St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-26
A STUDY OF HANDS.
Hand.Shaking, Gesturing, Putting
Ones Th unb to Ones Nose, Etc.

Ones Th umb to Ones Nose, Etc.
The true character of the hands, says the
French writer, Eugene Mouton, is to be
sought for in their movements. 1t is in
their power of expression that the orator,
the singer, the actor, find the inexhauSt-
ible source of their finest efforts. In pray
er, in pain, in jOy-when man commands
or when he supplicates-his hands uplifted,
lowered, or lowering in space, seem to be
sowing his thoughts in air, just as grain is
scattered to the winds by the sower.
In regard to the movements of the hand,
we can classify according to few general
principles.
Whatever tends to open, to spread out
the hand, signifies clearness, breadth, truth,
simplicity, facility.
Whatever feeling causes the hand to
clinch itself, to close, to diminish it's APP
pearance, is connected with obscurity, linn
itation, doubt, complication, difficulty.
The more energetic and rapid these
movements are, the more violent and sud-
den the feeling or the intellectual action
which inspires them.
There are certain gestures which have
become so identified with certain sentiments
that their mere definition is equivalent to
a verb. We say ''show ones fist" for
threaten" we say point ones finger at
person. to designate malice. The gest-
ures of designation, of warning, of precision
indicated by more OF less tension of the in,
dex-finger, are too well known to dwell
upon.
We press the fingers flat upon the fore
head to recall memory: the open hand to
concentrate thought. We rub or scratch
the forehead in trying to think how to get
out Of difficulty; man often scratches
his ear when he feels embarrassed. And
as one scratches also when bothered by a
flea, the saying, ''He's got flea in his ear"
is applied to man who does not know
what to do.
To finger ones chin, to caress it often in
succession, expresses in common belief de
liberation, the search for means to fulfill a
purpose.
Finally, to rub ones hands together-a
sign of joy-haS passed into common par
lance Use fratter les mains) as an express
sion indicative of joy, self-congratulatiOn
The same thing may be said of clapping the
hands, which has always and among all
peoples been accepted as the sign and
metaphor Of enthusiasm, The swapping of
ones fingers is also a mark of joy. The
Latin verb applaudere signified originally
''to strike the hands together. IT.
To put ones thumb to ones nose (faire
la nique), while the other fingers are YER
tically extended and agitated is a gesture
of mOckery among nearly all civilized peO-
pies. Why? | think it is because the
the nose temporarily snubbed-which is
done by the pressure of the thumb, while
the other fingers are pointed at the person
80. 4
is the Interpretation of this finger-telegram,
which is equivalent to saying ''You are a
foolw
Agony has also its gestures-the auto
matte repetition of two or three movements
always the same, and also the infallible
forerunners of death. The dying man
and thumb, or lifts up his forearm and
ward off something.
In all expansive sentiments-such as
franllness, confidence, conviction, affection
the gesturer displays his hands with the
palm upward.
1t seems to me that what we call ''the
zone of GESTURE deserves remark. If we
consider the degree of elevation to which
each gesture is raised, we can, perhaps,
generally divine with correctness the classes
of thoughts to which it belongs. If the
hand in making its gestures, is elevated as
high as the head, or nearly so, it is because
it is bearing witness to purely intellect
ual operation. If it is lifted to the neigh
borhood of the heart or the epigastrium, it
is testifying of feeling only, in order to
give the expression of that feeling more
communicative power, If it is brought
lower than the waist, its gestures simply
emphasize determinations of the will-ac-
tons OF facts over which neither intelli-
gence nor feeling have control.