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Dismembering Appearances: The Cultural Meaning of the Body and its Parts in Eighteenth-Century Understanding Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy to the University of Edinburgh by Kathryn Woods s0563446 Doctoral Student of History Department of History, Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh 2014 Abstract This thesis explores the cultural meanings attached to the visible appearance of the body and its parts in eighteenth-century understanding. It is situated within historical scholarship concerned with the embodied display of ‘politeness’ and the relationship between the body and categories of social difference. The research draws upon a range of popular literature, including conduct books, popular medical advice books, midwifery manuals and advice guides. Chapter one reveals the way that contemporaries conceptualised the relationship between the individual body and society through investigation of various aspects of abdominal experience. Chapter two illustrates how the appearance of the skin was thought to convey identity information about an individual’s health, temperament, character, gender, class and race. Chapter three then continues by exploring similar themes with respect to the face. The next two chapters focus on the corporeal display of gender; while chapter four argues that changing male and female hairstyles reflected shifting gender mores, chapter five evidences how female breasts were seen as visible markers of sexual difference. Chapter six examines how class informed how the hands were employed and displayed by different social actors. Finally, chapter seven looks at how ‘politeness’ informed how the legs were trained to enact various cultural performances. In this thesis it is argued that in the eighteenth century popular authors sought to uncover how bodies worked by appropriating anatomical models of examining the body through scrutiny of its parts. Yet, it will be demonstrated that discussion of the body’s parts within popular literature was distinctive because it reflected readers’ growing preoccupation with how the body, as a social actor, conveyed information about individual identity. The thesis contributes to present scholarship by detailing a range of meanings which were attached to different parts of the body that have previously been elided by historians. Additionally, it demonstrates that discursive dismemberment, though located in eighteenth-century discourses on the body, represents a historically reflective and methodologically useful mode of examining the lived body in the eighteenth century. 2 Contents Declaration of Authorship 6 Acknowledgements 7 List of Illustrations 8 Conventions 9 Introduction The ‘Polite’ Body 10 ‘Politeness’ and Embodied Display 12 The Body and Social Difference 17 Theoretical Considerations and Methods 22 Aims and Objectives 27 Introduction to the Sources 28 Chapter Outline 42 1. Digestion and Body Size Introduction 45 Humours, Organs, Blood and the Stomach 47 Popular Medical Advice Books and the ‘Regimens’ 51 Temperance 56 ‘Corpulency’ 59 Fatness and Leanness 61 Body Size, Gender and Fertility 66 Shape, Class and Nationality 69 Conclusion 72 2. Skin Introduction 74 A Shifting Anatomical Boundary 76 Complexion 81 ‘Beautiful’ Complexions 84 Skin Colour and Social Difference 87 A Surface of Inscription 95 Conclusion 101 3. Face Introduction 102 Physiognomy 104 Facing the ‘Polite Self’ 112 Beauty 115 Ugliness 121 Expressing ‘Politeness’ 126 Cosmetics and the ‘Picts’ 135 Conclusion 139 3 4. Hair and Head Introduction 141 Gendering the Head 142 Colours and Humours 146 Colour, Texture, Climate and Inheritance 153 Periwigs and the Measure of the Man 158 Towering Coiffures and Female Character 161 Conclusion 165 5. Breasts Introduction 167 Growing Breasts 168 Age, Sex and the Appearance of the Breast 173 ‘Beautiful’ Breasts 176 Modest forms of Display 180 Nursing Breasts 184 Conclusion 189 6. Hands Introduction 190 Palms and Palmists 191 Thumb and Fingers 195 Nails 198 ‘Beautiful’ Hands and Social Difference 202 Rights and Lefts 206 ‘Airs’ and Performance 209 Conclusion 215 7. Legs and Feet Introduction 216 Proportion and Social Categorisation 217 ‘Fitness’ 223 Stepping Out ‘Politely’ 229 Living with Deformity and Disease 237 Conclusion 241 Conclusion 242 Appendix 250 Courtesy Texts 251 Medical Advice Books 265 Midwifery Texts 274 Advice Books 280 4 Bibliography Primary Sources 287 Secondary Sources 301 5 Declaration of Authorship I, Kathryn Woods, hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by myself and the work in it is entirely my own. The work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. Signed: 6 Acknowledgements In writing this PhD I have found myself indebted to the many people who have generously given up their time, energy, expertise, and often patience, to help me along the way. My first debt is due to my excellent supervision team: Professor Stana Nenadic and Dr Gayle Davis. I thank them for their belief in the project and encouragement of all my various ventures into academia. I feel extremely lucky to have benefited from the backing of two such impressive female role models at this early stage of my career. Particular acknowledgment is also due to several members of Edinburgh University’s History department. Firstly, I offer my gratitude to Dr Adam Fox for his work as my undergraduate supervisor and for the insightful commentary he offered at my first year review. Thanks are also due to Dr Adam Budd for his help in formulating a proposal for this research in its very early stages. More generally I wish to acknowledge my appreciation to my school for the Arts and Humanities Research Council funding they bestowed upon me to facilitate this research. Additionally, I want to thank all of those who work so hard to create such a great research ethos within the school, and all the undergraduates I have had the pleasure of teaching in the last three years. My final thanks are personal ones. To my Glenfinlas colleagues I express my gratitude for the fresh perspectives that their many artistic and academic interests have brought to my research, as well as the constant supply of good-cheer and coffee. I similarly thank the London girls, my flat-mates, fellow heritage project volunteers, and other chums, for all the welcome distractions they have offered over the years, and their constant willingness to have their ears bent. However, my ultimate and most important thanks go to my Mum and Dad, Helen and Kevin. I thank you directly for your constant love, support, and encouragement. At this stage I am even grateful for the nagging! I really could not have done it without you. 7 List of Illustrations 1. An image of the face illustrating the influence of the different signs of the zodiac, from Anon., Aristotle’s Compleat Masterpiece (London, 1697). 2. Resemblance of a man to a lion, from G. B. della Porta, On Human Physiognomy (Naples, 1586). 3. Types of mouth, from J. C. Lavater, Essays on Physiognomy, volume three (London, 1789). 4. Patches on a white face and on that of black “savage”, from J. Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis (London, 1653). 5. ‘New Head Dresses for the Year 1770’, from D. Ritchie, Treatise on the Hair (London, 1770). 6. Illustration showing the names of the lines of the hand, from E. Pater, The Book of Knowledge Shewing the Wisdom of the Achievements of the Ancients (London, 1720). 7. ‘To Give or Receive’, from F. Nivelon, The Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour (London, 1737). 8. ‘Rhetorick’, R. Cesare, Iconologia: or, Moral Emblems (London, 1709). 9. ‘The Laplander’, from O. Goldsmith, An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, volume two (London, 1790). 10. ‘Young Tree Moulded into Shape’, from N. Andry, Orthopӕdia; or the Art of Correcting and Preventing Deformities in Children (London, 1743). 11. ‘Standing’, from F. Nivelon, Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour (London, 1737). 12. Dance Steps, from F. Raoul-Auger, The Art of Dancing (London, 1706). 8 Conventions Note on the Text Throughout this thesis, original spelling, punctuation, italicisation, capitalisation and word abbreviation has been retained in quotations from the primary source material. This is why the spelling of many words in the quotations is inconsistent. In instances where the contemporary words and spellings are unfamiliar to modern readers, definitions will be provided in the footnotes. Printed Book Formats Folio 1 leaf = 2 pages Quarto 4 leaves = 8 pages (4o) Octavo 8 leaves = 16 pages (8o) Duodecimo 12 leaves = 24 pages (12o) Decimo-sexto/sixteenmo 16 leaves = 32 pages (16o) Decimo-octavo/eighteenmo 18 leaves = 36 pages (18o) Currency