Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1891 — TOLD BY THE NAILS. [ARTICLE]

TOLD BY THE NAILS.

ttarious Thing* Which You May Deter mine by Their Color or Shape. Fortune-telling by means t>f the finger nails, onychomancy, as it was called, was not uncommon in ancient times, The practice was to rub the nails with ofl and soot or wax and to hold up the nails thus prepared against the sun, and upon the transparent horny substance were supposed to appear figures or characters, which gave the answer required. In more recent times people have been found predicting by means of the hails of the hand and telling the disposition of persons with certain descriptions of the nails. However absurd it may appear, we shall give examples of this superstition: A person with broad nails is of gentle nature, timid and bashful. Those whose nails grow into the flesh at the points or sides are given to luxury. A white mark on the nail bespeak* misfortune. Persons with very pale nails are subject to much infirmity of the flesh and persecution by neighbors and friends. People with narrow nails are ambitous and quarrelsome. Lovers of knowledge and liberal sentiment have round nails. Indolent persons have generally fleshy nails. Small nails indicate littleness of mind, obstinancy and conceit. Melancholy persons are distinguished by their pale or lead-colored nails; and choleric, mart'al men. delighting in war, have red and spotted nails.