The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-11-17
THUMB LICKs SEALED SALES
Awkward Member Of the Finger Fam
lily Once Dignified

"His fingers are all thumbs" an ex-
preston to donate clumsiness, seems
undeserved in view of the important
part the thumb played in the social
customs of the people and the prom
inent place it has in literature. If
our thumbs could speak we would
learn how many lives were saved or
lost through the instrumentality of
the thumb; how they help the dra-
matist to express emotion, the ply
siognomist to tell character, the an
tiquary and the historian to- deduce
the customs of various peoples, and
the very important part they play in
our own lives.
From the remotest days of antiqu-
ity the practice of licking the thumb
has always been regarded as a solemn
pledge or promise, existing, according
to Tacitus and other authorities
among the Goths, the Iberians, and
the Moors, and it may also be traced
through successive periods down to
our own times.
Pledge of Mortal Combat.
Lord Erskine in his 'Institutes''
states that rmong certain of the low
er ranks in Scotland the final settle
ment of bargain was always signal
lied by the licking and joining of
thumbs. There are cases too, in the
books in which evidence was intro
duced to testify to the legality of a
bargain and sale, and where the said
parties thereupon licked their thumbs.
There is saying in Ulster: eve may
lick our thumbs upo' that"
Sir Walter Scott, in note to the
"Laay of the Last Minstrel" alludes
to the custom thus, giving it diff
ferent significance: ''To bite the
thumbs or the glove seems not to
have been considered upon the border
as a gesture of contempt, though so
used by Shakespeare, but as a pledge
of mortal combat" He then proceeds
to tell about an unfortunate young
gentleman of Cheviotdale who discov-
cred in the morning following hard
drinking bout that the thumb of his
right glove was bitten. He could not
recollect with whom he had quarreled,
yet on the evidence of the glove he
repaired to each of his companions of
the preceding night until he came
across the right one. The duel was
fought at SeIkirk in 1921, and result
ed fatally for the challenger.
Once Deadly Insult
The passage in Shakespeare re-
ferred to by Scott, relates to the Gus
tom of licking the thumb, and occurs
very early in the play of Romeo and
Juliet" almost Immediately after the
rising of the curtain In the passage
III is used in the sense of chal-
lenge or an insulting gesture. Samp-
son, to provoke the adherents of the
rival house, says: 81 will bite my
thumb at them, which is disgrace to
them if they bear it" Abram imme-
diately inquiries: "Do you bite your
thumb at us. sir?" Sampson answers:
81 do bite my thumb, sir" and Abram
angrily repeating his question Samp-
son says again, evasively: "No, sir,
1 do not bite my thumb at you. sir;
but I bite my thumb, SIR" Then Greg
ory asks fiercely, "Do you quarrel,
sir?"
Selden in his "Titles of Honour"
says that kissing the thumb was a
characteristic of servility. The clergy,
the rich and the great were in re-
ceipt of this honor from their trades
men. 1t was also universal custom
on the Continent in later times for
the tenant, at every interview with
his lord, to kneel and, clasping the
hands of his lord, kiss the thumbs be-