104 GOOD HEALTH 



Many people do not seem to know that, as far as their 

 health goes, it is worse to have dust under the finger nails 

 than to have it on the end of the nose or in the middle 

 of the cheek ; for some of the worst microbes may be 

 packed away in the dust under the nails, and such mi- 

 crobes may enter any scratch or cut we have ; they may 

 also go into our mouths with the food we touch with 

 our fingers. In fact this is the most important reason for 

 keeping the nails clean, though the second reason is the 

 one that people think most about. They want their 

 fingers to match their clean faces and their clean clothes. 

 They are ashamed not to have one part of the body look 

 as clean as another part. For the sake of beauty, there- 

 fore, they keep their nails well cleaned and trimmed. 

 This is a good reason too. 



I have heard of children, and grown people too, who 

 trim their nails with their teeth, biting them around the 

 edges. Sometimes the habit becomes so strong that they 

 keep on even when there is no nail to bite. I have a 

 friend who bites until she gives herself pain and the 

 blood comes. Naturally, of course, her finger nails are 

 so short that the flesh rolls over the top of each nail ; 

 and the fingers are such queer-looking things that she 

 often doubles them up into her hand to keep them out 

 of sight. She says she cannot stop the biting because 

 she has the habit, and she bites before she has time 

 to think. 



