Evening star., 1933-10-25

logical processes which Is not exactly
in good odor with human beings In
their daily talk, 1t would seem.
One Is not supposed to talk about
"itches' No doubt this small taboo
goes back to the days land they were
not very long ago, actually when Itch
ing was more surely connected with
dirt than today.
There are Q number Of these small
inhlbitions which modern life really
have made absurd, but which most per-
sons tenaciously hold onto. This shows
as well as anything else how so many
Of our habits are word-made, or book
made or print-made, however one wants
to call It,
Really there is nothing wrong with
good honest itch, but one Is not sup
posed to say anything about 1t, espe-
cially one is not supposed to scratch.
Too much like monkies!
Perhaps the nose itch, as at other
points, is partly due to a sensitive skin
alone.
1t is not commonly realized Just how
much of a difference there is between
the epidermis Of one person and
another.
Babies have sensitive skins, that is
universally admitted, but 1t is not SO
widely recognized that many Of their
elders have sensitive skins, too
Water Of any type, freely used, hot,
warm, cool, or cold, softens skin.
The persons that fleas bite, for in
stance, are almost invariably those who
are very clean. indulang in a great
deal OF bathing. The idea that cool or
even cold water hardens human skin is
mostly hocum. Water Of any tempera-
ture is a softening agent: fleas fancy
the clean person because he Is the
softer person.
The real explanation of the itching
nose, one may believe, goes back to a
story written by Poe, The Imp of the
Perverse."
The story has nothing to do with
noses, but that last word In the title
has.
There seems to be a perverse some
thing in life which delights in humbling
the boaster, in running counter to what
one thinks ought to occur, in causing
TO take place the unexpected, and the
unusual
This perverseness in the universe ID
manifested on some very small scales
known to every one Suppose one is
waiting on q street car platform ,for q
public vehicle labeled MT. Pleasant u
Then half dozen Georgetown" cars
WILL come along in a row. The very
! next day, II one happens to want TO
go over to Georgetown. he will wait
while seven or eight cars marked MT.
Pleasant slowly file by.
+&*+
Now the imp Of the perverse-we
| almost had called it the imp OF q
nose-is closely geared up to the mind,
in way which we suppose any doctor
could explain.
A human being. even today, uses his
nose q great deal more than he thinks
he does. Its nerves are very closely
connected with the motor nerves Of
hands, feet, throat, eyes and other in
struments and organs which are used
consciously every day.
When the hands are busy the nose Is
busy, whether one realizes 1t or not
Its itching or tingling is its way Of
telling one that 1t Is still on the lob,
a faithful servant Of the creature man.
1t may be, too, that the subconScious
mind takes hand In this thing. The
old unconscious. as 1t Is sometimes
called. is a hard one to figure out Its
rebellion In the face Of feared failure,
is said to be the real cause of nervous
breakdown" according to some physi-
clans. Perhaps the subconscious Is try
ing to assert itself again when the nose
itches just when one is very busy with
full or soiled hands.