San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-05-25
LAYING HANDS BEAUTIFUL.
II, Gloves and ThImbles to Give Shape to the
cos"'"' Ends Of the Fingers.
n. IL Gnn
New York sun.

, d, ,a;ce of the Hand DOctor. Inc
the o Of the house has no sign or
eSe' n,ate TO attract the notice of the
doo, nnblic, but il is evident that
genes asb;onable world has been in
the nd Of the Doctors whereabouts,
i ioom the number of richly dressed peo-
l h1a Who frequent the office. u
Pr uriosity induced reporter to visit
~ ,,loce last week. The servant who
tii. mpered the bell showed the visitor
;n.o front parlor, where young
i stood ready to receive patients.
MTa renorter pulled out an anesthetic-
;.aI;ng hand from his pocket and con-
toSsed desire to have it made thing
Of beauty. She examined 1t critically,
an Syonr hand has been badly neglected
II needs treatment. The skin is bad
aalor the knuckles look dark, and
tha nails are dreadful. Ii you will be
seated s until the doctor is through with
sbe patient he is now treating, he will
attend to you. t..l1,... -,
While waiting, an examination OF the
,rr;osities of the Office was amusing.
IN case on one side of, the room were
nov models of hands of all shapes and
sizes. Fat hands, thin bony hands,
some with long fingers, some with
short; hands as they should be. OPP
nosite these show. case contained an
aassortment of soaps, salves and lotions,
and lot of gloves, coarse and clumsy,
thot scanned strangely out of place in O
Mace devoted to hand beauty.
The young woman said: ,.. y. NH.
aThey are cosmetic gloves. These
are only few of the kindswe use. The
Doctor prepares others to suitthe needs
If different patients. These are pre-
nored TO Written the hands. They are
snread inside with preparation of
yolk of egg, oil of sweet almonds, and
tincture of benzoin. The, double lap
Of the wrist effectually protects the cuff
from being soiled. The. gloves next to
them are to soften the hands, and the
lining is saturated with d mixture OF
honey, myrrh, wax and rose-water. The
cloves in the corner are still more pow
erful. They contain as strong agents
as can safely be applied to the hands,
and cannot be used when the skin is
chapped, scratched or broken In any
place. They are lined with prepara-
ton of tartaric acid, lemon juice, oil o
bitter almond, brown windsor soap, and
some other ingredients. "ssaL1-La
Some puf'ed-out bags, looking like
boxing. gloves, proved to be bran nit
tens, and the attendant explained the
use of box of looking silver
thimbles about two inches long:
"These are finger tips for shaping the
ends of the fingers. Tapering fingers
are not an impossibility. Ladies are
willing to undergo Inconvenience and
injury for the sake of tapering waists,
but make no effort to improve the shape
of their hands,"
As lady closely yelled came out
from the back parlor and left the room,
the Doctor announced himself ready to
attend to another patient. The treat
ment was begun by securing the hands
with fine white flint and soap and hot
water. Then followed bran bath,
which is merely rubbing the hands
with bran until thoroughly dry.
Stains and dark lines about the
knuckles were then touched with some
acid on channels skin, and the hands
we're anointed with cold cream aud held
in warm towels until dry.
This process being completed, the
Doctor requested his patient to sit be-
fore table near window, and, seating
himself opposite ard opening case OF
ivory instruments, he said:
"Are you superstitious about nail
spots ?"
"No. What do you mean?"
st is an old belief that white spots
upon the nails bring good fortune,
while black ones are considered un-
lucky. Both are ugly, however, and If
you have no prejudices, 1 will remove
them"
And so saying he applied black,
pltchy substance that smelt OF sulphur
to each spot, and during the ten min
utes he allowed it to remain there en-
ployed himself in pushing down, with
dull ivory instrument, the skin grow
ing around the base of the nail. When
the salve was removed from the nails
the fingers were dipped into a pink
wash, and then polished with powder
and chamois skin brush until each nail
shone like conch shell.
By this time it seemed as though a
Scribbler's cramp had seized each fin
ger, and strong desire was felt to
thrust the aching hands into the peck
ets
Character is shown by the shape of
the nails" said the Doctor. When
they are long and narrow it is q sign OF
dullness, and when curved they indicate
IIapacity. Short nails imply goodness.
lou do not affect that, 1 see," said he,
as he frightened his grip upon the I'm
gers and commenced fling off the nails
at each corner, leaving them as sharp
and pointed as the thumb nail OF
scnbbling dervish.