s, and on the
second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of
rank in their dress, all being in a state of Nature; that is, in
plain English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect
concealed. Yet there was not the least wanton smile or immodest
gesture among them. They walked and moved with the same majestic
grace which Milton describes of our general mother. I am here
convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, that if
it was the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly
observed." (_Letters and Works_, 1866, vol. i, p. 285.)

At St. Petersburg, in 1774, Sir Nicholas Wraxall observed "the
promiscuous bathing of not less than two hundred persons, of both
sexes. There are several of these public bagnios," he adds, "in
Petersburg, and every one pays a few copecks for admittance.
There are, indeed, separate spaces for the men and women, but
they seem quite regardless of this distinction, and sit or bathe
in a state of absolute nudity among each other." (Sir N. Wraxall,
_A Tour Through Some of the Northern Parts of Europe_, 3d ed.,
1776, p. 248.) It is still usual for women in the country parts
of Russia to bathe naked in the streams.

In 1790, Wedgwood wrote to Flaxman: "The nude is so general in
the work of the ancients, that it will be very difficult to avoid
the introduction of naked figures. On the other hand, it is
absolutely necessary to do so, or to keep the pieces for our own
use; for none, either male or female, of the present generation
will take or apply them as furniture if the figures are naked."
(Meteyard, _Life of Wedgwood_, vol. ii, p. 589.)

Mary Wollstonecraft quotes (for reprobation and not for
approval) the following remarks: "The lady who asked the
question whether women may be instructed in the modern system of
botany, was accused of ridiculous prudery; nevertheless, if she
had proposed the question to me, I should certainly have
answered: 'They cannot!'" She further quotes from an educational
book: "It would be needless to caution you against putting your
hand, by chance, under your neck-handkerchief; for a modest woman
never did so." (Mary Wollstonecraft, _The Rights of Woman_, 1792,
pp. 277, 289.)

At the present time a knowledge of the physiology of plants is
not usually considered inconsistent with modesty