Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/168

 attention prevents those very painful affections known as "hang nails" or "ag nails."

The most elegant hint we can offer concerning the color of the nails is to polish them now and then—not too often. It may be done by rubbing them lengthwise with a soft sponge dipped in emery dust tinged with vermilion or carmine. This lends them a delicate, roseate hue. No one must ever think of scraping them with a knife or a bit of glass, as this may lead to troublesome diseases.

An equally excellent nail powder, and the one commonly sold in the shops, is oxide of tin, perfumed and colored with carmine. A little of it can be rubbed on the nail with a finger of the other hand, or with a piece of chamois leather. It soon renders the surface smooth, bright, and pink, which is not surprising, since this is the substance used to polish tortoise shell and horns.

The school-girl habit of biting the nails must be broken up at once. If in children, rub a little extract of quassia on the finger tips. This is so bitter that they are careful not to taste it twice. Not only the nails, but the beauty of the whole finger and hand, is often forfeited by neglect in this respect.

Sometimes the nails become brittle, crack, and break off readily in irregular pieces. This is a trouble difficult to manage, and demands long medical treatment.

Consumption is often accompanied with a deformity