A BEAUTY FACTORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6936, 27 October 1900, Page 1

A BEAUTY FACTORY.

. (floyal Magatin*.) Yankee busings? enterprise having made itself felt in the four quarters of the eaatfn is now invading the sphere of the gods, and beauty, which since tfce earliest daya had been looked upon by mortal man as the exclusive gif t of the propitious, Venus, can today be purchased in the United Slates for the all-powerful- dollar. There are already half a dozen " beauty factories " throughout the States, where afly ugly woman may go, and, at a small outlay, buy as mu?h loveliness as* will cause her to pass muster in a crowd of beauties ;- and should the person in question be blessed with £ bulging pocketbook sac can have herself so .completely altered that even her own mother would recognise -her only with difficulty. I spent several (hours in one of these beauty factories not many weeks fgb. Some people with whom I was acquainted had told me of satisfactory operations they had had performed aVthe place, so that I was prepared for sin-prise*. But it was nothing short of amazing to see a ninvble-fing^ered surgeon transform a highly arched Roman nose into one of classic fines, to sea clearly -formed moustache removefl for eVer from a woman's lip, and to see a double chin made into a single one before the spectator had time to guess what the surgeon " wag about. The factory I visited is the parent of all the others, yet it is less than ten years 014. That it filled a great demajnd was apparent in the fact that, although six rapid surgeons were constantly at work, there were never less than a scor^ of people awaiting their turns for pperajtions. . Qns can scarcely think of any defect of tho body-rcaused either by Nature, error, or accident—which has no'fc b^en treated here. I shown several large albums filled with sets of two photographs, each showing the " before, and after " of several thousand ugly persons; vbp 'i^d been made the reverse by on<i of the factory.? svirgeons.* BEPUkSIVB HUNCHBACKS had been made perfectly normal, pitiful club feet had been set at corje<i?fc angles, coniiically bow legs had been given a graceful straight-ness,, latjn^ log*; had been made sound, calves, busts, and amis had been either enlarged ojr reduced, thfck ' lips— " nigger lip?'*— had been compressed to the average size ; lyhile the cases of warts, moles, pimples, and other' blotches, and even whiskers and moustaches, which had been removed— the latter so as never to grow again- -were too numerous to reckon. A great number of persons had' had their noses either reduced or enlarged or .their angles altered; many had had hare -lips moulded down to the normal form., Nearly one person in eveny twenty-five had had protrudincr ears neatly pressed back agaanat the head; several" tad "had theft- heights increased by from three-quarters of an inch to two indhes, while qn« patient—a n; Indian who had become a lawyer— had had hisprominent cheeks reduced to the level oi the average Caucasian. . The superintendent informed me that, in addition to these thousands of photographs, there were proportionately about' as many more people who had wrinkles removed and dimples made hi' their cheeks and chins,, but of whom he had not bothered to have photographs taken. He pointed out also that, while 'Me photographs he showed me pave a good idea of th? various. "beautifying? which the factory turned out," many interestino- patients would not consent to have their taken " before and after,'' and that among these people were some with physical defects which the majority of human beings 'knew nothing about. The methods employed by the beauty surgeons in their various operation's seemed to me to be quite simple, and the appiratu? they used for even the most' delicate: woik r not at all complicated. Many of; the operations are performed in a fe^y seconds without' wain to the patient, but in niost cases thfe use of antesthetics is resorted to! to show how a diniple is made in a cheek I was admitted 'to the room \yl«re a* young wqnmn of'nineteen was, desjroujij of beiii^ sc, adorned. The patient did pot : strikei ' me' as n'eediiie any dimple tp %akV Her wortli^ of t|ie title of ''^toifsl,"^-Md-'-Vo- v r"wh|qßißr6a:- >to '- > \Tsk surgeon. His reply was thafhe thoueht a^

I' did, " but she is so elated over the way 1 made her naturally large ears small that she wants me to gp a step further." §y the way, I was allowed by' the patiemti "to examine her ear?, put' I co^ld find no trace of .' ' . THJ3 StTBGEON'S SLASHINGS. When tie chair had been adjusted, the surgeon' gave the woman a hand, mirror, telling her. to look into it and smile her very sweet<}sti. A 9 she was carrying out liis orders, the sui-gepp. marked a "spot in her cheek, gave her some aiwesthetiCj and in «. f*W moment^ «he w<js unconscious. He then took up a small, na.rrow-bladed knife, ' and made a short, straight iuGisicin thfough the skin-. He folded back the skin on both sides, and tlien removed a slight elliptical section of the flesh. The- assistant hest sprayed the. cut part wifch asi antiseptic, to prevent infla-mmation, as the surgeon told me, after which the edges of the ekin were draw?i together and sewed up. I was told ithat the operation was then completed. " The wpund will heal in a few days," said the surgeon, "and at the end of that ti.me the patient will return to me and I wilt remove the slight scar with electricity. There Will then be not the least trace of the knife, and she will have as pretty a dimple as can h& foun4 in «, cUj-y's \v»lk.""