For Health And Beauty by Mary Lynn Stewart, Johns Hopkins University Press,
£29.50, ISBN 0801864836
COSMETICS may seem to be merely a matter of frivolous fashion, but their
history tells a different story, argues Mary Lynn Stewart, a historian at Simon
Fraser University. Science, not just commercial interests, lies behind all those
cleansing bars and creams we buy today. A century ago, French physicians and
hygienists vigorously advised women to use such products, as the modern notion
of cleanliness emerged. Louis Pasteur’s germ theory had transformed dirt into
the visible manifestation of the invisible— the hidden bacterial agents of
disease.…
