ight. On the other hand, the pubic hair should be dark in order to
emphasize the breadth of the pelvis and the obtusity of the angle between
the mons veneris and the thighs. The eyebrows and eyelashes should also be
dark in order to increase the apparent size of the orbits. Stratz adds
that among many thousand women he has only seen one who, together with an
otherwise perfect form, has also possessed these excellencies in the
highest measure. With an equable and matt complexion she had blonde, very
long, smooth hair, with sparse, blonde, and curly axillary hair; but,
although her eyes were blue, the eyebrows and eyelashes were black, as
also was the not overdeveloped pubic hair.[154]

We may accept it as fairly certain that, so far as any objective standard
of aesthetic beauty is recognizable, that standard involves the supremacy
of the fair type of woman. Such supremacy in beauty has doubtless been
further supported by the fact that in most European countries the ruling
caste, the aristocratic class, whose superior energy has brought it to the
top, is somewhat blonder than the average population.

The main cause, however, in determining the relative amount of admiration
accorded in Europe to blondes and to brunettes is the fact that the
population of Europe must be regarded as predominantly fair, and that our
conception of beauty in feminine coloring is influenced by an instinctive
desire to seek this type in its finest forms. In the north of Europe there
can, of course, be no question concerning the predominant fairness of the
population, but in portions of the centre and especially in the south it
may be considered a question. It must, however, be remembered that the
white population occupying all the shores of the Mediterranean have the
black peoples of Africa immediately to the south of them. They have been
liable to come in contact with the black peoples and in contrast with them
they have tended not only to be more impressed with their own whiteness,
but to appraise still more highly its blondest manifestations as
representing a type the farthest removed from the negro. It must be added
that the northerner who comes into the south is apt to overestimate the
darkness of the southerner because of the extreme fairness of his own
people. The differences are, however, less extreme than we are apt to
suppose; there are more dark people in the north than we commonly assume,
and more fair people in the south. Thus, if we