are often interesting, or pleasing; sometimes they are strikingly handsome. With the pigmented skin there are also found on the other hand features of every degree of plainness.

The nails of the fingers and toes on the thicker and more pigmented skin are strong, thick, hard and quickly growing. To keep the nails and hair in order is a perceptible burden in the lives of non-shrewish men and women.

And,

Non-shrewish women and men also, have, on the whole, a greater tendency to be lean. The rule is by no means an invariable one. let it be noted, that in certain individuals, both of the non-shrewish and the shrewish class, alcohol even in small quantities leads to the accumulation of fat, both under the skin, in the abdominal cavity, and in the structure of the internal organs.

The hair-growth in non-shrewish women, unless there has been some special ailment directly or indirectly affecting the skin, is everywhere abundant and striking.

The eye

The

brows are conspicuous or even massive. head-growth is plentiful and long; if it is even closely compressed into coil or plait, the coil or plait is not small. If it drops down loose and

uncut, it falls below the shoulders, or to the waist, or even lower. As time goes on it often thins in some degree, as it does in the shrew, though to a less extent; but what is left will, as a rule, fall to or below the shoulders. No such change save under special and exceptional but not very rare circumstances, takes place in the eyebrows. Hence the eyebrows, as a rule, afford the most reliable test of the vigour of the general hair-growth. Whatever the kind of skin, whatever the nature of the hair-growth, the eyebrows soon acquire their permanent characters and afterwards change but slowly if at all. Although non-shrewish eyebrows are well-marked, abundant, and usually long, they have not always the same peculiarities of detail. They may be compressed into a restricted area and entirely conceal the underlying skin; or they may be more or less scattered, but no scattering disguises their abundance.

The non-shrewish skeleton has notable features. The spine, save under abnormal conditions, is easily and spontaneously, upright. The head is carried well erect. The shoulders are held well back. The thorax is strikingly

appearance The con

wide from side to side and inclines backwards on each side of the spine. It inclines backwards to such a degree indeed that the posterior angles of the ribs and, much more, the shoulder blades are on a level posterior to the level of the dorsal spinous projections. Hence the back, even when clothed, has a singularly flat or even a somewhat concave transversely between the shoulders. cavity of the waist-nowhere a deep concavity, moreover, extends well up to the vicinity of the shoulder as well as downwards towards the sacrum. These anatomical incidents are due to the character of the spinal curves and, primarily, to the dorsal curve which is slight, and limited to a small number of the upper dorsal vertebra and one or two of the lower cervical.

:

To put the matter plainly a woman who has abundant eyebrows, who tends to be thin, and who has a flat or seemingly concave back, whatever else she may or may not be, will not be a shrew. She may be good or bad, wise or foolish, refined or coarse, amiable or ill-tempered; she will not be restless, fitful, petulant, censorious and discontented.

Very few words are needed to describe the anatomy of the non-shrewish man. In skin, and hair, and fat, and bones, the same, as a general rule, may be said of him as has already been said of the non-shrewish woman. His skin is thick and is variously pigmented. His nails are strong and grow rapidly. He does not readily accumulate fat. His hair growth especially on the face is closely packed, vigorous, and appears early. Much more

than the woman he is liable to baldness of the head and eyebrows. His spine is very straight, his head up, his shoulders do not fall forward, and his back is flat or slightly hollow. The ailments, and accidents, and occupations, and habits which now and then interfere with these several characteristics have been already pointed out they are both numerous and important.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PHYSIOLOGY

OF SHREWISHNESS.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOOKING at the convex back and more or less stooping figure of shrewish men and women the question naturally arises-is shrewishness a result of debility? It is not improbable that the average health of shrewish persons is below that of the non-shrewish. Certain circumstances moreover seem to give countenance to the view that shrewishness and debility are related to each other. Enfeebling disease frequently transforms an easy, tranquil, affectionate temperament into one of uneasiness, petulance, and lessened affections. The two ends of life are feebler than the intervening period; and in children who are not going to be shrews, as well as in old persons who have never been shrews there are often signs of a seeming shrewishness. A child is fitful and wayward. An old man-and some men get into