Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-08-12
The Care of the Hands.

The finger nails require special at
tention if we desire to preserve them
in their highest condition of beauty
and usefulness, says a writer in
Medical Classics. To keep them
clean the nail brush and soap and
water should be used, once or often
er, daily, as circumstances demand.
Once day, at least, on wiping the
hands after washing them, and while
they are still soft from the action of
the water, the free edge of the scarf
skin, which, if not attended to, is
apt to grow upward over the nails,
should be gently loosened and press
ed back, in a neatly rounded form,
by which the occurrence of cracks
and sores about their roots (agnails,
nail springs, etc. will be prevented,
and a graceful oval form, ending in
a cresent-like space of white, will
be insured.
The skin, as a rule, should never
be cut, peared, picked or torn off, as
is commonly done; and the less it is
meddled with, otherwise than in the
way first mentioned, the better.
The space between the end of the
nail and the finger is very liable to
accumulate dirt, and this tendency
increases with the depth of assure by
separating the nail from the flesh
below it, as is pretty sure to be done
when a knife point or other similar
instrument is used. It is better al
ways to employ brush with soap
and water.
The length and shape of the nails
both for beauty and use, should ex-
actly correspond with the tips of the
fingers. Nails extending beyond the
ends of the fingers are vulgar, claw
like and inconvenient whilst if short
er than the fingers they are unsightly
and of little use, and cause the tips
of the fingers to become thick and
clumsy.
Whether the nails be cut square
or pointed is entirely a matter of
fancy, but, in any case, they should
be left long enough to protect the
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on the sides. The ends or points of
the nails should be pared once a
week, OF every ten days, according
to the rapidity of their growth, which
sometimes varies with the season of
the year and the habits of the indi-
vidual. The pairing is best done
with sharp penknife or nail knife.
Scissors are less convenient for the
purpose, and have the disadvantage
of straining and distorting the nails
during the process.
The average rate Of growth of the
finger nails has been estimated at
one millimeter, or two-fifths of a
line per week; a rate quadruple that
of the toe nails, which require four
weeks to grow the same length.
This growth continues with little va
riations, even during disease, but the
portion of the nail then formed is
thinner and deficient in strength. In
sudden and acute diseases, and in
those accompanied with extreme de-
bility, this attenuation is sufficient
to mark the nails with deep transverse
grooves, the upper surface of which
is abrupt and clearly marked. In
scrofulous subjects, these marks, to-
gether with peculiar variegations,
are very commonly observable. Ex-
treme anxiety and mental depres-
sions have the same effect on the
nails as physical disease.
Biting the nails should be avoided
as dirty and disagreeable habit,
and one utterly destructive to their
beauty, strength, and usefulness.
This habit is Indicative of an irrita-
BILE or nervous temperament, of men
tai anxiety, dependency, thought
fulness. and / know not what else.
At all events, it is easily acquired,
rapidly grows on one, and is ex-