The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-11-09
The Strongest and Most Useful Of the Hu-
man Hands Digils.
It is A SIGN OF SUPERIORITY
Sacred and Profanc Iuistory:Givcsit
Place of Promincnce.--Phii
piers Assert Tint Character. Can | .
Determined by the Thumbs shape
The Thumb Off Monkey.

oioue grip. DO sorong IS this supremacy
TINT tho phrase "under tho thumb' Is con
toInptuously significant of tho conpleto
subsection of the weaker will to tho
stronger Tho potency OF tho thumb has
been recognized from the earliest recorded
history
In tho I'ible we find tho earliest record
OF The thumb and a mcagor account OF IL
us factor in religious ceremonies and In
punishmonts. When Aaron and his sons
wore oonsccrnted to io priests over tho Is
raolitos, during the ceremony tho blood of
howiy killed rom was put on tho right
ear, tho thumb OF tho right hand anu the
great too OF tho right foot. Those priests
III Cleansing lopors observed similar rites,
substituting the blood OF lamb AS a
'trespass offering" for that OF n ram, and
followed up the application OF blood to tho
right eur, right thumb and great too of
tho right foot by amounting tho Ss,ne men,
DORIS with Oil upon the place Of the blood
OF the trospass offaring.''
In tho fourteenth century, when con
slant warfare was raging betwccn Scotch
and English, "Blnck" James Douglas
contcnted himself with cutting off tho
thumbs of thu English archers no captured
and turning thom loose instead of killing
them outright, q doUm infinitely prcfcra-
bic to tho savage border men when they
the deadly arrow
When tho Rladiators wero led into tho
arena to furnish amusement for tho fash
ionable Roman wurld-tOu oftun with
their livcs--how eagcrly thcy must havo
watched for tho sign from tho umnipotcnt
thumb. If 1t was turned down. thoy wcru
doomed. II up, they woro saved And it's
verdict could not DO appealed from. This
practice was not overthrown until A. d.
4oi, when Tolemnchus, y Christian monk,
threw himself between tho contestants at
tho sHoriiico OF his life. Then tho Emperor
honorious. by ~ decree put an end To tho
glauiatnrial games. 1t Is doubtless from
this source tho nursery game, HThumbs
up!' had It's origin. Happily Tho inno-
cents addicted to ii have no idea of its orig.
inal torribie Significance.
lt we may trust Shakespeare, biting tho
thumo under certain circumstances was
illegal in tho fourteenth century in Yero-
| na, and it was reg,jrted rs u prologue to n
quarrel or chnllongc 10 II fight In tho
play OF = Romeo nnd Juliet" we find this
| curious dialogue between the servants of
| tho rival houses of Montague md Cnpulct:
Abraham-Do you bite your thumb Mt us,
| sir?
| Sar' pson-I do bite my thumb, sir
Abraham-Do YOU bite your thumb at us,
| sir?
Sampson aside to Gregory)-Is tho law ON
| Our side IL say nyci
| GrcgoryNo.
| Sampson-No. sir. do not bite my thumb
ut You, sir, but bite my thumb, sir.
| Grcg"ry-Do You quarrel, sir2
| Abraham Quarrel sir No. sir.
Sn'npson-lf you do, sir am for YOU
And this pickering, which commenced
| ny simple nibhiing Of the thumb, ended
In " fight with drawn swords
Recently Mark Twain has made thu
| thumb play prominent part in fiction.
lite uses AN old theory, credited to tho Chi
nese, that at birth every human being
Bears OH his thumb lines that will forever
establish his identity from the fact that
| no other person has or will have identical
ones. This is extremely chimerical and
fanciful and would not ho accepted as
'rrvelant' by most Of the hard headed,
unimnSinative occupants of the bench in
tins country. However, from tho depths
OF his own fertile imagination Mark suc-
oe'ded in Turing judge and jury that
Eavc verdict In accord with Pudu'n-
Head Wilson's Photographic argument.
But there arc thumbs and thumbs. For
one, the ''miilcr's thumb" which is fiat
tened at the tip to peculiar shape and
| acquires great dolicncy of touch from tho
sitting CT Hour through it. So sensitive
Zoos 1t become that miller can rcndily
determine tho grade OF -four by the touch
1t frequently desccnds US birtImarlz to
his children. The 'potter's thumb'i IL
similar, and in handmade pottery PLAYS
an active part In shaping tho ware, inson-
sihly assuming fattened shapo, which
distinguishes 1t.
A certain class of philosophers assert
that character may DO determined bv tho
thumbs shape A vain person Is said TO
fold the thumb under II 1t Is too long for
beauty. A grasping person hns long
thumb that turns backward like IA hook.
a good nntured person his short thumb.
There Is an old superstition concerning
n womun's thumb. II in closing tho hand
the thumb folds out Of tho fingers she will
rulo her husband. II under, she will be
ruled by him. 1t Is limited that a majority
Of thon fold out.
In tho anatomy OF tho hand that of man
and monkey arc almost identical, tho rad.
ical difference being in tho length of the
thumb. Tho monkeys thumb Is tho Same
length as his other fingers. The muscular
development, however, is different. The
monkeys thumb has no Opposing pow.
or, merely tho grasplng power in common
with tho Other fingers
IN tho human hand only, on the contra.
ny, the thumb has Opposing power"-
That L., the thumb can touch tho tips Of
each or any of tho other fingers. But none
OF tho other fingers can touch tho tin of
any other finger but the thumb. This an.
posing power constitutes tho Fundamental
| I'll f1..N. L..