CHAPTER VIII.
MIDDLE LIFE.
IN speaking of the middle age of woman there are a few things which must be taken into consideration, in reference to her anatomical construction, which influence the whole that we have to say in relation to the peculiar support which she will require in that particular period called "middle life;" for unless this conception be fully realised it will not be perceived why we have gone out of our way to invent certain things which are specially adapted to this time of life.
Middle age is that period which dates from the completion of the whole organic structure, and continues until the decline of the innate force, and 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 be, 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
