The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-06-11
:SELF-DEvouRlNG CANNIBALS.
Persons Who Are Addicted to tho Per
uicious Habit of NaiI-Biting.

Persons Who Are Addicted to the Per-
uicious Habit of NaiI-Biting.
Few habits are more disgusting
than biting the fnger-nails," said a
well-known doctor, "yet there are few
more common. The habit is not only
slovenly but downright vulgar. The
nails which are kept trimmed with the
teeth are in themselves an indication of
shiftlessness. They are always cropped
clear down to the quick, and the finger
tips present q spongy, shapeless ap-
pearance that is enough to spoil ones
appetite and make the nail-biter an OBJ
ject of contempt forever.
But, unsightly as are nails so mu-
tilated, and unpleasant as are the
thoughts to which they give rise in
those of clearly and careful personal
habits, there are infinitely more dis
gushing features in the practice.
The person who bites his or her
finger-nails is nothing less than self
devouring cannibal.
Have the school-mlsses that smell
of bread-and-butter and are so prone
to this habit ever thought of that? Has
it ever occurred to the puttY-pated
dudes that nip at their finger-ends in
public places as affectionately as they
suck teleir cane-headsp
Particles of flesh are necessarily
bit off and chewod with the pieces of
nail, which are turned over like succu-
lent tid-bits in the mouth of the nail
bitter; and the process presents the
spectacle of human creature actually
feeding on minute morsels of its own
anatomy. This is the revolving fact.
What sight more sickening to . sense
of delicacy or the vaguest pretension
to refinement?
''There is another side to this filthy
practice. The nails are receptacles for
dirt of every sort. This dirt is taken
into the mouth with the fragments of
ments of nail while revolved between
the teeth are so thoroughly cleansed
by the action of the saliva that when
spat out they are as white as snow.
What becomes of the pasty dirt that
accumulates under the nails? 1t is
swallowed!
Watch any doctor when perform
ing his everyday ablutions. He never
washes his face in the same water that
has been used to wash his hands. IF
all conveniences are not to be had he
cleanses his hands and allows his face
to wait for its bath; or he battles
both hands and face in a running
stream from the faucet. No matter
what the circumstances, he always
thoroughly washes and dries his hands
before he permits them to apply the
water to his face. He goes through
this operation with the utmost care I'M
der the most ordinary circumstances.
Why? Because he knows that the
hands, which are the most exposed
portions of the body, come in contact
with the greatest number of surfaces.
! and contract in a few hours different
kinds of dirt in endless variety. He
knows, too, that poisons can be trans
mitted under the finger rails, and his
professional experience has taught him
that virus of the most deadly kind is
frequently transmitted by the simple
custom Of hand,shaking. He has too
much respect for his face to allow his
hands to commune with it in the most
casual way unless they are absolutely
clean.
The thought Of swallowing the ac-
cumulated filth chat lodges under fin
ger-nails-an actual daily performance
with the nail bitter will almost turn
the stomach of doctor who has lived
half his life in dissecting-rooms, and
performed an amputation every day
for twenty years, Detroit Tribune,