The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-13
THE BOOK OF THE HAND.
A LEAF OF NoMADlC LORE.

gentleman was a French captain and, while
serving in the Spanish wars, had his attention
accidentally directed to the science Of ohirog.
nomy. One day sauntering along the roads oil
Andalusia, he was accosted by gypsy, VINO
asked his hand TO draw horoscope. Ihe giri,
who was of Moorish blood, was very beautl!ul,
and. begging him with much importunlty,
D'Arpentigny smilingly consented 10 SUNNI
his hand to her investigation he nsVemeo 10
her grave recital of some Wonderlul pIeolouoh
about the generosity OF the heutenanI; Nnu,
oontinuino his way, he reflected on that form
~ Attenuation by the lines of the hand, and on
oartain fantastic terms which the Bohemian
NOD nsed He said to himself that although chi
romancy, practised by BOhemians and ignorant
mountebanks, wasonly aninnooentsuperstition
40 procure few pence, it was not the less true
tbat. in displaying their pretended SCIENCE
those same people repeat words handed down
by their fathers, who have also derived them
from their ancestors. Amidst such empty
jargon, detailed by those people, the observer
may pick up some expressions, apparently de-
rived from some dead language, whose meta
phOrioal character alone preserves its exist
snoe. In his eager and prolonged research
after some written knowledge of the science,
he ransaoked the works of Avicenna and Treti-
ohius, corroborated their opinions with the
writings of Antioohus, Tibertus, and Taisiner:
he dived into Plato and Aristotle, Ptolemy and
Averroes; in short, he read everything he
could get bearing on the subject, until, after
completely muddling his brains with the
opinions and counter-opinions of others, he
Judged rightly that all sEch theorizing would
only be doubt and conjecture until the truth
was established by observation. He then set
himself to compare the hands of every one
with whom he was acquainted, Temarking the
most minute details of their conformation, and
analyzing various aspects, until at last he
built up asystem based upon these researches.
This work has been praised by Lamartine,
Jules Janin, J. M. Dargaud, Barthelemy, and
others.
The main principles and the data of this
work have been translated and embodied in a
book enti led "Modern Palmistry," first pub
lished in London, and reissued in this country.
The volume contains, also, outlines of the sys-
tenn Of Desbarrolles, together with a sketch of
the science as it existed in ancient times, and
as it is now practised among the gipsies
With a good deal that is purely fanciful and
absurd, the book combines a little that is sug-
gestiYe and of real scientific value. 1t would
be absurd to suppose that a science which has
been practised among men for some four thou
sand years, is entirely without foundation in
truth. The volume, however, will prove prin-
eipally desirable as a means of Willing away
an idle hour, and as guide for those who
wish to play at hand-reading and fortune
telling.
The modern science of chiromancy, as esta-
y, CldSSlueS
seven orders-the elementary, with large
palm; the necessary or spatule-shaped; the
artistic or cOnical; the useful or square: the
philosophical or knotted; the psychological
or pointed; and the mixed hand.
SIGNS OF THE PALM.
In the palm of the hand is placed the sign
OF the bodily desires, and, to a certain degree.
that of the intensity OF the intellectual anti
tudes which these desires determine. Too
slim, narrow, and feeble, it indicates a weak
and unsuggestive temperament; an imagina-
tion without warmth and power; instincts
without capacity. If it is plant, of a suita-
ble thickness and surface-that is to say, in
harmony with the proportions of the fingers
and thumb, there will be an aptitude for all
the pleasures of life and the feelings, easily
excited, will give scope to the Imagination
Should it present developments too marked,
without ceasing to be plant, egotism and
sensuality will be the dominant inclinations.
Lastly if its largeness is altogether out of
proportion with the other parts of the hand
If 1t joins to an excessive hardness an ex-
cessive thickness-then it will indicate in
Stincts approaching to an unthinking ami
malism,
FINGERS AND THEIR SIGNS.
Fingers are divided into three general
orders: spatulOus, enlarging more or less at
4 the point; square, with phalanges of uniform
SIZE helJDer eulhIBluB uOI GapoIlhBj anu OOul-
cal, more or less apexed. They are further
subdivided according as they are smooth or
+ have knotted joints (knOts such as the eye
may readily and easily perceive,
sPATULoUs FINGERS
are of two kinds, smooth and knotted, and
both indicate aptitude for bodily activity and
manual occupation, useful and material know
ledge, the love of horses, dogs, hunting, sail
ing, war; agriculture, commerce. The smooth
are distinguished for inspiration rather than
reason; fancy and sentiment rather than
knowledge; synthesis rather than analysis.
intellectual taste belongs peculiarly to the
knotted, and grace to the smooth. The smooth
work by inspiration, passion, instinct, intui-
lion; the knotted by calculation, reason, deduc-
tiOn, and probabilities.
Inc hand with the smooth fingers will espe-
olally excel in the locomotive arts and the an
Phed sciences, in which spontaneous dexterity
and genius prevail over combination.
The hands spatuled with knots indicate the
practical mechanical sciences as statios. dvna-
MICS navigation, architecture. Thus Vauban.
AOnge' Carnot, COhorn, Arago, etc.
THE SQUARE FINGERS
indicate according as they are smooth or
knotted, taste for moral politioaI and
social science, or for grammar logic geome-
lOsophy. VI POe'iy ana phl-
10 the squared phalanges are due the tbao-
res ana methods of administration. tbev do
nCt SItaln 10 nigh poetry, but letters tbe
Soiehces' ana some arts. These carrv' tbo
name OF Aristotle inscribed on tboir bsr,'r a,Io
Ihls type dazzles not by brilIant t,,,'Il ii
loves literature for its own saI,o Du'