do not affect the true skin at all. Here is matter for wholesale consolation. For where is the lady who has not on some part one or a dozen of these blemishes she fain would get rid of? In point of looks, it is the scarf-skin much more than the true skin which concerns us, for it is this outer and ever visible layer which is most frequently to blame in unhandsome complexions.

With a becoming sense, therefore, of the weighty matters we are about to handle, we shall pass in review all the means which are useful in retaining and defending against the envious assaults of Time, the clear and brilliant complexion of youth, that

"Beauty truly blent, whose red and white

Nature's own sweet and cunning hand lays on."

Nor will our task end here. He is unworthy the name of physician, who concerns himself only about those who are whole. We shall go further, and turning to those whom the old fellow with hour-glass and sickle has already worsted, we shall ransack for their sakes the magazine of art for means to repair, or if repairing is out of the question, then to conceal, the damage they have sustained in the conflict of years. For if it is well for age to take lessons from the buoyant spirits and active mind of youth, may it not with equal propriety strive for the bright eye and healthful glow? The imitation is not what repels us; it is the failure in the attempt at imitation.

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Our instructions commence with a homely theme, but an orthodox one. It is cleanliness of the person; in short

WASHING AND BATHING.

Baron Liebig says that the progress of nations in civilization can be accurately measured by the amount of soap they use. If the test were applied, we fear our country would make a poor figure. In this city of seven hundred thousand bodies there is not a single public bath. Even in "good society" (save the mark) there is not that attention to scrupulous cleanliness which there should be. More than one young lady might find a moral in the anecdote told of Lady Mary Wortley Montague. When young, this famous woman seems to have been a model of candor, if not of neatness. One day a companion ventured to suggest to her that her hands needed washing.

"My hands!" exclaimed she, "what would you say if you saw my feet?"

We rarely prophesy. But we confidently pronounce one prediction which is worth all those contained in the folios of that renowned cosmetic artist, who afterwards turned astrologist and prophet, Michael Nostradamus. It is this:

The age of beauty will never come until every woman takes a bath every day, when she is in health.

The bath, moreover, must be in water slightly tepid,

but not warm, and of waters, one kind is superior to all others.

Here, at last, is the secret of Diana of Poictiers.

Every morning of her life, that lady bathed in rainwater; "and this it was, I swear by the soul of my honored mistress," says master Oudard, her apothecary-in-chief, surgeon-barber, and perfumer, as he delights to call himself, "that was the only secret which that illustrious dame employed to preserve her health, youth, and beauty to the age of threescore and twelve years."

We believe the honest apothecary, for this is distilled water, perfectly neutral and pure, fitted beyond any other to render the skin clean, odorless, white, soft, smooth, and transparent. Let it be preferred to all others, for it is better than any of them. When it cannot be obtained, soft water will answer, but hard water, which contains mineral salts, should be avoided, as it cracks and injures the epidermis. Is not such a secret worth more than gold, whether soluble or insoluble? For beauty is not a thing of price.

A cold bath does not suit many constitutions, and is not advisable for the skin. Still more objectionable is one which is hot. The water should be tepid, and in using it, one should wet the person sufficiently to loosen the scales of the scarf-skin, and then rub the flesh, not violently, but gently and for some time, with a coarse towel, a soft flesh-brush, or a flesh-mitten not too

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rough. A healthy glow should be felt after the rubbing, and the skin should be pink and warm. If it seems dry and harsh afterwards, an ounce or two of glycerine can be put in the water, or a small quantity rubbed in with the hand. If, on the contrary, there remains a greasy feeling and a shiny appearance on the surface, a few teaspoonfuls of spirit of ammonia may be poured in the water, or some common yellow soap employed daily. It has also been recommended that persons with skins of this description should, after drying themselves thoroughly, dust the surface with a bag containing finely powdered starch and orris-root, three parts of the former to one of the latter.

History says that when Anne Boleyn came to France then a young girl, lady of honor to Mary, Queen of Louis XII., she was of a "dark and oily" complexion. Some one recommended a daily bath, and after the bath a powder such as we have described. When a year or two afterwards she returned to England, there was not a lady at the Court of Henry VIII, who compared with her in beauty of complexion, and that king, who was a connoisseur in such matters, soon showed that he indorsed the general sentiment. It was an unlucky success for her, as all the world knows; but she never blamed her beauty for her misfortunes. Quite the contrary, for the story goes that on the day before her death she said to her tire-women:

"It is high time that the headsman did his work, for

I have not a grain of powder left, and the king would doubtless carry his cruelty to the extent of not allowing me any more."

The bath had probably more to do with it than the powder, for think a moment what a bath does. Do you know why of all parts of the body the face is most subject to spots, pimples, and similar eruptions? You probably think it is simply the aggravating way of matters in general. No such thing. It is because the face is washed oftener, the pores are kept open, and the circulation stimulated by the rubbing, so that the effete humors in the blood find there a readier exit, and consequently crowd thither from all parts of the body, giving the skin there too much to do. Wash and rub daily all parts of the surface, and the secretions will be equally distributed, and no one part overtasked.

Many things have been suggested besides water for bathing purposes. There was Prince Jerome Bonaparte, who took a bath daily, the spendthrift, in wine, and that wine champagne. Even during the fearful Russian campaign he did not intermit, or but a very short time, this unheard-of luxury. Whether it had anything to do with preserving him to the age of seventy-six, we do not know.

The juices of certain fruits, especially raspberries and strawberries, have been lauded as sovereign washes for