Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-04
ENAMELING.
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Among the mysteries of the fem
mime toilette which from time To
time distract the minds Of philoso.
pliers, there is none so difficult to
learn anything about as enameliug.
But what is enameling? We an
swer frankly that we don't know.
1t is reported that there is such I'm
art, and that by its means woman
with harsh or even disordered
skin, and bad complexion, may be
endowed with smooth and perfect
skin, and complexion Of dazzling
beauty. How this done? Is it
done at all +? We know not. Yet
we have occasionally met in society
ladies of extraordinary. charms,
and sometimes of great social dis
tinetion, who were said by others
to have been enameled, ard to have
passed through such q TRANSITIONAL
ton from ugliness to beauty.
The word enamel, in ordinary
use, signifies to apply a coating Of
smooth, CLASSY substance to the sur
face of glass or metal, and TO fix it
there by baking, in a heat sointense
that the coating and the surface
beneath it become fused together.
Such baking and melting are clearly
not applicable to the human skin
and yet we have been told that these
ladies who were pointed out as en-
ameled were characterized by pre-
ternatural smOothness and hardness
on the surface of their faces and
necks, in appearances not unlike
porcelain. The hypothesis then is,
that human enameling consists in
the fastening of thin and delicate
paste or porcelain covering upon
the exterior of the face and neck.
How this is done is not known
otherwise it would be easy to tell
what is enameling d..
That the process is not inexpen-
sive wonld appear from recent
affidavit of the notorious Madame
Rachel, the enameler in London,
who states that when in May, 1866,
she was called upon to enamel Mrs.
BorrodaiIe, her fee was thousand
guineas, besides a gift offifty pounds
which she always requires her Gus
stomers to give TO the pOor-and
that such are still her charges in
all, about So 900 in our money. For
the thousand guineas Mrs. Borro-
dale gave an acceptance, and tn, -.
fifty pounds to charity she under
took to dispense for herself, and
the work was done accordingly.
When she came into her hand,
Madame Rachel afirns that Mrs
Borrodaile had only a few patches
of rusty gray hair, and her head and
face were disfgured by an eruption;
now her skin is beautiful, and she
has head Of beautiful, soft, curly
blonde hair.
1t is so manifestly for the interest
of charlatan like Madame Rachel,
to make the eredulous believe that
there is some secret artificial meth
cd by which fright of woman
may be converted into a fairy, that
her testimony is Of no value in
the great question, What is
enameling? Il is very probable
that it is nothing but q delusion
praetieed upon fools, and that there
is really no such thing. But, on
the other hand, we have the very
general belief in its reality, found
ed upon the alleged fact that some
ladies' have suddenly gained kind
eff delicately tinted, smooth, metallic,
though apparently not infexible
skin, very unlike that which they
had previously possessed. How
did they obtain it2 And how do
they keepit ? We ought to add
that one of the prevailing supersti-
tions about these ladies is that they
cannot wash their faces, but have
to wipe off with a soft cloth, but
slightly moistened, the surface Of
the enameled parts. Also, that
they have to be very careful how
they arrange their faces when they
go to sleep. What q horrible idea
And how little is such artificial and
precarious beauty to be envied