The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1892-01-30
Chiromancy and What it Will Quietly
Tell us of People We
Know.
The Hands we Grasp in our Every.
lday Greeting Reveal Forces
of Life.
The Theory of Palmistry More Simple
and Scientific than Generally
Supposed.

ham, and The astral phenomena, still taken
nto a ccount by students of paimistry, has
been handed down to the nineteenth CEN
tury by the early Egyptians through their
descendants.
The novelists of all ages have familariZ.
ed their readers with thes warthy browed
race of fortune-tellers who sell their
knowledge of paImistry and human nature
for what ever it will bring. This art, as
imperfectly understood and practiced by
the gypsies, is properly divided into two
general sections, chiromancy and chirog-
nomy. The former discerns the events of
life and the conditions of persons in the
past, present and future; the latter relates
entirely to character. The classical name
for palmistry is chrirosophy, which is
compounded of two Greek words, mean
ing hand and wisdom.
1t is only few years since polite society
in London gathered in exclusive drawing
rooms, barred its pink palms to the scien-
| tifc eye of the professional palmist. Many
a fashionable woman, who before felt
safely intrenched behind her wealth and
noble station, was startled out of her
fancied security by an accurate analysis of
character from the lips of a perfect stran-
ger-and paid stranger at that. The
conventional fortune teller who confines
herself to statements which cannot by any
possibility be either verified or refuted, is
likely to retain her hold upon the credlli
! ty of the class to which she caters, to the
exclusions of the more intelligent palmist,
who lays bare the secrets of character by
defined system of deduction.
more scientific than is popularly supposed; /;
] ,vl ha nf 10
has even become possible to verify the
gypsy portion of palmistry which deals
with description of the sexes as affect.
ting each other. Character is determined
by the shape, size, length, color aud con.
sistency of the hands; also by the forma.
tion of the finger joints and tips. the siz.
and tint of the nails and :.the hair on the
hands. The thumb alone reveals the prin
cipal motor forces of life. II is not very
generally known outside of the medical
profession, but it is nevertheless fact.
that persons who are idiots from birth
generally have deformed thumbs, and
sometimes none at all. The first, or top
joint or pha'ango of the thumb indicates
will ::power; the second, reason or logic,
and the third the passions. For purposes
os analysis the scientist has divided hands
into three general classes, pointed. square
and spatuate. The possesor of the point-
ed or tapering hand is an idealist, al
ways searching outside of the bounds
of the mundane sphere for ideas he fails
| 70 find in poor human nature. Such a
person has great love of beauty and a
gift of inspiration amounting in some
cases almost to divination. Edgar A. Poe
had this hand. and it was indicative of his
character.
The square type of hand, having a
rather large palm, long fingers with square
or squarely comic tips, the thumb having
the top and middle phalanges twill and
logic) long and large. is the hand OF
reason and philosophy. Such hands are
found among priests, lawyers, and men
and women occupying eminent positions
in the learned professions OF in the
world of science. Owners of this hand are
usual clever ut all games of skill, such a,
shooting, billiards, or anything requiring
exactitude of aim. Love of order, sub
mission to authority and punetuality are
also characteristics of this type.
The spatulate hand is the hand of the
mechanic or laboring man. In shape il
is an exaggeration of the square type, the
palm being usually very broad and longer
than the fingers. which are nearly square
ut The tips.
This hand shows love of action; and the
harder and tirmer the hand. the more ac
ceEtuated the qualities. With soft hand
of this type one will have more activity oi
the mind than of the body. People with
spatulate hands make good mechanical
engineers, especially when the joints OF
order and PHILOSOPHY, the second and frs,
finger. are we'll developed. An exaggera
tion of this type indicat,s II nervous, NOR.
bid and often ryrani, al disposition.
Pope says: The proper study Of man
kind is man, and it would appear that d
gcn' raj know.edg. of chiromancy and
| ply log,uony would greatly facilitate the
study and alter the results. Perhaps, too,
this study which until recent years oc
cupied place among the occult sciences,
might Save strong bearing on unhappy
marriages. BY its aid any girl may quiet
| iy analyze the character of her gentlemen
acquaintances, and choose from among her
suitors the man whose impulses are writ
ten out for her by the unerring hand Of
| nature.
When, in the course of her investiga.
ton. she comes across mixed hand, one
| in which the square and spatulate, for in.
stance, are blended, she will know that its
possessor Is likely TO De quite clever at
many things. but excels in none She will
remember that the palm Of the hand repre-
sents the material instincts, and the FIN.
gers, the mind. The more evenly they are
devided, the more evenly is the mind
balanced and more surely will the judg-
ment lead the instinct. When she sees a
hand with long palm and short. thick
fingers she will know that the material
preduminaies over the spiritual in that ma.
ture.
Ga the other hand it will interest a
great many young men who are cherish
ing m ,trimonal designs to know that
women with long fingers have love of de
tail. Ii the fingers are very long the
owner will be apt to worry herself and
everybody about her over the most trivial
things; and. without modifying inhu
euees, they often oenote cruelty and deceit
Ua he contrary, shert- fingered people are
impusive, quick OF PERCEPTION. and go in
for things en- nasse rather than i'm detail
II the fingers are very thick a. the third
joint or phnlange the fair subject has
luxurious tastes.