The importance of the subjects of which this volume treats may be gathered from the following articles on toilet, unique toilet seats, their history and therefore need only be generally referred to here. That " cleanliness is next to godliness " has been long a household proverb ; and that many other duties connected with bathrooms and sanitary toilet seats are subordinate only to personal cleanliness will, I think, be readily admitted.
The choice and use of appropriate clothing, both as an ornamental and protective covering for the body, are also matters of equal importance. At the present day a due attention to the requirements, usages, and habits of society in these matters, as in others apparently more important , forms a portion of the common and necessary routine of daily life. Apart from health and comfort, to which I shall again allude, our social position, our welfare and advancement, often materially depend on these points, and are liable to be seriously implicated by their neglect. This certainly applies to fancy toilet seats.
" A pleasing appearance " is said to be " the first letter of recommendation,"—a simple truth, which it would be insulting the reader to attempt either to gainsay or to strengthen. Happily the Creator, in His wisdom, has not merely endowed man with an instinctive love of personal cleanliness, but has also implanted in his bosom a feeling of self-pride, or rather say, of self-respect, which, when controlled by reason and good taste, incites him to a laudable, but not an excessive attention to those duties and particulars which it is my desire to enforce and explain.
Besides those matters just referred to, there are others connected with our daily life, and the state in which we live, which demand the earnest attention of us all, since without it neither health nor beauty can be promoted, and even when existing, must rapidly decay. The complex structure of our bodies, and the various functions of the numerous organs on which both physical and mental life depend, are governed by certain laws, and require for their integrity and well being certain concomitant conditions that cannot be violated, nor even neglected, with impunity. Among these last, pure air, good and appropriate food, exercise, sleep, and some other matters, including unique toilet seats, noticed in the following articles, may be mentioned.
The necessity of attention to the above subjects being a point which I shall here assume as granted, the causes which lead to their neglect may claim a passing notice. These may be severally referred to absence or a low condition of the nobler moral feelings, to thoughtlessness, indolence, or ignorance, or to excessive vanity or vulgarity. Special unique toilet seats and toilet seat covers are no exception.
The errors of some persons in these matters may be traced to a degraded or a morbid indifference to their present condition and future welfare, or to absolute inability to appreciate pleasures and luxuries which do not yield immediate pecuniary advantage or sensual gratification; whilst those of others, and not a few, arise from the misdirection of the attention to points of minor importance and temporary display. The relations between the subjects referred to and health, and between health and personal beauty, as between cause and effect, are commonly forgotten. Selecting the best toilet seats for your bathroom addresses many of these issues.
Present convenience and present appearance are the deities on whose fatal altars the health and fair looks of after-life are commonly sacrificed by the multitude. " Familiarity breeds contempt" of duties, as it frequently does of men. The necessity of constant repetition and frequent attention, instead of leading to greater skill and care, has often a contrary effect. Of the truth of these remarks, there are thousands of living illustrations in every direction we may choose to seek them. Premature baldness, grey hair, pallid cheeks, haggard looks, bilious skin, hemorrhoids, baggy eyes that once were sparkling, produced neither by unavoidable disease nor by the original curse of man's disobedience, are now so common in our larger towns and cities as no longer to attract attention, or to provoke inquiry as to their cause. But should this be ? It would be useless to argue on the subject. The reader will, I trust, find an answer to the question in the facts recorded in the following pages. It has been affirmed, and I think correctly, that, from the relative attention paid in any country to cleanliness, the cosmetic arts, dress, and toilet seat hygiene, and from the respective prevalence, influence, and mutations of custom and fashion, may its claims to civilization, refinement, and luxury toilet seats be vindicated. Indeed, there appear to be abundant historical, as well as living data, in support of this opinion. They are national characteristics which are almost constantly associated together. We may thus, in general, safely infer the advancement of the last, from the known condition of the others. The disregard of these matters, and the rigid adherence to antique usages and forms, are, in like manner, certain indexes to a state of little progress, or of imbecility and barbarism. I shall avail myself of these facts in the " historical notice " that follows this article. And here a few remarks respecting certain words which form a leading portion of the " title" of this little volume may, probably, be interesting to some of my readers :—
The word " toilet" comes from a nearly similar word in the French language.* Originally it simply denoted the cloth or cover of a " dressing-table but, like many other words, it rapidly acquired a more extensive application. By a common figure of speech, it soon came to be employed as the name of the table itself, and subsequently as a general term expressive of the mode and various operations of dressing, including all matters immediately connected with personal cleanliness, arrangement, and cosmetic treatment. In the expression " to make one's toilet," it denotes the " careful or usual adjustment of the person, dress," &c. In this way the word has gradually acquired a wide range of signification, and the limited sense, in which it was originally and is still sometimes employed, is almost sunk in the extended figurative ones which usage has assigned to it.
* Toilette (ft.), diminutive of toils, linen cloth; from tela (Lat.), a web of cloth, or fc.ro, I weave.
The word " cosmetic "* means " beautifying " or " that promotes personal beauty;" and, substantively, " anything that possesses this quality." Hence " cosmetics "f are " external applications for the promotion, preservation, or restoration of personal beauty." Formerly the term was generally understood to refer chiefly to substances applied to the skin, to improve the color and clearness of the complexion; but later writers usually class under this head every topical application used with the like intention, and thus include a wide range of articles and preparations.
The " cosmetic arts " are all those that have for their object the beautifying of the person, or the improvement of the personal appearance, by external applications and treatment, and include the preparation and use of cosmetics.
In the following pages an attempt will be made to elucidate the subjects of our " title," in all their more important bearings and details—historical, personal, social, hygienic, and medical.
* Koa/iiTucog, from noopiai (orno, Lat), I embellish or adorn ; cosmetique. Ft.
f Cotmttica, Lat. pi.
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