Daily Tombstone epitaph., 1886-01-21
About Finger-Nails.

"Few people understand how to cut their nails" said the young lady mani cure. "A knife or scissors should never be used. I trim and shape the nail with a small file, and then carefully smooth down and bevel the roughened edges with emery board, which keeps them from breaking and trains them to sym metrical growth. Another important point where people neglect their nails is in allowing the skin to grow out on the base of the nail. This should be care fully pushed back with blunt instru- ment at least once week. soak the hands of my customers in tepid water few minutes before do this, so as to soften the cuticle. This is necessary, as otherwise it is liable to break. It re- quires great care as the base of the nail, which is very sensitive, may be bruised or the delicate edges of the skin broken. Another place where care is needed is at the sides of the nails, where it leaves the fingers. Lack of attention to this either hardens the end of the finger or produces the untidy and painful hang nails which disiigure so many hands. In filing the nails the file should always be drawn from the finger and toward the end of the nail"
 What are the hardest things to over come in operating on hands that have been neglectedP"
 ''There are several things. Mothers sometimes make practice of cutting their children's nails almost square with pair of scissors. That hardens the ends of the finger and. produces mis- shapen nail It can be overcome, how ever, in time. By fling the nail from the sides it can be narrowed by degrees to that filbert shape which is considered the height of beauty. The finger will be blunt, but even that will be remedied to some extent. Then we have the people who bite their finger-nails close off, They are hard customers to deal with, the nail is deformed and brittle, and care has to be taken in dealing with it. Manicures use preparation to stop the biting and then correct the other defects by degrees"
 With whom do you do your best trader" --.
 "Well, here, in Pittsburg, so far, it has been mostly with society ladies. Have. had very few customers from the work ing classes yet. Suppose that is because they have not yet learned that there is manicure in the city. In New York, however, we treated fully as many work ing girls-that is, those who did work hard and wearing upon hands-as any other. The hands of such persons must of necessity be hard to keep in order, but there is no one who appreciates the beauty of nice hand and pretty nails more than they. Do you know there are several diseases of the finger-nails?" she continued. "Well, there are One is called onychia parasitica, which is much to be dreaded. It acts upon the nails by thickening and drying them. They lose their polish and grow rough and brittle. With a powerful glass the little parasites which cause the trouble can be seen growing in among the com ponent parts of the nail. The nail has q dirty brown color, streaked with a darker color, and the nail is raised up and thickened. The disease is rare, and can only be treated by skillful physi- clan.
 The white specks on the nail, which we were told as children indicated gifts, are really nail disease, resulting think, from slight diseases. Hang-nails are where the nail adheres to the cuticle, and proves more than anything else the use of the manicure's art. Hypertrophy often afilicts the nails. causing an ex- cessive growth and dull, yellowish color, and often produces extreme pain from ingrowing nails and other irrita- ton. This can be remedied by 8 skilled manicure. but cannot ha cnxed."