SOME APPLICATIONS

Some palmists consider that either hand may be read, with the left giving the more definite indications. Others insist that it is necessary to consider both hands. When the same sign is found in both hands, it is considered more reliable. The left hand is said to show inborn tendencies, while the right hand is supposed to indicate to what extent these have been or will be followed.

A healthy hand is said to be of even texture, not too flabby and perhaps not excessively hard, with lines which are clear and of a clear red color. The nails are without spots or ridges. If the lines are too bright, a tendency to fever is shown. A confusion of small lines all over the hand is taken to indicate poor health.

There are signs for the various diseases, which have, we are told, been verified in the hospitals. But an examination by a competent physician is the best course to take in case of ill health. I should be reluctant to put down these “certain indications” if I thought that some of my readers might possibly take them at their face value.

Scarlet fever, as the chirognomists tell their story, is shown by a small square on the Line of Life, with an upright cross within it. Typhoid fever is indicated by a similar square with a blue dent or a cross with slanting lines inside. Fine lines striking across each other mean rheumatism, especially if the skin is unusually smooth. Consumption is indicated by a moist skin and curved nails. There are islands in the Head Line. Diseases of the respiratory organs are shown by islands on the Line of the Head below the middle finger. The Head Line or the Via Lasciva is broken or frayed in cases of brain disease. A blue dent means influenza. Circles or dots on the Line of Life indicate eye trouble. Dots on the Line of the Head in the region of Jupiter show deafness. Internal disease is indicated by islands on the Hepatica. Maladies which are inherited are shown by islands on the Line of Life.

According to the position on a line in which such an indication is found, it represents a disorder of the past, the present, or the future. As we have already seen, the fixing of a definite time on the lines is not easy, and there are some contradictory statements as to the direction in which the folds are to be read. But since palmistry is without value for the study of character, the forecasting of the future, and most other purposes, we need not worry about such difficulties. I think that palmistry is no longer exceedingly profitable for the mountebanks who practice it. There are still credulous people, to be sure, but we can detect a slight feeling of doubt in most of the individuals we find entering a chiromancer’s booth at Coney Island or a county fair.

I do not know to what extent young people actually consult astrologers, palmists, and physiognomists to help them make up their minds as to which calling in life to pursue. Many charlatans who know that their fortune telling ability can often be tested represent that they are able to show tendencies which ought to be followed. Thus, if the hand shows a military career and the gentleman who presents it is a millinery salesman, it is not sufficient for the palmist that the words sound pretty much alike. He will tell the chicken-hearted fellow that he ought to be riding a horse in front of an army. Our modern generals ride in expensive limousines forty or fifty miles behind the front, but that is beside the point.

Some of the English palmists have been ambitious enough not only to describe what a minister’s hand looks like, but also to indicate how the palm of a Methodist churchman differs from that of an Episcopalian. In an encyclopedic book on chirognomy, we should find the palm type of the rabbi, the sheik, the fakir, the brahmin, the druid, the bonze, the lama, the pope, the canon, the dean, the vicar, the abbot, the mendicant, and the leader of an Ethical Culture group.

Ministers of the Church of England have long fingers and conic hands, we are told, while Methodist clergymen have heavy fingers and square palms. Since the Anglican (or in America, the Episcopalian) Church tends to emphasize ceremony and beauty, the type of hand belonging by palmistic tradition to the artists, slightly modified by the marks of religion, is attributed to the clergymen of the sect. But Methodist churchmen are supposed to care less for beauty.

The signs belonging to the occupations arise in part out of astrological and mythical notions. Thus, Mars is the god and the planet of war. It is for this reason that a soldier is supposed to have a high Plain of Mars and a strong Mars Hill. His palm is square and hard, for this seems to be the type suitable for action.

We need not analyze the symbolism of the other professional signs. Luna stands for travel, for which reason a sailor has a well-formed Hill of the Moon, for example. The curious reader may pursue the subject with the aid of books on astrology, but it is of no practical value, except that it makes clear the flimsiness of the occult systems.

Some books of palmistry give gastronomical tables, showing what foods people with various hand types are supposed to prefer. Men and women who have the finger and the mount of Jupiter most strongly developed, and who are therefore considered to be of jovial temperament, are credited with liking turtle soup, trout, turbot, mace, nutmeg, beef, mutton, venison, turkey, duck, rich puddings, parsnips, French beans, Stilton cheese, pears, plums, figs, olives, mulberries, raspberries, walnuts, stout, port, punch, cherry brandy, sloe gin, and coffee. The list is rather attractive, especially toward the end. But it seems to me that people should seek the good things of life without worrying too much about the lines on their palms. Keep the hands reasonably clean, use them for helping yourself to bread but not to stick into soup in order to test the temperature, and stay away from the palmists.