The Perfect Figure.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 73

The Perfect Figure.

How far fcToes your figure fall short of perfection? Perfection, that is, according to the canors of classic statuary. The standards of the "Greek sculptors have never bean improved. These are tneir undeviating rules : —

The figure should be exactly six times as long as the- foot; The face from the middle point of the hak- line to the point of the chin should ba one-tenth of the entire stature.

The hand from the tip of the middle finger to the end. of the palm should be of the •came length as the face, and &o also one-tenth of the length of the body.

From the highest point of the forehead tt^the beginning of the chest should be OTe-seventh of the length of the body. • If the face from the hair line to the point of the chin is divided into three parts, the first line of division is the point equi-dietant from the lowest points of the eyebrows. The second division line is that directly beneath the nostrils. The body when standing with arms extended horizontally should form a human Maltese cross. The length of the body should be tlie same as the distance across the body from the middle finger of, one hand to the middle finger of the other. The ideal face of the sculptors has always been pear-shaped, diminishing, from a noble width at the foreliead and top of the head to a slim delicacy of chin. The trend of feature formation this oen^ tury of personal dominance is in another direction, towards a widening and increasing of the weight of the jaw. This «dds to tlie impression of strength of character, but it subtracts much from the'sun? of- the beauty of a face.