Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-19
A PROFESSOR OF PALMusTRY.
The Hand as an Index of Chnractc

PROFESSOR OF PALMISTRY.
The Hand as an Index of Character.
There lives in Paris an active, yet, since
his age numbers almost the years of
the century, MS old professor, himself an
interesting study, who has devoted the
middle and the end of his life to study
more Interesting still. 1t is in the stu
dents quarter, not far from the Odeon,
that he has fixed his residence, and there,
in the upper story of an ambitious house,
he practices his art and receives his ellen
teie. To call him fortune teller would
be unfair to the man and perhaps to the
century. And yet he tells fortunes, has
about phrenology and handwriting, and,
lastly, about the hand itself, its shape.
it's suppleness, the length of fingers and
the lie of them with the crosses and
creases and the marks and the lines that
arc to be found more or less developed in
the palm of every hand. From these he
has constructed science by which he pro-
fesses to tell the characters of the persons
who apply to him, and he has written n
book (now in its fifteenth edition) in
which he has communicated his know
ledge to his disciples.
In one respect the professor differs from
other tellers of fortune and character.
Tue rules he lays down, the tests he
adopts, are clear and unambiguous. Most
vaticiuators, from the Delphic oracle down
to "Zadkiel's Almanac, are wont to de-
liver kind of swivel prophecy to which
any subsequent event may be easily at
tached in the form of fultilment. Our
French professor does, indeed, say that
one part of the hand may contradict or
vary another-such complications are in
evitable-but in the main he lays down
his propositions with laudable clearness
and decision, and any one with fair
memory and good powers of observation
may judge for himself.
1t is proposed in this article to state
three or four of the leading principles in
the science, so that the reader may come
to his own conclusions MS to its trust
worthiness. There may be general pro-
positions which are true, even though the
too curious consideration of minute de-
tails leads to error. People who rejects
as fanciful the distinctions of Spurzheim
and Lavater, still believe that a man with
big brow is likely to be clever, and a
man with strong chin to be determined.
Ordinary people do not get the same.sug-
gestions from the hand and yet it may
be capable of affording them. The
French professor says it is. We shall
see what are the rules he lays down.
To begin with the fingers. The varia-
tions of these are not numerous, and any
hand may be referred to one of some three
or four types. There are the pointed fin
gers, where the finger tips are small and
conical and the fingers themselves sleek
and soft. They are no uncommon posses
ion, and admit of no doubt when they are
found 1t is said that they indicate a
dreamy disposition, n tendency to poetize
and to speculate. Men with such hands
are enthusiasts and orators, have the gift
Of Imagination very prodigally bestowed
upon them, but at the expense of common
sense and knowledge of the world. Such
hands are claimed for Shakspere, Schiller,
and Goethe, and certainly possessed by
Victor Hugo and George Sand. With the
soft fingers and the conical tips there is
no necessary alliance. The fingers may
be sleek and the tips may be square
And this combination gives lis another
class Of character Here we have the ten
dency to art and poetry, but better under.
control. They are instructive rather thar
imaginative. The fine frenzy gives piece
to an eye for symmetry and an ear fo
rhythm, and the types are to be found il
Mollcre, Prussin, Nauban, and Turenne
1t is pity that we have no living ex
amples.
Portrait painters century ngo had
fashion OF taking the face from the site
and the hands from favoritc model
Vandyck's warriors, diplomatists an,
courtiers had all precisely the same kin,
of fingers. The fingers may be even NOR
than square. They may be spatulous
widened and rounded at the end like
chemists blender or an artists palett
knife. This is very practical hand, il
deed, widely removed from the dreame
and the visionary, the hand of man fon
of movement and of action, the hand of
mon fond OF horses and dogs, and hum
ing and warfare, or, if he is more peace
able, of commerce and mechanism, ma
of order and OF contriyance, n merchant,
fnancier, or, it may be, only n churcl
warden. The spatnlous hand is general
found supplied with large finger knot
but where the fingers have no predom
nant Joints the artistic character prevail
Men act from impulse rather than fro
knowledge or reason. 1t is not laid dow
however, that the tendency of rheumatis
is to convert poets into politicians, thouQ
it painfully develops the knots of the fl
gers. Lastly, there is n general rule tn
large hands deal best with detail NJ
short ones with general effect. 1t won
be interesting to test this by exair
ing the hands of the Royal Academ
clans.
But the art descends into minuter deta
Each of the fingers has its special chara
teristic, and system of mythologic
nomenclature has been adopted, based
the attributed distinctions. The finge
known to us as first, second, third, nj
little are called respectively Jupiter,
turn, Apollo, and Mercury, and if it
thought that we are now getting into t
region of the fantastic it is only fair
the professor that his statement be hea
and be tested. There is ranged aero
the palm of the hand series of lit
cushions or hills, one at the base of ca
finger, but little way from the thum
Character lies in these, and the charac
may be told by their exa matte
first finger indicates ambition. If
mound is large, its owner will have IL
of power coupled with desire to shi
great gaiety, some pride, n tendency
superstition, and fondness for natu
If the mound be wanting, the life is {
without dignity the TASTES are comm