The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1883-01-04
DevOtees t. Palmistry.

People returning from the more fash
ionable watering places, and especially
people who have had an opportunity to
mingle in the more elevated walks OF
fashionable society abroad this summer,
are bringing back with them the latest
novelty in fashionable occupation and
amusement-amateur palmistry. Ladies
of high social rank have taken up the
gypsy science of telling fortunes and
character by the hand, and have made it
q great social success. Ladies who are
skilled in it become regular SYPHILIS at
evening entertainments, and young men
who never excelled at anything else are
able to excel in this delicate and pleas
urable occupation, which admits OF
taking lady's hand and holding it as
long as desirable, and saying things that
could not possibly be said under any
other circumstances. Instances are
spoken of where young men Of tact have
told ladies' fortunes SO we'll that they
have been able to claim for good the
hand they held for little while, and in
whose lines they managed to find their
own fate defined.
So little is known about palmistry In
this country that the people are quite
astonished to find out how much there is
in it when the general outlines Of its
principles are explained to them. 1t is
not hard to tell fortunes by the hand,
and one need not be gypsy queen to be
able to do it. Hands are divided into
three different kinds. Those with
round-pointed fingers, those with
square tips. and those that are
spade-shaped with pods of flesh
ut each side of the nail The first type,
with round-pointed fingers. belongs to
characters with quick perception, extra
sensitive, to very pious people, to con.
templative minds, to the impulsive, and
TO ali poets and artists who have ideality
as a prominent trait. The second type;
those that are square-shaped, belongs to
scientific people, to sensible, self con-
tanned characters, and the class OF pro-
fessional men who are neither visionary
nor altogether sordid. The third type;
chose that are spade shaped, with pods
III flesh at the side of the nail, indicates
people whose interests and instincts are
mostly material, people who have a
genius for business and who have high
appreciation of everything that pertains
TO bodily use and comfort. Each finger,
no matter what kind of q hand it is, has
a Joint representing each Of these types.
The division of the finger that is nearest
the palm stands for the body, the mid
die division represent mind, and the
highest Joint spirit Of soul. II the top
Joint is logger than the others it denotes
character with too much imagination,
great ideality, and Of leaning towards the
theoretical rather than the practical.
When the middle Joint Of the finger is
long. it promises logical, calculating
mind, q very common-sense kind Of u
person. and when the lowest joint is the
longest il indicates a nature that clings
more TO the luxuries than to the rehne
ments of life, mind that looks for the
utility before beauty. If they are nearly
alike. and especially II the length OF the
fingers equals the length of the palm. 1t
indicates . well-balanced mind. The
principal lines on the hand are the line
OF life, which runs around the base OF
the thumb; the line Of the head, which
begins alongside the line OF life. crossing
the middle OF the palm, and the line OF
the heart, which goes from one side OF
the hand 70 the other at the base OF the
fingers. A long and well def0ed line Of
the head promises intellectual power,
md = pole line means indecision. A
Wood looking line OF the heart augurs
we'll for the owners happiness. II 1t
sends short lines toward the line oil the
head Il il taken to mean that the love OF
that person will only be given 70 those
Who have earned their respect. such
are : few OF the points Of which, this
winter. nearly everyone in intelligent
aocial circles will be practicing and talk
irc .hcut Il Cincinnati ENQUIRER.