Perfect Proportions.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue VIII, 20 August 1904, Page 65

Perfect Proportions.

According to the classical standard, a person should he exactly eight times as tall as his or her head—that is the head measured from the top of the forehead to the tip of the chin. But if the head is not properly proportioned it will undoubtedly follow that there will be a discrepancy in the height. So, first of all, it is important to know just what makes a perfect head.

The perfect head should fall within an exact square from the tip of the nose to the back of the head and from the crown of the head to the ebin. To prove this take it in profile, exactly profile, and draw an exact square about it. If the square is to tit a man’s head, make it half an inch larger than for a woman’s. The woman’s should be eight and a-half inches, the man’s should be exactly nine. Perfectly proportioned hips should be exactly twice the length of your head measured from the top of the forehead to the tip of the chin.

The shoulders should be twice the width of the head measured from ear to ear.

If you find that your head is out of all proportion, here is another method of testing the height. Hold your arms out as straight as you can. Measure them across and see if their inches tally with your height. You should be exactly as tall as you measure from tip to tip of your middle finger when your arms are stretched out horizontally.

To tell if the arm is perfectly proportioned stand in front of a mirror and stretch the arm out horizontally as far as you can. Then, very slowly, keeping the upper arm as stiff as possible, bend the forearm back. Hold the head perfectly straight. Now if the arm is proportioned as it should be the extreme tip of the middle finger will reach exactly to the middle of the chin. If it reaches over to the far side of the face the arm is too long; if it caresses the near cheek the arm is too short. It must not pass the middle of the chin by the sixteenth part of.-an inch.

By this test you will find that not one person in a thousand has a perfect arm. For that matter, however, you will find the proportions of most people sadly out of proportion. A faee may attract you and it may look to you absolutely perfect, but measure it and you will find it all awry. A perfect feminine faee. for instance, should measure exactly five times the width of an eye across the cheek bones. If your eye and mouth are in proportion your eye should be exactly twothirds the width of your mouth. The length of your ear should be twice that of your eye. The space between the eyes should be exactly’ equal to one eye. Your eyes should be exactly in the centre of your head—precisely’ on a line drawn horizontally midway between the erown of your head and your chin. The length of the nose, in any face, male or female, should measure exactly one-third of the face. This feature, when it is the least bit out of proportion, makes the greatest difference in the appearance of the face, making it seem either shorter or longer. For instance, the face seems long when the nose takes up less than one-third of it. and short when it obtrudes itself and covers more than one-third. The perfect hand should be exactly double the length of the index finger. The foot ought to measure exactly’ the same as your forearm. But a better way to measure is the following:—lf your hand is in proportion,twice around its thumb should be once around your wrist; twice around your wrist should be once around your neck; twice around your neck should be once around your waist: three times around your neck should be once around your hips. Jewelled Badg es for the Pampered Canine Pets ef Paris. The pampered pet dog craze seems to be breaking out again pretty badly in Paris, where extravagance in this direction is carried to a pitch all but incredible. On the smart streets like the Rue de la Paix and the Boulevard des Capucines there are regular “Dog’s

Toilet Clubs.” where not only are pet poodles clipped in bo artistic a fashion as to leave crests and coats of arms in the hair on their baek, but there are also on sale gold and silver bangles set with precious stones, solid gold collars and leading chains, and chic little fur coats in mink, sable, ermine ami seal. In fact, the pet dog of fashion is completely fitted out in these establishments, even to his visiting cards, pocket handkerchiefs, and the ridiculous little umbrellas and sunshades, which are fastened around the body by a ►strap. In the sad event of Fido departing this life suddenly, as a result of all this pampering, he has a gorgeous cemetery to go to—small consolation for him. perhaps, but still there is the fact —a cemetery full of handsome monuments of quite artistic elegance. Even the great sculptor Rodin has stooped to a dog headstone. This kind of thing was tried in Loudon. where a very charming lady opened a “Dog’s Toilet Club” on the first floor in one of the best parts of Bondstreet. The common sense of the English people, however, was too much for the institution, which soon bad to close its doors. There is, however, a very extensive dogs’ cemetery in Hyde Park; and certainly pampering in the way of food is carried to as ridiculous an extent in London as in any capital citv of the Old World. There are in the Belgravia district, round about Eaton square, quite a number of fashionable canine surgeons, and men like the Brothers Sewell make £4OOO a year each by dosing overfed

dogs with the commonest of drugs and dog biscuits. The following story was related to the writer by Mr Alfred Sewell himself:—“l was one day sent for by the Countess of Londesborough. who was in great distress when I entered her draw-ing-room. She was even in tears. ‘Oh. what evter shall 1 do. Mr Sewell?’ she said. ‘My poor Punch!’ and here she broke down altogether. ‘‘l had Punch brought in. He could hardly walk. I said it was a serious case—which, indeed, it was. I said there was nothing for it but for me to take Punch away and treat him at my house. Next day a splendidly equipped barouche drove up to my surgery with a coachman and footman on the box. A second footman presently got out,handling gingerly an elegant wicker cradle, lined with sky blue satin and with a coverlet of crimson silk. In this lay the sick Punch, who was received with much sympathy by my man. man. “Thereafter that same carriage drove up three times a day, and the same footman handed in to my man massive silver dishes bearing dainty entrees, such as fricassee of pheasant, sweetbreads. and so on. The man was also instructed to make tender inquiries after the feeble Punch. “This kind of thing went on probably for a fortnight; but I need hardly say that Punch’s condition called for no more complicated treatment than steady starvation for several days, and then a little dog biscuit and water.” And it is for this kind of thing that the canine “vets.” send in enormous bills!