The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-27
SECRETS TOLD THE FINGERS


AT Pittsburg-s; Cleveland, 9.
SECRETS TOLD BY THE FINGERS
signs That Reveal just How the Owner
| Earns q Living.
From the New York Journal.
Inc hand and the fingers are more
useful than, perhaps, most persons i'm
agine. Their primary purpose, no
DOUBT, is the performance of physical
work. Without these members the hu-
man race would never have advanced
much further in the direction of civil
ization than the stage represented by
the crudest savages. We should have
had no tools, no houses, no works of
art or OF engineering. no books and no
garments. Deprived of the ability of
protecting ourselves against the at
tacks OF wild animals. we must soon
have been wiped from the face of the
earth. We might have made shift
without feet, or even without legs
we could have done quite well with
out ears, or a spleen, or a vermiform
appendix; but hands, and their con-
venient attachments. fingers, are in
valuable.
In addition to their important func-
ton as tools and mechanical agents
the hands and the fingers serve other
important purposes. With the excep-
ton of the face, there is no part OF
the human body that serves as such
an excellent index to character as the
hand. BY skillfully observing its gem
eral contour, its length and breadth,
It's lines, the texture of the skin and
OF the muscles. the length, shape and
girth of the fingers, the mental and
moral status the individual may be
ascertained almost as plainly as If it
were truthfully written out and posted
on his person. The character. then. ex-
ercises some subtle influence on IN.
shape and markings of the hand. And.
in an almost equal degree, the occupa-
ton or employment leaves its stamp on
the fingers.
This point is brought out very clearly
by DIR. Conan Doyle in his Sherlock
Holmes stories. His hero had no
trouble in telling at a glance what a
persons daily occupation was by the
shape and condition of his fingers.
Mr.. Holmes, however, was an astute in
dividual, possessing powers of abserva-
ton and deduction in an extraordinary
degree. The ordinary person might.
after some training, be able to tell a
horseman from a baseball catcher by
observing and comparing the hands OF
two such individuals. Mr.. Holmes
could go further. He could designate
catcher belonged, tell the number of
foul tips that come his way in a given
time, give his batting average for the
past season and make a pretty respect
able guess as to the amount he owed
his washerwoman. The general reader
cannot, of course. hope to develop his
powers of observation TO such a fine
degree, but there Is no reason why he
should not be able to arrive at a fair
natn In,
many cases where the occupation is
especially apt to make its mark on the |
fingers
suppose, to make a simple case, you |
are inspecting a woman's hands The |
fingers of the left hand are somewhat |
bent and thin. The top and outer edge |
Of the left index finger are covered |
With scratches of varying lengths and
extending in every direction. The right
ndex finger bears no such marks. The
middle finger of the right hand shows
In indented band near the last Joint
Z would require no great capacity for !
distinction to set this woman down as
seamstress. Again, supposing that
he subject OF study is still a woman,
Tou observe fiattening of the tips OF
10Th forefingers. The middle finger
nay also be fiattened. though not so
much. The nails are cut shorter than
5 usually the case with a woman's
myers. III you suspect this woman TO
'e typewriter you will probably be
onvtnced by noting the under parts
4 the sleeves, near the cuffs IL your ,
uspicions are correct the sleeves in
hese places will be worn. from the
abit which the typewriter has of rest
ng her forearms on the edge of her | ,
esk. This is one of Mr.. Holmes sterI-
1g tests. and was employed to ad-
antage in unraveling the mystery Of ,
A Case of Identity"
a laboring mans fingers afford q ,
ather easy study. From his habit OF | ,
rasping the handles OF such tools as I
bowels, picks. hods, barrows, brooms. ,
ails. hammers and axes, the fingers
ecome bent, or curved forward. In
his position they are often so fixed
bat they cannot be Strengthened cut :
he skin is tough and the back Of the !
and hardened and often cracked. Civ
lg unmistakable evidence that the I
lember belongs to one OF the horny 4
anded sonos of toll" :
The pianist's fingers are a combina-
on OF the practical and of the artis- 6
c. They must be artistic. IL the pos I
-ssor is a true musician. and they :
Just also be practical If he is a skilled Z
: practical performer. Paderewskf's a
myers are an extreme type. They are S
ng and inclined to taper. They would
lper much more than they do If they ! T
ere not constantly employed in strik- r
e the keys of the piano. This has a r
ndency TO produce the effect observed | .
the forehnger Of the typewriter. but | I
le artistic temperament acts with an n
,posite Influence. Paderewskrs fin | n
rs arr not so fiattened at the ends as n
usually the case with piano players. a
German pianists the fingers are e