Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-07-22
SELF-DEvoURING CANNIBALS.
Persons Who Are Addicted to the Per-
nicious Habit of Nail-Biting.

PERSONS VINO Arc 10
nIcious Habit of Nail-Biting.
Few habits are more disgusting
than biting the finger-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 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 cleanly and careful personal
habits, there are infinitely more dis
gusting features in the practice.
The person who bites his or her
fhger-nails is nothing less than self
devouring cannibal.
IldNC buC OtllOOl-lllSSCo Ullub SluCil
of bread-and- butter and are so prone
to this habit ever thought of thatP Has
it ever occurred to the putty-pated
dudes that nip at their finger-ends in
public places as affectionately as they
suck their cane-headsP
Particles of flesh are necessarily
bit off and chewed 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
nail and pieces of flesh. The frag-
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 nailsp 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. II
all conveniences are not to be had he
cleanses his hands and allows his face
to wait for its bath; or he bathes
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 un
der the most ordinary circumstances
WhyP Because he knows that the
hands, which are the most exposed
portions of the body, come in contac
with the greatest number of surfaces
and contract in few hours differen
kinds of dirt in endless variety. H,
knows, too, that poisons can be trans
mitted under the finger-nails, and hi
professional experience has taught hin
that virus of the most deadly kind i
frequently transmitted by the simple
custom of hand shaking. He has to'
much respect for his face to allow hi
hands to commune with it in the mos
casual way unless they are absolutel.
clean.
1.-THE thought of swallowing the ac
cumulated filth that lodges under fin
ger-nails--an actual daily performanc
, with the nail. biter--will almost turl
the stomach of doctor who has live
half his life in dissecting-rooms, an
; performed an amputation every da
for twenty years. ."-Detroa Tribune.