Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-08

the marks ana the uueS that are 60 fS6 found more or less developed in the palm of every hand. From these he has constru .eted eci. once by which he professes Go tell the char acteKs of the persons who apply fo him and he has written book (now in its Fifteenth edition) In which he has Communicated his to his discipless.
 In one respect the 7 r>rofessor differs from other tellers Of fort tdne and character. The rules he lays doW.n, the tests he adopts are clear and uns.nbiguous. Most vaticinators, from the DSiphio oracle down to 'ZadkiePs AimanaS.' are wont to deliver kind of swiv- e4 prJphscy to which any subsequent event p1aJ be easily attached in the form of fulfil ment. Our French professor does, indeed. say that one part of the hand may contra dict or vary another-such complications are inevitable-but in the main he lays down his propositions with laudsble clearness and de- clslon, and anyone with fair memory and good powers of observation may judge for himself. It is proposed in this art1cle to state three or four of the leading principles ln the science, 50 that the reader may come to his own conclusions as to it's trnstworthi- ness. There may be general propositions which are true, even though the too curious consideration of minute details leads to er- TOT. People who reject as fanciful the dis. functions of Spurzheim and Lavater still be- heve that man with big brow is likely to be clever, and 8 man with @ strong chin to be determined Ordinary people do not get the same suggestions 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 variations of these are not numerous, and any hand may be referred to one of some three or four types. There are the pointed fingers,
 where the finger tips are small and conical and the fingers themselves sleek and soft iknnNT naNR
 init of no doubt when they are found. It is said that they indicate 8 dreamy disposition, 8 tendency to poetizs 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 Shakespeare 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 com bination gives us another class of character. Here we have the tendency to art and poetry. but better under control. They are instruc- tive rather than imaginative. The fine fren zy gives place to an eye for symmetry and an ear for rhythm, and the types are to be found in Moliere, Poussin, Vauban and Turenne. It is pity that we have na living examples. Portrait painters 8 century ago had fashion of taking the face from the sitter and the hands from favorite model. Vandyck's warriors, diplomatists, and courtiers had all precisely the same kind of fingers. The fin gers may be even more than square. They may be spatulous, widsned and rounded at the end like chemists blender or an artists palette knife. This is 8 very practical hand, indeed, widely removed from the dreamer and the visionary, tke hand of a man fond of movement and of action, the hand of man of hnpoaa nd 6nuu and hnr md warfare, or, if he is more peaceable. of com merce and mechanism, man of order and of contrivance, merchant, fnancisr, or, it may be, only church warden. The spatu- lous hand is generally found supplied with large finger knots but where the fingers Rcter prevails Men act from impulse rather than from knowledge or reason. It is not laid down, however, that the tendency of rheumatism is to convert poets into politi cians though it painfully develops the knots of the fingers. Lastly, there is 8 general rule that large hands deal best with detail and short ones with general effect. It would hands of the Royal Acadeoicians.
 But the art descsnds into minuter detail. Each of the fingers has it's special character istic, and system of mythological nomen- clatare has been adopted, based on the at tributed distinctions. The fingers known to us as first. second, third and little, are called RaapegaawaAy4 4s5asd1nS Apo1aa and AGeas cury, and if it is thought that we are now getting into the region of the fantastic, it is only fair to the professor that his statement be heard and be tested There is ranged across the palm of the hand series of little cushions or hills, one at the base of each finger, but little way from the thumb. Character lies in these, and the character may be told by their examination. That first finger indicates ambition. If the mound is large, it's owner will have love of power coupled with desiHe to shine, great gaiety, some pride, tendency to superstition, and 8 fondness for nature. If the mound be want ing, the life is one without dignity, the tastes are common, and the man is narrow, selfish and interested. The second finger is said to control his life, as it shows the extent of his prudence and the probability of his success. But if the mound be preternatural, we are to look for silence and solitariness-a Hamlet kind of disposition. verging on asceticism. The third finger, however, supplies us wit h more cheerful reflections. It is the finger of the arts. It shows the presence of genius and the probability of fame. The man with 8 large mound near his third finger will be amiable and hopeful-s delightful companion and an excellent friend. But if the mound be excessive, the results are disastrous. A love of notoriety converts the life into vain glorious existence, with tendency to avarice and certain direction toward envy. Lastly we come to the little finger. It is the finger of invention, of industry, of quickness, of finger, probably, that makes us a nation of shopkeepers. It is the finance finger, and an excessive mound might even be found among the less attractive types of the British bankrupt, as it indicates sharp practice, disastrous acuteness, dishonorable triekery, and love of evasion.
 Here this short sketch of the art must end, thoucb its urofessor pushes it into much fur ther detail, and though our resume can scarcely be called fair one. But assuming the detail to be fringe and surplusage, is there any fact or foundation at the root of what is laid down? Let the reader judge for himself At least the language of the proph- ct isi not ambiguous. He states fairly and clearly the decisions at which he has arrived. He has devoted almost life to their collee- ton and revision, and he puts them forth to be tested, not yelled in the cloudy language of an empiric, but boldly asserted and logi- cally reasoned out