NAILS

(Germ, niigel.) This term is given to the terminal horny appendages of the fingers and toes when they are in the form of flattened or depre ed plates, serving to support a broad tactile surface, as in the human fingers. When these appendages are compre ed, curved, pointed, and extended beyond the digit, they are called " talons," or " claws;" when they encase the extremity of a digit like a box, they are called " hoofs." N A' I S. ( Gr. votiocf, a naiad. ) The name of a genus of minute Abranchiate Anelli des, or red-blooded worms, remarkable for their powers of reproducing parts of the body when mutilated; and for procreating their kind by spontaneous separation of the hinder segments of the trunk. NAIVETfi (Fr.), is applied to a certain indescribable grace in the female character, resulting from a union of great natural shrewdne , unafffected simplicity, and, to a certain extent, a disregard of the conventional forms and usages of society. [s. 817]