Morning journal and courier., 1885-08-10
On Wrinkles.
From the Pall Mall Gazette.


 We all become interested sooner or later
 in the subject of wrinkles. They are the
 ''irreparable outrage of Racine; but although they are so universal few have endeavored to explain their origin and progress. M. Man
 tegazza, in the Italian scientific journal Ma tura, has recently published study on the
 subject, which appears to contain all that
 can be said on it at present Wrinkles are produced in the first instance by the frequent
 repetition of some muscular contraction or by sickness. According to one writer they are
 not merely superficial, but appear when the only in the face but ali over the body. They do not run in any regular direction, and no law has been found including all their direc-
 tions. They are said to depend mainly on the fasciculi which form the reticular part of the dermis. M. Montegazza thinks that the life history of man can be written from his wrinkles. Corneille has expressed the same idea:
 s'Ses rides sur son front ont grave exploits,
 but physiology and poetry hardly agree in
 this instance; for it has still to be proved
 that generals wrinkles differ from those of physician, or laborer's from lawyers.
 A man does not always, or even generally,
 carry about faithful autobiography in his
 face. Although no part of the body is free
 from them they visit chiefly the face, partic- larly round the eyes and lips They run in
 all directions, horizontal, vertical, and obi
 que, straight, curved and crossed. M. Man
 tegazza then goes rapidly over the common
 est and most remarkable sets of wrinkles.
 These cross the forehead and are found even in
 children who gre rickety or idiots. Going
 in the sun with the face insufficiently covered
 brings them on prematurely. But they are in every case normal at forty or even earlier.
 Vertical wrinkles between the eyes come quickly to men who study or who worry themselves. This can readily be imagined; hay1: :T1d thought; grief or worry produces the same action, which when repeatedly frequently produces a fold in the skin, marking emotion undergone many times. One of the rules of the Jesuits was that the eyebrows were not t be contracted. This was excellent from a moral point of view, but it was also excellent :o prevent wrinkles between the eyes. Be- tween these and the straight lines on the fore head already mentioned come the arched wrinkles of the forehead, found above the root of the nose. These often tell of long and cruel physical suffering, or of still more painful mental torture. They arise from a great development of the vertical wrink kles and the resistance of the skin above. The crows feet mark the passing of the fortleth year. They especially detested by ladies, says M. Mantegazza; and he forthwith relates sn anecdo5e of a lady who succeeded in keep ing off the dreaded visitation long after it was due by the expedient of using springs to bS5p tu0 Shlu StICIoACo dp hiSiO 1o oaO SoA | ners of the eyes. These wrinkles are char sc. prize by fu1rows which diverge from the extel nel angles of the eye in all directions, l lile the claws of the bird from which they are namci The wrinkles of the nose are les f.equent and less noticeable, and appear in old age. Those which descend from the nost1ls down each side of the mouth (the 1'des naso labiales) perhaps the first to app ,ar. The reason is simple. These fur rows are created in laughing or mastication | . simple smile is sufficient to produce them,
 so it is not surpi sing the repetition of the
 conmonest acts should soon be graven on the l face They are also hereditary. M. Mantle I gc ;za had them when he was % years o1 age, and his children have had them iron | their earliest years. The wrinkles of the l cheeks and chin follow the oval of the face l and are caused by diminution of the fatty substance under the skin, which then falls | into folds. The small wrinkles which form a network in the lower parts of the cheeks | near the ears have the same origin, and only ! appear in old age Those are found in the eye lids, and sometimes in the lowerfall which giv. the eyes an air of fatigue, and the results of l hard living, grief or worry. # & :
 | The study of wrinkles, concludes M. Man | tegazza, has still to be prosecuted. It would
 be necessary to compare them in the differ | erent races of mankind to see if there are any sensible differences, and if so their causes and extent. It would certainly be interest l ing to know something more O: t'thoee l d-d democrats who won't aatter,n ss 1 By.on puts it somewhere.