hence may be called the autumn of life. The change, however, takes place so gradually that it is scarcely perceived, and when protracted, as it may be by proper care and favourable circumstances, the middle life of woman is never without its charms, and the freedom and polish of maternity are often more admirable than the evanescent glory of an earlier period. This is the time, too, more than any other, when woman can and ought to enjoy the comforts of life. The changes, however, that take place in the constitution are of the greatest importance, involving the complete revolution of the whole of the vital forces. A new direction is given to the course of the natural law; and according to the care which is taken, so will the determination of the result, either to elegance or deformity in the declining days. Naturally, there is a deposition of fat in the cellular tissues, which gives the particular appearance which the French call embonpoint, which simply means that the nutrition which has hitherto gone to the development of the figure is now employed in the accumulation of adipose matter beneath the cuticle. When, however, the overtaxed membrane gives way, the tissues relax, and the muscular fibres losing their tenacity, fail to maintain their normal position. Then is the time to aid
