general constitution.

Nature has endowed us with strong discriminating faculties against
certain external indications of disease. We experience a pleasant
feeling when the hand is pressed by another hand that is warm and dry,
but we shrink from the hand that is cold and moist and clammy.

Perspiring hands and feet are a sure indication that some process of
degeneration is going on within the body, the production of diseased
cells being in excess of what the body, under normal conditions, is able
to excrete, and therefore they seek unusual channels of leaving the
body, that is, through the skin and mucous membranes.

Perspiring feet are a symptom of disposition to colds and possibly
tuberculosis, while perspiring hands indicate certain nervous diseases
and disposition to gout; constantly cold hands and feet are usually
found in people who suffer from scrofulosis or anaemia.

In many cases the quality of _nails_ leads to the conclusion that there
is a thorough disturbance of the process of nutrition. If they are
fragile and brittle, there is no question but that there is lack of
certain nutritive salts in the blood. Swollen and deformed nails
indicate special disturbances in circulation, chronic heart and lung
diseases.

_Hair_, or rather the absence of hair, especially in early life, is
sometimes another indication of faulty nutrition.

Baldness or premature gray hair is usually a pathological indication, as
is also the dishevelled hair of nervous people and children suffering
from scrofulosis, while rich, glossy hair is always a sign of good
health.

The development of the hair depends upon the activity of the skin, the
nerves and the composition of the blood. The blood of dark-haired people
is lacking in water and fat, but richer in albuminous matter. Poor
quality of hair is indicative of living in bad air, poor nutrition of
the skin, hard mental work, pain and sorrow. Sexual excesses during
youth are often the cause of premature baldness and thin hair.

The _eyes_ present a picture that manifests the general condition of the
body, whether it be healthy, disposed to disease, or suffering from
disease.

Protruding eyes are the sure symptom of the disease known as Basedow's
disease; they indicate also short-sightedness, and hereditary epilepsy.

The condition of the mucous membranes of the eyes permits certain
conclusions as to the genital organs.

If the eyes are abnormally small, we draw the conclusion t