa.s.sions shall be but pa.s.sing acts of the mind, which, serving as natural stimulants, quicken the circulation of the blood, and increase the vital energies; consequently, when tempered and subdued by reason, they are rather conducive than otherwise, both to beauty and to health.
It is the _habitual frame of mind, the hourly range of thought_ which render the countenance pleasing or repulsive; we should not forget that "the face is the index of the mind."