of the skin, their effect being
of an emollient and congenial nature; and, moreover, they can be
applied on retiring to rest, when their effects are not liable to be
disturbed by the action of the atmosphere, muscular exertions or
nervous influences.

The use of paints has been very correctly characterized as "a species
of corporeal hypocrisy as subversive of delicacy of mind as it is of
the natural complexion," and has been, of late years, discarded at the
toilette of every lady.

The use of cosmetics has been common in all ages and in every land.
Scripture itself records the painting of Jezebel; and Ezekiel, the
prophet, speaks of the eye-painting common among the women; and
Jeremiah, of rending the face with painting--a most expressive term
for the destruction of beauty by such means. For the surest destroyers
of real beauty are its simulators. The usurper destroys the rightful
sovereign.

That paint can ever deceive people, or really add beauty for more than
the duration of an acted charade or play, when "distance lends
enchantment to the view," is a delusion; but it is one into which
women of all times and nations have fallen--from the painted Indian
squaw to the rouged and powdered denizen of London or Paris.

Milk was the favorite cosmetic of the ladies of ancient Rome. They
applied plasters of bread and ass's milk to their faces at night, and
washed them off with milk in the morning.

As a cosmetic, milk would be harmless, but we doubt its power of
improving the skin. As a beverage, no doubt, it whitens the complexion
more than any other food.

But before we speak of improving the complexion, it will be well to
explain to our readers the nature and properties of the skin.

This is what an American physician has recently told us about it:--

THE SKIN--ITS BEAUTY, USES, CONSTRUCTION, MANAGEMENT, ETC.

Every person knows what the skin is, its external appearance, and its
general properties; but there are many of my readers who may not be
aware of its peculiar and wonderful construction, its compound
character, and its manifold uses. It not merely acts as an organ of
sense, and a protection to the surface of the body, but it clothes it,
as it were, in a garment of the most delicate texture and of the most
surpassing loveliness. In perfect health it is gifted with exquisite
sensibility, and while it possesses the softness of velvet, and
exhibits the delicate hues of the lily, the carnation, and t