For the maintenance of the erect posture the following conditions must be realized: (1) The corresponding halves of the body must be in the same anatomical relation; (2) the centre of gravity of the whole body must fall just in front of the last lumbar vertebra. That the first of these two conditions may be realized there must be a well-developed and symmetrical skeleton and a corresponding symmetrical development of the muscles on the two sides of the body. That the second condition may be realized, there must be such a development of the extensor muscles on the back of the body as will be sufficient to antagonize the flexor muscles on the front of the body.
These conditions are not always realized, and hence certain physical defects are observable, such as obliquity of the head, elevation or depression of the shoulder, curvature of the spine, and so forth.
An old Spanish writer said that “a woman is quite perfect and absolute in beauty if she has thirty good points.” Here they are:
Three things white—the skin, the teeth, the hands.
Three black—the eyes, the eyebrows, the eyelashes.
Three red—the lips, the cheeks, the nails.
Three long—the body, the hair, the hands.
Three short—the teeth, the ears, the feet.
Three broad—the chest, the brow, the space between the eyebrows.
Three narrow—the mouth, the waist, the instep.