It is by constant, assiduous, not intermittent, attention to the hand that it is kept in proper order. A little box of manicure instruments aid the process, but are merely conveniences with which one can dispense. For the regular routine of the toilette of the hands, 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 little ivory, spade-shaped instruments that are purchasable for this purpose, which come in all manicure boxes. The effect of the nail is wonderfully enhanced by the appearance of the lunula, or little whitish half-moon at its base. When the selvedge-edge is pressed back, it reveals this pretty feature of the part. The edge of the skin, being pressed back when the hands are damp, grows symmetrically, and makes a delicate setting for the nail. Neglected, the nail in growing becomes laden with some of the surrounding skin, covered with whose flakes it presents a most unsightly appearance as it continues to push forward. Some persons are so obtuse to the beauty of this delicate edge of skin at the base of the nail that they actually trim it away, leaving an ugly red rim around the nail, like the edge of an inflamed eyelid.

occur.

Of course, all excrescences, such as warts, must be removed from the hand; also such things as agnails, or hangnails, as they are popularly called, ragged pieces of skin caused by the forward. growth of the nail. With constant care in keeping the skin at the base of the nail pressed back, these latter, however, do not The most common treatment of warts, with nitrate of silver (lunar caustic), is quite painful, and has to be frequently renewed. A high authority, Kaposi, suggests the following application for their treatment: Paint delicately, with a camel's hair brush, on and around the base of the wart, once daily, with a solution of 1 part of bichloride of mercury to 30 parts of collodion.

Fowler's solution of arsenic, from 1 to 3 minims, twice a day, taken internally, has been known to effect the cure of warts.

Warts can be summarily removed by the action of the electric needle.

There are many refinements connected with the beautification of the hand which some persons would not find it possible to practice. All, however, are able to accept and pursue the following course as the basis of any possible amplification of the process.

Wash the hands frequently with soft water and bland soap, avoiding the use of warm water except for the removal of an exceptional amount of foreign matter on the skin. In wiping the hands, press backward in all directions the skin around the nails. Trim the nails neatly with a sharp penknife (if you can, use the knife instead of the scissors), so that they shall be slightly rounding at the ends, and not project beyond the ends of the fingers. Then round them off to the greatest nicety with the delicate kind of file to be found in the manicure boxes and elsewhere. Daily employment of this filing process enables one even to dispense with paring the nails. Some persons, few we are happy to say, are like Miss Betsy Trotwood, who, being afraid of fire, always went to a hotel in London where they had a marble staircase, and, to secure more marble staircase, took a room at the top of the house. They cherish the nails as if they were exotic plants that ought to show their luxuriance of growth. We have even known a man to have a single pet nail, which was the cherished Joseph of the family of brethren, to the point of having a coat of many colors.

The nails of a Chinaman of exalted rank, grown long to show that he is above the possibility of manual labor, propped up with bamboo sticks, grooved, tawny, friable, are disgusting. In only lesser degree, nails grown distinctly beyond the end of

the finger resemble claws, and, to whatever point the practice is pushed, are to that degree repulsive. Only those nails are handsome which, in themselves handsome by constitution, are constantly changed by new growth, and so pared as to project no farther beyond the end of the finger or the toe than to subserve nature's purpose of protection. Back of a certain kind of beauty there is no utility; it is an independent existence. Back of a certain other kind, as we have shown, must be demonstrated utility. Without the recognition in practice of this fact, beauty which might exist is often suppressed. It is not we, but nature, that lays down these laws.

Going back to the times of our grandmothers, when things in this country were much more primitive than at present, it was a common thing to find bran upon the washstand, to be used for imparting softness to the skin of the hand. It was employed either in the form of flour or as compounded with soap. It is none the less now a serviceable substance for the purpose named. The flour has, before becoming saturated, a certain moderate roughness, which fits it for polishing, and, after becoming saturated, for an emollient agent, some small amount of which is doubtless absorbed by the skin.

A piece of smooth pumice-stone is well adapted for the removal of any callosities or hard parts on the palm of the hand. Then follows the hygienic treatment with water and bland soap, accompanied, if one please, by the use of bran-flour. Added to this one can very much increase the delicacy and beauty of the skin of the hands by putting upon them, and rubbing well into them, by revolving them within each other, some preparation like the oil of almonds. There was in this country, many years ago, a very elegant preparation of the kind, in the form of a pomade, but inquiry for it lately among pharmacists and perfumers has gone to show that the article is no longer in the market. A speck of this, no bigger than a small pea, well

rubbed into the skin of the hands, imparted to it a sensation of delightful softness and pliability, and to the sense of smell the most pleasant gratification.

If the hands be first of all washed in almond-meal dissolved in warm water, and rubbed when dry with lemon-juice or with Rhenish cologne, and then bathed with the preparation of benzoin mentioned in the chapter on the treatment of the face, they are much benefited. We here give the ingredients of a preparation for the same purpose, as compounded by one of the first pharmaceutists of Philadelphia :

The following recipe for the same purpose is derived from the Medical Magazine of Pharmacy:

Mix thoroughly, and pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

It

A third recipe for the same purpose is also introduced here, in order that the reader may have some range of selection. is prepared by the same pharmaceutist just alluded to, and is especially grateful to the skin when suffering from irritation such as that induced by shaving :

The following will be found eminently soothing and curative for cases of chapped hands :

Rub the mixture gently into the skin several times a day.

The delicacy and beauty of the skin of the hands may be increased by wearing gloves at night. The mere wearing of gloves under these circumstances has a good effect. This may, however, be much increased by moistening the hands with one or another of the three preparations of almond just given above. The gloves used should be loose, and made of chamois-skin, beaver, or kid. Any such leather gloves, especially such as, from having been worn, are soft and roomy, serve the purpose well.

This process of glove-wearing at night may be made more elaborate. Preparatory to all attempts at refinements, there must be, however, the true basis for refinement already described. If such has been reached, gloves may be worn at night to advantage, in connection with certain preparations which have been devised for the cosmetic treatment of the hands. Supposing that the hands have been duly cared for by the employment of fine pumice-stone on the palms, and that of bland. soaps, such as almond, glycerin, lettuce-oil, white castile; the skin of the fingers properly rubbed away from the lunula of the nails, and the nails themselves polished (never scrape them)