Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-25
INHERITED HABITS

THAT minority class of modern alienists
who argue that there is no such thing as
the hereditary transmission of human traits
and practices are distinctly wrong in one
respect that / know Of" remarked we'll
known Washington medical man. LOOK At
these finger nails of mine. You see that
they are, every one of tn m. bitten down
to the quick They've been that way ever
since 1 can remember. in spite of every
thing 1 could do. I've resorted to all OF
the schemes that have been invented 10
stop people from gnawing on their naAs'
and yet here are my disgracefuhy bitten
nails to show how Ineffective such schenss
are In my case, at any rate.
Now my mother before me DIT her nm
ger nails In precisely the same fasnion, que
had a beautiful pair OF hands. win long,
slender. tapering fingers, ana II was one
of the miseries Of her existence that sne
simply could not give up the habit OF rum
ing her nails by biting them. Not only tha. T.
but my mother told me that her 1atneF n
veterately bit his nails. and her fatner III
turn, told her that his mother tried al ner
life to do away with the practice OF Dltlns
her nails, without any success WhateveI.
So, you see, that in my case the plactice -
distinctly hereditary. My curiosity as 70
this matter led me to investigate it In the
cases of other persons, all OF them IN my
practice, who had the nailbiting naot' anu
found that in every case l tackled theil
immediate progenitors. on one siae OF 'he
other, had the same habit.
There's no reason whatever why snouid
bite my nails l just do it, that's all 1t Is
claimed by some specialists In nervous us
eases that the practice springs from an in-
herent species Of nervousness. but kno"
that that can't be true. for am actuauy
the least nervous human being on the top
of the globe so far as know. So far from
being nervous, 1 simply. have no nerves; 10
n q
employ the common phrase. WY nio' t,er
was the most self-contained person OF her
sex l ever knew, and yet, as l say, she
constantly, to her never-ending grief ana
modification. ruined her finger mans Win
her teeth. have long since given up try
ing to conquer the practice, which, being
an involuntary and unconscious one, Is al
most impossible to control. l nave, with
the most acute difficulty, contrived at times
to let four or five of my nails grow, per
hitting them to attain an almost foollsn
length because I was proud OF them,
but at the same time that these long ones
looked like the hooked finger nails OF an
Hindo mahatma the other ones were. as
usual. gnawed down to the quick I've
tried the scheme Of dipping my finger tips
in a colorless and extremely bitter ndulo
so that when I put the nails to my lips to
bite on them I'd be reminded OF my resoiu-
ton by the bitter taste Of my fingers. But
l found 1t just as hard to remempes 10 10
necessarily keep my finger tips dipped IN
this fluid as 1t was to remember not TO pite
the nails, and so, there I was. Also Tor
a time, employed the plan OF keeping my
finger tips incased in patent metal Ups.
made for the purpose. but these aroused
SC much curiosity among my patients. ana
fol ced ME to answer so many questions
about them that 1 had to give up that plan
Moreover. the same difficulty about re-
membering to keep the things on was al
ways present.
81 recently saw it stated in French
medical journal that fully two-thirds of al
of the school children of France are ad-
dicted to the practice Of biting their finger
nails. and the article expressed alarm over
this fact, as showing that nervous diseases
must consequently be undermining the
French race. While I don't exactly agree
with this latter proposition. the showing
is surely a curious one. A very small pro-
portion of the school children OF this coun-
try, as far as my observation goes. bite
their nails. Nail biting Is a habit that Is
much more easily dealt with In children
than it is in the cases Of grown persons,
for the reasons that the young ones. being
directly under the control of their mothers,
can be constantly forced to use the preven-
tive measures.