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 that there is general weakness and deficiency in nutrition.  They indicate retarded development, which may be seated in the central nervous system.  The eyes usually recede during severe diseases.  A hyperaemic condition of the eyelids, with or without inflammation, is always a symptom of a dysaemic condition of the entire system (scrofulosis).  In some cases of scrofulosis there is not another visible sign on the entire body, and yet the eyelids and eyelashes, which sticks together most of the time, tell the story of an inherited condition of dysaemia.

A yellowish hue of the eyes indicates disease of the liver.

The color of the iris does not indicate much in itself, although the theory of Liljequist, which deserves some attention, claims that if a person deteriorates in health, the eyes, if originally light blue, darken more and more and finally change into brown or the color of the hybrid race.  Liljequist’s scale of healthy eyes reads:  Light blue, medium blue, dark blue; then light, medium and dark brown.  However, brown eyes do not represent sickness; they but indicate nervousness and sensibility.