The Nails

The Nails

It has often been said by scientists of recognized capacity, that the nails are nothing but the electric fluid within us solidified by exposure to the air, thus becoming a kind of intermediary substance between the said fluid and the human skin and flesh. Balzac wrote in Louis Lambert: “When one thinks that the line separating our flesh from the growing nail contains the unexplained and invisible mystery of the incessant transformation of our fluid into horn, one must admit that nothing is impossible in the marvelous transformation of the human constituting elements.”
Short nails inquisitiveness, intuition, energy. In a weak hand: frivolous disposition.
Short, hard, and partially covered with skin, and even flesh.
Quarrelsome disposition, especially if they are broader than long. Seen at its worst on what I call a clubbed thumb.
Short nails with a soft palm - The born critic’s attribute; irony and even scorn.
A short nail on the second finger, the nails of the other fingers being almond shaped - Irritability, but only at times; always extreme sensitiveness to criticism.
Short and pale - Deceitful disposition; physical and moral weakness.
Short and red - Violent temper.
Short, square-shaped and bluish - Heart trouble.