let run their course, hastened by a light poultice of slippery-elm bark. Those persons who suffer from a constant recurrence of them, one after another, should seek medical advice, as they require constitutional treatment.

A much more serious disfigurement is, when the margin of the eyelid inclines inward, or, what is worse, turns inside out. The latter is called "ectropion," and presents a most unsightly spectacle. I can only be

remedied by a surgical operation.

Sometimes a portion of the skin of the nose projects over the inner angles of the eyes, imparting a coarse look to the face. Here, too, the knife of the surgeon is the only means that promises any relief.

Half-closed eyes occasionally arise from a difficulty of raising the upper lids. This is an obstinate and troublesome nervous complaint, and is not to be escaped by simple procedures.

Many a lady is disgusted with herself after a night at a ball-room or some unusual watching, or at certain periodical seasons, to find a dark blue line beneath her eyes, the sure indication of excessive excitement of the system. Gladly would she avail herself of any simple means to conceal it. We shall tell her, in confidence, how it may be done.

In London and Paris, where wild young clerks are apt to acquire a black eye occasionally in their nocturnal rambles, which might cost them their positions

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85

if the head of their houses were to notice it, there is a class of artists whose avocation it is to conceal the trace of such untoward accidents. For minor discolorations such as we are now speaking of, they employ the following method: Take a little precipitated French chalk in impalpable powder, rub it on the part, and gently blow or dust off the loose particles. Then apply a little of the same powder very slightly tinted with carmine, dusting in the same manner. Clear the edges of the eyelashes with a pencil, and tone down the outer margin of the dusted portion, so that it insensibly merges into the surrounding skin. Yet such is the vagary of the mode, that les lionnes of the Parisian demi-monde actually cultivate these dark circles beneath the eyes, to give themselves a dissolute, effrenée appearance.

Puffed and swollen eyelids are very common in old age and with certain complaints. Stimulant applications locally, and tonic internal treatment, will often help them materially.

Eyes apparently too small sometimes owe this defect to a too close union of the lids at the outer angle. A simple and almost painless surgical operation will readily remove this difficulty, and it should always be resorted to.

The eyelashes next demand our attention. They add vastly to the expression of the eye. Especially should women with light-colored, weak, or watery

eyes, aim to have them long, regular, silken, and dark. They can do so if they wish.

In the first place, they should see that the lid is healthy, free from minute scales at its margin, not red or everted, with no tendency to be glued to the other lid at rising in the morning. The eyelashes should then be examined one by one, and any which are split, or crooked, or feeble, should be trimmed with a pair of sharp scissors. The base of the lashes should be anointed nightly with a minute quantity of oil of cajuput on the top of a camel's-hair brush, and the examination and trimming repeated every month. If this is judiciously carried out for a few months, the result will be gratifying.

Occasionally one or several of the eyelashes grow inward, irritating the eye and ultimately injuring the sight. The only cure is to have the offending hairs extracted by the tweezers, and if they grow again to cauterize the spot with the point of a fine needle.

The odalisques of the Orient color the eyelashes with a preparation called "Kohol," which is a poisonous salt of antimony, likely to harm the eye, and, therefore, objectionable. A little Indian ink, especially that of Japanese manufacture, dissolved in water and carefully applied, answers the same purpose, and is harmless.

The brilliancy of the eye depends very much on the closeness, length, and hue of the lashes. When skil

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87

fully disposed and slightly darkened, if need be, they lend a brightness and beauty altogether unexpected to the plainest eyes. An excellent and harmless preparation to shade them a glossy dark, yet not an unnatural hue, is what is called "frankincense black." It is made thus:

Take

-

Frankincense, resin, pitch, of each half an ounce;

Gum mastic

Mix, and drop on red hot charcoals.

quarter of an ounce.

Receive the fumes

in a large funnel, and a black powder will adhere to its sides. Mix this with the fresh juice of elder berries (or cologne water will do), and apply with a fine camel-hair brush.

All these operations on the eyelids and eyelashes should be performed by a second person, lest the eye should be inadvertently injured.

THE EYE.

The beauty of the eye itself depends on its color, its brightness, and its expression. All of these are more or less under our control.

The white of the eye should be pure and pearly. It is apt to become yellow in diseases connected with the digestive organs or the liver, a bluish white in scrofulous and consumptive constitutions, and streaked with minute red veins in those who are given to excess in food or drink, or to violent fits of passion. The popular

mind associates the "red eye" so closely with intemperance that it has become a slang term for bad whiskey. Now, it is evident, discolorations from all these causes are in part or wholly under our own command, and that we can escape them if we will.

The pupil of the eye should suit in hue the hair and complexion. A blue eye and black hair are even more in discord than a dark eye and light hair. The latter is, indeed, esteemed by some a charm. But the color of the pupil cannot be changed by any process known to art. In elderly persons, and in those suffering from heart disease, it loses its natural tinge and changes to a dull brown.

We shall not give any tedious directions about preserving the eyes in health. It is not necessary. All there is to do is to wash them morning and evening in cool, pure water, and dry them gently with a soft towel, wiping them toward the nose, for in the corner nearest the nose is the outlet of the various humors secreted

by the eye.

Then there is a word to be said about crying. The tears are constantly being secreted by the eye, and it is only when they are so abundant that they cannot all pass through the outlet we have just spoken of that they overflow on the cheeks. We are, in fact, ever weeping salt tears, even in our most joyous moments. Apart from the contortion of the features which usually