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PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHYA SYNOPTICAL STUDY OF

The Science of the HandBY

EDWARD HERON-ALLENmiOR OF " A MANUAL OF CHEIROSOPHY." " THE SCIENCE OF THE HAND,"" A DISCOURSE OK CHVROMANC1E," " CODEX CH1ROMANTM5," ETC.

Explanatory Tlates and diagramsROSAMUND 13RUNEL HORSLEY

NEW YORK AND LONDONG. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

($be ftnicftcrbochet1897


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COPYRIGHT. 1887,BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS


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To the MemoryOf days that are fast, and of hours that have long gone by .

INSCRIBEDWith the name of a Friend

Whose gentle hands have turned the last leafOfa book that is ended:

U Dedicate

THESE LABOURS OF MINE IN A NEW WORLD


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&j/ &*;**


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CONTENTS.

ManPREFATORY EXCUKSTON 9INTRODUCTION . . - . 13PART I. HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS ... 23PART II. THE PHYSIOC-UGI OK THE HAND .... 33PART III. ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS: CHEIROG-

NOMY 45PART IV. CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY 86

5


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LIST OF PLATES.PAGE

1 THE BONES OF THE HAND 39II. THE THUMB, THE JOINTS, AND THE LINES IN

THE HAND 51III. THE ELEMENTARY HAND 63IV. THE SPATULATE HAND 67V. THE CONIC HAND . . 71VI. THE SQUARE HAND 75

VII. THE KNOTTY HAND 79VIII. THE POINTED HAND 83IX. THE MOUNTS OF THE PALM 93X. THE LINES AND MOUNTS 97XI. THE LINES AND MOUNTS 101XII. AGES UPON THE LINES OF LIFE AND FORTUNE, 107XIII. THE LINES HI

7


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PREFATORY EXCURSION.

THE first lecture that I had the pleasure of givingin the United States was delivered from the notesfrom which, in turn, this little book has been written,has been written in odd moments saved from the wreckof time, amid the rapids of existence in New York. Itis therefore, perhaps, necessary that I should apologizefor the manner in which I have dealt with a subjectthat stands in no need of any apology in itself, andshould offer this word of explanation of the style inwhich this Opusculum has been prepared. In revisingthe transcript of the stenographic notes which I causedto be taken of that lecture, I have frequently beenastonished at my own temerity in attempting to dis-cuss, within such narrow limits of time and space, asubject so vast as that of The Hand ; were it not thatI had pledged myself to the preparation of this per-manent record of the remarks I was enabled by thetime at my disposal to make, I should more than


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IO PREFATORY EXCURSION.I have done what I could, during the process of

revision, to give to my work the semblance, at anyrate, of a completeness which it does not, cannot,possess ; but even now, at the moment that the sheetsare ready to leave the press, I am overwhelmed bythe knowledge of my inability to give completenesseven to a sketch of the subject which has been identi-fied with my name in two continents. At the request,therefore, of a number of those who were unable tobe present on that occasion, and whom I shall never

in deference to a deeply rooted national aversionto twice-told tales be able to address to the sameeffect in the future, I deliver these sheets to thepiinter, " not as a guaranty of good faith, ' but forpublication," in the hope that in gratifying a widelyexpressed curiosity with regard to that lecture, I shallnot offend those to whom, like myself, the Scienceof Cheirosophy is a not un-important branch of thegreat study of human nature, a branch incapable ofbeing adequately honored between the covers of a" Hand-book " the term being used in the literaryand not the Cheirosophic sense.

I have taken advantage of the " cool reflection "* ivhich has followed the delivery of my lecture, to add

ft few passages, which I would fain have introduced


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PREFA TOR Y EXCURSION'. 1 1into my discourse, did I not hold it to be a lecturer'sduty to his audience, to be as brief as circumstanceswill permit. I have also utilized the opportunitiesthus offered me, to append a fairly complete system ofnotes, which may help those of my readers who feel asufficient interest in the subject to probe the mattersreferred to more deeply; and I have further madereference, where it has seemed necessary or advisable,to my larger works on the Science of Cheirosophy, sothat this little work may, as it were, serve for an ele-mentary guide to the study of those larger volumes.

J[ claim the indulgence of the public for this littlebook on one ground alone : that it may serve as anintroduction to the Science, for many whose attentionhas not hitherto been called to its value as a practicalmeans of diagnosing the characters of our fellow-men.May I hope, that in awakening a new interest in theminds of some of my readers, I have acted for themas pioneer along a path which may lead them whoknows ? to a solution of the intricate problem thatmust so often have perplexed them, I mean them-selves !

ED. HERON-ALLEN.EVERETT HOUSE, NEW YORK,Jan. 7, 1887.


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PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.

INTRODUCTION.

THE pleasure with which I approach the taskwhich I have undertaken, in attempting torecord in this form the remarks I have beenprivileged to make from the lecture-platform, issensibly modified by regret, regret that thespace at my disposal is far too limited to enableme to write a fractional part of what I shouldwish to record upon a subject which has beenone of intense interest to me in the years thatare past, and which is one which touches us allvery nearly. The subject, however, has thisone great advantage : it stands in no need ofany preliminary apology ; its importance is itsown introduction ; and I will therefore addressmyself at once to the subject that we have be-fore us, and call your attention to some points


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14 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.There is, I think, no need for me to lay em-

phasis upon the paramount importance of thehand in the human economy. This has beenacknowledged ever since Aristotle, in the fourthcentury before Christ, called it " the organ ofthe organs," ' the active agent of the passivepowers of the entire human system ; and we, inthese latter days, shall hardly be prepared tocontrovert this statement, when we reflect thatthere exists no human action, and hardly anyrite or ceremony, in which the hand is not, ifnot prime agent, at least an important actor.Look only at the fountain-head of all knowledge,

literature: is it not by means of the worksof their hands, by their writings, that we are en-abled to hold, as Galen says, 2 converse with allthe venerable sages, both of remote antiquityand of the recent past, with all those intellectualheroes who have bequeathed to us in writingthe intellectual treasures of their own divineimaginations ?We have only to pass from this to the con-templation of the manufactures (which it wouldbe impossible to conceive, were men createdwithout hands), to be brought to this inevitable

1 IIEPI znnN MORION. Book iv.


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INTRODUCTION. 1 5conviction : that (to borrow an illustrationfrom Darwin) it is by his hands that manhangs, monkey-like, from the branches of theTree of Knowledge.Not only in writing and in manufactures, butin verbal instruction, in the pulpit, in the senate,and in the drama, the part which is played bythe human hand is one, the importance of whichhas occupied the attention of the highest authorities in these matters ; and the varied emo-tions, expressions, and significations which maybe conveyed by the hands alone have been madethe subject not only of celebrated passages inthe works of such writers as Quintilian theorator, 3 and Montaigne the essayist, 4 but ofentire works upon the movements and gesturesof the hands as an aid to oratory. 5 What couldbe more significant as a practical confirmationof what I say, than the fact that after themurder of Cicero at Caieta, his hands as wellas his head were sent to be exposed in theRoman Forum, as the means whereby he hadcajoled and deluded the Roman citizens ?

3 De Institutione Oratorica. Book xi. cap. 3.4 Apologie de Raimond Sebond. Book ii. cap. 12.


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16 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.The ancients were therefore actuated by the

keenest reasoning in looking upon the amputa-tion of the hands as the severest punishmentwhich they could inflict upon their enemies ; 6for a man without hands is not even the ninthpart of a man. He simply cumbers the earth, sofar as any practical utility is concerned : thoughthere have been recorded many instances ofcurious and minute forms of workmanship, andeven the playing of such musical instrumentsas the violin, being effected by persons whohave been either born without hands, or havebeen deprived of them early in life ; even downto the instance quoted by Sir Charles Bell,' ofthe Russian beggar born without arms, who,haunting a wood a short distance from Mos-cow, used to murder wayfarers by stunningthem with a blow of his head, dragging theminto the wood, and despatching them with histeeth.Many celebrated men have been one-handed.We know that Nelson lost his right arm at

Teneriffe, and Cervantes the use of his left atthe battle of Lepanto in 1751 ; but these acci-

6 Xenophon : 'EAAHNIKON. Book ii. cap. I (31).7 The Hand: its Mechanism and Vital Endowments. (London,


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INTRODUCTION. I/dents did not, in the former case, interfere withthe talents of Horatio Nelson as Lord HighAdmiral of the Fleet, nor in the latter preventthe evolution of those heroes of romanceDon Quixote and Sancho Panza. Still, all suchcases must be looked upon as historic excep-tions ; and we come back to the original com-ments of Anaxagoras and of Aristotle, to theeffect that man, being the wisest of all animals,has alone, of all animals, been gifted withhands, the instruments of his high intellectualfaculties. 8

To echo my words, I have said that manalone of all animals has hands : that is to say, inno other creature do we find either extremitiesso perfectly articulated, or mental powers sohighly developed ; and commencing at the low-est forms of animal life, and progressing up-wards along the scale of created beings, theeminent natural historian, Milne Edwards, hasobserved 9 that " the faculties of the mammaliaare elevated in proportion as their extremitiesare the better constructed for prehension andtouch." And, to go a step farther, we find an

" Aristotle and Galen: vide the passages quoted in notes i


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IS PRACTICAL CIIE1ROSOPHY.ascending scale of intelligence among the ani-mals which are gifted with the nearest approachto, and best substitutes for, hands ; as in thecase of the elephant, an instance which hasbeen cited both by Lucretius and by Cicero. 10

Sir Richard Owen, in a most interesting littlebook "On the Nature of Limbs,"" has tracedstep by step the homologies between the humanhand and the paws of the brute creation, withthe effect of demonstrating that the third rin-ger is the one digit that no animal is without,and that as the extremities become less andless articulated, that is to say jointed, so as tobe capable of varied movement, it is the outerfingers which we discover by comparative anat-omy to be missing, and it is the third or middlefinger that represents in man the hoof of thehorse, and of such animals.To man, then, and to man alone, is the per-fect construction of the hand, as we see it,peculiarly adapted ; and it is to man alone withhis varied mental and physical requirements,that, as Galen remarked, the Creator has given,in lieu of every other natural weapon or organ

10 Lucretius : De Rerum Natura. Book ii. line 536. Cicero : De


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INTRODUCTION. 1 9of defence, that exquisite and universally en-dowed instrument, THE HAND.We know, that as different orders of createdbeings have differently constructed extremities,so various races of men, even various nationsof the same race, show marked varieties ofcharacteristic in the shapes of their hands. Itis my intention to carry the question fartherstill, and to put before you the data upon whichI have formed my unalterable conviction thatnot only do these clearly marked diversities ofcharacteristic occur between the hands of racesand of nations, but that in every communityof men and women certain physical and men-tal characteristics are clearly signified by cer-tain concomitant peculiarities in the formationof the hands ; and that by observing thesecharacteristics of the hands, we may read offthose characteristics of the mind, by meansof the simple and physical science of CHF.J-ROSOPHY.We are most of us prepared to admit, fromthe sculptor's point of view, the grandeur andbeauty of a large and finely modelled malehand ; but there are very few of us who donot confess in our hearts a preference for the


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20 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.characterizes for us, what has been called justlythe softer, and unjustly the weaker, sex, favor-ably contrasting such hands with the rough andred fist, which, according to Sir Philip Sidney, I2indicates "robust health, a warm heart, anddistance from the metropolis," or, according toDon Quixote, great strength.' 3 It is interestingto note, that some of the keenest and cleverestmen that history has known have been re-nowned for the elegance, the womanliness, oftheir hands. Among such I may quote thegreat Sultan Mahmoud II., Lord Byron, andPope Leo X.In Persia, the hawthorn blossom is called the"white hand of Moses," I4 and "the white hand"is always looked upon as the symbol of inno-cence and of gratitude ; ' 5 whence, conversely,our expression, "red-handed," as the synonymof guilt. I shall have something to say lateron about the importance attached to the handamong Oriental nations, at present I have said

12 Vide Ed. Heron-Allen: The Science of the Hand. (London,1886.) f 10.

13 Don Quixote : Part ii. chap. 23.14 Rubaiyat of Omar-i-Khayyam. Nicolas' text and translation(Paris, 1867), i86th quatrain. Fitzgerald's translation (Boston, 1886)fourth verse.

ls


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INTRODUCTION. 21enough to serve as an introduction to a con-sideration of the bases upon which a completescience of shall I call it divination ? hasbeen raised, having the Human Hand as itspoint of departure.

Indeed, indeed, have I not some right toclaim a hearing for the science of cheirosophy ?The labors of Johann Kaspar Lavater have cul-minated in the establishment of the science ofphysiognomy. 16 The untiring researches andefforts of Franz Joseph Gall and Johann KasparSpurzheim ' 7 have secured a place among thesciences of to-day for that of phrenology. Now,I claim your attention for a space whilst I bringbefore you a science many centuries older thaneither of these, a science which I trust I shallbe able to prove to you to be more easy in ap-plication, more simple in acquisition, and morecertain in its results, than either or both.

I am not going to bore you with theories. Ihave done that enthusiastically in my two largerworks on the hand.' 8 I ask your attention now

16J. K. Lavater: Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beforderungder Menschenkenntriss und Menschenliebe (Leipzig, 1775-78).

17 F. J. Gall : Anatomic et Physiologic du systeme nerveux, et ducerveau en particulier (Paris, 1809-19).

18 Ed. Heron-Allen: A Manual of Cheirosophy (London, 1885).


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22 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.to a few notes upon the hand, which I trustwill interest you as much as they have inter-ested me, and to a short exposition of the actualprinciples and practice of my science, whichmay help you to understand the strange prob-lems which must often have perplexed you,namely, yourselves.


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HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 2$

PART I.HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS.

IHAVE, before this, had occasion to say thatI believe there exists no symbolical action,

adopted by the human race, in which the handdoes not play a or THE principal part. Inproof of this, let us revert to simplicity.How many times a day do we shake handswith our friends ! Sometimes this action is

quite mechanical and meaningless ; sometimesit is quite the reverse : but, however we performthe ceremony, I do not think there are many ofus who remember that people only go throughit with one another to emphasize the fact thatthey are not concealing a weapon wherewith tosurreptitiously murder the person with whomthey are shaking hands. Yet such was theorigin of hand-shaking. Now, indeed, that thecustom has become, as I say, mechanical anduniversal, it is quite a study by itself, thevarious methods in which people go through


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24 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.shakes hands with you "like that" (as Gilbertsays), to the haughty person of whom the poethas written,

" With finger-tips he condescendsTo touch the fingers of his friends,As if he feared their palms might brandSome moral stigma on his hand ! "

Closely allied to this, is the custom, whichobtained among the nations of classical anti-quity, and which, indeed, still exists among sav-age tribes, of holding up the hands as a sign ofpeace before coming to close quarters for thepurposes of palaver ; and among modern civil-ized nations, those of us who know the lonelymoor districts of England, and the still morelonely prairie roads of North America, may per-haps have been disconcerted by the suddendirection, " Hold up your hands ! " from themouth of the casual footpad : the significationin each case being to demonstrate the fact thatthe person so placed is unarmed, or at any ratepowerless to resist.

Following the like analogy, the abrogationof all power, and the consequent supplicationfor mercy, we have the custom of folding the


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HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 2$since the earliest historic times ; ' 9 and alliedwith this is the Oriental rule which ordainsthat the hands shall be hidden in the presenceof a superior, by crossing the arms, or by hid-ing the hands in a fold of the robe. So, again,in giving the hand, as the bride does in themarriage ceremony, or as the vassals did to theirlords in the mediaeval ceremony of the homage,the like abrogation of will is intended to besymbolized. From this we get to the kissingof hands perhaps the most abject expressionof humility that is known to civilization, 20 beingreserved solely for princes and fair women, towhom in this manner we signalize our allegianceand submission. Of course I do not overlookthe kissing of the priest's hands in the celebra-tions of the Roman-Catholic Church, but this ismore a matter of ritual than of personal homagefrom man to man. 2 ' It is said that the practiceof kissing one's hands to people, by way of salu-tation, is a relic of the Parsee fire-worship ; theancient Persian custom being to place the handupon the mouth, and raise it towards the sun. 22

J9 Aristotle: Ilepi KOO-/IOV: Ke< Z*.20 Ed. Heron-Allen : A Manual of Cheirosophy. Iffi 18, 19.21 F. Rous : Archeologicae Atticae (London, 1685), p. 278.22 Brand: of Great Britain. Hazlitt's edi-


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26 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.These instances are sufficient to point the

fact that the hand is more or less universally re-garded as a symbol of power. To such a pointis this carried by the Moslem races, that inMorocco even the number five is never men-tioned in the presence of the Emperor, and thefingers of the hand represent a rosary of thefive precepts of Islam ; viz., "Belief in Allah andin Muhammad his prophet," "Prayer," "Alms-giving," "The holy pilgrimage to Mecca," and"The Fast of Ramadan."

Again, we find traces of the same recognitionin a thousand different words and phrases bring-ing in the word "hand," in its Latin, Greek, orEnglish forms, with the signification of poweror initiative force. 23 Thus we have many suchlines in Shakspeare, as, " He is a tall man ofhis hands;" and in Bacon, as, "At an evenhand" signifying equality.

Nothing was more common, at one time, thanthe oath by the hand, which was either held up,as is still the custom in Scotch and Frenchcourts of law, or laid upon the altar or Bible ;customs which bring us to the various religiousrites, such as the laying-on of hands in theconsecration of priests, and in the confirmation


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HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 2/service. The episcopal blessing, which is givenwith the thumb and first two fingers only ex-tended, is most interesting to us ; for its signifi-cation is thus laid down in works upon theritual. 2* The thumb is the representative ofUnity in the Godhead the cross, by the by,in baptism is directed to be traced upon thechild's forehead with the thumb ; the first fin-ger is the emblem of Christ, the indicator ofGod's will, and its revealer to mankind. So,too, the first finger was held by the older chei-romants to be the representative of Jupiter.The second finger represents, in the ritual, theHoly Ghost. So that the three digits held thusrepresent the Trinity, which is invoked in theblessing. The ring in the marriage-service isplaced upon the third finger, in token that afterthe Trinity the man's eternal allegiance is givento his wife, the ring being the symbol of eter-nity. In the old marriage service, the ringused to be placed on the thumb and the firsttwo fingers in turn, and then left upon thethird finger of the woman's hand. This also is,of course, the origin of the position of the fingersin the little coral or metal hands worn in the

24 Gulielmus Durandus: Rationale Divinorura Officiorum (Ven-


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28 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.south of Italy to avert the evil eye, the handbeing cast either in the position prescribed forthe blessing, or in that known as "the devil'shorns." 25 The most potent of these charms isthat known as the Mano Pantea, in which thehand is embossed with various symbols of occultmeaning but infallible power !

Closely connected with "the laying-on ofhands" was the old ceremony of "touching forthe king's evil." On a given day, peopleafflicted with particular diseases used to as-semble at Whitehall ; and the sovereign usedeither to touch them personally, or used to havedistributed to them pieces of money, or rings,which had been hallowed by the royal touch. 26Many authentic accounts of this ceremony areto be found in contemporary literature. Thecustom is of the highest antiquity. Suetoniusand Tacitus record instances of cures performedin this manner by the Emperor Vespasian atAlexandria, cures which are wholly marvellousin the recital ; 2? and as late as the reign of

25 A Manual of Cheirosophy. ^ 23, 24.26 Gentleman's Magazine. 1747, p. 13; 1751, p. 414; 1829 (ii.),p. 499.

27 Godwin's Lives of the Necromancers


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HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 2QQueen Anne, Dr. Johnson was touched forsome real or fancied ill by the sovereign. Her-rick has beautifully recorded such a cure in thelines :

" Oh, lay that hand on me,Adored Caesar, and my faith is such,I shall be cured, if that my king but touch.The evil is not yours, my sorrow sings,Mine is the evil, but the cure the king's."

Hesperidet.

What I have now said sufficiently demon-strates the importance with which the hand hasalways been invested, and gives us some insightinto the atrocity of the punishment of cuttingoff the hands, which was so much in vogueamong the ancient Greeks and Romans, whichhas been largely practised in our own country[England], and which exists still as a favoriteform of punishment among Oriental nations ; apunishment which is the most horrible that itis possible to conceive, for it entirely and per-manently precludes- the possibility of the suf-ferer ever making his own living honestly inthe future. As late as the seventeenth cen-tury, this punishment was inflicted in Englandupon persons who should commit any assault


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30 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.graphically and quaintly to an occasion of thekind. 28From the cutting-off of hands to the cutting-

off of thumbs is but a short step ; and from theRoman coward, who by cutting off his thumbs,lest he should be sent to the wars, producedthe modern word "poltroon" (from the wordspollice truncato}, to the invention of the thumb-screw by the Spaniards, the amputation ormutilation of the thumb, as being the mostimportant digit of the hand, has been awardedas a punishment for felonies and political of-fences of various degrees.Upon the importance of the thumb in thestudy of the hand, too much stress could notpossibly be laid. It was with the thumb thatthe Romans spared the fallen gladiator's life,or condemned him to death ; it is by lickinghis thumb that the Ulster man clinches hisbargains ; whilst it was by biting his thumb atAbram that Sampson, in " Romeo and Juliet,"engaged the adherents of the Montagues andCapulets in a street brawl. 29 It is by the prick-ing of her thumbs that the witch in " Macbeth "knows that "something evil her way comes,"

28 Science of the Hand, Index: sub Amputation of the Hand*


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HAND SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 31a peculiarity of this digit which was shared, weare told, by

the Irish hero Fingal.Who is there who has never heard of theitching palm 3 as a sign of avarice ? Stevenshas truly observed that all sudden pains of thebody, which cannot immediately be accountedfor, were anciently assumed to be presages ofevents about to happen. This theory con-cerning the itching palm has been developedfrom a much older one, which lays it downas an axiom that an itching palm is the fore-runner of a coming legacy, or gift of money,

a superstition which came originally fromPersia. 31Is there any one among us who has not heard

a score of jingles and superstitions concerningfinger-nails? Even as I write, there come flit-ting through my mind the old rhymes as to thedays for cutting them, and the white spots whichwe find in them. As to what are the right dayson which to pare the nails, the superstitions areinnumerable and extremely antique. No Romancitizen would ever pare his nails save upon theFerics Nunt&iue, which recurred at intervals of

30 Science of the Hand. ^[ 4.31 G.Atkinson: Customs and Manners of the Women of Persia.


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32 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.nine days; 32 and I have come across old ladiesin country districts

who notonly 'choose care-fully the days upon which to cut their own and

their children's nails, but even make a' point ofcutting them over the leaves of the Bible, toinsure their continuance in the paths of honestyand of virtue. 33

32 Ausonius : Eclogarium, 373.33 Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. (London, 1870.!


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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND. 33

PART II.THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND.

LET us devote a few moments to the consid-eration of the exquisite construction of themember with which we are concerned at thispresent.The first thing which cannot fail to strike usat once, concerning the hand, is its completeperfection. In no other combination of bones,muscles, and nerves, and in no other animal,do we find a perfection which results in suchsuperiority with regard to strength, variety,rapidity, and extent of motion ; and this perfec-tion resulting, as it undoubtedly does, fromthe intimate relations which exist between thehand and the intellect, we are irresistibly com-pelled to ask with Sir Charles Bell, "Is it noth-ing to have our minds awakened to the percep-tion of the numerous proofs of design whichpresent themselves in the study of the hand, to


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34 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.the most perfect mechanism, the most minuteand curious apparatus, and sensibilities themost delicate and appropriate, are all combinedin operation that we may move the hand." 34And further, we are bound to say, with Galen, 3Sthat its entire structure is such that it couldnot be improved by any conceivable alteration.In the human hand, each part is subordinatedto a harmonious combination of function withanother part, and each by a special modificationof its own, so that every single bone is distin-guishable from another. Each digit has its ownpeculiar character and name ; and the thumbwhich among the lower animals is the leastimportant and constant of the five digits, be-comes in man the most important of all, makingthe member "a hand," properly so called, asProfessor Sir Richard Owen has justly re-marked ; 3& the hand, which characterizes manalone, in justification of the words of the Persianpoet, Omar-i-Khayyam," Ten Powers and nine Spheres, eight Heavens made He,And Planets seven of six sides we see ;Five Senses, and four Elements, three Souls,Two Worlds, but only one, O MAN ! like thee." 3734 Clt. 35 O cjt.


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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND. 35And when we come to consider the question,

it is the thumb, and the thumb alone, thatgives to the hand the finishing touch of its per-fection. Without the thumb, how impotent,comparatively speaking, the grasp of the fin-gers ! but let the thumb be brought into oppo-sition and action, and the fingers find a fulcrumwhence to apply 'their tremendous leverage,and the hand becomes, for its size, the mostpowerful mechanism of the human body." But," people have said to me, " I can neversee any difference between the hands of differ-ent people." That this should be literally thecase, seems to me to be impossible, regard be-ing had to the fact that man is a sentient being,endowed with powers of observation. But avery little experience will enormously increasethe acuteness of those powers of observation.And just as the specialist and the connoisseurcome to distinguish infinitesimal variations inworks of art, just as the banker's clerk detectsthe forged bank-note after it has deceivedmany people less accustomed to handling suchthings, the cheirosophist very soon comes tocompare mentally the hands which he sees,with all those that he has ever seen before, until


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36 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.leading types to which I am about to draw yourattention, becomes a purely mechanical opera-tion, and it becomes a familiar fact, that, just asour faces and characters present infinite varia-tions, so no two hands, or pairs of hands, areidentical.There exists a very interesting account of aman discovering a murderer solely by the con-

volutions of the skin upon the ball of thethumb.

Visiting the scene of the murder shortly afterits committal, the detective found upon the sillof the window by which the murderer had es-caped, an imprint of the spiral lines of the ballof his thumb left in blood. Tracing this care-fully, he tracked the murderer gradually fromplace to place, taking impressions of the ballsof hundreds of thumbs on his way, under thepretence of telling men's fortunes by this means ;but he never found a figure to correspond withthe one traced in blood at the scene of the mur-der, until he found the murderer himself, andthen, suddenly accusing him, brought him toconfession and the scaffold.

This infinite variation is still more perceptiblein the general formation of the hands ; and by


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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND. 37is enabled, as I shall presently show, to pro-nounce upon the capacities of the owner of thehand, just as the sportsman can tell from theoot of the dog or the horse the breed and capa-

bilities of the animal. " Ex pede Herculem" ishe motto upon which we proceed in cheiroso-phy, as in most other sciences ; and by studying

infinite variations of hands, you will comeand by degrees, to a perfectof the varied characteristics of

The gradual and perfect development of theis one of the most interesting studies of

physiologist. In the human embryo, whenappears no definite bodily formation, thehand is plainly distinguishable.

birth, save for the disproportion of the palmthe fingers, the hand is perfectly formed,the main osseous construction is completeabout the age of fourteen ; so that at four-the permanent shape given to the hand bymental capacities may be read like an openby the expert in cheirosophy. This per-development of the hand is what mustoccupy our attention ; though, be it under-

I do not to discourse here at


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38 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.rosophy," and in "The Science of the Hand,"upon the anatomy of the member. Still it is ne-cessary that, before impressing upon your mindsthe leading types of hands, you should be in aposition to understand by the development ofwhat tissues the variations of those types areproduced.The skeleton of the hand consists of twenty-seven bones, eight composing the carpus orwrist, five composing the metacarpus or palm,twelve forming the phalanges of the fingers,and two forming the thumb. (Plate I.) Thesmall bones of the carpus, fitting exquisitelyinto one another as they do, have their articu-lating surfaces covered with a layer of cartilage,so that the whole forms a quasi-solid andhighly elastic mass, which is gifted with enor-mous strength, and which' forms, as it were, a" buffer " which is capable of resisting a verypowerful jar indeed. This mass of bones isnot completely developed until the twelfth year,which accounts for the fact that until this agethe wrist is comparatively weak.The five long bones of the metacarpus areslightly incurved, which imparts the familiarhollowness to the palm. At the lower ends of


45/138Plate I.- THE BONES OF THE HAND.


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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND. 41epiphysis, becomes gradually developed, and at-taches itself to the shaft at about the twentiethyear. This adds enormously to the strength ofthe hand, so that it may be said that the perfectossification of the hand does not take place untilthat time.The fingers consist, as we see, of three pha

langes, and the thumb of two, which correspondwith the first and third of the fingers, the mid-dle phalanx being absent. Besides the littlemasses of bone to which I have alluded in themetacarpus, we often find among the tendonsat the joint of the thumb, little embeddedbones termed "sesamoid bones:" these enor-mously increase the strength, the leverage, ofthe joints ; so that where you see prominentjoints upon the thumbs, you may always be sureof finding great manual strength.There are two principal layers of muscles inthe hand, a superficial and a deep layer ; theyare attached to the ends of the bones by meansof the tendons and the little ridges called pro-cesses ; and the point concerning them, to whichI desire to call your attention, is the exquisitemechanism and enormous strength of thesetendons, which, radiating from the wrist, give


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42 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.to the movements of the muscles of the hands.You see these particularly when the back ofthe hand is made rigid. Observe also thepowerful tendon of the thumb.The hand is perhaps more liberally suppliedwith arteries and veins than any other memberof the body. It is, to a great measure, this factwhich gives to the hand its intense keennessof sensibility of touch. There used to exist aninteresting old superstition (which is, I regretto say, without foundation) to the effect thatthe third finger was connected directly with theheart by means of a vein. 38I should greatly like to discuss the nervoussystem of the hand, but the space at my disposalrenders such a discussion impossible. We must,however, bear in mind that the nerves are morenumerous, more delicate, and more highly de-veloped in the hand, than in any other part ofthe human body, excepting perhaps the lips.In the hands and lips, the nerves are first de-veloped in the human subject; and it is forthis reason that a baby always grasps with thatnervous infantile clutch any thing which pre-sents itself, and carries it instinctively and im-mediately to its mouth for identification. This


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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HAND. 43nervous system reaches, as you know, its high-est development in the skin ; and it is the rowsof touch corpuscles, the bulbs at the ends ofthe nerves, and the little sensitive heads called" pacinian bodies," which form the lines in thepalms, with which we have presently to deal.These lines are formed by the culminatingpoints of the sensory apparatus, and not, aspeople are so fond of saying, by the mere fold-ing of the hands. If proof were required ofthis statement, we should find it in the factthat these lines are found in the palms of thehands at birth, and even long before birth, inthe human infant. 39

Concerning the physiology of the hand, I havedone. I particularly wanted, however, to giveyou a few leading facts in this connection, be-cause the formation, the physical composition,of the hand, like that of every part of the body,depends entirely upon the uses to which it isput, the circumstances and physical conditionswhich surround it ; in a word, upon the mentalcharacteristics which prompt and direct those usesto which it is put. It is a well-known physio-logical fact, that upon the duties imposed upon

39 Science of the Hand, p. 70, note 91 ; and Quain's Anatomy,


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 45

PART III.ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS:CHEIROGNOMY.

THAT man should be ever striving to attainto that class of knowledge which is knownas " divination," is hardly strange ; man's na-ture, as we know (alas, too well ! ) being everto progress. How many are there to-day, whofrom their hearts would say, like Democritus," I would rather be the possessor of one of thecardinal secrets of nature, than of the diademof Persia."The time has passed when such studies as

this should be met only with derision. Modernscience has established the doctrine of the fixityof the Laws of Nature. We know that theevents of our lives succeed one another in con-sequence of one another; that the whole systemof human existence obeys the great law of causeand effect ; and judging a man's character bymeans of a glance at his physical peculiarities


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46 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.Newman Smyth has called "the divine veracityof nature." 40 The law of continual development,which has evolved astronomy out of astrology,chemistry out of alchemy, and craniology out ofmetoposcopy, has derived yet another sciencefrom an original, which was in its inceptionhardly more than the hap-hazard and conjecturalvaticinations of the impudent charlatan ; hasbrought the Science of Cheirosophy out of theruins of the ancient and mediaeval Palmistry.No one will deny that the use of an organ ormember is indicated by its aspects ; and fromthe use indicated by the aspects, what is moreeasy to deduce than the mental characteristicswhich prompt that use ? (Lavater told Goethe,on one occasion, that when in the practice ofhis priestly office he held the bag in church, hetried to observe only the hands ; and he fullysatisfied himself that in every individual theshape of the hand and of the fingers, and theiraction, were distinctly different and individuallycharacteristic.)

Again, it has been said that forced labor of aparticular kind will entirely alter the shape ofthe hands. Now, this is not the case. Labordiametrically opposed to the inclinations of the


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 47mind, if forced upon an individual, will oftenmodify the outlines of a hand ; but it will neveralter the shape, so as to render it uncertainwhat was the natural bent of the inclination.The hand cannot alter. And it is here that Iclaim for cheirosophy an advantage over everyother science of the kind. The phrenologistmay be deceived by the growth of the hair ; thephysiognomist may be led astray by a fixed andunnatural expression of the face : but the chei-rosophist finds in the hand an unvarying andunalterable indication of the character, a mirrorwhose images the bearer is powerless to distort.The science of Cheirosophy is divided intotwo great branches, Cheirognomy, or the sci-ence of deducing the characteristics of manfrom the shape of his hands ; and Cheiromancy,or the art of expounding to man the events ofhis life, and the inner shades of his character,by an inspection of his palms. The latter ofthese two branches is of incomparable antiquity,but has been reduced within reasonable bounds,and invested with all the attributes of an exactscience, only within the last fifty years, byAdrien Desbarrolles. The former is a compar-atively new science, having been formulated at


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48 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.taine Casimir Stanislas d'Arpentigny, whosebook, "La Science de la Main," it has beenmy most interesting task and labor of love totranslate and to annotate.M. d'Arpentigny first had his thoughts turned

in this direction whilst serving with his regi-ment in the Peninsular war in the year 1820.One day, walking along one of the highroads ofAndalusia, he was accosted by a gypsy woman,who offered to read for him his fortune uponhis palm in exchange for the ordinary douceur.The language in which she clothed the indica-tions which she expounded, struck him pro-foundly ; and from that day forth he commencedto study the works of the older cheiromants,and to observe carefully the hands of all withwhom he was thrown in contact. Near wherehe lived in the country stood the house ofa celebrated mechanician and mathematician,whose wife was imbued with a strong taste forart. The result of this opposition of taste inhusband and wife was that they gave a seriesof alternately artistic and scientific receptions,to which Captain d'Arpentigny went indiffer-ently. By degrees, he found that he could classthe various guests of his host and hostess by


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gO PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.Fingers which are smooth always denote a

tendency to act upon instinct, upon impube,upon intuition, rather than by reason, cal-culation, or deduction. If your fingers aresmooth, you are highly endowed with morenatural tact and grace than your knotty-fin-gered fellows.

Fingers which are knotty denote always atendency to order and arrangement. If yourfingers are such, you will be gifted with goodtaste, which is born of reason, rather thanwith natural tact, which is instinctive. If theupper joint (A in Plate II.) is developed, it de-notes a well-ordered mind, a neat, administra-tive disposition, and reason in the ideas. If theloiver joint (B in Plate II.) is developed, thisorder and reason applies itself to things mate-rial rather than to things mental and psycho-logical. The lower joint, therefore, is termedthe joint of material order ; the upper one istermed the joint of philosophy. The materialand worldly mind is denoted by a developmentof the lower, whilst the philosophic mind isdenoted by a development of the upper.Both joints developed indicate the mostpronounced instincts of order and philosophy.


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 53strong love of and search after abstract andabsolute truth.Art is the domain of smooth, science is thedomain of knotty fingers. These facts must beclearly laid hold of at the outset, for they arethe very corner-stones of cheirognomy. Ajointed hand can never become smooth, butwith age and experience a smooth hand maybecome knotty. This change takes place whenour minds have become more sceptic, more rea-sonable, and more mechanical than they werewhen the illusions of youth tinged all thingswith the roseate tints of poetry and of inspira-tion.A hand i% either long or short by comparisonwith its fellows, and the indications afforded bythese peculiarities are of synthesis or of analy-sis. To explain : People with short fingers arequicker, more impulsive, act more on the spurof the moment, than people with long fingers ;they prefer generalities to details, jump at onceto conclusions, and are quick at grasping allthe bearings of a subject or scheme. Theirjudgment is quick, and their action is prompt,making up their minds the moment a subiect

itself to them. the


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54 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.of tact. Joints will assist the promptitude ofshort fingers, for the calculation of the jointswill combine itself with the quickness of theshort fingers.With long fingers, on the contrary, we finda love of detail, an instinct of minutiae, and apunctilious carefulness, which amounts some-times even to frivolity. Such persons are tidyas to their appointments, dignified, easily putout, and very careful about trifles. These char-acteristics will be intensified by a developmentof the upper joint in the fingers. Such peopleelaborate detail at the expense of the mass, aredistrustful, and continually seek for inner mean-ings to things. M. d'Arpentigny himself hadfingers of this description ; and the result was,that his book on the hand is filled with an elab-orate mass of details and side-issues, which ismost distracting to the reader, unless his fin-gers harmonize with those of the author. Suchfingers often also betray cowardice, deceit, andaffectation.

Thus, therefore, large-handed people lovedetails, and like things to be small and exqui-sitely finished and perfect, whilst small-handedpeople love masses, and like things to be large


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. $?of habit and thought. You will have tastes forphilosophy, languages, and logic ; in literature,you will require analysis and arrangement.You will be imbued with respect for establishedauthority, and with a love of theories, of rheto-ric, and of order and tidiness : but, unless yourjoints be developed, this love of tidiness will gono further ; i.e., it will not be practical. Bothjoints highly developed give one the mostadvanced passion for symmetry, regularity, anddiscipline. Square-fingered people are alwaysmusical : brilliant executants are always spatu-late-fingered, but the most thorough musicianshave always square hands. Singers, on theother hand, have always conic or pointedfingers.With conic fingers, all your instincts will beartistic, your whole soul will be given over to alove of the beautiful, and you are certain to beenthusiastic and romantic. Joints give a cer-tain moral force to such fingers as these, as alsodoes a good-sized thumb.

If your fingers are pointed, i.e., long andfinely drawn out, yours will be exclusively thedomain of idealism, of religious fervor, and ofindifference to interests.


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58 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.tion of any of these formations indicates anexcess, a diseased condition of the instincts indi-cated by the formation. Thus, an exaggeratedpointedness will indicate excessive romanticism,folly, and imagination, which develops into thewildest eccentricity and into deceit.The color of the hands varies so continuallywith the temperature, that it is practically im-possible to lay down definite readings for it.But this one indication is infallible : if the handsare always white, never or hardly ever changingcolor, it is a sure sign of egoism, of selfish-ness, and of a want of real sympathy with thetroubles of others.As in physiology, so in Cheirosophy, thethumb is by far the most important part of the

hand. It is divided into three parts : the root,or Mount of Venus ; the second phalanx (C inPlate II.), which is that of logic ; and the first(D in Plate II.), which is that of will. Thesecond phalanx indicates our greater or lessamount of perception, judgment, and reasoningpower ; the first, by its greater or less develop-ment, indicates the strength of our will, ourdecision, and our capacity for taking the initia-


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60 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.short thumb indicates the reverse. I have dis-cussed all the minutiae of the combinations oflarge and small thumbs, with other formationsof the hand, in my book, " A Manual of Chei-rosophy."The consistency of hands is a great pointto be noticed ; indicating, as it does, the tastewhich the subject possesses for physical exer-tion. Soft hands are the indications of a quiettemperament, inclining to laziness and even tolethargy; whilst hard hands denote always animperious desire for action, and a love of hardphysical exercise or manual labor. These dif-ferences show themselves in the way varioussubjects put their tendencies into action. Thusan artist with hard hands will depict scenes ofaction, of real life, of movement, rather than theideal, imaginative pictures of the soft-handedartist. The soft spatulate hand will love thespectacle of action, and appreciate physical ac-tivity in others, rather than practise it himself.

Soft-handed subjects are always greedy of themarvellous, and fond of occult sciences, fromtheir love of contemplation : whereas very hardhands are always superstitious, by reason oftheir want of reflection to make them other-


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 65large and thick and hard, and, as a rule, longerthan the fingers, as is the case in an infant'shand.Such hands are very rare indeed in England

or America, and, indeed, are hardly to be metwith at all in the pure state in latitudes as south-ern, and in climates as clement, as ours. Theybetoken a crass and sluggish intelligence. Theyhave no imaginations or passions beyond themerely brutish ones, no instincts of cultivation,and hardly the instincts of human society,Though, as I have said, the pure elementarytype does not exist among us, we often findhands that come within measurable distance ofit, and then we find a very distinguishable tend-ency to the characteristics which I have named.The next type, the Spatulate (Plate IV.), orActive hand, is very much more common amongus. This hand has the tips of its fingers slight-ly flattened out like the spatula with which thechemist mixes his drugs, and from this it de-rives its name. The thumb is rather large, andthe whole hand has a tendency to hardness.The main characteristics of the type are action,movement, energy. Such subjects are resolute,self-confident, active, rather than delicate-mind-


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66 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.love. If such a subject has a small thumb,much of his energy and activity will be mis-directed or aimless, though a long phalanx oflogic will go far towards remedying this defect.Smooth fingers will give him elegance and spon-taneity in his active pursuits, and inspiration inthe direction of his exertions. Spatulate sub-jects make the best colonists, as they only lookat the useful side of things, attaching themselvesto countries only for the useful things they de-rive from them. They are very slightly sensual,and like travelling about and shifting for them-selves. They like colossal architecture ratherthan beauty of design, wealth rather than luxury,quantity rather than quality. People talk a gooddeal of nonsense about a fine hand as an indica-tion of ancient race. As a matter of fact, thepure descendants of the old fighting Saxon nobil-ity are always distinguishable by their spatulatehands. In religion, spatulate-handed subjectsare conventional above all things, Protestantsrather than Catholics. It is thus that thesehands are in a majority in Northern latitudes ;whereas in Southern climes, where the atmos-phere produces a more romantic turn of mind,the Catholic religion, and pointed or conical


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Otf THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 69nent joints give an intense love of science tothese hands, and make them expert in allmechanical or applied sciences. Such men arethe best engravers, and the readiest inventorsin mechanical arts and sciences. Softness, ofcourse, as I have said, greatly modifies theactive qualities of the type.Next to this, and by way of contrast, we havethe Conic, or Artistic hand (Plate V.). Of thishand the fingers are always slightly broad atthe lower phalanges, diminishing gently to thetips, which are conic or rounded. The jointsare not prominent, the thumb is generally small,and the palm fairly developed. If your handpresents these peculiarities of formation, youare ruled by' impulse and instinct, rather thanby reason or calculation ; you are attracted bythe beautiful, rather than by the useful, aspectsof life and matter ; you are attracted by ease,novelty, and liberty. Enthusiastic and impul-sive, rather than forcible or determined, youare at heart a pure Bohemian, and your imagina-tion is as warm as your heart is cold !If the formations of your type are still moreaccentuated, that is, if the palm is larger, themore drawn the* thumb still


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70 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.and your impulses. Your enthusiasm is higher,your love warmer and shallower ; you are gen-erous to a fault, painfully sensitive, and easilymoved. With such a hand, you are right tostrew the pathway of your life with roses ; butyou must not forget that when the petals havefallen from the wreath of roses, it becomes acrown of thorns.

Unfortunately, if the thumb is very weak,and other bad signs, which I shall presentlyexpound, appear in the hand, you will oftenfind in such subjects only the bad qualities ofthe type, sensuality, laziness, egotism, eccen-tricity, dissipation, and deceit ; but a hand mustbe very bad to show all this. The main char-acteristics, the guiding principles, of the typeare, love of beauty and the beautiful, preferenceof the ideal over the real, intuition, impulse, andselfishness.The next type is that of the Square, or Usefulhand (Plate VI.). This hand is generally large,

rather than small; the palm broad; the lowerjoint, that of material order, developed ; thetips of the fingers square, i.e., neither pointednor spread out ; the thumb rather large ; thepalm thick, hollow,-and rather firm.


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74 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.If the joint of order is absent, yours is a

most enviable mind ; for you have the strongestaptitude for metaphysical and abstract sciences,with a natural capacity for checking your tend-ency to enthusiasm. This is the cleveresthand that exists. Heaven help you if with asquare hand both your joints are developed !you will be the most aggressively methodicalcreature that ever existed, living by rote andrule, and doing every thing by pre-arrangedorder. Good sense and reasonable egoism arethe main features of th*e type.The next is the Knotty or Philosophic type

of hand (Plate VII.) : its appearance is most dis-tinctive. The palm is large and elastic ; bothjoints are highly developed, especially the upperone, which, with the half-conic, half-square for-mation of the tips, gives a curious clubbed ovalappearance to the fingers. The thumb is large,having its two phalanges of equal length.The great characteristics of this hand areanalysis, meditation, philosophy, and deduction ;and these continually lead to deism and de-mocracy. Their main and vital instinct is,however, a love of and search after abstract andabsolute truth. The to the hand


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wtfPlate VI.-THE SQUARE HAND.

Denoting order, arrangement, method, symmetryof form, and and


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78 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.To these subjects belongs the domain of the

beautiful ideal. They have all the artistic in-stinct of their conic-handed fellows, with noneof their bad points. They are guided entirelyby their idealism, their impulse, and their in-stinct of abstract right. They never command,for they are above any such earthly aggrandize-ment, or material interests of any kind ; butthey always inspire respect, if only on accountof the beauty of their brilliant incomprehensi-bility. In politics and religion, they acknowl-edge no leadership, being guided only by theirinnate sense of right and wrong. Theirs is thetalent of inspired lyric poetry, and they possess,with this faculty, the more important one ofcommunicating their enthusiasm to others. Itis this that makes them such splendid oratorsand preachers. These are the men who have areal call to the ministry. I once heard the lateHenry Ward Beecher say, that when God callsa man to preach, he generally calls a congrega-tion to listen to him ; when this happens, youmay expect to see pointed fingers. Other kindsof men often say they have heard a call : maybethey have, but it wasn't for them, it was for

else ! A will sometimes


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Plate VII. THE KNOTTY HAND.Denoting philosophy, analysis, logic, deduction, science,


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 8 1subject will be prone to rush from one extremeto another

;he will be credulous, greedy of themarvellous, discontented, and eccentric. Psy-

chic-handed people should never go beyond theirown intuitions, for they have not the gifts ofreason and of analysis. Sometimes, however,both joints will appear in such a hand; this willgive doubt, fear, dejection, and revolutionaryideas (but not practice). The only redeemingpoint of such a hand is its capacity for inven-tion, which is not, however, supported by thenecessary practical talents.

Finally, I must call your attention to thehybrid type, known as the Mixed hand ; thatis to say, hands which being, as it were, inter-mediate, so nearly resemble more than one type,as to admit the possibility of their being mis-taken for either. Thus a conic hand may benearly pointed, a square nearly spatulate, aspatulate nearly philosophic, and so on. Insuch cases the peculiarities of both types arepresent in the character, and it is the task ofthe cheirosophist so to combine them as to givea true analysis of the subject under examina-tion. Such subjects may generally be describedas "jacks of all trades, and masters of none;"


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82 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.seldom to excellence in any one. They are gen-erally amusing, but seldom instructive. Theirgreat advantage is their adaptability and readi-ness to suit themselves to any company inwhich they may find themselves ; but theseadvantages are generally combined with lack ofsincerity, application, or perseverance.

This is the Science of Cheirognomy. Fromwhat I have said, you ought now to be able totell, by a rapid glance at the hands, the char-acter of any one into whose company you arethrown. In my "Manual of Cheirosophy," Ihave devoted a special section to the minutiaeof Cheirognomy, as applied to the hands of thesofter sex. It is, however, only necessary forme to say here that the same remarks apply towomen as to men, save that the qualities ofthe more robust types are less, and those of thegentler types are more, developed among themthan among us. It should also be remarked,that the motives of the action of women mustbe sought for in instinct, impulse, and intuition,rather than in calculation or reason. It is, Ithink, very generally admitted, that the instinctof a


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Plate VIH. THE POINTED HAND.Denoting poetry, enthusiasm, idealism, abstract right,


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ON THE SHAPES OF HANDS. 85with the latter commodity. A ribald friend ofmine used to say that he never knew but onewoman who could understand reason, and shewouldn't listen to it. It will, therefore, strikethe observer as natural that smooth fingers arein a majority among women, rather than promi-nently jointed ones.

I turn now to a branch of the science which,though not so useful, is perhaps even more inter-esting than Cheirognomy. I mean, to Cheiro-mancy, whereby, in examining the mounts andlines of the palm, the past, the present, and eventhe future, may be explained and foretold.


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86 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.

PART IV.CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY.

THERE have not been wanting authoritieswho have claimed for cheiromancy, or, asit used to be called, " cheiroscopy," the supportof Scripture, basing their arguments upon thatoft-cited passage of the Book of Job, which Inave dissected and discussed at such length in" A Manual of Cheirosophy," 4I and " The Sci-ence of the Hand." The passage to which Irefer is cited in error, and there is no doubtnow that the science of cheirosophy is noteven remotely alluded to. But there is equallyno doubt that this science is of incomparableantiquity ; and Juvenal tells us, that in histime," The middle sort, who have not much to spare,To cheiromancer's cheaper art repair,Who clap the pretty palm to make the lines more fair." 42The works of Aristotle, as I said some time


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 8/it is interesting to know that one of the firstblock books ever produced by the printing-press(before the introduction of movable types) was"Die Kunst Ciromantia," written by JohannHartlieb in 1448, and published at Augsburgin 1495.

. The absolute origin of the art, panoplied, asMr. Edgar Saltus would say, "in the dim mag-nificence of myth," was probably Oriental. Mr.Herbert Giles, Her Majesty's consul at Shanghai,than whom probably no greater authority onChinese culture exists, tells me that the sciencewas practised in China many centuries beforeChrist. Philip Baldoeus alludes to its antiquityin India, in the seventeenth century; 43 and weknow that Apollonius of Tyana 44 studied magicin the time of our Lord, among the Brahminsin that country. Whatever its antiquity, themore one studies it, the more one is amazed bythe truths the inexplicable truths which itteaches us.

It is strenuously objected to this science,that it professes to predict with certaintyfuture events. Now, this is what it does not do ;

43 Wahrhiiftige ausfiirliche Beschreibung der ost-indischen Kiist-en Malabar, etc. (Amsterdam, 1672), cap. v. p. 513.

44 William Godwin: Lives of the Necromancers


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88 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.but it teaches men to observe the great lawsof Cause and Effect so closely as to be ableto predict the almost inevitable results of exist-ing circumstances. Cheirosophy aims at ascer-taining the established conjunctions, which intheir turn establish the order of the universe.They say it is impossible to predict a futuremalady or death. What is more reasonable to

believe than that, of a future malady, the germalready lurks in the system, which must ulti-mately supervene, and may prove fatal ? Sucha germ as this must affect the universal nerve-fluid, the vital principle ; and what is morelikely than that this affection should be visibleat the point where the nerves are most numer-ous and apparent, and that is in the palm ofthe hand ?

Then, so surely as the future exists alreadyfor us, let us minutely examine the present,which is forming and modifying and developingthat future. Our thoughts are free, as SirRichard Owen has said, to soar as far as any le-gitimate analogy may seem to guide them rightlyacross the boundless ocean of unknown truth !

Cheirosophy is not fatalism. It never sayswhat shall shall


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 89are adopting. If we neglect the warning, asI have constantly known people to do, turn-ing aside with a lofty smile, we have only our-selves to blame when the events, which wemight easily have averted by an effort, of will,supervene to our harm and annoyance. It istrue, that certain signs have been handed downfrom generation to generation, such as the indi-cations of coming accidents and sudden death ;and, in numberless instances, my own personalexperiences have proved the correctness ofthese signs, for the explanation of which it isimpossible to hazard any reasonable conjecture.These facts, of which I will shortly give youa few instances, simply exist as facts, and assuck we are bound to accept them.As to the expounding of the past, I wouldargue,

in the same way, that great events prin-cipally affect our nerves, and this affection ofthe nerves produces strange and infinitely variedcombinations of the lines in the palm. If trou-ble can leave its marks upon the face, as Byronsays,

" The intersected lines of thought,Those furrows which the burning shareOf sorrow ploughs untimely there;


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90 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.why should not the same effect be producedupon the hands, which are so much more sensi-tive than the face ?How continually one is told, by some onewho imagines he has discovered a brand-newargument, that the lines are simply the resultof the folding of the hands! The evidenceagainst this is infinite. Quain has told us 4Sthat the lines are clearly traced even beforea man is born ; and it is easy to verify the fact,that the hands of women, and of men whonever use their hands in active exercises, arealways covered with lines, whereas the handsof labourers and men who work hard with them,are nearly always almost destitute of lines atall. It is activity of brain, and not of body, thatcauses the lines to appear ; otherwise, how ac-count for lines between the joints of the fin-gers, and in directions in which no foldingcould ever, by any possibility, take place ?No : the hands fold, it is true, upon some ofthe major lines, but the lines are not caused bythe folding. However, let us get on. Whyseek to account for facts, which, being existent,need no proof? Let us accept the axiom laiddown by Herbert Spencer, by Henry Drum-


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 9!mond, and by a host of the finest intellects ofthe day, that all science is more or less a mys-tery. 46 We can only tabulate facts, and, afterletting them speak for themselves, draw ourown deductions. I have advanced all the datathat can be necessary, in the introductory argu-ments to my two larger works upon this science.Now I propose to lay before you what actuallyis the case, in the hope that you will not refuseto believe acknowledged truth, as did the hard-headed scientists of even so late as the endof the last century, who denied that aeroliteseither had fallen or could fall. This is not asuperstition, this science of mine. But, if itwere, superstition will only come to an endwhen exact science if such exists will takethe trouble to examine without prejudice thefacts it has hitherto distinctly denied ; that is tosay, when it will approach them with the admis-sion that things are not necessarily untrue be-cause they are unexplained !

It is necessary to say, at the outset of thestudy of this branch of the science of chei-rosophy, that the names of the planets applied

46 Compare these passages: Herbert Spencer's Study of Sociology(London, 1873), chap, iv., and Henry Drummond's Natural Law in


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92 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.to the mounts and some of the lines of the palmare not astrological. When I speak of the mountof Jupiter, the plain of Mars, and the line ofSaturn, I do not mean that the planets haveas has been believed, and, I regret to say, writ-ten any thing to do with those parts of thehand. The explanation of these terms is, thaton certain parts of the hand are found the indi-cations of certain temperaments, which we havecome to look upon as peculiar to certain deitiesof the heathen mythology : so that when I saythe mount of Venus, I mean that part of thehand upon which are found the indications oflove; the plain of Mars, the part denotingaudacity and warlike instinct ; the line of Saturnindicates fate, and so on.The five digits of the hand have, or may have,at their bases, mounts ; i.e., little protuberancesof muscle, each of which has a certain signifi-cation, and is called after a particular planet(Plate IX.). They are as follows : under thethumb, the mount of Venus (A) ; under the firstfinger, the mount of Jupiter (B) ; under thesecond, that of Saturn (C) ; under the third, thatof Apollo, or the Sun (D) ; under the fourth, thatof Mercury (E). Below this, on the hand, comes


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 95mount of the Moon (G) ; and in the centre ofthe hand, the plain of Mars (H). The hand iscrossed by six principal lines (Plate II.) : theline of life, which surrounds the thumb (a a) ;the line of head, which starts at the same point,and goes to the mount of Mars (b b) ; the line ofheart, almost parallel above the line of head(c c) ; the line of Saturn, or fortune, which goesfrom the wrist to the mount of that name (dd] ;the line of Apollo, or art, which goes from theplain of Mars to the mount of Apollo (e e) ; andthe line of liver, or health, which goes from thebase of the line of life to the mount of Mars orof Mercury (//). To these are added two in-ferior sets of lines : the girdle of Venus, whichencircles the mounts of Saturn and of Apollo(gg), and the rascettes, which appear at thewrists (Ji Ji). These two latter are not invariablyfound in the hands.

Every mount betrays certain characteristicsin a greater or less state of development, andthe mount which is highest in a hand givesthe keynote to the character of the subject. Ahand has seldom only one mount developed, andany well-formed mount will modify the signifi-cation of the principal one. Sometimes, instead


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96 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.with lines (E, Plate IX.). This has the sameeffect as high development, and makes a mountthe principal one in the hand. All the mountsequally developed indicate an evenly balancedmind, whilst no mounts at all betray a dull,negative character. A mount displaced towardsanother, instead of being immediately beneaththe finger, takes an influence from that mounttowards which it inclines. If, not only is itabsent, but a hollow occupies its place, it de-notes the converse, the opposite, of the qualitiesof the mount.The lines in a hand should be clear, red, and

apparently marked, not ragged, or broken, orindistinct. Pale lines in a hand indicate aphlegmatic disposition, and, in a man, effemi-nacy. A sister line following the course ofa principal line (/ / in Plate II.) will alwaysstrengthen and support it. A tassel at theend always indicates a disorder of the quality.Ascending branches (a in Plate X.) always an-nounce a favorable issue of the qualities of aline; descending (b, Plate X.), the reverse. Achained formation indicates obstacles and worriesconnected therewith (c in Plate X.).

Beneath the first finger we find the mount of


103/138Plate X.-THE LINES AND MOUNTS.


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CHEIROMANCY OK PALMISTRY. 99a hand denotes ambition, honor, gayety, andreligion. It also, if very high, denotes love ofpomp and ceremony, with a certain amount ofpride ; and in excess the mount gives tyranny,arrogance, and ostentation ; if the fingers arepointed, ostentation. Complete absence of themount betrays idleness, egoism, want of dignity,and even vulgarity. Confused lines on themount indicate a continued and unsatisfied am-bition. A cross on the mount denotes a happymarriage (a in Plate XL). If a star be thereas well (b in Plate XL), the marriage is alsobrilliant and ambitious. A spot on the mountindicates disgrace.The next mount is that of Saturn (c, Plate IX.).When this mount is the highest in the hand,we find in the subject caution, prudence, and afatality either for good or evil. Such subjectsare sensitive and punctilious, given to occultscience, to incredulity, melancholy, and timid-ity. They love solitude and a quiet life, takingnaturally to agriculture, mineralogy, and kin-dred sciences. Developed to excess, the mountdenotes a profound melancholy and morose taci-turnity, remorse and morbid imagination, fearof at the same a


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100 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.insignificant, uneventful disposition. A singleline on the mount signifies good luck; many(c, Plate XI.) signify bad luck ; and a spot onthe mount denotes a great misfortune. Dis-placed towards Jupiter, it argues a great goodfortune.Under the third finger we find the mount ofthe Sun. When it is prominent in a hand, it

argues a powerful love of art, and indicates suc-cess, glory, brilliancy, good fortune, the resultsof genius and intelligence. Such subjects areinventors and imitators, prone to shortness oftemper, pride, eloquence, and a tendency toreligion. In excess, the mount indicates love ofwealth, extravagance, luxury, fatuity and envy,quick temper and frivolity. These subjects arealso boastful and conceited. Absence of themount denotes dulness, and a complete absenceof the artistic instinct. A single line on themount denotes fortune and glory ; two lines (din Plate XI.) indicate talent, but probable failurein life ; and a confusion of lines (e in Plate X.)denotes a love of art as a science, and an ana-lytical disposition. A spot on the mount alwaysannounces a disgrace.


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. IO3science, spirit, eloquence, commercial capacity,speculation, industry, invention, and agility.Such subjects are always quick and clever atoccupations which require skill, and they areselfishly good-natured; i.e., they are good totheir fellow-men when it amuses them to beso, not when it goes against their inclinations.Excess of the mount is very bad, denoting theft,cunning, deceit, and treachery. Such subjectsare always charlatans, and prone to the moreevil forms of occultism and superstition. Com-plete absence of the mount betrays inaptitudefor science, and no capacity for commerce.Many lines on the mount (d, Plate X.) denotescience and eloquence ; little flecks and dashesindicate a babbler and chatterer. Lines on thepercussion indicate liaisons and affairs of theheart if horizontal (e, Plate XI.), children ifvertical. A marriage line terminated by a starproves that the love-affair has terminated with adeath (f, Plate XI.). A great star crossing thevertical lines on the percussion indicates steril-ity. If the mount is quite smooth, it announcesextreme coolness and sang-froid.Below this we have the mount of Mars (F,Plate IX.), and the immediately contiguous part


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IO4 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.IX.). The mount denotes resistance, the plainaggression. If the mount is prominent, you aredefensive rather than offensive ; if the plain isdeveloped, we find an aggressive, encroachingspirit. A subject with the mount of Mars highin the hand is cool-tempered, magnanimous,and generous. If it is excessive, i.e., spreadinginto the plain of Mars, he is furious, brusque,cruel, violent, and defiant in manner. Theabsence of the mount denotes cowardice andchildishness.Lower still upon the hand we have the mount

of the Moon. This indicates imagination, poesy,melancholy, a love of mystery, solitude, andsilence, and a tendency to revery. Such sub-jects love harmony, rather than melody, inmusic ; they are capricious, changeable, and in-clined to be idle ; fond of voyaging, mystical,and void of self-confidence or perseverance. Ina hard hand we get a dangerous activity andimagination. Excess of the mount gives irrita-bility, discontent, superstition, fanaticism, anderror; absence argues want of imagination andof poetry in the disposition. Lines on the mount(g, Plate XI.) give prophetic dreams, visions, pre-and the like.


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 105cury (/ in Plate X.). Horizontal lines fromthe percussion (g in Plate X.) denote voyages ;terminating in a star (Ji, Plate X.) these linesindicate a voyage which will be terminated bydeath. A large star on the mount (h, Plate XI.)denotes hysteria, and, with other concomitantsigns, madness. Many crossing lines (i, PlateXI.) betray self-torment and worry. An angleor circle on the mount denotes a danger cfdeath by drowning.The last mount with which we have to dealis that of Venus, at the root of the thumb.This mount gives to a subject beauty, grace,benevolence, melody in music (as opposed toharmony), and, indeed, all the more feminineattributes of character. Such people are greatlovers of and seekers after pleasure, are gayand always charming. In excess, the mountbetrays debauchery, effrontery, license, incon-stancy, and other excesses. Absence of themount shows coldness, laziness, and selfishness.Lines on the mount always indicate warmth ofpassion and strong affection. A line extendingto the line of head indicates a worry (j, PlateXI.) ; extending to the mount of Mercury, itdenotes a marriage (k k in Plate XL), so does a


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106 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.the line of life (/ /, Plate XI.) which surroundsthe mount of Venus. Islands on the mount(z, Plate X.) denote opportunities of marriagewhich have been missed.These are the interpretations of the mounts.

I shall conclude this opusculum by noticing theprincipal lines and their significations.The most important line in the hand is, of

course, the Line of Life (a a in Plate II.), whichsurrounds the mount of Venus. Long, clear,straight, and well-colored, it denotes long life,good health, and a good character and disposi-tion. Pale and broad, it indicates ill-health,evil instincts, and a weak, envious disposition.Thick and red, it betrays violence and brutalityof mind ; chained, it indicates delicacy ; and ofvarying thicknesses, a capricious, fickle temper.The ages at which events have happened to onemay be told by the points at which they havemarked the line ; for this purpose, it is dividedinto segments of five and ten years, commen-cing at the head of the line (Plate XII.), andbreaks and so on in the line indicate events atthe age at which the breaks occur. I havetreated of this subject very carefully in "A


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Plate Xn.-AGES UPON THE LINES OFLIFE AND FORTUNE,


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. IOO,The shorter the line, the shorter the life ; and

from the point at which the line terminates inboth hands, may be accurately predicted thetime of death. A break in the line is alwaysan illness ; if in both hands, there is a gravedanger of death, especially if the lower branchturn in towards the mount of Venus. Ceasingabruptly with a few little parallel lines (j inPlate X.), the death will be sudden ; a quantityof little bars across the line (a in Plate XIII.)denote continual but not very severe illnesses.Broken inside a square (b, Plate XIII.), it is asign of a recovery from a serious illness, and abar across the broken ends (c, Plate XIII.) hasthe same significance. However broken up theline may be, a sister line (ii, Plate II.) will alwaysstrengthen and mend it, and is a sign of excel-lent good fortune. A tassel at the end (d, PlateXIII.) is a sign of poverty in old age; and a raygoing to the mount of the Moon (e, Plate XIII.)signifies that the head will be affected by thesetroubles.

Rays across the hand from the mount ofVenus (J k, Plate XI.) always denote worries,and the age at which they occur is shown bythe point at which the rays terminate. Their


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110 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.fully elsewhere. At the present moment I can-not do more or less than refer to them.A ray ascending to the mount of Jupiter (/,Plate XIII.) indicates success attained by meritwith lofty aims, ambition, and egoism. Branchesascending from the line (a, Plate X.) denoteambition, and nearly always riches.If the three lines are all joined together (h,Plate XIII.), it indicates grave danger of misfor-tune and sudden death. If, on the contrary,the line of head, instead of being joined to, isseparated from the line of life (k, Plate X.), itindicates carelessness, extreme self-reliance, andgenerally foolhardiness in consequence.An island in the line of life (m, Plate XL) isgenerally an indication of some mystery as re-gards the birth of the subject, or else an illnessduring the years which it covers.The Line of Llead, which is the next great linein the hand, should be clear and well colored,extending from the beginning of the line of lifeto the base of the mount of Mars, without fork,break, or ramification. Pale and broad, it de-notes feebleness or lack of intellect ; short, itargues a weak will; chained, lack of fixity ofmind and it denotes


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CHEIROMANCY OR PALMISTRY. 113nation and self-control to a character ; if it startsfrom the line of life under the mount of Saturn,it shows that the education has been acquiredcomparatively late in life, having been neglectedin early youth. Such subjects are generallybenevolent, and are generally great theorists.Stopping under the mount of Saturn is a signof a sudden check to the intellectual develop-ment in early youth. Joined closely to the lineof life for some distance at its commencement,it indicates timidity and want of self-confidencein a weak hand, caution and circumspection ina strong one.

Declining upon the mount of the Moon, it isa strong sign of a wild imagination. Comingvery low (i, Plate XIII.), it leads to mysticismand folly, often culminating in madness, towhich there is a strong tendency. In a stronghand it gives a talent for literature ; but ina weak one, if it terminates in a star, witha star on the Mount of Saturn, it is a sign ofhereditary madness. Turning up towards theline of heart (n, Plate XL), it denotes a personwith a weak mind, who lets his heart and pas-sions domineer over his reason. If it touch theline of it is a of an death. A


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IJ4 PRACTICAL CHEIROSOPHY.head, especially under the mount of Saturn ;under these circumstances, the break has beensaid to be a sign that the subject will be hung.Ragged, it denotes a bad memory. Forked atthe end, with one of the " prongs " descendingtowards the mount of the Moon, is a sure indi-cation of hypocrisy, lying

Новая Полная Хиромантия(edward heron-allen-new complete palmistry)

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