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
other sentiment or propensity alone; because, if such were its sources, it
would have an equal effect in the intercourse of the individuals of each
sex among themselves, which it has not. 'In this quiet and unobtrusive
state of the feeling,' says Mr. Scott, 'there is nothing in the least
gross or offensive to the most sensitive delicacy. So far the contrary,
that the want of some feeling of this sort is required, wherever it
appears, as a very palpable defect, and a most unamiable trait in the
character. It softens all the proud, irascible, and antisocial principles
of our nature, in everything which regards that sex which is the object of
it; and it increases the activity and force of all the kindly and
benevolent affections. This explains many facts which appear in the mutual
regards of the sexes toward each other. Men are, generally speaking, more
generous and kind, more benevolent and charitable, toward women, than they
are to men, or than women are to one another.' The abuses of this
propensity are the sources of innumerable evils in life; and as the organ
and feeling exist, and produce an influence on the mind, independently of
external communication, Dr. Spurzheim suggests the propriety of
instructing young persons in the consequences of its improper indulgence
as preferable to keeping them in a state of ignorance that may provoke a
fatal curiosity, compromising in the end their own and their descendants'
bodily and mental constitution."
It may be proper in this place, to point out some of the anatomical
differences of the sexes more definitely than has been done by Mr. Walker,
as they are intimately connected with the form and contour of the body,
and must be understood to appreciate fully the bearing of much that is
laid down by our author:--
ANATOMICAL SEXUAL DIFFERENCES.
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
The stomach is the only portion of the alimentary canal which presents
sexual differences. It is larger, shorter, and broader, in the male;
smaller, narrower, and longer, in the female. Its muscular coat, like that
in the whole alimentary canal, is generally also thinner in the female.
OSSEOUS SYSTEM.
_Ribs._--The ribs of the female are generally straighter than those of the
male. The posterior segment unites sooner with the anterior; its curve
differs less from that of the last, and disappears sooner in the female;
hence, the chest is narrower. The ribs are usually thinner; hence, the
edges are sharper. Sometimes, however, this is far from being true. Their
length is nearly the same; but according to Mechel, the length of the two
upper ribs is proportionally, and when the subject is short, absolutely
greater in the female than in the male.
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