As we advance in years certain lines appear on the face and neck, which we associate with age. But these marks of physical deterioration are more often due to neglect than to years. Some women, for instance who are twenty-five, may appear ten years older.

The preservation of the celebrated beauty of the sixteenth century, Ninon de L'Enclos, is a well-known instance of this theory. This woman was remarkable for her wonderful physical preservations. At the age of eighty, creditable authorities state she retained the great beauty of her girlhood. Her face having the freshness of youth, and being as free from the lines of age as it had been at twenty and her white-powdered hair, then fashionable, added to her youthful appearance.

From the data the writer has been able to gather, her smoothness of skin and freedom from wrinkles was due solely to persistent daily friction of the skin of her face, combined with an exercise for the muscles of the neck and throat. Little was known of the laws of scientific physical culture at that time, but as Madam de L'Enclos retained her elasticity of body and graceful figure to the last, it is evident that some system of exercises was systematically and persistently practiced. In that way alone could her youthful condition have been preserved.

Usually the first marks left by time on the human features - and they are common to us all - are the wrinkles extending from the nostrils to the corners of the mouth and beyond. As the years advance these are joined by parallel wrinkles, somewhat shorter, about half an inch distant on the cheek. Still later, another, and even shorter, wrinkle appears at a further distance of less than half an inch. Others are also formed, beginning at the corners of the mouth, and extending downward with a slight inward curve.

Wrinkles on the forehead with a slight downward bend at the ends which parallel the line of the eyebrows, appear. These are generally from three to five in number, according to one's age. The wrinkles commonly called "crow's feet" spread, fanwise, from the outer corners, of the eyes over the temples, and are also usually from three to five in number.

The skin below the eyes becomes loose and creased. These creased lines start from the corners of the eyes, slightly curving and overlapping each other. By this time one or two lines usually appear at the sides of the neck, commencing at a point back of the ears, extending below the jaw, and slanting downward to the throat. Immediately behind the ears, too, the skin becomes slightly loose; two short wrinkles form, and a line appears extending down to, and under, the neck. At the next stage a great number of very short, tiny lines begin to appear all over the face and neck - some parallel, others intersecting. These lines give the skin a withered appearance. The freshness of youth has departed. Now, the skin under the chin becomes loose, too. All of the long lines meet and overlay and interweave, and combine with the short ones, just appearing to form a tangled web of crisscrossing that deepen as the years advance. This is the skein of life. This is the spinning of time. And the pattern is never beautiful!

The only sure method of erasing these lines is by friction. And this is best accomplished with the palms of the hands. This treatment, if began when the disfiguring lines first appear, and if methodically and daily practiced along with the exercises for the muscles of the face and neck, will surely result in a very marked and satisfactory improvement in the personal appearance.