Tweezer

“ If these were really the thermæ of the Romans, it is perhaps the hostility of the ascetic part of the Romish clergy which 60 caused them to be discontinued and forgotten. Our cut No. 37 represents a party at their ablutions. We constantly find among the articles in the graves of Anglo-Saxon ladies tweezers, which were evidently intended for eradicating superfluous hairs, a circumstance which contributes to show that they paid special attention to hair-dressing. To judge from the colour of the hair in some of the illuminations, we might be led to suppose that sometimes they stained it. ”

“ Bronze tweezers are not uncommon accompaniments of female interments of the Bronze Age in Denmark, and it has been suggested that they were used as sewing implements when the material to be sewed was skin and the thread a thong. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that small awls of bronze are occasionally found with them, and it is obvious that the end of a thong hardened in the fire, and pushed partially through the holes bored by an awl, could be readily seized by such a pair of tweezers and so dragged tight. ”

“ The young man thus encouraged will repeat his visits. If his suit makes progress, he may hope that the fair one will draw out with a pair of brass tweezers the hairs of his eyebrows and lashes, while he reclines on his back with his head in her lap. If these hairs are very few, the girl will remark that some one else has been pulling them out, an imputation which he repudiates. Or he complains of a headache, and she administers scalp-massage by winding tufts of hair about her knuckles and sharply tugging them. ”

“ If the Hairs of the Eye-Lids or Eye-Brows offend the Eye, they must be pull'd out with a Pair of Tweezers or Nippers; and when any small, hard, and transparent Tumours arise in the Eye-Lids, they are to be open'd, to let out the corrupt Matter. ”

“ The way the cornea seems to fit into the sclerotic is not quite as one is led to believe when told that it fits into the sclerotic much the same way in which a watch crystal fits into a watch. [3] Holding this part of the eye up to a strong light one will see that the sclerotic seems to overlap the cornea in the vertical axis.
By using the tweezers the cornea may be split. Nothing in the way of locating its layers can be recognized, however, unless a section is made for microscopic examination. The epithelial may be scraped off when the cornea is a trifle dry. ”

“ I tried to get him to put up his razor, dreading that he would make for the side of my chin, my pet tender spot, a place which a razor cannot touch twice without making trouble; but he said he only wanted to just smooth off one little roughness, and in the same moment he slipped his razor along the forbidden ground, and the dreaded pimple-signs of a close shave rose up smarting and answered to the call. Now he soaked his towel in bay rum, and slapped it all over my face nastily; slapped it over as if a human being ever yet washed his face in that way. ”

“ All she had to do, after she had received the serum from the man you saw, was to dip her nail scissors into the solution, and then clip the cuticle so as to draw blood. The merest scratch would suffice, and no noticeable sore in the finger would be caused; but the toxic germs would permeate the veins and be distributed all over the body. It was the fact that she had cut Tulliver's finger that aroused my memory; then the story of the treadmill instantly suggested Weichardt's experiments. ”

“ Where there are the same number of warp and filling threads to the inch, twill lines will form an angle of 45 degrees; if the warp threads are closer together than the filling threads, the twilled lines produced will approach more the horizontal. Twill weaving permits the introduction of more material into the cloth than a plain weave and produces, therefore, a closer and heavier fabric. A twill effect in a material is also called a diagonal, from the direction it has in relation to the length of the cloth. ”

“ Their audiences have marvelled because the impersonators’ faces are devoid of any sign of beardal hair. Usually the beard is eradicated. It is allowed to grow for a full week in seclusion. By means of a mask of depilatory wax, every hair is then pulled out by the roots, the outer portion having become embedded, like hair in wall-plaster. For three weeks, the face is as glabrous as a baby’s. ”

“ We will now briefly state that the coats of this organ are constituted of a fibrous membrane, T (fig. 95) , termed sclerotic, which is opaque, except in the anterior portion of the eye, where it forms the transparent cornea. The crystalline, C, enshrined behind the cornea, is the convergent lens of the inner chamber; it is covered with a transparent membrane, or capsule, and is bathed in two fluids, the aqueous humour, between the crystalline humour and the cornea, and the vitreous body, a gelatinous humour lodged between the crystalline and the back of the eye. ”

“ If the deep shadows show a white margin and are difficult to ink up, the skin has been exposed under the negative for too long a time; and if “smashing” down does not remedy the defect, the only chance of saving it will be to allow the skin to get thoroughly dry, and then (say the next day) to soak it up again for an hour.
Spots on the margin of the print may be removed by carefully painting them over with a camel’s-hair brush charged with dilute cyanide of potassium, carefully washing afterward to prevent spreading. ”

“ On the other hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect.”
“Your reasoning is certainly plausible.”
“The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. ”

“ The operators appear to rely largely on manual dexterity, and to aim at completing the procedure in a minimum of time. The needle or thorn is thrust suddenly through the cornea, and on through the pupil or iris, into or on to the periphery of the lens. The next movement, which appears to follow the first so rapidly as practically to melt into it, is that of depression or reclination. In this, the spot where the cornea grasps the shaft of the needle serves as a fulcrum. ”

“ When the skin-pattern is impressed upon soft sealing-wax, clay, putty, and so on, the relievo image produced is different in this way from an ordinary ink-printed pattern. The convex ridges are now concave furrows, while the hollows are changed into heights.
In both kinds of impressions a reverse or mirror pattern is produced, a matter of some practical importance. This effect may, or may not again be reversed in the photographic process. It is not impossible, in such circumstances, that a suspect’s finger might be confused with a resembling “mirror” pattern, which was really not his own. ”

“ Continue cutting through the sclerotic and all underlying tissues, stopping at the corneo-scleral junction, but do not, during this procedure, [88] even touch the lens. After the eye has been thus partly separated into, as nearly as possible, two equal parts, lay it down upon the cornea, and, holding the razor blade in the forefingers and thumbs of both hands, cut the lens in two by forcing the blade down through it. (Fig. 42.) Partly open the cut eye to allow one jaw of the large scissors to enter, turn the eye over so the cornea will rest on that [89] jaw, and then cut through the cornea. ”

“ As compared with true tapestries, the loom-made articles have more limited colour schemes, and their figured effects may be obtained from warp as well as weft, whether interlaced to form a plain face, or left floating more or less loosely. Every weft thread, in passing from selvage to selvage, is taken to the surface where required, the other portions being bound at the back. Some specimens are reversible, others are one-sided, but, however numerous the warps and wefts, only one texture is produced. ”

“ Now comes the really fascinating part of the work. Thread a wool needle with scarlet Berlin and with this work on the “head” with a few bold stitches eye-brows, nose and open mouth. I generally found three stitches enough for one eye-brow, and the same number for the nose; but here again individual discretion comes into play.
Thread another needle with white Berlin and supply the aforesaid open mouth with pearly teeth which need not by any means be regular; indeed you can give “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” an endless variety of expressions according to the direction of your stitches. ”

“ Hence the naked savage of New South Wales pierces the septum of his nose, through which he runs a stick or a bone, and scarifies his body, the charms of which increase in proportion to the number and magnitude of seams by which it is distinguished. The operation is performed by making two longitudinal incisions with a sharpened shell, and afterwards pinching up with the nails the intermediate space of skin and flesh, which thereby becomes considerably elevated and forms a prominence as thick as a man's finger. No doubt but pain must be severely felt until the wound be healed. ”

“ The tusks appear externally to the mouth, the form of the upper lip being modified to allow of their protrusion, but are much less developed in females than in males. The teeth of the molar series gradually increase in size and complexity from first to last, and are arranged in contiguous series, except that the first lower premolar is separated by an interval from the second. ”

“ The tusks or canines are strongly developed, with persistent roots and a partial enamel covering, those of the upper jaw not having the usual downward direction, but curving outwards, upwards and finally inwards, while those of the lower jaw are directed upwards and outwards with a gentle backward curve, their hinder edges working and wearing against the front edges of the upper pair. ”

“ The Malayan fold of the upper eyelid is seen in a large majority of the men, the fold being so low that it hangs over and hides the roots of the lashes. The lashes appear to grow from behind the lid rather than from its rim.
The teeth are large and strong, and, whereas in old age they frequently become few and discolored, during prime they are often white and clean. The people never artificially stain the teeth, and, though surrounded by betel-nut chewers with dark teeth or red-stained lips, they do not use the betel. ”

“ Experience here is the only guide, as the light varies as well as the density of the negative and the sensitiveness of the tissue. If one does not have an actinometer, a slip of albumen paper may be used; as soon as the paper has reached the darkest point, which is then called one tint, extend it so that a fresh portion comes out to the light, and so on for the different tints. ”

“ In using the 6B Venus pencil to darken the upper eyelid, use the side and not the point of the pencil. Do not use a pencil sharpener, for it leaves too sharp a point. Keep your pencil free from grease. Wipe it often.
Rouge will fade under bright lights. Much depends upon the condition of one's health as to how long rouge will keep its color on the face. There will be certain times when rouge will disappear rapidly and you will have to renew the outer rouge, perhaps before the act is over.164
Do not throw powder at your face, nor rub it in or smear it. ”

“ But it must not be thought that this layer is the only repository of the pigment of the iris. It is also found accumulated in the thickness of the stroma, and between the muscular fibres. In both places the granules of the pigment have the same brown colour as in the rest of the body, but the pigment of the posterior or pigmental layer is only seen through the stroma and appears blue or grey, more or less light or dark, according to its quantity, just as the black veins of the blood appear to us blue through the skin. ”

“ The toughness of these [178] filaments, considering that each is finer than the thinnest strand of silk, is remarkable. Their strength, however, may be easily accounted for, when we know that each is composed in reality of innumerable delicate threads, bound together by a subtle gelatinous fluid. This phenomenon may be made out quite distinctly with a common hand lens, if the following simple experiment be adopted: Make a Mussel construct its thread in such a way that the disc of each is planted on the face of the glass. ”

“ The layer of epidermis or skin which lies immediately above the supra-œsophageal ganglia becomes gradually converted into the refractive media of the crustacean eye. A cuticle which lies on its surface forms the peculiar facets on the surface of the eye, which are known as the corneal lenses, while the cells of the epidermis give rise to lens-like bodies known as the crystalline cones. ”

“ The upper or dorsal lip is always more developed than the lower or ventral; and the entire semitubular proboscis may be regarded as a production of the upper lip. Sometimes the latter attains an extraordinary size and development, the greatest in Challengeria murrayi (Pl. 99, fig. 1) .
The teeth of the mouth, which arise from the upper lip, are usually hollow, at least on the base; a prolongation of the shell-cavity arising into the base of the teeth. Their form is very variable, conical, lanceolate, triangular, sabre-shaped, &c. ”

“ This is my general custom. Some men wipe their pens on their hair,—not a very cleanly habit, in my opinion,—besides, unless the colour of the hair is exceptionally dark, the ink shows.
I had no sooner wiped my pen on the inside of my coat than I remembered Eliza's present. Determined to show her that I appreciated it, I took a full dip of ink, stepped into the drawing-room, and wiped the pen on the new pen-wiper. Then I called up-stairs: "Eliza, I have just found your present very useful. Would you like to come and look?" ”