Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-02-23
CARE OF THE HANDS.
PERSISTENT ATTENTION NECES-
SARY TO KEEP IN BEST
CONDITION.
NEED NOT BE DlMlNUTlvE.

hAeiA Ne"oty SohoitAoLieu Oh APPEAR
ance of Usefulness-Constant Fas-
tidious Care Required - Bringing
Out the "Lunula"-How to Remove
Warts-Daily Routine for Hands.
BY OLIVE G. SMITHSON, NJ. d.
Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery
Copyright. 1904, BY Joseph b. Bowles.)
Beauty in the hand is conditioned
upon its appearance of usefulness. A
small, undeveloped hand is incapable
of fine action, and presents no appear
ance of capacity. Its distinctive at
tributes, usefulness and beauty, are
dependent upon each other. The hand
should have the virtues of gently pro-
nounced muscularity and %suppleness.
A hand that cannot act is a defect,
not only from the point of view of
usefulness, but from that Of beauty.
1t is universally agreed that the
beautiful hand has tapering fingers,
and nails Of the form called almond
shaped. This term, 'almond-shaped,"
refers to the shape as looked down
upon from Immediately above the
nail. Be the shape of the hand and
nails ever SO perfect, if a person is
not especially fastidious as to the
nicely of the latter, the hand loses its
beauty. On the contrary, a homely
hand, if properly cared for, will be
recognized as the associate of a gen.
tleman or a gentlewoman.
1t is by constant, assiduous, not in
termittant, attention to the hand that
it is kept in proper order. The first
quality in its presentability is, of
course, cleanliness. For the regular
routine Of the toilette, one should, in
washing them, never fail to press
gently back with the towel as they are
being wiped, the delicate selvedge-
like edge around the root of the nail.
There are for this purpose little ivory
spade-shaped instruments, which are
a part of all manicure sets, or they
can be purchased separately. The
beauty of the nail is greatly enhanced
by the appearance of the lunula, the
little white half-moon at its base.
When the selvedge skin is pressed
back it reveals this pretty feature. If
one neglects to do this, the surround
ing skin grows over the nail in a
rough, unsightly outline, and con-
tinues to push forward, forming ag-
nails, or hang-nails, as they are popu-
larly called.
All disiguring growths, such as
warts, should be removed. One of the
most common treatments for warts
Is to shave the surface until they
bleed, then paint them with silver
nitrate (lunar caustic). This usually
results in a permanent removal of the
growth, with very little pain.
Kaposi, a high authority en- the
subject, recommends painting them
once each day with a solution of one
part of bichloride of mercury to 80
parts of %collodion. A fine camel's
hair brush should be used to apply
the remedy.
The simplest and, perhaps most
satisfying of all methods, is to paint
the wart or mole lightly with glacial |
acetic acid, which will cause the dis
appearance of the blemish without a
scar. The application should be made
twice each day, taking p%recaution that
pn,ta pf thn H1IiJ :, ,,pnp fha ,n,oJ
skin. Whenever a sense of soreness
is felt the treatment should be sus-
pended for two or three days. The
electric needle may also be resorted
to as a successful method for the re-
moval of warts.
There are many refinements and
remedies for identifying the hands
which most people would find impos-
sible to follow. All, however, can
pursue the following course, which is
a basis that may be elaborated to suit
the individual: Wash the hands fire.
quently with soft, cool water, and
bland soap. Do not use warm water
except when it is necessary to re-
move an exceptional amount of for
eign matter from the skin. In wiping
the hands, push backwards in all di-
rections the skin around the nails.
The nails should be trimmed evenly
and neatly with q sharp penknife Cf
you can use it the knife is preferred
to scissors), SO that they are slightly
rounding at the ends, and do not pro-
ject beyond the ends of the fingers.
Now, carefully round them off to the
greatest nicely with the nail file. Daily
employment of this filing process en-
ables one to dispense with pairing the
nails. Those nails are most beautiful
which are constantly changed by new
growth, and 10 trimmed as not to pro-
ject beyond the tip Of the finger fur
Their than to fulfill natures purpose
of protection.
In the days of our g~randmothers, 1t
was a common thing to find a bag of
bran upon the wash-stand This was
used either in the form Of hour or with
soap for imparting softness to the
skin, and it is now none lhe less q
valuable article for the purpose