The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-22
suPERsT1T1oNs ABOUT HANDS

please, Uncle Jack, what is this for?"
asked Peter, picking up an odd-looking
little ornament of pink coral, shaped very
much like three tiny fingers.
ooh, that said Uncle Jack. turning
the little. trifie over and smiling. lis what
ward off the evil influences of anyone
they suspect of Witchcraft. Sometimes,
if you happen to live or be visiting in
Naples, you would see people do this, put
the thumb in the middle of their hand,
fold the second and third finger over it,
end with the first and fourth fingers, held
they believed possessed of an evil eye. 1t
is one of the many ancient signs of the
hand
What signs?'f said Peter, who dearly
loved, to ask questions
Why, don't you know replied mis-
uncle taking Peters hand in his, that
hands has come down from the most an
Gent of times? For instance when you
shook hands with Mrs: Brown, who just
went out you followed one of the Oldest
of customs, that began in the days when
men shook hands to prove that they meant
no harm to each other and carried no
weapon S. When you lean out of the car
riage window and kiss your hand to your
mother on the doorstep. you are following
an old, habit of the Persian sun worship
ers,S who first laid their hands on their
mouths and then lifted them toward the
sun
Nowadays in England those who are
presented to the queen kiss her hand,
which is token of reverence and sub
mission, as old as the days of the Trojan
! war. when King Priam kissed Achilles
hand as he asked for the body of his
brave dead son Hector. julius Caesar
the great conqueror, never permitted the
common folk to kiss his hand, but in his
presence they kissed their own hands. In
Morocco no one in the presence of the
emperor mentions the number five, be-
| cause it represents the hand that holds
| the sceptre and power The Turks call
| ha h,T7 0f MI
| fourteen knuckles represent the beads of
! their rosary, and the five fingers their
| five great rules for religious life.
| Among the early Christians the thumb
! first and second fingers We're thought to
signify God. His Son and the Holy Ghost.
and that is why those three fingers are
church give what is called an Episcopal
! hles sing. Long ago, in marriages. the
ring was in turn slipped over the thumb,
! first and second fingers. and finally left on
the third, to show that the man gave his
allegiance first to the holy trinity and
lastly to his wife 1t was then that peo-
PIE believed the third finger was possessed
of unusual virtues because a rich, pure
vein of blood ran from its bottom knuckIe
| to the heart. 1t was made the ring finger
for that reason q, ana in times of plague
| ing it the only finger free from faint
In these later days it has been found
out that there IS no vein running, as was
believed, but it remains the marriage
/ finger by custom; Perhaps one of the
strongest superstitions about hands is
| that a century ago it was believed the
hand of man who had been hung would
| cure warts if touched by an afflicted per-
son, and that the hand of a man dead on
| the gallows would open the strongest lock
if merely touched to the keyhole. moving
the bolts without sound, and house
breakers were supposed to carry such
hand among their tools
And here Uncle Jack hurried out of the
room., leaving Peter still gazing at his
own hard brown little hand that never
before had seemed SO interesting in his