Evening star., 1901-07-19
AN INDEX TO CHARACTER
HOW THE THUMB REVEALS TRAITS
OF THE MIND.
Indications of Strength or Weakness
of Will - Loosnexs of Joint
shows Careless Man.
From the Ledger Monthly.

From the Ledger Monthly.
The thumb confesses the man; no man Is
clever enough to deceive his thumb. For
alltime it has been divided into three parts
typifying the three qualities that master
the world-will. logic and love.
The first or nail phalange signifies Will; !;
the second, logic; the third. which is the
boundary of the mount Of Venus, love
When the thumb is uneQually developed,
and the first phalange is extremely long, IL
is neither love nor logic that governs the
individual, but merely sheer will. If the
middle phalange be much longer than the
first, reason predominates, yet the man
may not have the power to will himself to
do that which his reason dictates. When
the third phalange is long and the thumb
is short man is revealed as the slave of
the senses, guided neither by Will nor rea-
son.
If the thumb be supple jointed the indi-
vidual Is easy going, spendthrift, careless
all things. If 1t be firm jointed he is eau
tious. watchful, keen, diplomatic, tireless
In planning, confident and sure of success,
self-poised and self-controlling.
Sourvaroff, celebrated for the strength Of
his will. >Danton, that magnanimous soul,
who took upon him the disgrace of crime
to save his country; Calico, Socrates, New
ton Leibnitz, St. Simon. Fourier. Owen
vators-had infallibly very small thumbs.
Voltaire, the man of the world. whose heart
was subject to his brain, had enormous
thumbs.
The intimate psychic connection between
the mind and the thumb revealed by sci
ence in a thousand phases, makes 1t folly
to deny that the thumb is the thermom-
eter of character and the barometer Of
mental health.
Signs of ParaIysis.
Specialists in nerve diseases by an ex-
animation OF the thumb can tell If the pa
tient is affected or likely to be affected by
paralysis, as the thumb signals this trouble
long before 1t is visible in any other part
of the body. If the danger symptoms are
evidenced there operation is performed
on what is known as the thumb center
Of the brain, and the disorder is often re-
moved. The success of the operation can
be told, too by the changed condition Of
the thumb.
No matter how careful the individual
may attempt to conceal incipient insanity
the thumb will reveal it infallibly. 1t is
the one sure test. If the patient in his
daily work permits the thumb to stand at
a right angle to the other fingers or to
fall listless into the palm. taking no part
in his writing. his handling of things, his
multiform duties, not articulating with the
others, but standing isolated and sulky, It
is an unanSwerable confession of mental
disease.
Born idiots come into the world without
thumbs or with them poWerleSS and inert,
which is natural, because where the sub
stance is absent the symbol must fall.
Until they arrive at time when ray Of
intellect comes to their aid they constantly
keep their hands shut, with the fingers
above the thumb; the mind develops with
the body, the thumb in its turn shuts over
the fingers
The epileptics in their fits shut the thumb
before the fingers. which signifies that that
malady, which is experienced before being
felt, reaches the principle by which we
think before that by which we feel.
The Approach of Death.
At the approach of death the thumb OF
the dying, as taken with some vague fear.
takes refuge under the fingers, which an
nounces the near end. Man alone, because
he has a thumb-that Is to say, reason
knows death.
The thumb" says DArpentigny, "indi-
vidualizes the hand" On the ball or cush-
ion-like surface Of the top joint Of the
thumb, as indeed on the other fingers, there
is seen a kind Of spiral formed by fine
grooves in the skin. These are alike in no
two individuals Nature never duplicates
these markings. Examining even a thou
sand million thumbs would show them all
to be distinct and different. Individualized
by some infinitesimal variation, these
markings never change from birth to
death. and the right thumb differs from
the left.
The Chinese do not take photographs Of
their criminals. They merely force them
to press their thumbs on a piece Of white
paper covered with aniline dye, India Ink
or similar substance. The resultant i'm
pressions are stored away classified and
brought out years after. If necessary, to
identify a suspected person with one who
has already received his diploma for crime.
In many parts Of the empire thumb marks
are used on passports, for they cannot be
counterfeited or their passports used by
any one but the rightful owner.
few years ago. in course Of transit be-
tween New York and New Orleans, an e1-
press packet OF paper money had been
opened and SO 500 Of the original amount
had been abstracted. Two of the seals had
been broken. and one had been resealed by
thumb pressure. The solution Of the mys-
best detectives UNTIL in despair, the matter
was referred to an expert in handwriting
and other methods Of Identification. Noting
the faint pressure Of the thumb on the
middle seal, he obtained wax Impressions
Of the thumb of all the officials of the par
ticular express company through whose
hands the packet was known to have
passed. These impressions were photo
graphed and enlarged, and one Of them
clearly agreed with the thumb impressed
seal of the broken envelope. The thumb
mark of one of the most trusted officials
Of the company thus betrayed him. and he
and sentenced.
GREAT CITY TASKS.