14 February 1880 - Answers to Correspondents - Miscellaneous

HOMEDALE -  For the black specks on the skin of which you complain, we can only give the same advice that we have given to our correspondent "Kitty". Should you have any particular spot more conspicuous than the rest, take a small key and press the little round hole firmly down round it, and it will be thus removed. But the only way of preventing their recurrence is to wash the face well daily with soap which does not contain alkali, and this will cleanse the pores, which are simply choked with perspiration and dust. There are also two degrees of strength in carbolic soap, sold at all chemists, and ordered by doctors for affections of the skin. You may try one of these, and if none of the suggestions given prove successful, you had better consult a skin doctor.

EDINBURGH - If your health be good, and you neither suffer from head aches, nor any mental distress, we suppose that the premature greyness of your hair must be hereditary and for this there is no remedy, However, you may try the tonic  for the hair which is recommended by Dr Erasmus Wilson. There is a lack of nutriment perhaps, which might be supplied by this home-made tonic. Eau do Cologne, 8 fluid ounces. Tincture of cantharides, 1 fluid ounce. Oil of lavender, and of rosemary, 1/2 fluid drachm each. (If too strong, dilute with rosewater.) Apply with a sponge.

MISS W___MAN___ - The hair is dressed higher than it was, in much the same sort of coil, but with a comb. To wear short hair curled across a low forehead is certainly not becoming. It gives a low type of expression to the countenance, and spoils the proportions of the face.

"N.E.C." - The tradition of throwing shoes after a newly-wedded pair is of a very ancient origin. Amongst the Jews the delivering of a shoe denoted a renunciation of any right or title in any person of possession. The family of Ruth gave one to Boaz, when he entered into possession of his brother's lot. The custom in reference to marriage descends to us from our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, when the father presented the bride's shoe to her husband, who touched her with it on the head, in token of his authority. In Turkey, on the contrary, it is the bridegroom who is to receive due admonition by means of shoes, for he is chased by the wedding guests and beaten or pelted with slippers. But whatever custom may obtain in different countries at weddings, this giving or throwing down of a shoe is a relic of the ancient law of exchange; and when now thrown by the parents after a newly-married daughter, it means that they resign all authority and all right to her. The throwing of rice after her is derived from an ancient Roman ceremony, and is a relic of the Panis Jarrens, in the most honourable form of Roman marriage, called confarreatio.

KITTY - Eruptions on the face arise from various causes. A bad digestion, unwholesome food, swallowing food too quickly before half masticated, employing the brain too soon after meals (which should never be set at work while the stomach is engaged), stooping the head at any employment after meals, poorness of blood from insufficient or low diet, eating too many sweet things (causing acidity), intemperance, or, lastly, not using good soap, once a day, in washing the face. This neglect is the cause of much of the eruption prevalent amongst young people. The pores become choked with perspiration and dust, and little pustules are forced in consequence. Besides which the pores become as with the use of powder, permanently distended, like the holes in orange-peel. A soap having as little alkali in possible is the best for cleansing the face.

The Editor begs his readers' kind acceptance of a Valentine, which, with his compliments, he offers to every subscriber to this number. The drawing of the SPECIAL VALENTINE PLATE is by the talented pencil of Monsieur Giacomelli.