Fashion in deformity : [a discourse] / by W.H. Flower.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fashion in deformity : [a discourse] / by W.H. Flower. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    a pound, and drags down, elongates, and everts the lower lip, so as to exposo the gums and teeth, in a manner which to our taste is hideous, but with them is considered an essential adjunct to an attractive and correct appearance. In tho extreme north of America, the Eskimo “ pierce the lower lip under one or both cornors of the mouth, and insert in each aper- ture a double-hoaded sleeve-button or dumb-bell-shaped labret, of bone, ivory, shell, stone, glass, or wood. Tho incision when first made is about the size of a quill, but as the aspirant for improved beauty grows older, the size of the orifice is enlargod until it reaches the width of half to three-quarters of an inch.” * These operations appear to be practised only on tho men, and are supposed to possess some signifi- cance other than that of mere ornament. The first piercing of the lip, which is accompanied by some solemnity as a religious feast, is performed on approaching manhood. But the people who have carried these strange customs to the greatest excess are tho Thlinkeets, who inhabit the south-eastern shores of Alaska.! “ Here it is the women who, in piercing the nose and cars, and filling the apertures with bones, shells, sticks, pieces of copper, nails, or attaching thereto heavy pendants, which drag down the organs and pull the features out of place, appear to have taxed their inventive powers to the utmost, and with a success unsurpassed by any nation in the world, to produce a model of hideous beauty. This success is achieved in their wooden lip-ornament, the crowning glory of the Thlinkeet nation, described by a multitude of eye-witnesses. In all female free-born Thlinkeet children, a slit is made in the under lip, parallel with the mouth, and about half an inch below it. A copper wire, or a piece of shell or wood, is introduced into this, by which the wound is kept open and the aperture extended. By gradually intro- ducing larger objects the required dimensions of the opening are produced. On attaining the age of maturity, a block of wood is in- serted, usually oval or elliptical in shape, concave on the sides, and grooved like the wheel of a pulley on the edge in order to keep it in place. The dimensions of the block are from two to six inches in length, from one to four inches in width, and about half an inch thick round the edge, and it is highly polished. Old age has little terror in the eyes of a Thlinkeet belle; for larger lip-blocks arc introduced as years advanco, and each enlargement adds to the lady’s social status, if not to her facial charms. When the block is withdrawn, the lip drops down upon the chin like a piece of leather, displaying the teeth, and presenting altogether a ghastly spectacle. The privilege of wear- ing this ornament is not extended to female slaves.” In this method of adornment the native Americans are, however, rivalled, if not eclipsed, by the negroes of the heart of Africa. * H. PI. Bancroft, ‘Native Races of the Pacific States of North America,’ vol. i. 1875. t See Bancroft, op. cit. vol. i. for numerous citations from original observers regarding these customs.