The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-08-08
A Study of Hands,
The Meaning and Significance Of the
Uses Of the Hand.

orator, the singer, the actor tnd the
source of their finest eff
forts. In prayer, in pain, in joy-when
man commands, or when he suppli-
cates-his hands uplifted, lowered or
lowering in space, seem to be sowing
his thoughts in air, just as grain is scat
tered to the winds by the sower.
In all our social relations is not the
hand the veritable medium of exchange
between hearts2 1t gives the welcome,
it opens hospitality, it seals friendship;
it is by the hand that we convey the
visible sign of the bond which unites
two affections or two destinies.
Before attempting to enter into any
analysis of the movements of the hand,
however, we must lay down one general
rule, viz; That usually the activity of
the hands, as well as the mobility of
the physiognomy (outside of all special
influences of character or surroundings
is an almost certain sign of cerebral ac-
tivity, and consequently of intelligence.
We often meet in society persons who
can never remain a minute without
handling something, or who keep NOV
ing their fingers all the time if they have
nothing to handle; such persons are
nearly always persons of great intelli-
gence. Their hands, irritated by mac
tion, are like those fine thoroughbreds
who paw the ground with impatience to
begin the race. And it is highly i'm
portant to notice this tendency in chill
dren, for it augurs we'll for their future
intelligence.
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 its ap-
pearance, is connected with obscurity,
limitation, doubt, complication, diff
Guilty.
The more energetic and rapid these
movements are the more violent and
sudden the feeling or the intellectual
action which inspires them.
There are certain gestures which have
become so identified with certain senti-
ments 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 gestures of des-
ignation, of warning, of precision, in
dicated by more or less tension of the
index finger, are too well known to
dwell upon.
We press the fingers fiat upon the
forehead to recall memory; the open
hand to concentrate a thought. We
rub or scratch the head in trying to
think how to get out difficulty; a man
will often scratch his ear when he feels
embarrassed. And as one scratches also
when bothered by flea, the saying,
"he's got a 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 be-
lief deliberation, the search for means
to fulfill purpose.
Finally to rub ones hands together
a sign of joy-has passed into common
parlance as an expression 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
the metaphor of enthusiasm. The
swapping of ones fingers is also mark
of joy.
Agony also has its gestures-the au-
tomato repetition of two or three move
ments, always the same, and always the
infallible forerunners of death. The
dying man pinches his bed-sheets be-
tween the finger and thumb, or he lifts
up his arm and moves it in a curve, as
though trying to ward off something.
We shall make only a brief observa'
ton upon the manner of turning the
hand. In all expansive sentiments
such as frankness, confidence, convic'
ton, affection-the gesturer displays
his hands with the palms upwards.
The contrary is observable anywhere
in the ordinary manner of giving ones
hand. While a frank handshake is
given with the hand offered palm up, a
coldly polite, or reserved greeting is the
reverse; certain hypocritical or timid
people never offer their hands in an
open manner. Generally speaking, to
offer the hand palm downwards is sign
of repulsion or distrust. This may be
fully confirmed by noticing whether the
arm refuses to bend or whether if drawn
forcibly toward you the palm still re-
mains turned down by reason of the
play of the articulations of the bones OF
the arm and wrist. For we know that
in all feelings of repulsion the arms are
naturally drawn close to the body.
The palm is the face of the hand; it
is the principal seat of touch; it is by
means of its surface that we place our
selves in contact with objects and with
men; it is par excellence the medium
of communication with all that sur.
ROUNDS US. Ills ID tic ICeoOA why Tin
more such communication iSsympathetlc
and desirable, the more we feel inclined
to let that part the most sensitive tc
impressions bear witness to our feelings
1t seems to me that what we call "the
zone of gesture" deserves remark. Ii
we consider the degree of elevation to
to which each gesture is raised we car
perhaps generally divine with correct
ness the class of thoughts to which il
belongs. If the hand in making it
gestures is elevated as high as the head
or nearly so, it is because it is bearing
witness to a purely intellectual opera
alton. If it is lifted to the neighbor
hood of the heart or the epigastrium i
is testifying of feeling only, in order tt
give the expression of that feeling
more communicative power. If it j
brought lower than the waist, its ges
lures simply emphasize determination
of the will-actions or facts over whic
neither intelligence nor feeling hav
control.