The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-07-19
DUMAS ON 1HE HAND.
The French Novelist Gives an Interesting
Chapter on Chiromancy.

The French Novelist Gives an Interesting
| Chapter on Chiromancy.
/ A new and distinguished professor
| of palmistry has arisen in the person
of M. Alexandra Dumas. who contrib
utes to Art and Letters an interesting
paper on The Hand" or rather
chiromarcy, for he discusses the said
member in relation to character.
Even were this article not signed it
| would be easy to see that it is written
| by man, for it treats solely of femi-
nine hands-just as the fair author
ess of the numerous ''palmistry"
| pamphlets now so much in vogue
deal mainly with those of men. But
Nj. Dumas brings fresh interest to the
subject, investing it with all his we'll
| known verve and originality.
He has restricted" himself, he tells
us, to five types of hands and has
studied, by observation and investiga-
| ton, science which he holds to be
| ''exact and positive" The worst of it
is that in the outset this science is
calculated to inspire gloomy feelings.
There is apparently only one ''really
happy hand for a woman" and that
is according to M. Dumas, an ugly
hand-large, red and knotty; "a dread
full hand. like mans" With this
''happy hand'' the wife will be always
busy. exemplary and capable; she will
so henpeck and dOmineer over her
husband that after her death he wifi
not retain even energy enough to sur
vive her! No one can doubt that to
possess such a hand would indeed be
happiness such as is seldom vOuch-
safed to mOrtals. As for the other
four types, they have certainly more
beauty to boast Of. but, as they are
alternately expressive of a ''mere ami
mal," ''Mes alma" "Charlotte
Corday" or 'Montespan," they can
not be said to be exactly enviable
But 1.-THE hand is the ideal of the
human SOUL" says M. Dumas, and
though people "whom we have an in
terest in knowing can. by their coun-
tenance and skill, often mislead us,
their hands betray their real Selves"
The hand can not deceive.
''FrOm no one who is willing to take
pains to be attentive. can man or wom-
an, however reticent they try to be with
their eyes, their mouth, with their
features. whatever mastery they may
have over their physiognomy, hide any
longer even the prOfOundest. the most
mysterious. part of their inner being"
A woman must be careful to observe
the thumbs of the man she marries, M.
Dumas insists. Concern yourself
above all. with the thumbs; one al
ways has to come back to the science
of the hand to the study of the thumb
Upon its length depends a mans
reasoning faculty and will; upon the
prOtuberance from which it springs
depend his power and energy. Fits of
enthusiasm, of disbursement, inn
pulses, regrets, mighty resolutions
not to give way, sudden relapses, such
is the character of little thumbs
Notice, then, very attentively. made
moiselle, the hands of those who
aspire to yours When the wooer is
dining at your house, Or in the even
inc after dinner, do not move your
eyes from that ambitious hand. and
make your representations accord
ingly."
Type No. is the 'happy hand" be-
fore mentioned ugly, healthy
hand, denoting a well-balanced mind
and an iron digestion. 1t is "a rather
large hand, white in warm weather,
red in cold, whose fingers, longer than
the palm, have very plainly marked
knots at the joints and short nails.
The little is almost as long as the ring
finger. The palm is broad, and the
whole hand is somewhat hard. al
Dough the skin is soft and always
cool. With a hand like that, madame,
whatever the hand of your husband
might be. it is you who would be the
man, because you would add to the
influence of your sex, even if you were
not very pretty. the power of refec-
ton, will and invincible perseverance,
May God give a hand like yours to
our mothers, our sisters. our daugh-
tiers, our wives, our housekeepers, our
servantsr'
Type No. 3.-This is ga short hand,
with highly developed palm. the
size of which will be altogether out OF
proportion with the other parts; this
hand will be, so to speak, square, the
fingers being nearly all of the same
length. With gloves it seems quite
small. A child's hand-only when ii
is bare. and you squeeze it, it warns
you, by its resistance and hardness, OF
the danger you may incur, if you
are one of those who can take warn
ing. This hand, a kind of vice.
denotes brute instinct. egotism, cruel,
even in the midst of pleasure. Let
men with little thumbs avoid this
hand; let men with big thumbs try
and exterminate it! 1t is the hand O.
Messalina of Phadra, of Sappho.