Evening star., 1897-02-13
Estimating Ones Probable Lease Of
Life
BY fHE SHAPE OF head AND HANDS
Some Views Of Physicians and
AstroIogers.
THE QUEENS HOROSCOPE
Written for The Evening Star.

| Written for The Evening Star.
| At the very center Of the heart of New
York. at the apex of that wonderful tri-
angle bounded by Broadway and 9th
avenue, with 23d street for its base high
| up above the clang of cable cars and the
| roar of traffic, lives man with massive
| head and deep-set eyes, a man whose brow
| shows prodigious powers of observation,
| and whose life is passed in studying the
heads and hands of his fellow men. This is
the man, Charles Todd Parks, who some
| time ago had the famous controversy about
| phrenoIogy with Prof. Iadd of Yale Uni
| versity, and had the satisfaction of besting
| the professor in the argument and bringing
| him around to his own views On the walls
| of his richly furnished apartment and scat
tered about on tables and desks are the
plaster heads of great men, living and dead,
| the heads of notorious criminals, the casts
of hands and the death masks and photo
graphs of nearly every celebrity in history
called here to ask what signs there are
| in the head and the hand of persons term
Of life, for that is an Interesting question
The signs of long life are many said
Mr.. Parks, "and easy to read l will give
you some Of the plainest of them avoiding
| technical expressions. Let us begin with
the head. which should be square or round
and wide behind and over the ears All
| wide-headed animals have more vital force,
narrow heads. Take a bulldog or a cat
see how wide their heads are and think
what hard knocks they will endure, while
a rabbit, for instance, would tonnle over
and die with one-half the hard treatment
People with long, narrow heads seldom live
| to a ripe old age. and, In all my obserya-
tons Of men and women 1 have never
| found one such person who reached the
century mark, while very few ever get near
| it.
The Face.
Then take the signs of the face. what
the features tell us about the probable
length of life. The eyes should he round
and wide, not obong and narrow, for such
eyes denote degeneracy and weakness. The
prov should be ample and slope back
Rev. Charles Collier has an almost perfect
brow; SO has Joseph Choate, but the brow
OF Edgar Allen Poe is too straight up and
down and too massive, showing that the
pra1n system overbalances the other sys-
TENS of the body, and for long life there
must be an equipoise among these systems
The mouth should be full and well set a
smaii mouth is bad sign, and the chin
should be square and firm This last is i'm
portant as showing that the proper balance
exists between the intellectual and the ami
mai functions. Take Poe's case again, the
lower face is weak, showing weakness in
the digestive and assimlative systems in
the animal part of him. The face of Robert
Louis Stevenson shows the same defect
oiu 81 uoeS tHe lace OF Hall CatQe-
such men the brain everrides the body.
burns out the body, and the probability of
long life is exceedingly small
AND now we come to the nose which
gives the most important indication as to
the persons breathing capacity and tho
racic equipment A man or woman with a
nose that is wide and full through its
"hole length and has open, easily dilating
nostrils probably has good lungs and a
good heart and will get far more out of
lie and live longer than a person whose,
nose is pinched and whose nostrils are mar
row. / should say that proper brea thing is
one of the chief essentials to proper living
and If people would form the habit es.
pecfally while out OF doors, OF taking deem
iull breaths through the nostriis and hold
ing the breath for a few seconds before ex-
pellfnS IT, they would add many years to
their lives. This is simple thing to do
and once the habit is formed 1t proves a
source of perpetual delight. 1 am sorry to
say, however. that not one person in fifty
breathes properly. And yet, without a
splendid breathing apparatus, 1 doubt if
the highest greatness can be achieved.
Webster and many other of the worlds in
teiiectual giants, they all have big lungs
and strong noses. And their chances OF
long lie are great in proportion.
What the Hand Reveals.
And when it comes to the hand, the
signs are equally clear. In no part of the
body does person offer such a revelation
of himself as in the hand. Here are be-
trayed at once the infirmities and weak
nesses of either sex and also the strong
POINTS. The long. slender hand is consd-
ered peautlfui, but 1t indicates degenera-
ton from strength, and its owner Is not
apt to reach an advanced age. Narrow
headed people usually have narrow hands
The hand that gives promise of a long life
is the one with square, broad palm, with
large joints and short fingers one like
TINS, and Mr.. Parks took down the mold of
wait Whitman's massive hand. Here you
see ruggedness, muscle and endurance the
signs of longevity. The finger nails are
strong and spatulate and the flesh is neitn-
er TOO hard nor too soft, thus showing a
blending OF mental and physical activity.
AS to the lines of the palm, little can be
said that will serve the purpose of a per-
son not instructed in palmistry, for it is
not sunicient to observe the lifeline alone
IN concluding as to the term of persons
years II the lifeline is good in color and
unbroken through good length, that is a
favorable sign, but for any valuable con.
cius1on the lifeline must be read in connec-
tlon with the other lines of the hand
another characteristic of long-liyed per-
sons Is the presence of large bones, and it
Is Mr. PARKS opinion that, other things
lg pelng equal, man or woman having a
Abraham Lincoln, will live longer and ac-
complsh better things than a person with
small bones.
|. The AstroIoger's Method.
Having gained the above knowledge
about longevity from the teachings OF
chronology and palmistry, I pursued my
investigation by calling upon the famous
astrologer, "Azrael," whose name in private
life Is Frank Norton and whose scholarly
attainments and unquestioned integrity
give authority to whatever he may say
Mr.. Norton was for years one Of the IL
brarians in the Astor library, and was
afterwsrd managing editor Of one of the
great American daiIies. So he Is a prac-
tical man as well as deliver into the oc-
cult. On the walls of his 'den," as he
calls 1t, are photographs of many celeb
rites whose horoscope5 he has cast. and
books containing all THE, stored-up wisdom
Of astrology and the kindred arts.
Il am convinced" said Azrael, ''by my
studies, refection and personal experience
that In every accurate horoscope the APP
pointed time of death is shown. This is
a logical conclusionN growing out Of the
fact that every such horoscope declares
| not only the general 4enor of life, the con-
ditions governing Health and disease, and
the persons character and Temperament.
but shows also the actual periods of sick
ness, bereavement, and ordinary misfor-
tunes. and makes positive statements con-
cerning every chief incident and vicissi-
tude IN the perscHs existence. All this l