Beauty

Alexander Walker's Beauty presents itself as a bold scientific inquiry into female beauty, treating a subject usually left to taste and convention as a matter for anatomy, physiology, and close observation. Framed as part of a larger effort to understand human nature, it argues that woman's form has been neglected by serious study despite its universal importance, and that beauty is inseparable from truth, public knowledge, and human happiness. The book's scope is wide, moving from general theories of beauty to the face, expression, age, dress, disguise, and the relation of appearance to character. At its core, the work classifies feminine beauty through bodily systems and proportions. It praises delicate joints, softly rounded wrists and ankles, refined muscles, and a graceful locomotive system, while contrasting these with the athletic temperament's forceful but less subtle build. It also links nutritive beauty to softness, plumpness, fertility, and maternal function, emphasizing digestion, moderation, and the physical signs of health and reproduction. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.