Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-14


necessitates the holding of another persons
hand in yours, and if the other person is young
and the hand is pretty, and if the other person
is woman, why, the science of palmistry is
worth studying. 1t is quite surprising how
quickly palmister tells the fortune of a man
or of an ugly woman, and it is very strange how
long it takes for him to make anything out of
the hand of pretty young girl. Nevertheless,
although this is the form that the ordinary par
lor palmistry takes-being nothing. in short.
but delusion and a snare, although it does not
delude many people. 1t must be confessed-there
is, in the opinion of many people, great deal
in this subject of the study of the hand.
Can anybody, for example, pretend that there
is nothing in the study of the human features?
Do you not judge of another mans character
and disposition largely frSm looking at his face?
You frequently made mistakes, it is true, plac-
ing good man among the bad ones or declar-
ing that man has good temper when in
reality he has a bad one. You look at a woman
whom You have met for the first time, and you
say to yourself, That is certainly an angel in
temper" You marry her, perhaps. and you
find out that if she is like angel. then angels
must be pretty hard to live with steadily. But
these things are exceptions. and do not inter-
fere with the general fact that people form their
estimates of one another largely from their
physiognomy.
TIE STUDY OF CHIROGNOMY.
But why shouldn't the hand tell us something
of a mans character and disposition as well as
his face? OF course you cannot expect it to do
so in the same degree. because all men, more or
less are physiognomists, whereas few know the
different kinds Of hands; but after testing
few hands by the simple rules which will be laid
down here, it will be found to be method of
Judging mems character as natural to use al
most any other. When you look into a
strangers face see il his hands confirm or alter
the impression his face makes. This branch of
the study of the hand is more correctly termed
chirognomy, just as the study of the counte-
nance is physiOgnOmy.
The hand is the key to the heart and the say
ing that some men wear their hearts upon
their sleeves would come nearer to the truth if
it were changed so that it read. every mans
heart is visible in his hand-if you only know
enough about hands to read it correctly. The
Gypsy who tells your fortune for half dollar
is usually fraud and has series of beautiful
blonde ladies' and tall dark gentlemen" and
palaces and funerals and such paraphernalia of
her trade, which she trots out whenever you
have paid her, and if You give her double her
usual fee she will give you double the usual
amount of good fortune. If the true study of
the hand has ever been pursued by these char
latans they know that it would not
do to make use of it. for, the late p T. Bar
mum used to say, people, and especially the
American people. like to be humbugged. But
there is very good chance Of finding out
whether there is anything in the study of the
hand, pursued on reasonable basis, open to
every obseryant resident of Washington. Here
you can go to the Capitol any day and study
the hands of the Senators and members. As
you know pretty well what sort of men many of
them are, you can apply few simple rules bear
ing upon the hand and see il their characters
correspond. If you apply the rules correctly and
have genuine knowledge of the man to whom
you apply them. you can very soon come to a
conclusion about the science of reading the
character from the hand.
FRENcHMANs THEORY.
D'Arpentigny, Frenchman, went into this
subject great many years ago and endeavored
to show that every mental organization is uni
formly accompanied by certain definite form
of the hand" He spent thirty years of study
over it, and gave the name of chirognomy to
his newly invented science. Another French
man. named Desbaralles. made o scientific in
vestigation also, and he came to the conclusion
that the vital action Of every organization
tends to develop certain lines and marks upon
the susceptible surface of the palm of the
hand. and this he called chiromancy. and it is
simply the old-fashioned palmistry. which has
been lately revived and is now quite fad of
people in society.
kind are the smooth-hngered aud the knOtty-
fingered. The former are people who receive
impressions easily. who are not disposed to
take life too seriously and who are apt to act on
impulse rather than calculation. People with
kno:ty fingers, on the other hand. are more re-
Elective and practical and have orderly minds
OF course these two classes are too broad to be
accurate, and of each there are subdivisions
To take up the fingers, it is found that those
that ''spatulous' is. with spreaii-out
ends-belOng to people who are fond of exer-
else. manual occupation and practical sciences
hax frrl
to theories and are not fond Of books or purely
mental pursuits
Fingers which are square at the ends indicate
| character prone 10 symmetry, mathematics
and love of custom and routine.
Oval or pointed fingers are the property Of
enthusiastic people and poets. Painters, must
clans and religious people are supposed to have
fingers of this kind
Can any one remember a description of any
American public man which represents his hav-
ing fat, smooth hand? Hands of this kind
are passed over as being no part of the character
of man Of force. On the other hand, the long,
bony fingers figure quite frequently. John
Randolph of Roanoke used to point his knotted
forefnger at some covering opponent and no
one forgot his speech or the hand of the man
who made it, and John G. Calhoun is painted
| with long, thin hands, the joints prominent and
| the fingers spreading out. Henry Clay's hand
is familiar to all of us, and Webster's, which
had more flesh on it than those of the Others was
one of extraordinary power.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE THUMB.
Now comes the great thing to be considered
in the science Of chirognomy-th thumb. 1t is
supposed to be a more important exponent of
character than any other feature of the hand.
and a specialist might spend great many years
| in studying it before he could hope to come to
an end of his hbors. A large thumb, it is said
| by the chirognomists, means profound thought,
/ great will power, and but little sympathy. A
small thumb means a weak and irresolute mind.
In point of fact the great minds of the world
| have usually had great thumbs, and Voltaire's
are said to have been enormous. Gen. WASH
| ingtOns were large-so was his whole hand. for
that matter-and Abraham Lincoln's thumb
| was also big one. The marks Of sympathy in
their hands must be sought for elsewhere thar
| in the thumb.
The simplest and lowest order Of hand il
termed the elementary. 1t is the hand with
| q small thumb and as nearly like the paw of q
gorilla as possible. 1t means british nature
capable only Of lower order of thought anc
without any Of the higher sensibilities 1t ii
found among savages and the lowest class o.
European peassnts. A man with this species o.
hand may be expected to marry an ugly woman
| older than himself, as he Is not susceptible tc
the charms Of youth and beauty.
SOME TYPICAL HANDS.
The hand Of q laboing man il much higher
development than the elementary hand. Thu
fingers are spatulous and the palm il heavy snG