Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in WomanWalker, Alexander
Philosophy
Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Woman
Walker, Alexander
Beauty, Personal; Women
In the women who present the attributes of their sex with the greatest
unity, we distinguish, especially during youth and adult age, the traits
of the sanguine temperament, which may be regarded as the most suitable to
the organization of woman.
CHAPTER XIV.
THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY--BEAUTY OF THE THINKING SYSTEM.
In woman, the organs of sense are proportionally larger, and the
sensibility is more quick and delicate than in man.
Hence, also, the mental quickness and delicacy of woman are greater. Her
perceptions succeed with rapidity and intenseness; and the last of them
generally predominates. In well-organized women, accordingly, the forehead
and the observing faculties are peculiarly developed.
The general nervous system of woman is likewise far more mobile than that
of man.
Beauty of the thinking system in woman depends especially upon these
fundamental facts, and those tendencies of structure, which thus
distinguish her from man.
In the woman possessing THIS SPECIES of beauty, accordingly, the greater
development of its upper part gives to the head, in every view, a pyriform
appearance;--the face is generally oval;--the high and pale forehead
announces the excellence of the observing faculties;--the intensely
expressive eye is full of sensibility;--in the lower features, modesty and
dignity are often united;--she has not the expanded bosom, the general
plumpness, or the beautiful complexion, of the second species of
beauty;--and she boasts easy and graceful motion, rather than the elegant
proportion of the first.--The whole figure is characterized by
intellectuality and grace.
This species of beauty is less proper to woman, less feminine, than the
preceding. It is not the intellectual system, but the vital one, which is,
and ought to be most developed in woman.
_First Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._
In woman, the nervous extremities appear to be larger than in man; a pulpy
appearance is more remarkable in them; and the papillæ in which they
terminate, appear to have less rigidity.
The organs of sense are proportionally larger, and more delicately
outlined. There is indeed in woman more development in the organs of
sensation, than in that of understanding, reasoning, and judging; while
the contrary is the case in man. The sensations, accordingly, are in woman
more acute, and their minute differences are more easily discerned. Man
reflects more than he feels: woman always feels more than she reflects.
The FIRST MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in
which the development of the organs of sense is proportionally large, and
the sensibility greater.
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