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EXPLANATION. 
 
 A. WilL 
 
 B Logic. 
 
 C The Mount of Venus. 
 
 D. The Mount of Jupiter. 
 
 E. The Mount of Saturn. 
 
 F. The Mount of the Sun. 
 
 G. The Mount of Mercury 
 H. The Mount of Mars 
 
 I. The Mount of the Moon 
 J. The Plain of Mars. 
 
 The 
 Percussion. 
 
 K. The Rascetta 
 
 L. Square finger. 
 
 M. Spatulate finger. 
 
 N. Conic finger. 
 
 O. Pointed finger. 
 
 P. The ist Phalanare. 
 
 Q. The 2nd Phalange. 
 
 R. The 3rd Phalange. 
 
 S. The ist Joint (Order). 
 
 T. The 2nd Joint (Philosophy) 
 
 a '«. Line of Life. 
 
 b b. Line of Head. 
 
 c c. Line of Heart. 
 
 d d. Line of Saturn or Fate. 
 
 e e. Line of Liver. 
 
 ff. Line of the Sun or Fortune. 
 
 gg. Belt of Venus. 
 
 k. The Quadrangle. 
 i. The Triangle. 
 j. The Upper Angle. 
 k. The Inner Angte. 
 L The Lower Angle. 
 mmm. The Bracelets of Life, 
 
THE 
 
 LANGUAGE OF THE HAND 
 
 A CONCISE EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES AND 
 
 PRACTICE OF THE ART OF READING 
 
 THE HAND 
 
 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE 
 MAY BE EXPLAINED AND FORETOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY FRITH 
 
 AND 
 
 ED. HERON ALLEN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY DORA NO YES 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited 
 
 NEW YORK : 9 LAFAYETTE PLACE 
 
 London and Manchester 
 c ' J 
 
■ I 
 
 
gptbitafforr, 
 
 TO 
 
 c. &. jf. 
 
 THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 &\t gufjjors. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE is 
 
 INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 PART I.— Chirognomy. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 Of the Hand Generally ... . • » 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Of the Thumb , ........ 37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Of the Consistency of Hands ..... 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Of the Seven Types of Hands , .... 42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Of the Female Hand . ...... 66 
 
 PART II.— Chiromancy. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Of the HANr and its Markings . . * • • 75 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 Of the Mounds of the Hand ft* 
 
8 Contents, 
 
 PAGH 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Op the Line of the Heart 9a 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Of the Line of the Head ...... 9S 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Of the Line of Life . . . . . .100 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 Of the Line of Saturn . . . . # e .110 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Op the Hepatic Line and the Girdle of Venus . 118 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Of the Lines of the Sun and of the Wrist . • 123 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Of the Reading of the Hand — "Right" and "Left" 133 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Of the Quadrangle — Advice "to those about to 
 Marry " —The Great Triangle , • • .138 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Of the Little Triangle— The Angles • • .143 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 On the Signs which Modify Predicted Effects . 147 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A few Practical Hints— Conclusion , « • • *54 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Prius quam mclpias consuito, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est. 
 
 —Sallust. 
 
 Chiromancy, which includes Chirognomy, concern- 
 ing which we propose to treat in the following 
 pages, is of very ancient origin. The derivation of 
 the word is from the Greek \^p (the hand) and iiavrev- 
 otiai (I foretell). In fact, the Science is that which 
 enables us to divine character, past events, and des- 
 tiny from the shape, the mounds, and the lines of the 
 hands. 
 
 There is more in this science than may at first 
 sight appear to an observer. We know that certain 
 bumps upon the head indicate certain characteristics 
 of human nature. The colour of the hair and eyes, 
 the form of the mouth, of the chin and nose, the 
 shape of the ears, with other signs and attributes of 
 person, and the general form of the body, nails, and 
 fingers afford certain and infallible indications of 
 temperament as varied as the forms of ear or face. 
 Nothing in nature is more remarkable than the fact 
 that, although every individual amongst the millions of 
 living human beings possesses features, and organs of 
 perception, visibly formed for the same purposes, and 
 used for those purposes, no two persons possess 
 them exactly alike. The variety therefore is infinite. 
 
 What then, are we to say concerning the hand of 
 
1 2 Preface 
 
 man? Character can be read from the feaUies and 
 expression of the face, why not from the marks and 
 lines upon the hand ? Because, you will say, the 
 " horny-handed son of toil " will show you more and 
 a greater variety of marks (not lines) than the idle 
 man, or the individual who works with his pen, and 
 not with spade, pickaxe, or hammer. We grant that 
 the effects of manual labour will be different, but they 
 will not produce the same lines. Put any two men 
 at the same work, their hands will not be any more 
 alike after a week's work than they were at the 
 beginning of the week. 
 
 Neither are the lines in the hand caused by the 
 general folding or construction ; as an old writer puts 
 it — Deus et Natura nihil efficiunt frustra. Certainly 
 nothing has been made in vain, and why, then, should 
 the lines of the human hand not bear some signifi- 
 cance? " Nature," continues one old authority, " has 
 .mpressed lines in the forehead which is not capable 
 of restriction or plication, therefore this cannot hold, 
 that the construction of the hands should cause the 
 rormation or appearance of lines in the hands ; lor 
 between the joints of the fingers many persons have 
 lines, and of different forms. Other people have very 
 few — mayhap none at all — and here there is no flexion." 
 
 We therefore support the principle that there is a 
 meaning attached to the lines and mounds of the 
 hand, though we will not take upon ourselves to affirm 
 unreservedly that the meanings attached to those 
 lines or mounds are always unalteiably the true ones, 
 as far as the future is concerned. It is against reason 
 and common sense to foretell, beyond power of muta* 
 tion, events which cannot certainly be known to any 
 
Preface. 13 
 
 human being. That certain identical lines and mounds 
 are visible in the hands of individuals of like tempera- 
 ment is not to be gainsaid. Phrenology has given us 
 standing ground for so much assumption in regard to 
 Chiromancy. Lavater was a master in reading tern- 
 perament from facial observation. The hand will 
 afford as much information if we study it properly. 
 
 As to which hand should be inspected, it is 
 the generally received rule that the left hand is the 
 one which the Chiromant must study first, and that 
 the indications which he finds in that hand must be 
 modified or corrected by those found in the right ; and 
 this, it seems to us, is owing to the fact that the left 
 hand is (except in the case of a left-handed subject) 
 comparatively the idle hand, and is therefore the more 
 adapted to the proper formation of the lines and 
 mounds. We have found in an ancient authority a 
 manifestly absurd rule which declares that it depends 
 whether the owner of the hand had been born by 
 night or by day ; that if the former, the left hand is to 
 be inspected, that in the latter case the right hand ; 
 though both are necessary for a complete divination. 
 " Node etiam natis sinistra magis favet, die vero 
 et in aurora natis dextra, quamvis utraque manus 
 probe inspicienda et examinanda est." 
 
 We shall recur to this in the body of the work, 
 and therefore pass on tr the consideration of the 
 antiquity and history of Chiromancy, which will lead 
 us to the practical chapters on the science. 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain the origin of Chiro- 
 mancy, nor would it be of much practical use if we 
 could do so. It has been stated that Homer wrote 
 a treatise upon the science, but this is improbable on 
 
T4 Preface, 
 
 the face of it The Romans appear to .fave been 
 acquainted with Chiromancy; and Dryden, in his 
 fuve?ial, says — 
 
 "The middle sort, who have not much to spare, 
 To Chiromancer's cheaper art repair, 
 Who clap the pretty palm to make the lines more fair." 
 
 Artemidorus, in the second century, wrote of Chiro- 
 mancy, and we have many later authors, such as Codes 
 in 1504, De la Chambre 1653, with other Italian 
 and French writers, as well as Germans, down to the 
 lady who produced the " Grand Jeu de Socie'te' " in 
 Paris. 
 
 The first regular work, however, upon this art or 
 science seems to have been produced in the fifteenth 
 century by Hartlieb, who produced a very remarkable 
 and now very rare volume entitled "Die Kiinst 
 Ciromantia.' , The date of this volume — a rare speci- 
 men of the block printing — is 1448. Codes above 
 mentioned appears" to have made a study of Chiro- 
 mancy, and it is recorded by the writer of the 
 " Anecdotes de Florence," that he made some success- 
 ful predictions from an observation of hands and 
 features. Codes himself was the victim of the 
 murder he predicted, and fulfilled his former prophecy 
 to the effect that he himself would die from the 
 effects of a blow upon the head, which did actually 
 cause his death. This prediction came true to the 
 letter, as he was struck with an axe by the man whom 
 he had connected with a "detestable murder," to be 
 performed that very day. 
 
 The study of Physiology and Chiromancy (or 
 Palmistry) were not uncommonly united, and man* 
 
Preface, 1 $ 
 
 seers tried their hands at the art. We Lave found 
 two very excellent professors, whose works, with other 
 rather more modern and equally scarce pamphlets, we 
 have laid under contribution in the following pages. 
 We have devoted some years to the study of the sub- 
 ject, and, reading the palm as we do, we find much to 
 recommend the art. There is considerable instruc- 
 tion to be gained by its practice, but we would 
 recommend caution in fully interpreting the lines of 
 the hand in public. There may well be occasions 
 when silence even will best meet the case ; for, putting 
 aside the objection sensitive people may entertain on 
 the subject, nervous individuals, and those whose 
 minds are apt to dwell upon trifles as likely to affect 
 their future happiness, should not be " operated on." 
 
 We have had experience of this in ordinary " for- 
 tune-telling," when "tears" tell to the lot of a lady 
 three times successively, notwithstanding some good- 
 natured attempts to alter Fate by shuffling the fortune- 
 telling apparatus. The young lady was deeply 
 impressed by the singular repetition of the unhappy 
 fate in store for her, and did not recover her spirits 
 for some days. As a matter of fact, her life since 
 then — some fifteen years ago — has been singularly un- 
 happy, full of disappointments and pain, mentally and 
 bodily. The prediction was only too true. 
 
 But to resume. Chiromancy died out in the seven- 
 teenth century, when Physiognomy usurped its place, 
 but within a few months Society has taken up the 
 "craze," as it has been ignorantly called, for there is 
 much more sense in the study of Chiromancy than in 
 ninety-nine of the passing fancies taken up by people 
 who have no time to take up anything. Oae ancient 
 
1 6 Preface. 
 
 writer saith tha\, Chiromancy "informeth us lo know 
 and discerne by the Hand the Complexions and Con- 
 stitutions of Bodies ; the Sufferings and Sorrows of 
 Humane Life ; the Felicity and Infelicity thereof ) 
 and, in fine, all things Good or Bad that may befal or 
 betide Man or Woman." Most singular speculations 
 may be drawn from the lines, he says ; that is to say, 
 " from their Longitude, Latitude, Profundity, Rectitude, 
 Obliquity, Intersection, Application, Opposition, Con- 
 junction, Separation, Continuity, Discontinuity, Pro- 
 portion, Disproportion, Lucidity, Apparency, Pallidity, 
 Rubedity, Fuscedity (which is a cloudy darkness of 
 color), Mollicity," &c, from their " Position, Calliga- 
 tion, and Form." 
 
 Nor is this all that pertains to the correct reading 
 of the hands : there are other indications which the 
 student must take note of and remember, such as the 
 crosses, stars, rays, and branches, ascensions and 
 descensions, "right or torted;" so Palmistry is not 
 the mere amusement it would appear. Granting, 
 therefore, that these lines were put upon the hands by 
 Nature, as indications of character, or as heritage 
 from our parents and remoter ancestors, whose charac- 
 teristics we naturally inherit, we shall be able to make 
 certain diagnoses of the kind of people we are. 
 
 The explanation of these signs is named Chiro- 
 mancy. " Onely this I shall tell you — the Author hath 
 not onely in this small tract reduced all to a concise 
 and Methodical Discourse," but " added divers others 
 of his own observations." 
 
 "Seek and ye shall find !" said the greatest and 
 highest Philosopher, but now and then to aid the 
 feeble powers of man, to guide his erring but well-. 
 
Preface. 17 
 
 intentioned footsteps, Providence sends a man g/fted 
 with powers beyond those of his fellow-mortals, whose 
 efforts, whose researches, and whose natural powers, 
 help man a step farther towards that goal which is 
 already in sight, towards that power which is only 
 just out of reach of our grasp, towards that knowledge 
 which is man's pre-ordained prerogative, but for which, 
 in the days of our forefathers, its seekers were con- 
 demned to the prison, the torture, and the scaffold. 
 Such men as this were Hermes Trismegistus, Apol- 
 lonius, and Paracelsus, such men are and have been 
 Gall, Lavater, D'Arpentigny, and Desbarrolles. 
 
 Gall and Lavater taught methods of divination 
 complicated to acquire and difficult to put into 
 practice. M. le Capitaine D'Arpentigny at length 
 appeared on the scene, endowed with a cool judg- 
 ment, an indomitable perseverance, and an unflagging 
 watchfulness. The system he inaugurated, under the 
 title of Chirognomy, though vague in places, became 
 elucidated and enlarged as it passed through the 
 hands and brains of such men as Bichat, Montaigne, 
 Rabelais, Herder, and Balzac. To these men came 
 Desbarrolles, with his sister science Chiroi7iancy ; what 
 the former wanted, the latter supplied ; what was 
 confusing in the latter was explained by the former; 
 and the twin doctrines uniting with their younger and 
 necessarily more fallible satellite, Graphology, became 
 a harmonious whole, — " The Science of the Hand." 
 
 Desbarrolles, having studied all the Chiromantic 
 works on which the Sorcerers, Astrologers, Necro- 
 mancers, and Charlatans of the Middle Ages founded 
 their pretended knowledge, rejected all as the crea« 
 tions of unscrupulous mystery-mongers, and seeking 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Preface. 
 
 for Chiromancy its true origin in the Kaboala of pri- 
 mitive India, embodied the principles of our science, 
 by which the instincts of man, his past life, and, to a 
 certain extent, his future may be explained and 
 revealed. 
 
 We say " to a certain extent," for were we to say 
 the absolute unavoidable future may be read in the 
 hand, we should lay ourselves open to just condemna- 
 tion for charlatanry and fatalism. What we do claim 
 for the science is this, that by indicating, by means of 
 the instincts and tendencies shown in the hands, the 
 events which, if left to themselves, would supervene, 
 such events, by the suppression of the tendencies 
 which will bring them about, may be neutralized or 
 avoided entirely. 
 
 Let us claim for this Opuscule the merit of opening 
 your eyes to the tendencies of your nature, and the 
 probable -esults of those tendencies. Let this bro- 
 chure be the means by which you may so encourage 
 your finer instincts, and so combat and neutralize your 
 evil ones, that by attention to the aptitudes and weak- 
 nesses with which you entered this world, you may 
 learn and labour truly to get your own living in that 
 state of lije unto which it shall have pleased God to call 
 you. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Facts are stubborn things I " 
 
 Some time ago we were dining with some friends 
 living in one of the most populous and popular 
 suburbs of our great city. The other guests present 
 were all people of a character unmistakably suburban, 
 that is, they were composed for the most part of men 
 whose business took them to town every week-day, to 
 whom the suburbs, where their wives and families 
 lived, moved, and had their being, was but a dormi- 
 tory. Consequently, the business element largely 
 prevailed, and the company, in which the sexes were 
 evenly balanced, was of a nature decidedly practical, 
 and one in which abstruse, or psychic questions would 
 meet with but little sympathy, or unbiassed discussion. 
 Our host introduced us, for the purpose of escorting 
 in to dinner, to a lady whose personal appearance 
 was indicative only of a careless, matter-of-fact dispo- 
 sition, capable of ridiculing or seriously discussing 
 any question that might arise. 
 
 As we took our seats and our neighbour took off 
 her gloves — 
 
 " I hope, Miss ," we said, " we shall not 
 
 bore one another, for I see you paint, and I don>, 
 
 C 2 
 
2Q Introduction* 
 
 I am musical, and I see that you are not; that is 
 to say, that you prefer catchy melody to abstruse 
 harmony — that you prefer Sullivan to Wagner. You 
 also have a will, or rather obstinacy, which will not 
 let you give in, in any argument, however wrong you 
 may be. This being the case, do you choose a sub- 
 ject, and / will discuss it and be convinced." 
 
 " Well," she replied, " seeing that we have known 
 one another about four minutes, I think that is about 
 the coolest speech I ever heard, but at the same time 
 it is marvellously correct. As you don't belong to 
 this place, how did you find all that out ? " 
 
 "As you took off your gloves, I looked at your 
 hands." 
 
 " What do you mean?" she asked, and at the same 
 time held up her hands, palms uppermost, as if to see 
 there what had guided us in arriving at a summary 
 of her character, and as she made this motion we con- 
 tinued : — 
 
 " I beg to apologize ; I was wrong • I see now that 
 we shall get on very well, for you are imaginative (no, 
 not romantic), and so am I, and that you have a 
 painfully keen sense of the ridiculous, which is also 
 my greatest misfortune." 
 
 " This is a most extraordinary thing," she returned ; 
 " will you tell me how you are analyzing me in this 
 personal but horribly accurate manner ? " 
 
 " It is quite simple," we said ; " with a view to 
 choosing a subject of conversation, I looked at your 
 hands by the light of my favourite science, ' Chiro- 
 gnomy.' By the conical tips of your rather square 
 fingers, and the firmness with which your hand rested 
 on my arm as we came in, I know that you paint 
 
Introduction. 21 
 
 By the want of method and order shown by you* 
 knuckles, joined to the other facts I had remarked, 
 I saw that you were not a deep musician ; and, on the 
 top of these, the development of your thumb shows 
 a good-humoured obstinacy ; but when you held your 
 palms up to the light, these two lines greatly modi- 
 fied and explained my first impressions." 
 
 " This interests me very much," said she ; " can 
 you tell me my fortune entirely, like a gipsy ? " 
 
 " Please do not say that," we answered ; " fortune- 
 telling is in almost every instance a vulgar swindle 
 practised by charlatans, or worse, for the purpose of 
 extorting money from foolish people. Many profes- 
 sional Chiromants, also, consult the wishes and per- 
 sonal appearance and circumstances of their victims 
 or clients in expounding their pretended knowledge. 
 Amateurs of the science, again, in their desire to be 
 polite, suppress home truths, and the people who 
 present their hands for examination, whilst inwardly 
 thankful that the knowledge evidenced has been so 
 slight, think that the science is simply a masquerade, 
 and its practice a feat of assurance on the part of the 
 practitioner. All these things tend to bring Chiro- 
 mancy into disrepute ; but, nevertheless, the character 
 and disposition of a person is most clearly inscribed 
 in the hand ; events, as they happen to us, become 
 written there as with a quill-pen; and as surely as 
 ' coming events cast their shadows before,' so surely are 
 those shadows cast in the hand. You might say, 
 * The present and the past it may be possible to dis- 
 cern, but the future, no!' I answer: 'Why not? 
 the lines do not become marked in an instant, in the 
 twinkling of an eye ; of a line" which is destined to 
 
22 Introduction. 
 
 appear, the root must necessarily exist somewhere in 
 the hand, and it is the science of Chiromancy which 
 enables us to find those roots and distinguish them 
 from the lines which have already come into promi- 
 nence. 
 
 " You have asked me to read your hand by this 
 science. I warn you of two things : first, that if there 
 is anything in the art (and I, of course, firmly believe 
 that there is), all the secrets of your life are laid bare 
 to my inspection in your hand ; second, that whatever 
 I see there I shall tell you without a moment's hesita- 
 tion, from the most complimentary facts to the most 
 bitter truths ; if you have anything to conceal do not 
 show me your hands ; if not, and if after these remarks 
 you still elect to submit yourself to this ordeal, give 
 me your hands, and if you repent of it, on your own 
 head be it ! " 
 
 " Well," she replied, " I consent, I will show you 
 my hand ; but at the same time this question must now 
 stand adjourned till after dinner. Tell me something 
 about the other people present." 
 
 " I can only tell you the outlines of the characters 
 around us. Of course the superficial examination of 
 the external formations of a collection of hands 
 cannot be infallible, but, as far as it can, here goes. 
 That old gentleman over there is hard, calculating, 
 and dictatorial ; but if he has any near relations, they 
 find him amiable and tractable away from his busi- 
 ness, which is mechanical and scientific." 
 
 "Very true," replied our neighbour; "he is my 
 uncle, a dear old gentleman, a civil engineer of great 
 experience and some celebrity." 
 
 '*The lady next to him is a blue-stocking, pre- 
 
Introduction, 23 
 
 sumably & spinster, accustomed to command, but 
 underneath kind and sympathetic ; the gentleman 
 next her is in business, a clever and clear-headed 
 man ; the lady on the other side of him is a pianiste, 
 headstrong and passionate, but the embodiment of 
 good-nature; she is also inquisitive, and nervous. 
 How are we getting on ? " 
 
 " The first lady you pointed out," was the answer, 
 " is the principal of a girls' school close by ; the man 
 in the middle I don't know; the third is my sister, 
 and there you were quite right." 
 
 The conversation then flowed into other channels, 
 and we did not return to the subject till a few days 
 afterwards when we met at a garden-party in another 
 
 place, and Miss — claimed the fulfilment of the 
 
 promise ; we took her hand, and, with her permission, 
 we recapitulate the most important of the events we 
 saw there.* 
 
 " You were born under extraordinary circum- 
 stances, and, at the moment of your birth, your life 
 was in danger from some external cause ; that is, the 
 danger was not constitutional — you were a strong, 
 healthy baby." 
 
 " Very true," replied our victim ; " I was born in the 
 
 Indian Mutiny 3 my mother was flying from , 
 
 and I was born during the flight." 
 
 " Your health has always been generally excellent, 
 though you are subject to headaches ; you were, how- 
 
 * It should be remarked that the following observations are 
 from the hands of three separate ladies, all somewhat alike in 
 disposition. For convenience sake, and so as not to publish a 
 recognizable portrait, we condense the trio in the subjoined 
 diagnosis. 
 
24 Introduction. 
 
 ever, very ill at five years old, and at nineteen you 
 nearly died of brain-fever." 
 
 " Quite right, excepting that my first illness was at 
 six instead of five." 
 
 " Once in your life you were nearly drowned. In 
 disposition you are bright and joyous, but if anything 
 goes wrong, you worry over it for a long time instead 
 of making the best of it. You are very self-willed, and 
 act on impulse ; it was this that made you crush your 
 first and only love-affair. Please do not correct me — 
 I am certain of it. You have no idea of time. Out- 
 wardly you are exceedingly untidy; as a matter of 
 fact, you always know exactly where everything is. 
 You are by no means superstitious, and when I first 
 broached this subject, you thought it interesting but 
 silly, that was impulse ; your better reason now tells 
 you that there is a great deal in it. I think all I have 
 said so far is correct." 
 
 " I am afraid, and at trie same time I am thankful, 
 that it is." 
 
 u Your line of fortune is well-marked ; your luck is 
 principally derived from your accident on the water 
 somewhere, but though your heart and your common 
 sense are good, your obstinacy and self-will will 
 always be your worst enemies. Your life will be of 
 average length; you will meet with an accident to 
 your head at thirty-five ; you will go two long voyages \ 
 and when you marry — as you will do — your family will 
 be five in number. On the whole, I congratulate you 
 on your past, present, and future." 
 
 The past, which had been brought up to this lady, 
 she admitted was perfectly accurate ; the future, as is 
 usual, she refused to believe, but in after years she 
 
Introduction, 25 
 
 may see these pages and remember the occasion. 
 
 She has just left England unexpectedly for , 
 
 and thus the future begins to answer its foreshadowing 
 in her hand. 
 
 If the science whose action and results are illus- 
 trated by the above citation of facts is merely an 
 amusement, a frivolous charlatanry based on the 
 doctrine of chances, it cannot fail to be pernicious in 
 the extreme, and on that account ought to be put 
 down by the highest authority, as tending towards 
 popular scepticism and superstition; but if, on the 
 other hand, the doctrines which it teaches and the 
 principles which govern it are true, ought it not to 
 receive greater credence and a more widespread 
 indoctrination, for by its means the natural tendencies 
 being discovered, the education may so be directed 
 as to develop those tendencies, instead of crushing 
 them, by a misconceived idea of the direction of the 
 natural talents? 
 
 Our fathers would, and did laugh the new-born 
 science to scorn, but the increasing wisdom of gene- 
 rations commences to look upon this and kindred 
 subjects with a less sceptic and more analytical eye. 
 We say the " new-born science," for although the 
 science of Palmistry, in a greater or less state of 
 development, has existed ever since the days of the 
 ancient Egyptians, it is only comparatively recently 
 that the exertions of such men as D'Arpentigny, the 
 Chirognomist, and Desbarolles, the Chiromant, have 
 elevated the Science of the Hand to a position 
 worthy the consideration of learned men. 
 
 We consider that the time will come, nay, is not 
 far distant, when all men will be imbued with' the 
 
26 Introduction, 
 
 importance of this knowledge, for when a large 
 number of men have proved, in their intercourse with 
 their fellow-creatures, the importance and value of the 
 advantage they derive over the rest by an acquaint- 
 ance with such sciences as Chiromancy, Phrenology, 
 and Physiognomy, the rest, to participate in those 
 advantages, and in self-defence, will also acquire the 
 requisite knowledge, and the affairs of the world will 
 be based not on the account a man gives of himself, 
 or gets given of himself by his friends, but by his 
 true character, written in legible characters on his 
 head, his face, and in his hands. 
 
 Chirognomy especially is worthy of attention, for 
 whilst it requires the submission of the person to be 
 experimented on to effect a Phrenological or Chiro- 
 mantic examination, the student of Chirognomy has 
 only to glance at the hands of his neighbour, whether 
 they be occupied or quiescent, to arrive at a complete 
 analysis of the general outlines of his character. 
 Subsequently Chiromancy comes in and tells us the 
 minute events which have passed in a lifetime, that 
 is if the subject will surrender his hand, but the 
 Chirognomist can measure an opponent and analyze 
 a character without the subject of the scrutiny being 
 even aware that he is undergoing an examination, and 
 being read like an open book, as in the opening 
 episode of the narrative which commences this Intro- 
 duction. 
 
 It has often been remarked by men of science and 
 religion, that it is not allowed to presumptuous Man 
 to pry thus into the secrets of the Most High. To 
 them we have always answered, as firm conviction 
 has dictated that an all-seeing Creator has not given 
 
Introduction. 2/ 
 
 us these indications to be passed over and not con- 
 strued. " In manu omnium Deus signa posuit ut 
 noverint singuli opera sua," says Job (chap. 37, v. 7); 
 but these revelations have not been given us to be 
 dealt with lightly; they have been placed for our 
 instruction and use, but veiled from crass intelli- 
 gences, that man may by his own efforts take advan- 
 tage of the powers conferred upon him for his own 
 protection and instruction, and that of those with 
 whom his walk in life is cast 
 
 >■ fl ■'■ £ 
 
PART I. 
 
 CHIROGNOMY. 
 
PART I. 
 
 CHIROGNOMY. 
 
 — — 
 
 " Manus membrum hominis loquacissimunu" 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CF THE HAND GENERALLY; AND PARTICULARLY OF 
 THE PALM AND FINGERS. 
 
 Chirognomy, understood as distinct from Chiro- 
 mancy, is the science by which we can tell the 
 dispositions, proclivities, characters, and occupations 
 of those with whom we are thrown in contact, by the 
 mere actual shape of the hands, their outward appear- 
 ances, and the impressions they give to the senses of 
 vision and touch. D'Arpentigny was the great high 
 priest of this branch of the science (as Desbarrolles 
 was of the other), and he divided all hands into seven 
 categories, as follows : — 
 
 i. The Elementary (or Large-palmed), 
 
 2. The Necessary (or Spatulate). 
 
 3. The Artistic (or Conical). 
 &. The Useful (or Square) 
 
32 Chirognorny. 
 
 5. The Philosophical (or Knotty). 
 
 6. The Psychic (or Pointed). 
 
 7. The Mixed Hand. 
 
 If the palm of the hand is too meagre and nairow, 
 it shows a feeble disposition, wanting in versatility or 
 fertility of conception, a. nature of weak passions, and 
 without power ; if it is supple and of a thickness and 
 size in proportion with the fingers and the rest of the 
 body, it denotes aptitude and brightness of idea; if, 
 though still supple, ( the mounds and general develop- 
 ments are too marked and gross, it betrays sensuality 
 and egotism ; and if at the other extreme it is too big, 
 too fat and gross in itself, it indicates a character void 
 of refinement, and instincts inclining to animality. 
 This delicacy of hand or foot carries itself even to 
 the lower animals, for whilst horses, asses, mules, 
 cows, pigs, and other animals noted for their 
 stupidity have but solid horn feet, the higher 
 animals, and those possessing most instinct, such 
 as the felidse, dogs, monkeys, and the like, have 
 their feet more or less articulated and delicate as 
 they stand higher or lower in the grade of animal 
 intelligence. 
 
 The fingers, again, are smooth, or knotted, and, 
 among the latter, some hands have fingers with t.,o 
 knots, and others with only one. If your second 
 joints {i.e., those nearest the nails) are developed, you 
 have a well-ordered mind ; if both joints are developed, 
 this orderliness and method are the more pronounced. 
 With both joints well developed you will be punctual, 
 tidy, systematic, and methodical in your coarse of 
 action. If you have no knots in your fingers, i.c. t if 
 
The Hand Generally. 3* 
 
 neither joint is developed, your natural tendency will 
 be towards art, and your course of action will be 
 rather inspired than reasoned out ; you will be guided 
 by fancy and sentiment rather than knowledge. Good 
 taste (intellectually) belongs to knotted fingers, natural 
 grace to smooth. 
 
 The fingers, whether knotted or smooth, have the 
 third phalange (that which bears the nail) either 
 pointed, conical, square, or spatulated. Take two 
 hands both spatulated, but one smooth and the other 
 knotty. Both subjects* will be active, will have an 
 aptitude for physical activity, and an inclination to 
 regard things from their useful, practical side. Both 
 will appreciate things real, physical force, calculation, 
 sciences natural, experimental, and physical, and so 
 on. But the subject with smooth fingers will succeed 
 in these arts by inspiration, spontaneity, locomotion ; 
 whilst the one with jointed or knotty fingers will suc- 
 ceed by calculation, reasoning, and probability. 
 
 Now take two other subjects : these have square 
 tips to their fingers, but those of the one are smooth, 
 and those of the other jointed. Both, by reason of 
 the square fingers, have tastes for moral sciences, 
 politics social and philosophical, didactic, dramatic 
 and exact poetry, grammar, languages, logic — in fact, 
 the lighter forms of things useful and practical. They 
 prefer that things should be exact and complete than 
 grand and magnificent ; tney have an aptitude for 
 business, respect of persons, positive but moderate 
 ideas ; they like to discover rather than to imagine, to 
 
 * By subject, we indicate in the following pages the person 
 being operated upon, i.e. submitting his or her hand to the 
 Chiromantic examination. 
 
 D 
 
34 Chirognomy. 
 
 theor'ze rather than to act on impulse or by calcula* 
 tion. They never attain the most glorious poetic 
 flights, but they excel in literature, sciences, and the 
 more exact arts. The subject with smooth fingers 
 will pursue rather literature, considered as literature 
 only, and will pursue his tastes with spontaneity, 
 whilst the one with knotted fingers will proceed as 
 before by calculation and with reason, excelling in 
 history, geography, social science, and the like. 
 
 Given : two subjects, one spatulate, the other square, 
 the former will be the more simple but the less polite j 
 he will have greater freedom but less elegance. 
 
 Take now a subject having smooth fingers ending 
 conically, or like a thimble. You will find the fine 
 arts, sculpture, vigorous painting, and monumental 
 architecture, imaginative but reasonable poetry, love 
 of the beautiful from its sensible and reasonable point 
 of view, romance, dislike of abstruse calculation, love 
 of independence, enthusiasm sometimes subject to 
 fantasy. If the hand, instead of being smooth, be 
 knotty, you will find the same tendencies, but with 
 more moral force and character. 
 
 If knotted fingers have the outer phalange square 
 and pointed, they indicate a nature prone to specula- 
 tive ideas, meditation, and the most philosophical 
 sciences. They indicate love of stern truth, poetry 
 of reason and thought, logic, independence, religious, 
 social, and political, deism, democracy and liberty. 
 This is what we call the philosophic hand, and is more 
 theoretical than practical. 
 
 Here is another hand, this time with smooth 
 fingers, and having the third phalange very pointed 
 and drawn out. Here we have ideality, religion, and 
 
The Hand Generally, 35 
 
 contemplation in their highest development, indiffer- 
 ence to material interests, poetry of soul and heart, 
 desire for love and liberty, adoration of the beautiful 
 in the " hysterical" abstract. We call this the psychic 
 hand, which is absolutely ideal and unpractical. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that spatulate and 
 square fingers monopolize matter and reality, i.e. 
 industries, and useful and necessary arts, action, theory 
 based on facts, and intellectual science, whilst conical 
 and pointed fingers indicate — the first ; art, by love of 
 the beautiful in its actuality, and the second ; the true 
 and beautiful, in their inner significance, and the most 
 ideal and lofty poetry and idealism. 
 
 A hand which is hard and stiff, and has a difficulty 
 in opening to its full extension, indicates obstinacy 
 and stubbornness. A large hand indicates love of 
 minutiae and detail ; a medium hand takes in details, 
 but also appreciates entirety. Amongst musical 
 people the most correct and learned musicians have 
 square fingers ; instrumentation, whether it be the art 
 of performing, or composing for instruments, is in- 
 variably found in spatulate fingers; whilst singers have 
 nearly always the third phalange pointed. Thus it 
 will be understood, that whilst knots beautify and 
 improve a spatulate or square-fingered hand, on 
 account of their natural usefulness and aptitude for 
 combination, to have the joints largely developed 
 would be a deformity and misfortune to a pointed 
 or conical-fingered hand, seeing that the latter are 
 devoted to the finer and more liberal arts, which 
 necessarily succeed best when they are the offspring 
 of inspiration and spontaneity. 
 
 The inherent natural shaoe of a hand never alters. 
 
36 Chirognotny. 
 
 Its concomitant conditions may be changed by the 
 subject being forced into an occupation the opposite 
 of his genius, inclination, and natural tendency, out 
 the original aptitude, and the form of finger which 
 denotes it, always remain. Thus : If a subject 
 obviously inclined towards, and born for, poetry or 
 art be forced by circumstances to become an engineer, 
 or to pursue any other practical employment, the hand 
 will become hard, gross, and mechanical, but the 
 pointed smooth shape will still remain undisguised. 
 
 Take the absolute rustic, free as air, without thought 
 or mental cares of any kind, his hand will be spatu- 
 late or square, with large joints. Take the circus- 
 rider, juggler, gymnast, dancer, rider, and so on, his 
 hand will be either spatulate and smooth, or large and 
 conical, and very hard, for these possess a kind of 
 rugged, instinctive grace. Amongst literary men and 
 women the hands will be formed according to the 
 subjects on which, and the styles in which, they 
 write. 
 
 It would be easy to pursue this theme, had we time 
 and space for it, ad infinitum; but though we might 
 make ourselves clearer on the subject, we should 
 necessarily be obliged to repeat ourselves. An intel- 
 ligent perusal and comprehension of this chapter will 
 give the reader every necessary information concern- 
 ing the palm and fingers of the hand, from a general 
 point of view, so that we can now proceed to the con- 
 sideration of the most important part of the hand, to 
 which we shall devote an entire chapter, and that is 
 The Thumb. 
 
The Thumb. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE THUMB. 
 
 *• In default of other proofs, the thumb would convince me of 
 the existence of God." — Isaac Newton. 
 
 The Thumb is the most essential part of the human 
 hand, for without it the fingers would be comparatively 
 useless. It is the thumb which constitutes the great 
 difference between the hand of man and the foot of 
 the higher animals ; the nearest approach to the 
 human thumb, i.e., the monkey's, is short, and almost 
 immobile, and, therefore, as compared with the 
 human thumb, is almost reduced to the rank of a 
 fifth finger, or nail. The ancient Romans used to 
 denote a coward by the words " pollice truncatus " 
 (a man with his thumb Gut off), a term which had its 
 origin in the practice of certain pusillanimous slaves, 
 who used to cut off their thumbs to avoid being 
 sent to the wars, they being considered unfit for any- 
 thing after suffering this disfigurement ; and it is from 
 this phrase that is derived our English word pol- 
 troon, through the French poltron. In the human 
 thumb lie the indications of his will and intellect ; 
 people who are born idiots come into the world either 
 without thumbs or with their thumbs quite abortive 
 and useless. A baby, before it can exercise its will, 
 it will be observed, always keeps its fingers closed 
 over its thumbs, whereas a reasoning man, when 
 exercising his will or determination, almost invariably 
 
38 Chirognomy. 
 
 closes his thumb across his fingers. Epileptic patients 
 during their fits always fold their thumbs inside their 
 hands ; indeed, the approach of their fits are often 
 heralded by the preliminary folding of their thumbs \ 
 and people at the approach of death almost always 
 hide their thumbs in their hands. At the root of the 
 thumb, says the twin science Chiromancy, (q.v. Mount 
 of Venus), lie the indications more or less developed 
 of a tendency to love ; and is not love only an exercise 
 of the will, amounting to longing ? The first phalange 
 we denominate the phalange ot logic, i.e., perception, 
 judgment, and reason, whilst in the second (or outer) 
 phalange we look for the indications of will, inven- 
 tion, decision, and prompt action. 
 
 The Romans, again, to return to their recogni- 
 tion of the thumb as an indication of will, used it in 
 their gladiatorial displays, to show, by its erection or 
 depression, their will concerning the defeated com- 
 batant. If the second or outer phalange of your 
 thumb be narrow, mean, and short, your will is a 
 weak one ; you are prone to accept received notions, 
 to be guided by others ; you are doubtful, uncertain, 
 and indifferent. People whose thumbs are small are 
 more sentimental than others whose thumbs are in 
 proportion, or large, and they act more on impulse 
 than reflexion ; those whose thumbs are large have 
 consequently exactly opposite characteristics. A large 
 thumb usually indicates independence, a tendency 
 towards despotism, presence of power, but powei born 
 of force, not of charm. Following these reasonings 
 you will find that persons with a taste for the occuJt 
 sciences have large thumbs. 
 
 Any one who has smooth fingers and a small thumb 
 
The Tfaimb. 39 
 
 has (whatever may be the form of the third phalange 
 of his fingers) an inborn tendency to poetry and art, 
 though he may not have the talent to cultivate them. 
 We know an eminent literary man whose ideas in 
 general are of the most matter-of-fact description, 
 who sits wrapt and spell-bound at hearing beautiful 
 music or poetry, though he has not the least talent for 
 either of these arts ; his fingers are smooth, but 
 spatulate with small thumbs. Subjects with conical 
 or pointed fingers and large thumbs temper their 
 idealism and art by deduction and reason ; in fact, 
 their temperament resembles that of subjects with 
 square-fingers, but a small thumb. 
 
 Carrying, therefore, your mind back to what we 
 said concerning the characteristics indicated by the 
 forms of the fingers, you will arrive at this deduction, 
 that the subject with smooth, conical, or pointed 
 fingers will have the characteristics of that form the 
 more strongly developed if he has also a small thumb, 
 whilst the subject with knotted fingers, terminating 
 squarely or in spatule, will be the more powerfully 
 addicted to the tendencies of that form, if to them 
 he adds a thumb which is large. Thus by their nature 
 people with large thumbs can produce results unnatural 
 to them more easily than those with small ; for example, 
 a large-thumbed mechanican may bring himself to 
 write poetry, but a small-thumbed poet can never be- 
 come a practical calculator 
 
40 Chirognomy* 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE CONSISTENCY OF HANDS. 
 
 By consistency, we mean the impression produced by 
 a hand upon the sense of touch. Thus two hands 
 may be of the same size and shape, the fingers of 
 both formed and terminating in the same manner, 
 but with this difference ; that one hand is soft and 
 supple, whilst the other is firm, almost to hardness. 
 Take two hands with spatulate fingers possess- 
 ing this difference ; they both have the tendency 
 towards action, but the soft hand will affect a temper- 
 ate movement and activity, whilst the hard-handed 
 subject will tend towards energy and powerful 
 action. The soft-handed subject will be active, but 
 take his full share of sleep, whilst the hard-handed 
 one will rise with the lark to be up and doing. Take 
 two artists in the same way ; the hard-handed one 
 will execute works showing manly occupations and 
 phases of life ; he of the soft hands will be less 
 practical in his subjects, but more diverse, more 
 proneto ideas of the moment and fancy, and possess 
 more delicacy. People with soft hands always have 
 the little fleshy ball on the face of the outer phalanges 
 more developed, and this seems to give them better 
 taste and tact. People with hard hands are seldom, 
 if ever, polished and gentle in manner, but they are 
 often good-natured and sensitive ; those with fat, soft 
 hands are usually indolent, luxurious, and of stagnani 
 
The Consistency of Hands. 41 
 
 intellect. As we grow old and careworn, our hands, 
 as a rule, become hard, or, at least, firm-skinned and 
 stiff. This is accounted for by the fact that our im- 
 agination fades, our sense of the poetic and beautiful 
 becomes less keen, and from artistic and imaginative 
 amusements we turn to tastes for arrangement of 
 house and home, gardening and the like ; and it is 
 particularly noticeable, and always has been, that in 
 numberless instances men with great intellects have, 
 as their minds have faded, been taken with a love of 
 manual labour, which shows itself in gardening par- 
 ticularly, the hands becoming parchmenty and 
 ossified, apart from the question of natural decay ; 
 in the same way, as with age, our joints become more 
 prominent, we get less open to impressions, less 
 credulous, and more argumentative and logical. 
 
 Subjects with hard hands are capable of true and 
 ardent love, though they are seldom capable of much 
 tenderness; smooth-handed people, on the other hand, 
 are more capable of tenderness and affection than 
 deep love. The beau ideal of a hand is that which 
 is firm without being hard, and supple without being 
 soft, such hands as this betoken a liberal intelligence 
 and active mind, such subjects combine theory and 
 practice ; and however much they may work with 
 their fingers their hands hardly ever harden, and then 
 only very slowly, whereas hands already very firm 
 have a great tendency to become very hard. Accord- 
 ing, therefore, to their temperament (shown in the 
 co?isistency of their hands) people cultivate the talents 
 and tendencies to which the formation of their fingers 
 and hands generally incline them. 
 
 A large, soft hand with spatulated fingers evidences 
 
.{.2 CJdrognomy. 
 
 a, love of action, but not of its own activity. Such 
 a subject enjoys looking on at reviews, at athletics, 
 and at games of skill without taking part in them ; he 
 l'kej to read books of travels and adventures, but 
 does not embark upon them himself. 
 
 Thus, therefore, it will be seen that though the 
 i'orms of the hand betoken certain tastes and 
 characteristics, we must look to the consistency of the 
 ) land to see how those tastes are cultivated, and how 
 i Lose characteristics develop themselves. Having 
 now discussed the characteristics of various hands, 
 we will proceed to consider the seven types which, 
 lollowing D'Arpentigny, we set down categorically at 
 vLu* beginning of these chapters on Chirognomy. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE SEVEN TYPES OF HANDS. 
 
 I. The Elementary Hand (Fig. i). — The 
 characteristics of this hand are thick, stiff fingers, 
 a short thumb, generally turned back, large, broad, 
 and thick palm, very hard. Such is the hand of the 
 labourer, the stableman, the soldier who fights only 
 for fighting's sake, the colonist who merely exists in 
 a foreign clime by the sweat of his brow. Such sub- 
 jects understand nothing but the grossly material 
 aspect of things ; they are inaccessible to reason, 
 their virtues are negative, they conform to rules from 
 
Fig. i. 
 
The Seven Types of Hands. 45 
 
 sheer want of originality. Such a hand betrays 
 heaviness of soul, sluggish imagination, and complete 
 indifference. The Laplanders are almost without 
 exception of this type ; amongst the warm, intelligent, 
 poetic East Indians this type is practically unknown. 
 As a matter of fact, in warm latitudes (such as ours) 
 the hand absolutely elementary is exceedingly rare, 
 excepting among the Tartars and Sclavs, whose 
 instincts and ferocity are merely brutal. The subject 
 with elementary hands is subject to superstitions more 
 or less poetic, according as the fingers are more or 
 less conic ; and they, of all other types, succumb 
 most readily to griefs and disappointments, being 
 utterly void of resources. 
 
 II. The Spatulate Hand (Fig. 2). — First take 
 a spatulate hand with a big thumb. This sub- 
 ject is resolute rather than resigned, and is always 
 ready to take measures to avert the ills which flesh is 
 heir to, of which measures the conic hand knows 
 nothing. He has great confidence in himself, and 
 there is this great difference between the Elementary 
 and the Spatulate Hand — the former seeks only the 
 necessary, the latter desires and strives after abun- 
 dance. The spatulate subject possesses the instinct 
 of s el f-pre servation highly developed, and he rules the 
 world of things material by natural intelligence and 
 material instinct. Such a subject, having senses more 
 active than delicate, finds it easier to be constant and 
 faithful in love than it is for souls inclined to poesie : 
 he is, in fact, more amenable to duty and custom 
 than sensitive to the charms of youth and beauty. 
 Fingers smooth, but spatulate indicate an appreciation 
 for elegance as well as comfort ; but an appreciation 
 
46 Chirognomy. 
 
 of fashionable rathei than artistic elegance. Such 
 hands are commoner in Scotland than in England, 
 in England than in France, and in France than in 
 Spain, as also they are commoner in mountainous 
 than in plane countries. People with spatulated 
 fingers make excellent colonists, for they are not 
 rendered flighty by tastes for poetry and art ; they 
 only become attached to the ground on account of its 
 products ; they love manual labour and action of all 
 kinds ; they suffer unless they have abundance, but do 
 not seek after superfluous advantages, for they are 
 only very moderately sensual, and are more prone to 
 be greedy than epicurean. Their love of locomotion 
 reconciles them to their self-imposed exile, ready for 
 all events, and accustomed to count on themselves ; 
 they have no objection to solitude, and they are 
 clever at all physical sciences, attaching themselves 
 in life only to those things that are immovable and 
 constant. 
 
 The spatulate fingered subject admires architecture 
 for its quantity rathei than its quality, preferring the 
 immense to the beautiful. He likes 1o be astonished, 
 and to contemplate works, which make him think of 
 the immense amount of physical labour which must 
 have been employed to construct them. The artist 
 is sunk in the artisan, opulence predominates over 
 luxury; wherever this type is found, i.e., the large 
 hand with spatulate fingers and a large thumb, these 
 same predilections will be the guiding rule of that 
 subject's life, the useful rather than the ornamental, 
 the necessary rather than the superfluous, the actual 
 rather than the ideal. If the thumb be small their 
 active physical instincts will be more unrestrained but 
 
Fig. 2. 
 
The Seven Types of Hands. 49 
 
 less pronounced and forcible, partaking more of the 
 nature of the square hand (q.v.). 
 
 III. The Artistic Hand (Fig. 3). — This 
 hand has three tendencies, which are very dif- 
 ferent to one another, but only marked by slight 
 distinctions in the hand itself. These are : — (i.) A 
 supple hand and a small thumb with a medium palm 
 indicating love of beauty, and particularly of form, 
 (ii.) Large, short, and thick with a large thumb be- 
 trays a desire for riches, fortune, and greatness, (iii.) 
 Large and very firm hands mean a tendency to sensu- 
 ality. All three are governed by inspiration, and are 
 ill-adapted to the mechanical arts. The first is 
 actuated by enthusiasm, the second by stratagem and 
 scheme, and the third by the suggestion of pleasure. 
 Barring these differences of characteristic, the tenden- 
 cies of these hands are the same, though the most 
 characteristic is that which has the fingers large at the 
 first phalange and narrowing to a more or less obtuse 
 cone. The thumb is small and the palm is moderately 
 developed. Such a subject will attach himself, by 
 instinct and without consideration, to the beautiful 
 aspect of ideas and things ; he will prefer the orna- 
 mental to the useful without much regard for reality, 
 greedy of leisure, novelty, and liberty ; at the same 
 time ardent and timid, humble and vain, he is ener- 
 getic and impulsive rather than powerful or forcible ; 
 his spirits are apt to plunge from ecstasy to despair, 
 unable to command, but incapable of obedience ; he is 
 attracted rather than led by duty. He is enthusiastic 
 and cannot put up with the restraints of regular, and 
 what we might call, domestic life ; his thoughts are 
 sentiments rather than ideas ; light-hearted and original 
 
 E 
 
50 CJiirognumy. 
 
 he has generally a warm imagination, but a cold heart. 
 Sjch a combination of unrestrained instincts of 
 pleasure and want of moral stamina is therefore the 
 character of artists in general, or, at any rate, those 
 who live only for their art. They only have to like a 
 thing to adore it ; they submit, as a rule, to faith and 
 orthodoxy because thus they are saved the trouble of 
 reasoning ; but they are intolerant of political des- 
 potism, because of the actual restraints it places upon 
 them. This love of art is the first emotion to which 
 an uncultivated mind is amenable ; a love of form and 
 beauty often exists among savage tribes who are 
 wanting in the utter rudiments of civilization, and for 
 this reason it is the most engrossing and powerful of 
 all human tendencies ; races who are too lazy to 
 cultivate any other taste cling tenaciously to and 
 highly develop this one ; it is thus that among the 
 ignorant artistic peasantry of Southern Europe that 
 this type of hand, modifying the elementary type, is 
 80 largely prevalent. It is among people possessing 
 these hands that we often find subjects possessing 
 only the evil propensities of their type, sensuality, 
 laziness, egotism, singularity, cynicism, love of dissi- 
 pation, intellectual incapacity, sharpness, and tendency 
 to falsehood and exaggeration. Love, which is not a 
 matter of the senses, such as filial, fraternal, and 
 paternal affection, is rare among hands of this class, 
 and belongs principally to square and spatulate 
 hands. 
 
 IV. The Useful Hand (Fig. 4) is of medium 
 size, but inclining to large, the joints of the fingers 
 developed, and the outer phalange square, the thumb 
 large, and developed at the root, the palm of medium 
 
Fig. 3, 
 
The Set-en Types of Ha fids. 53 
 
 size, hollowed and firm. Perseverance, foresight, 
 order, and submission to rule, all qualities conspicu- 
 ous by their absence in the artiste hand, are par- 
 ticularly the characteristics of the useful hand, i.e., 
 that hand whose leading feature is the square tips of 
 its fingers. To organize, classify, and regulate is their 
 province ; with them the beautiful and true are sub- 
 ordinate to theory and rule ; they have a strong love 
 of similitude and uniformity as opposed to the change 
 and contrast, which is the delight of the conical- 
 fingered hand ; they appreciate the differences in 
 things apparently similar and the points of resem- 
 blance in things outwardly dissimilar. They are apt 
 to confuse discipline and civilization, compulsory 
 order and the order of common consent ; they only 
 act on the promptings of sense and reason, and are 
 consequently often somewhat narrow-minded. They 
 are polite and courteous by reason of their respect ot 
 persons and their sense of order and the fitness of 
 things ; their literature is precise and careful, their 
 poetry rythmic and complete, in language they use 
 terms more generic than distinctive, i.e., they will say 
 " dog " rather than " mastiff," " terrier," " beagle," or 
 as the case may be ; " ship " rather than " frigate," 
 " man-o'-war," " brig," and so on. Their books are 
 and must be clear and correct in their expositions, 
 leaving nothing to the imagination, and being well 
 arranged and indexed. Cautious and far-seeing, they 
 like what is known, but suspect what is undefined ; 
 their ideas being moderate they prefer the real to the 
 apparently real ; they incline to men of good sense 
 more than to men of genius, and are more noted for 
 spirit and talent than for imaginative faculties ; their 
 
54 Chirognomy. 
 
 moral axioms are that the good is better than the 
 beautiful, and the useful is better than both. These 
 qualities are apt to become despotic in the hold they 
 have over these subjects, leading them into hypocrisy, 
 which is the result of morbid love of reserve, regu- 
 larity of conduct, and personal respect, coldness which 
 they mistake for moderation, flattery and adulation 
 to which they are peculiarly susceptible, stiffness of 
 manner, unbending punctuality, and steady but sup- 
 pressed ambition. For his friends such a subject 
 chooses men cultivated, disciplined, and, so to speak, 
 modelled on a correct pattern. 
 
 Such subjects prefer privilege to liberty ; they are 
 prepared to submit to the authority of rank, birth, 
 law and custom, and they like to feel and make 
 others feel the check-string. The man with large 
 square hands is always neat, well brushed and but- 
 toned up, or else carefully neglige ; he is regular in his 
 meals, and does not eat at odd hours ; his mind will 
 be just and equally balanced, but he will not be bril- 
 liant. There is this difference between the spatulate 
 and the square hand. Both like and respect autho- 
 rity, but the former will be fond of the ruler indi- 
 vidually, whilst the latter admires and respects the 
 institution of authority itself. The artistic hand only 
 admires regularity when it is subservient to, and a 
 component part of, a beautiful whole ; the useful hand 
 only admires the beautiful when that beauty is the 
 result of regularity. Thus, therefore, it will be seen 
 that though the useful hand is the most desirable, 
 from a worldly point of view, it is neither so happy 
 as the artistic, nor so conscientious and indepen- 
 dent as the spatulate, but it is the square fingers 
 
Fig 4, 
 
The Seven Types of Hands. 57 
 
 of the useful hand which govern almost the entire 
 world. 
 
 V. The Philosophic Hand (Fig. 5). — Palm 
 medium size and pliable, the fingers knotted, and 
 the third phalange an obtuse cone verging on the 
 square, having a sort of oval, clubbed appearance, 
 consequent on the development of the second joint; 
 the thumb large, having its two phalanges of equal 
 length, indicating an equal share of will and logic. 
 The distinguishing characteristic of this particular 
 form of exterior phalange or finger-tip, semi-square 
 and semi-conical, is an innate tendency to search after, 
 a love for, the absolute truth and reality of things. 
 The developed joints of the philosophic hand give 
 it calculation, deduction and method, the semi- 
 conical shape of the fingers indicates an intuition 0/ 
 poetic instinct. Such a subject prefers reality ta 
 beauty, and cause rather than effect ; is gifted with an 
 enthusiasm for moral, experimental and philosophic 
 sciences ; has a leaning towards analysis, i.e., he likes 
 to sound the meaning and cause of his sensations 
 and ideas, the problems of creation and the origin of 
 things ; he does not hold his opinions, belief and 
 ideas at second-hand, but only after having turned 
 them over, viewed them from all sides, and examined 
 them thoroughly. He is governed by reason rather 
 than by faith or love, sacrificing to reason all such 
 minor considerations as custom and fashion; this 
 guiding influence imbues him with a love of ethics, 
 and political and social economy, often leading him 
 to scepticism and heresy, but never to fanaticism. 
 He is open to doubt, but does not object to being so ; 
 he considers things in detail, and also in mass ; indivi- 
 
5 8 Chirognomy. 
 
 duals and also communities ; he studies both the rule 
 and its exceptions ; the order, which is an inherent 
 quality in him, shows itself in classifying rather than 
 in arranging, i.e., he will separate things according to 
 to their character and nature rather than by their 
 size and appearance ; he pays no attention to vain 
 scruples, superstitious terrors, and is moderate in his 
 pleasures. Thus it will be seen that reason is the 
 principal characteristic of this hand ; it will take 
 nothing on trust ; at the same time there is a refine- 
 ment, an appreciation of the beautiful, indicated by 
 the semi-conic formation of the fingers. It has the 
 actuality and truth of the spatulate hand without its 
 stubbornness and lack of refinement; it has the 
 analysis of the square hand without its insincerity, 
 and the refinement of the conic hand without its 
 flightiness and selfishness. Its motto is " Modera- 
 tion in all things, and truth in all." 
 
 VI. The Psychic Hand (Fig. 6). — This is 
 the rarest and most beautiful hand of all. In pro- 
 portion to the formation of the subject whose it is, 
 it is small ; the palm is of medium size, the fingers 
 without knots, the third phalange long and pointed, 
 the thumb small and well shaped. If the hand is 
 large and the joints are developed, it has more force 
 than is usual, but not so much originality. Such 
 subjects are guided by the ideal, by the sublime, and 
 by the soul. They worship at the shrine of beauty 
 and imagination, and are the exact opposite of the 
 philosophical-handed subject. Such subjects never 
 become rulers or statesmen ; their idealism and love 
 of the beautiful unreal raises them above such ambi- 
 tion ; in strife they disdain small achievements, em- 
 
Fig. 5. 
 
The Seven Types of Hands. 6 1 
 
 barking enthusiastically on the most forlorn nopes, 
 spurred to victories by their fervour of soul and not 
 by their activity of body. Some writers have claimed 
 these hands as the exclusive inheritance of the nobly 
 born. This is a great and incomprehensible mistake ; 
 for though it is always rare, it is found among all 
 classes, sometimes among the lowest, where it is 
 crushed and disdained, by reason of its inability to 
 force itself to manual labour. Artistic hands seek 
 imagination and art everywhere, useful hands seek 
 arrangement and rule, philosophic hands seek human 
 reason ; to psychic hands is reserved the privilege of 
 a search after ethical divine reason in its highest 
 development ; theirs is the faculty for striving after 
 purity and right in the abstract, apart from any ques- 
 tions of convenience. It would be easy to rhapso- 
 dize over the advantages, the psychical aesthetic 
 advantages, of this type ; but alas ! beautiful as it is, 
 innately grand as it is, its impracticability keeps it 
 back in the great race of life. Beautiful in itself it 
 refines us, us of the more worldly types, but without 
 us it could not live. Such natures we must work to 
 support for the privilege of having them amongst us ! 
 VII. The Mixed Hand (Fig. 7).— This is 
 the name of a rather common and rather confusing 
 type, and is the name we give to a hand when, 
 by the confusion of the forms represented in it,, 
 it seems to belong to two different types. Thus, 
 for instance, if in a spatulate hand the type is so 
 slightly marked as to be easily mistaken for a square 
 hand ; or an elementary conic hand which may be 
 mistaken for an artistic hand ; or a highly developed 
 artistic hand which may be mistaken for a psychic 
 
62 Chirognomy. 
 
 hand ; a philosophic for a useful and so on, and in 
 all cases vice versd. Such hands partake of the 
 nature of both types represented, or quasi-repre- 
 sented. It is to such hands as these that we must 
 look for intelligence in mixed works, intermediate 
 ideas and sciences, which require more than mere 
 science to elucidate them ; such as administration, 
 the theory of commerce, arts which may be called 
 unpoetic, the beauty and actuality of industry and 
 labour, and the art of making the best of, and most out 
 of, everything. Such hands generally indicate that 
 the subject is (as our proverb puts it) " Jack-of-all- 
 trades, master of none ; " i.e., they are handy and 
 clever at innumerable pursuits, but they seldom excel 
 greatly in any one ; as I have said just above, their 
 capacity for "making the best of it" and their general 
 moral indifference standing in the way of excellence 
 in any one line. They have this great difference 
 from subjects whose hands are of a particular type; 
 these last have talents more pronounced than ver- 
 satile ; people whose hands are mixed are more 
 versatile than individual. The former are instructive 
 to talk to, the latter amusing ; the latter succeed best 
 when their most pronounced talent is assiduously 
 cultivated, in which case they succeed enormously. 
 
 Take, for instance, the example we have given in 
 Fig. 7. This is what we might call the artistico- 
 elementary hand. This ugly-looking hand, less 
 supple and more thick than the true artistic hand, 
 has not, however, the largeness, the grossness and 
 extreme hardness of the true elementary hand. 
 The fingers are big, smooth (sometimes with one 
 joint swollen ; not developed, but swollen), the thumb 
 
Fig 6. 
 
The Seven Types of Hands. 65 
 
 big, and the general character of the hand conical. 
 Such a subject is greedy but avaricious, i.e., he is sen- 
 sual, but he only gratifies his sensuality when he 
 can do so at a small expense ; he is moral, but without 
 principle ; he keeps the law, but is not ethically just ; 
 he is sanctimonious, perchance bigoted, without being 
 pious ; though he is hardy he will not endure hard- 
 ships which bring him no corresponding advantage. 
 Such a hand closes easily, but opens with difficulty ; 
 this is the case, metaphorically as well as actually ; it is 
 not apt at hard work, or manual labour, but it excels 
 at scheming, arranging and negotiating for its own 
 advantage, the manual labours of others. 
 
 Other varieties of the mixed hand it would be easy 
 to enumerate, had we space and time; and did we 
 not think that the dissertations we have already given 
 on the various types will enable the reader easily to 
 decipher, or imagine such for himself, such would be 
 the psychico-elementary hand, whose characteristics 
 would be a high intelligence and love of art, but an 
 ignorant indifference to things real, and so on ; but in 
 all cases what virtues or good qualities they possess 
 are traceable, so to speak, to an intellectual torpor. 
 
 Thus far have we deemed it necessary to con- 
 sider and discuss the sister science of Chirognomy 
 before proceeding to the consideration of the actual 
 science of Chiromancy. It is most important to 
 be well grounded in Chirognomy before studying 
 Chiromancy, and for obvious reasons. Before you 
 can tell a man his instincts, habits of life, his past, 
 his present and his probable future, it is of the highest 
 importance that you should have a clear insight 
 
 F 
 
66 Chirognomy. 
 
 into his character and tendencies ; and, again, as we 
 have said in our introduction (q.v.), Chirognomy may 
 be practised without the subject being a consenting 
 party, whilst Chiromancy necessitates, at the least, a 
 close examination of the hand. Before, however, pro- 
 ceeding on our way, we shall pause a few moments 
 to make a few remarks, which seem to us to be 
 necessary, on the subject of Sex. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF THE FEMALE HAND. 
 
 The characteristics of each type, as we have enumer- 
 ated them, apply to women as well as to men, though 
 we have, for convenience sake, made use throughout 
 of the masculine pronoun ; at the same time, there 
 are certain modifications which seem to require 
 exposition; as, for instance, the square spatulate 
 types are much less pronounced in woman than in 
 man, a fact shown by the greater suppleness and 
 elasticity of the female hand in general, consequent 
 on the differences existing between the male and 
 female dispositions. The man creates, but the woman 
 develops; to man belongs the faculty of principle, to 
 woman the gift of form ; our laws are made by man, 
 but our morals by woman ; and it has been justly 
 said that man is the spirit of the woman, but woman 
 
Fig. 7. 
 
The Female Hand. 69 
 
 is the soul of the man. Few women have their joints 
 developed, so few women have the faculty of com- 
 bination ; in intellectual occupations they choose 
 generally those requiring more tact than science, 
 more activity of mind than of body, more imagination 
 than judgment ; if their hands are knotty, their in- 
 tellects are, so to speak, diluted ; they are then less 
 impressionable, and less given to the inspirations of 
 fancy. Women may be divided by this our science 
 into two classes : those with large and those with 
 small thumbs ; the first, more intelligent than sensi- 
 tive, have a natural taste for history and similar 
 studies ; the second, more sensitive than intellectual, 
 prefer romance. Consideration and clear headed- 
 ness is the gift of those with large thumbs ; love with 
 them is more a matter of head than heart, but it is 
 also more free and faithful, and a large thumbed 
 woman is never a coquette. With those who have a 
 small thumb, on the contrary, love is their all in all, 
 and though they are not so clever, they are infinitely 
 more fascinating. The cares of womanhood, the 
 sympathy which is natural to her, and the troubles of 
 maternity, all require and enforce a high degree of 
 intelligence; therefore the elementary hand is of ex- 
 tremely rare occurrence among women ; and in com- 
 munities where the men represent for the most part 
 this type the empire of woman is supreme. Man under 
 these circumstances is dead to the charms of youth, 
 and nearly always marries a woman older than him- 
 self, to be governed by her. 
 
 English women usually have the exterior phalange 
 delicately squared, consequent on their willingness 
 to adopt household cares. The women of the Oriental 
 
70 Chirognomy, 
 
 harems, on the other hand, devoted unto death, have, 
 generally, small slim hands, with small thumbs. Such 
 women as Charlotte Corday, Sophie de Condorcet, and 
 Lucile Desmoulins, women whose very souls were per- 
 meated only with one feverish ideal, had very pointed 
 fingers. Take a woman with rather spatulate fin- 
 gers and a small thumb ; such a woman has an un- 
 limited fund of affection and freedom of soul, love of 
 activity, and knowledge of real life; she loves and 
 understands horses, and all other animals ; her ideas 
 are practical and useful. The woman with square 
 fingers and a small thumb will have everything in her 
 house orderly and punctual, but without tyranny or 
 despotism ; by her example she keeps all things neat 
 and under control. If she have a large thumb, it 
 indicates a virago, tyrannical towards her servants and 
 towards her children ; at the same time, the square 
 phalange may indicate narrow-mindedness, prudish- 
 ness, and fussiness if the hand inclines to hardness. 
 Little, soft, supple hands, with marked joints, and a 
 pretty colour, indicate sharpness, vivacity and bril- 
 liancy; love with them must be gay, for their sole 
 object is to be merry. If a woman have hands with 
 a strong palm, conic fingers, and a small thumb, they 
 are most accessible to rhetoric and the fervid language 
 of love, which explains, palliates, extols all things ; 
 to please them you must be brilliant, for they prefer 
 oratory and persuas'on to logic and sound sense. 
 Delicate, smooth-pointed fingers, with a little thumb 
 and a narrow elastic palm, proclaim an indolent en- 
 thusiasm j such women are governed more by heart 
 than by sense and spirit ; they do not care about the 
 realities of life and conventional duties ; they are 
 
The Female Hand. 71 
 
 pious, but hardly devoted ; enthusiastic in spirit, but 
 not in body. 
 
 Thus, it will be seen that, though the types have 
 much the same characteristics among women as 
 among men, yet, to read the character of a woman, 
 as shown by her hand, requires more tact and self- 
 confidence than is required in reading that of a man. 
 But, without multiplying instances, we hope that the 
 notes contained in this chapter may aid the would- 
 be Chiromant to analyse and discern these differences ; 
 and having shortly enumerated the points of impor- 
 tance to be remembered with regard to Chirognomy, 
 we may safely launch the reader upon the more tem- 
 pestuous and dangerous sea of Chiromancy, 
 
PART II. 
 
 CH I ROMANCY. 
 
PART II. 
 CHIROMANCY. 
 
 ' Chiromancy hath these aphorisms to foretell melancholy." 
 
 —Burton. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE HAND AND ITS MARKINGS. 
 
 All hands have lines inscribed upon them. Let any 
 number of individuals assemble, and if they inspect 
 their palms, or have impressions taken of them, they 
 will not find two pairs of hands exactly alike in many 
 thousands of individuals. The right and left hands 
 may be, and are frequently, almost similar in the same 
 person, though as a general rule the right hand 
 possesses dissimilarities which correct and control 
 the indications of the left, and vice versa ; but the 
 hands of any two individuals will vary as much as 
 their other features. 
 
 There are certain conditions to be observed by any 
 vne who wishes to examine the hand of a friend, with 
 
y6 Chiromancy. 
 
 a view to reading his disposition or probable future. 
 For instance, the hands examined should be per- 
 fectly clean. They should not be inspected im- 
 mediately after a mil meal, or after strong exercise, 
 for then they will appear heated, and the lines will 
 appear more reddened than is natural. For the same 
 reason they should not be in summer too warm, nor, 
 for a different reason, too cold in winter ; for, in the 
 latter case, the natural heat being extracted, a pale- 
 ness is noticeable, which would not under normal 
 conditions exist. Wine and good food excite the 
 body, and naturally influence the palms of the hands. 
 
 Besides these very obvious precautions, others 
 should be observed with reference to the sex, age, and 
 constitution ot the person who is under inspection. 
 These conditions being observed by a skilful practi- 
 tioner, he will be enabled to make a very excellent 
 report upon -the past, present, and future of the 
 subject under examination ; a report which, however 
 unpalatable to the listener, or however agreeable to 
 his vanity, will be absolutely true in all essential par- 
 ticulars. The hand has been compared, and rightly 
 compared, to a looking-glass, and we can see our- 
 selves as others see us— or do not see us, as we may, 
 perhaps, thankfully remember. 
 
 Later on we will give a few instructions for the mode 
 of proceeding. Just now we will quote a celebrated 
 Chiromant, whose claims are by no means exaggerated. 
 He says : — 
 
 " Give me the hand of an artist of talent, and with- 
 out ever having seen his pictures, I will tell him 
 whether he prefers form or colour \ if he cares for 
 details, or is satisfied with the massive ; whether he 
 
The Hand a?id its Markings. jj 
 
 works by reflection, or by inspiration; whether he 
 prefers the imitation of nature, or works of imagina- 
 tion I will predict for him a greater or less 
 
 degree of success, or a greater or less degree of fame. 
 . . . . I will tell a physician how he treats his patients, 
 what is his method of ascertaining a disease, whether 
 by inspiration or reflection, or by tracing events to 
 their cause." 
 
 This, perhaps, may appear to some an impossibility, 
 but such a knowledge of mankind is within the 
 reach of all who will carefully study the science, 
 which we cannot fully unfold within the limits of this 
 little volume. But sufficient will be found for all 
 ordinary purposes of general Chiromancy; and the 
 reader may, in a reasonable time, and with a good 
 memory, read, mark, and learn from many hands 
 the events of many lives, and the disposition of his 
 relatives and friends, as well as his own chances. 
 Modern Chiromants will not pay much attention 
 to the conditions we have enumerated, and so 
 they may make mistakes, and nothing in the whole 
 world is easier than to err in reading a hand 
 when the reader is i?iexferienced ! Now for a few 
 hints. 
 
 Let the hand be gently contracted, not held 
 out flat, the muscles relaxed so that the hand is as 
 w flabby " as possible. The left hand is first in- 
 spected, then compared with the right. The colour 
 of the hand is important. Paleness is not always 
 a good sign. "It denoteth an evil temperament" m 
 those lines which look otherwise coloured, for " red- 
 ness in some lines signifies evil, and paleness good * 
 (Old tradition.) 
 
78 Chiromancy. 
 
 Strongly-marked lines in a female hand are held 
 generally to indicate a virago. 
 
 The hands must be considered as to quantity and 
 their proportions to the body, and \vhethei they be 
 longer or shorter than they ought to be. The fingers 
 also must have attention; for instance, a long palm 
 with gross fingers denotes a dull and heavy person. 
 Long slender hands denote a tyrannical disposition, 
 and, according to some old authorities, the amount 
 of hair upon the back of them is significant of a 
 good temperament or of an unstable one, according 
 as the hirsuteness be less or more. ( Vide supra 
 " Chirognomy," Ch. I.) 
 
 The parts of the hand for oui investigation are 
 divided, and when it is extended open we find the 
 Vo/a, or inner part of the hand, where the lines are ; 
 Tubercula, or rising parts ; the Ferriens, or smiting 
 part * ; the Cavea, or hollow ; and the Mensa, or table. 
 The five fingers, viz., the Pollex or thumb, the Index 
 or fore-finger, the Medius or middle finger, the 
 Annularius or ring finger, and the Auricularis or little 
 finger, have each a bearing on the question. In 
 fine, the elements to be considered are the thumb, 
 fingers, joints, lines, and the rising parts, or mountains 
 of the hand. 
 
 OF THE PALM OF THE HAND. 
 
 Before proceeding to explain the mounds of the 
 hand we will make a few observations concerning the 
 division of the palm, and the curious deductions 
 
 * Called also the "Percussion." 
 
Fig. a 
 
The Palm of the Hand. 8 1 
 
 which writers have made from it. We shall soon see 
 that the hand is divided into three zones or parts, 
 which are bounded by certain lines to be hereafter 
 explained. 
 
 Our readers will perceive, when they consider the 
 qualities attributed to certain mounts, that the upper 
 or northern divisions of the hand contain all the 
 manly, aggressive and hardy qualities. The male 
 portion or the upper part ( Vide Fig. 8) have industry 
 in Mercury \ art based on sciences in Apollo ; ambi- 
 tion and force in Jupiter ; in the three first fingers, or 
 rather in their bases. Mark this and continue. 
 
 Let us look now at the southern or female side — 
 the lower portion of the hand. Here we have 
 sensuality, imagination, love, and various feminine 
 attributes as distinguished from hardiness and 
 aggressiveness. This is evident. 
 
 Now compare the inhabitants of the North and 
 South countries of the world. Do we not find the 
 hardy Norseman and the sensuous Southerner, the 
 working, energetic Northerner, and the siesta-loving 
 Southerner ? In the one case we have the worker, in 
 the other the dilettante, the manly qualities as a rule 
 in one, the feminine or easy-going attributes in the 
 other. This is, at any rate, a curious coincidence, 
 and is really no coincidence. It is nature — Provi- 
 dence — what you will. The fact remains ; and the 
 hand of man is held up in the great concourse of 
 the world to confirm the testimony of the Creator — 
 nothing is in vain. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to pursue this particular 
 portion of the subject farther. M. Desbarrolles, in 
 his exhaustive treatise upon the " Mysteries of the 
 
 s 
 
&2 Chiromancy. 
 
 Hand," gives reasons for assigning also the terms 
 east and west to the two sides of the hand, and 
 argues from Europe to America. We will not follow 
 him across the Atlantic to what he terms the " home 
 of Egotism;" and " Egotism is the death of Art." 
 He looks upon the Western Continent apparently as 
 a kind of Moon which is illuminated by the Sun 
 of the East, but when once the Sun disappears the 
 Moon will cease to shine ; it has no light of its own. 
 " The future is not in the West ; the end is there." 
 He winds up somewhat bitterly — 
 
 " On a dit ' la jeune Amerique ' ! " 
 
 " Oli est sa jeunesse ? Ou est sa naivete, son e*lan, 
 sa tendresse ? Qu'a-t-elle de jeune ? Elle a pris tout 
 d'un coup les cheveux blancs de civilization ; la cor- 
 ruption. Elle a tous les vices du vieillard sceptique 
 et desseche, et elle aspire a commander le monde. 
 Allons done ! C'est la tete qui commande, parfois 
 e'est le cceur, mais ce n'est jamais le bras ! " 
 
 The chief points of the hand being now, we hope, 
 understood, we will proceed to examine the " Mounts n 
 and the " Lines " in their order. 
 
Fig. 9. 
 
The Mounds of the Hand. 85 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MOUNDS OF THE HAND. 
 
 The most casual observer of his hand will notice 
 that at the base of each finger in the palm of the 
 hand is a mound or rising, or a depression. ( Vide 
 Fig. 9.) Each of these corresponds to a planet, and 
 the star may be fortunate or unfortunate according 
 to its development, and to the corresponding in- 
 fluences of the lines and marks or signs.* The 
 thumb is most important ; round its mount runs the 
 line of life ; the thumb in Chiromancy is the life, 
 and its influence may be benefited or counteracted 
 by the other little hills which the hand is heir to. 
 The mount of the thumb is sacred to Venus. ( Vide 
 supra, " Chirognomy," Ch. II.) 
 
 The mounts beneath the four fingers are — com- 
 mencing with the Index — Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo 
 (the Sun), Mercury. The Mount of Mars is at the 
 side of the hand opposite the thumb, immediately 
 below the Mount of Mercury. The Mount of the 
 Moon is beneath Mars at the base of the hand 
 opposite the Mount of Venus. We may again ob- 
 serve that the upper or north of the hand is Male, 
 the lower portion, near the wrist, the southern or 
 female part. The accompanying diagram and the 
 
 * We use the customary planetary terms, because they serve 
 to elucidate our meaning, and distinguish different characteristics, 
 but it must not be supposed that we mix astrology and such- 
 like charlatanism with our Science. 
 
86 Chiromancy. 
 
 frontispiece will assist our readers in determining the 
 various positions of the mounds. 
 
 It may be accepted that when the various hills are 
 properly placed in the positions indicated, they argue 
 the possession of the qualities belonging to each 
 planet. For instance, Jupiter indicates pride, Saturn 
 fatality, Apollo art or riches, Mercury science or wit, 
 Mars self-restraint or perhaps cruelty, the Moon 
 folly or imagination, Venus, love, even to excess and 
 ill-regulated passion. 
 
 We must also understand that when these mounds 
 are very slight, their absence indicates the want of the 
 quality in question — a cavity means that a correspond- 
 ing fault is inherent, while a great excess is equally a 
 defect unless counteracted by the influence of the 
 lines. Perhaps a classification of the various qualities 
 of the mounts and their possible meanings will be 
 more intelligible than a long- explanation. Let us 
 commence with the Thumb, the seat of affection. 
 " C'est Tamour qui fait tourner le monde." 
 
 The Mount of Venus is at the root of the 
 thumb. The line of Life encircles it as a river flows 
 beneath a mountain. " Life is dependent on Love." 
 The presence of the mount supposes grace, beauty, 
 melody in music, dancing, a desire to please, tender- 
 ness, politeness, and kindred social virtues which 
 attract the opposite sex. The absence of the Mount 
 does not necessarily indicate vice, but it argues want 
 of energy, selfishness, coldness, and want of soul 
 generally. In excess it portends vanity, license idle- 
 ness, faithlessness, coquetry, &c, to an extent com- 
 mensurate with the abnormal development, if un- 
 checked by religion and good sense. 
 
Fig. io. 
 
The Mounds of the Hana. 89 
 
 The Mount of Jupiter beneath the Index- 
 finger may mean ambition, honour, religion, love of 
 Nature, and happy marriage ; all good qualities, with 
 cheerfulness in social life. 
 
 The absence of the Mount means opposite qualities, 
 such as idleness, vulgar tendencies, egotism, and so 
 on. In excess we may look for superstition, the excess 
 of religious fervour, pride, domineering tendencies, 
 and so on. 
 
 The Mount of Saturn beneath the middle 
 finger is very significant. Our line of Fate reaches 
 up to Saturn, so Saturn comes to mean Fate. He 
 may indicate prudence and sagacity, or the very 
 opposite, when present. His meaning must be read 
 "between the lines." The absence of Saturn's hill 
 tells of misfortune or a wasted existence. The excess 
 of it sadness and taciturnity, fear of future punish- 
 ment, and even suicidal mania ; general depression 
 of spirits, with asceticism or morbidness in re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The Mount of the Sun — Apollo — under the 
 Ring finger, is predicative of taste in the arts ; intelli- 
 gence, genius, and a general tendency to look upon 
 the sunny side of existence. A beauty and grace of 
 heart and mind are present, too, with good religious 
 tolerance and tendencies. A very excellent mound 
 indeed. In excess we may imagine whither Apollo 
 will lead us. He will give us a taste for display, for 
 too easy-going manners, for exaggerated tendencies 
 of a warm heart, and exaggeration generally, accord- 
 ing to the modifications of the lines of the hands. 
 Absent ; the Sun's departure will render us cold, 
 conten' with a material existence, with no taste for 
 
90 Chiromancy. 
 
 art ; and, in fine, dull, chilling, and careless of the 
 life we live. 
 
 The Mount of Mercury, beneath the little 
 finger, gives us many excellent qualities, and useful 
 withal. He brings us an inventive genius, quickness 
 of thought and action, a working mind, and brain with 
 power to carry out our ideas ; industry and com- 
 mercial tastes, with uprightness in our dealings. Wit 
 and lightness of body are also brought us by this 
 flying deity. 
 
 The absence of this hill assures a " negative life," 
 and the absence of all the qualities we have enume- 
 rated. In excess he is bad. We have the worst 
 side of the attributes ; dexterity descends to robbery 
 and swindling, perfidy, lying, scheming, and preten- 
 tious ignorance; Mercury, as we know, is the deity 
 of thieves. 
 
 The Mount of Mars may be easily interpreted. 
 It denotes courage and coolness in danger, " proper 
 pride," self-control, resolution, and kindred qualities, 
 which are to be found in brave and gentle natures. 
 The excess of Mars is not unfavourable, but it may 
 argue violence, even murderous intent, tyranny, and 
 angry passions of the soul. The absence of the God 
 of War can be easily summed up in cowardice and 
 unreadiness in danger. 
 
 The Plain of Mars is crossed by the line of the 
 Head, which implies the struggle which is continually 
 going on in life, and ; while united with the Mount of 
 Mars, the ability to resist them. 
 
 The Mount of the Moon closes our list. When 
 it is present it signifies imagination, sentiment, har- 
 mony (H music) and a lymphatic temperament, a 
 
The Mounds of the Hand. 91 
 
 love of solitude and sentimentality, romance. Absent^ 
 of course, it means lack of all these qualities. In 
 excess causeless worries, despair, restlessness and 
 curious fancies, brain-sickness, madness, &c. The 
 moon is the type of changeability or caprice. 
 
 Writers on Chiromancy have divided the hand into 
 three parts, bounded by certain lines. The upper 
 portion is considered the divine part, the centre 
 the natural, and the lowest the material division. 
 The Mount of Venus with that of the Moon unite to 
 form the Material portion. The upper part, bounded 
 by the line of the Heart, is the divine portion, and 
 the Natural portion is in the centre, where is the 
 line of the Head and the Plain and Mount of Mars. 
 
 We have thus considered the " Mounts " briefly, but 
 we are now only upon the threshold of the Science 
 of Chiromancy as regard the interior of the hand. 
 And with regard to these mountains, we must be 
 cautious in our reading. Sometimes one mount 
 may be much more evident than the others, and 
 then the others are, in a sense, subservient to its 
 influences, and aid it in its ambition or affection, as 
 the case may be. Again, the influence of the mounts 
 must be considered vis-a-vis of the lines of the hand. 
 Not only the most evident of the latter, but even 
 the smaller ones, have their significance ; so, although 
 it is comparatively easy for a person to read the palm 
 of the hand in large type, as it were, he cannot 
 make a proper book for general circulation unless he 
 employ the " lower case." It is very well for a 
 beginner — like a child — to have a lesson in " capitals," 
 but he must learn the small letters as well. 
 
 Thus the palm of the hand is a book to be read 
 
02 Chiroma; *cy. 
 
 by all who study ; but they must study diligently and 
 continuously. There are as many considerations to 
 be entertained and weighed as in a weather forecast. 
 We may and do make broad guesses at the weather, 
 and, at times, are correct ; but we have to study the 
 signs. So it is with Palmistry. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE LINE OF THE HEART. 
 
 In every hand there are lines of certain depth, 
 colour, and length, and, according to their accentua- 
 tion, so will the qualities they indicate be more 01 less 
 present in the individual. We do not say that these 
 qualities will be evident to the ordinary observer, nor 
 even that they are observable at all. They exist in 
 his or her nature, but may be kept in subjection and 
 self-denial by religious training and force of character 
 — in a word, by other lines or mo unds. There are 
 some interpretations which are merely traditional, but 
 we will give them when necessary, or advisable, for 
 what they are worth, noting at the time their origin. 
 
 There are three or four very important lines observ* 
 able in the majority of hands. We will take first the 
 three most universal, viz., the line of the Heart, the 
 line of the Head, and the line of Life. These 
 
The Line of the Heart. 93 
 
 three lines form a figure in the palm of the hand 
 something like the letter M ; if the hand be held side- 
 ways and with the muscles relaxed, the figure will 
 readily be perceived. 
 
 The Line of the Heart is the uppermost, and 
 we will consider it first. It passes beneath the 
 fingers, and by the ancients was called the Mensal 
 Line, from mens, the mind ; or, perhaps, from mensa, 
 a table, as it appears in the table-land of the hand. 
 But it is now generally known as the Line of the 
 Heart, and is a very important one for us to con- 
 sider. 
 
 There are, moreover, certain indications which we 
 must take into consideration ; for instance, the colour, 
 clearness, depth, &c, of the line; and in accordance 
 with these traits, the state of the heart or mind, 
 and the misfortunes which have affected us, may be 
 traced. 
 
 To be really good, it ought to rise at the Mount 
 of Jupiter, and cross the hand to what is termed the 
 " percussion " or " striking " part, and be clear, clean, 
 and well-coloured. According to its length we may 
 judge the strength of attachment, and the quality of 
 attachment. For instance, if instead of rising be- 
 neath the index finger, the line does not commence 
 until the Mount of Saturn, we may premise a strong 
 feeling of attachment or love, but of a sensual, rather 
 than of a domestic, type. 
 
 A long clear line of the Heart, in what may be 
 termed a Venusian character, indicates an affectionate 
 and devoted character; but if the prominence be more 
 even under the influence of the Moon, by reason of 
 the Mount of Luna being highly developed, then the 
 
94 Chiromancy. 
 
 line will be somewhat paler, and will indicate more 
 passive, if sincere, affection, but will not struggle very 
 long against difficulties, or even against the evils of 
 which the individual's nature is the type or the off- 
 spring. 
 
 The more this line bears to Jupiter the better it 
 is, and the more it goes over to Mercury, even some- 
 times turning round to the back of the hand, the 
 more material may the affection be regarded as a rule. 
 Jealous persons will find this true, for jealousy is an 
 excess of affection, and therefore a fault. All excess 
 is faulty, " too much " means wrong. Too little of 
 the line of the Heart indicates a martial type of 
 individual, who will gain by violence and not by 
 affection what he wishes. Absence of the line 
 means wickedness, bad faith, and, probably, an early 
 death. 
 
 A break in this line may mean weakness, and, con- 
 sequently, a broken engagement, or a rupture with 
 one we love. According to the place where the break 
 occurs, the cause may be sought. Under Saturn it is 
 "fate;" nearer the Sun, folly; under Apollo, pride; 
 further on, avarice ; under Mercury, avarice, combined 
 with ignorance. 
 
 Sometimes we find jagged lines or a " chain " on 
 the course of the line of the Heart — these denote 
 inconstancy, flirtation, and intrigue in love and friend- 
 ship. (Old writers say they argue contempt of women 
 also.) 
 
 The colour of the line may also assist us to arrive 
 at a conclusion. If we find it red, and generally 
 good, we may assume strong love — even violent 
 affection — but a broad pale line means the tendency 
 
The Line of the Heart. 9$ 
 
 "»f the nature to dissipation, even to weakness and 
 excess. The pallor of the line indicates the want 
 of power to recuperate fast enough for a dissipated 
 existence. 
 
 A sign of death is when the three lines are united 
 beneath the index finger. If in both hands, death by 
 violence is predicted. And if united with the line of 
 the Head under the mount of Saturn, it is also an 
 indication of violent death. But when these lines 
 appear united on one hand, we must always look at 
 the other for confirmation. If the signs are not 
 duplicated, the fatality will, in all probability, not over- 
 take us. Danger may be indicated by the lines, but 
 prudence and training may neutralize the predestined 
 effects ; equally as good indications may be neutralized 
 by sordid or unworthy passions if indulged in. 
 
 Disappointments in the affections are marked by 
 bars across the line of the Heart ; no branches mean 
 a loveless life, so far as the opposite sex is concerned 
 — a withered existence and poverty. 
 
 Good fortune is predicted or confirmed by a forking 
 or parting of the line under Jupiter; while commer- 
 cial or pecuniary losses or deceit are shown by the 
 fall of the line to the line of the Head, and shows 
 the possessor is easily " taken in " in business. 
 
 There are other suggestions which will be noticed 
 in time, as they may be connected with the other 
 lines. But we may assume that when the line is 
 broken under Saturn it indicates much susceptibility 
 of temperament; a cessation under Apollo in the 
 right hand means an organization which will devote 
 itself to circumstances, and raise " Bethels " from its 
 " stony griefs." Mimicry finds its raison d'etre wherj 
 
g6 Chiromancy. 
 
 the line of the Heart ascends the Mercurial Mount, 
 and in actors this will be noticed. 
 
 If the line of Heart descend to the line of 
 Head, we shall find the possessor of such a palm 
 letting his heart get the better of his interests, and 
 giving way for love or friendship, which may be 
 tempered by the line on the left hand, showing in- 
 dications of selfishness in a similar manner. 
 
 We must read all the lines carefully on both 
 hands, and strike a balance. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE LINE OF THE HEAD. 
 
 A reference to the frontispiece will enable the reader 
 to perceive the line of the Head, and its direction. 
 It commences between the thumb and the fore-finger, 
 and is usually united in its birth with the line of 
 life. But they are quickly parted, one passing across 
 the hand, the other surrounding the Mount of 
 Venus. 
 
 The line of the Head and the line of Life some- 
 times do not commence together. When this is the 
 case, the person upon whose hands this parting is 
 observable will be found to be careless of himself. 
 There is obviously no connection between his or her 
 
The Line of the Head. 97 
 
 brain and life, so the individual exists without thought 
 for existence. The line of the Head traverses the 
 plain of Mars, and ends upon the Mount of Mars, 
 with a more or less. direct or sloping course towards 
 the Lunar Mountain. 
 
 The clearness, colour, length and depth of the 
 line of the Head, indicate in proportion the amount 
 of self-reliance or care for one's own interests which 
 are inherent in the individual. If it rise up to with- 
 out touching the line of the Heart, the chances are 
 that the person so marked will be of much weaker 
 intelligence in things of the world. 
 
 The line of the Head may throw out some 
 branches, and these also possess significance. For 
 instance, if the ramifications extend towards the 
 Mount of Jupiter (index), the sign is that the pos- 
 sessor is easily wounded in his self-love. If such 
 branches seek Saturn's Shrine, they mean legacies or 
 fm2Lre_4K)ssessions ; if towards Mercury, commercial 
 success ; towards Venus, it is a sign that the Head 
 will be easily influenced by love. 
 
 Ancient writers used to maintain that white and 
 red marks upon the line of the Head indicated 
 murders or homicides, which have been, or which 
 will eventually be committed. Red points indicate 
 wounds in the head. 
 
 When considering this line we must notice its 
 course and tendency very closely, for it is naturally 
 a fleeted by the mounts which it seeks. If towards 
 u imagination," the latter will of course influence it, 
 and a less sound and practical view of life will be 
 arrived at. The fancy will usurp the place of stern 
 reality, and the hues of romance will tinge our views 
 
 H 
 
98 Chiromancy, 
 
 of existence. Lower still into the Moon's territory 
 Ave shall find a tendency to mysticism ; and if tha 
 line come right down upon the mount of the Moon, 
 the mount being well developed, it is an indication 
 of, a tendency to, or approaching madness. 
 
 So when it turns to the upper hills, it signifies that 
 it partakes of the qualities of those mounts. Mer- 
 cury thus, as before, means commerce, and so on, 
 as reputation and riches come from the Sun. If it 
 advances too high, it indicates foolishness in connec- 
 tion with the hill it aspires to ; that is, pursuit carried 
 to an absurd extent, religious ecstacy, and ridiculous 
 extremes of art, either in painting or otherwise — or 
 less wise. 
 
 When we perceive the line of the Head is pale and 
 wide, we look for a want of intelligence or circum- 
 spection in worldly affairs. We may, perhaps, find a 
 linked line, indicative of a chain, as it were, instead 
 of the direct and full line we may be led to expect. 
 When this is the case we can point to a want of fixity 
 or concentration of thought ; the individual is of the 
 " rolling stone " order, and does not pursue one line 
 of thought or action in a very determined way. So 
 a broken line indicates vacillation. 
 
 There are indications of death to be noticed in this 
 line. For instance, capital punishment is foreshadowed 
 upon it ; and when we find it divided beneath Saturn 
 (or fate), upon an unlucky hand, we may predict the 
 execution of the individual, which, unless Providence 
 order otherwise, will surely take place. If the hand 
 bearing this fatal sign be otherwise generally for- 
 tunate, we can fearlessly modify the sad predic- 
 tion, and arrive at a less terrible conclusion, such 
 
The Line of the Head. 99 
 
 is a broken head or scalp wound of a severe 
 character. 
 
 The points of the liar or deceiver are clearly- 
 shown by the line of the head, which then appears 
 unconnected with the life, in a divided line, one 
 branch continuing onward, and the other tending 
 towards the mount of the Moon. This shows imagi- 
 nation and deception, a leaning to error and falsehood. 
 
 The line of the Head, where shortened in the hand 
 of a sentimental or Venusian subject, will argue 
 that he is likely to permit his worldly interest to 
 be wrecked by his feelings ; or if the subject be of 
 the masculine order, the sign indicates his impetu- 
 osity, and hence his failure in his calculations. 
 
 If it descends very much into the hill or mount of 
 the Moon, there is danger of death by drowning 
 or insanity. The Moon rules the water, and a circle 
 at the end of the line is very dangerous. 
 
 In considering the line of the Head we must, as 
 will be perceived from the foregoing remarks, look 
 upon the qualities of the Head as generally under- 
 stood, and then translate the signs according as the 
 line is affected by surroundings. A tortuous winding 
 head line, tending towards the line of the heart, will 
 at once tell us that the " subject" is undecided and 
 foolish j that his brain is in danger, and death may 
 ensue. If it, at its termination, unite with the line of 
 the heart, it indicates early decease, or with good 
 signs otherwise may only indicate bad fortune.* 
 
 * There are many traditional explanations which we have 
 not embodied in the foregoing indications, and some few con- 
 clusions which, if authenticated, are by no means common, and 
 not required in a popular treatise, 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo Chiromancy, 
 
 Thus the general temperament being first ascer- 
 tained by the mounts of the hand, and the various 
 influences taken into consideration, we may with 
 success pronounce upon the past and the present, 
 and from them foreshadow the natural future. But 
 Providence may overrule all our anticipations ; the 
 Soul may achieve a victory over both Head and 
 Heart, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE LINE OF LIFE. 
 
 " Here," says M. Desbarrolles, " commences the 
 painful portion of the science. At this point 
 we taste the fruit of knowledge of good or 
 evil. Here we learn to read the hands of those 
 whom we love ; the finger of death or the life of 
 pain ; the loss of sight, or any other affliction which 
 threatens them. We can prognosticate how many 
 years we have to live ; and even if we endeavour to 
 put aside the thought by telling ourselves that Chiro- 
 mancy is not to be credited, the idea haunts us all the 
 same." 
 
 The line of Life has already been pointed out ; it 
 cannot be mistaken, and it exists upon every hand in 
 a greater or less degree. When it surrounds the 
 Mount of the thumb, long, well-made, with a good 
 
The Line of Life. Iul 
 
 colour, the life may be expected to be long and 
 happy, without any great trouble; and such a line 
 means a good character in the individual possess- 
 ing it. 
 
 We may, on the contrary, prognosticate that when 
 the line is wide and rather pale, it, in common with 
 all lines of the same character, has an evil tendency, 
 and bad health, as well as a low type of disposition 
 is present. The student of Chiromancy after a while 
 will also examine the lines crossing the line of life or 
 which pass close to it, and from these things can per- 
 ceive that illness or accident is likely to arrive at a 
 certain time. How they can estimate the periods at 
 which the maladies will occur may be now explained. 
 
 We have given (Fig. 10) a rough diagram of the hand 
 divided into periods of five and ten years (see also 
 Frontispiece). The line of Life is thus divided into 
 a certain number of parts, each representing a portion 
 of our existence, which are marked in the following 
 way. This is by no means a modern idea, but it has 
 been adopted by late writers as well as by the old 
 Chiromants.* 
 
 To arrive at a proper period we must have an 
 ordinary compass, and having put one point upon 
 the root of the forefinger and the other upon the 
 centre of the mount of Apollo, describe an arc which 
 will cut the Line of life. The point at which the arc 
 thus described intersects the line of life, gives us ten 
 years, the first ten years of our life counting from the 
 
 * This is merely a geometrical rule which has been prescribed 
 for dividing the line of Life. The proper approximate divisions 
 will be found on the Frontispiece, and must thence be mentally 
 adapted to any hand under examination. 
 
102 Chiromancy. 
 
 commencement of the line below the inde v finger. 
 For the second circle the moving point is placed 
 between the third and fourth fingers, the next on 
 the mount of Mercury, the fourth curve is drawn 
 from the extremity of the third joint of the little 
 finger at the point where it leaves the percussion, the 
 next circle at an equal distance down the side, and 
 so the next. We have then reached sixty years ; the 
 places at which all these circles cut the line of life 
 being marked 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years re- 
 spectively. When the seventh circle has been des- 
 cribed, the distance for the eighth must be reduced 
 one-half on the percussion, and we shall thus reach 
 roo years, the spot where the line of life trends 
 beneath the ball of the thumb. 
 
 The reason of this may be briefly explained. If 
 we draw a line towards the ball of the thumb direct 
 from the root of the mount of Saturn, we shall under 
 nearly all circumstances touch the ten years' point. 
 There may be a slight space, but a year or two will 
 make practically little difference, and absolute exact- 
 ness must not be expected. The line from Saturn, 
 which represents our fate, thus indicates that until 
 we are ten years' old, or thereabouts, we are under the 
 dominion of destiny or fate, and we cannot control 
 our own actions. This will account for the lengthened 
 space in the hand before we reach the first period of 
 ten years. 
 
 Subsequently the spaces up to 70 are all equal, 
 because life, under ordinary circumstances, is under 
 control pretty equally up to that time ; and after that 
 the life becomes feeble and wearied, so the lines are 
 reduced in length, for then are our years but labour 
 
The Line of Life. 103 
 
 and sorrow in the multitude of instances. In the 
 diagram (see Frontispiece) the various periods are 
 marked as a specimen of an ordinary hand, so that 
 any one by careful comparison may ascertain for him- 
 self how long he may, under ordinary natural cir- 
 cumstances, expect to live. 
 
 [We must again repeat that other lines may have a 
 decided influence upon the line of life ; and though 
 the person may actually exist for many years, his life 
 may be practically cut short by illness, and so his want 
 of health may render him helpless. All circumstances 
 and surroundings must be equally balanced ; so if a 
 long line be accompanied by a deviation at a certain 
 epoch, extending towards the line of the Head, an 
 attack of the brain from overwork or application is 
 likely to supervene. These are merely warnings 
 written for our instruction and guidance by Nature.] 
 
 These facts, then, being kept in mind, we can pro- 
 ceed to the examination of the line of Life, and 
 endeavour to derive some consolation from it. 
 
 The line of Life should be clear, well-defined, and 
 of a decided colour. If it entirely surrounds the 
 mount of the thumb and fulfil the above conditions, 
 life will be long and happy ; the constitution is thereby 
 pronounced good and the health vigorous. 
 
 On the contrary, when the line is broad, pale, and 
 of unequal width in its course, and intersected by 
 other lines, it is a sign of a weakly constitution, even 
 of vitiated blood, and of a succession of illnesses. 
 In fact, the very opposite of the good qualities fore- 
 shadowed by the clear, well cut line. 
 
 In the case of the frequent intersections hinted at 
 above, the maladies to be feared will arise from the 
 
104 Chiromancy. 
 
 influences of the portions of the hands whence the 
 cross-lines come. If the lines extend from the line 
 of the Heart, the illness will be caused by the chilling 
 of heart affections or some cause connected with the 
 Heart. If the cross-lines extend from the line of the 
 Head, the disease or malady will be traceable to the 
 brain, or from injury to the head by fall or blows. 
 Lines extending across it from the mount of Venus 
 tell, as may be anticipated, the sorrows arising from 
 misplaced affection or unhappy passion. But if such 
 lines extend from the centre portion of the hand or 
 the plain of Mars, the trials and troubles will come, 
 or have already come, from the struggle with life, com- 
 mercial losses, or worries of a material nature. 
 
 If the line of Life be duplicated (as in Fig. 18), it 
 means a luxurious existence; and if it give the appear- 
 ance of a chain, or a linked and broken connection, 
 a sad and precarious Hie may be anticipated or pro- 
 nounced upon. When this line is seen with roots or 
 branches extending to the mount of Jupiter, it indi- 
 cates an ambitious nature, not necessarily of a bad 
 description, but one which may honestly desire wealth 
 and honour, after hard and continued labour. In 
 other words, the victory over circumstances gained by 
 pride and will indicated by Jupiter. 
 
 If the line of Life be short, the life itself will be 
 brief, and if a decided break or interruption occur 
 during its course, we may expect the occurrence* of 
 some serious illness. When, for instance, we find a 
 line broken, as shown in the diagram, page 105, we 
 may at once, and with certainty, conclude that the 
 individual has had an illness which laid him at 
 death's door. But if the illness has already passed, 
 
The Line of Life. 
 
 105 
 
 all fear is over, there will be no recurrence of the 
 attack — not of such a violent nature at any rate ; 
 the serious danger is over. But if broken in both 
 hands it means death.* 
 
 In considering the line of Life, we must be careful 
 to examine its appearance and position relatively with 
 the line of the Head which unites with or approaches 
 to it. If these lines join, making a regular acute angle, 
 the prognostication is good, and indicates prudence 
 
 and sagacity in business and in worldly affairs, as well 
 as bodily. 
 
 If, on the contrary, the lines do not touch it argues 
 want of forethought, " the head will not advance with 
 the life," and projects conceived will be left to wither 
 and die. When a large space intervenes between 
 these lines, it means that the disposition is too frank, 
 
 * We may observe that when the lower portion of the broken 
 line tends towards the Mount of the Thumb death is inevitable. 
 If it turn in the other direction there is hope, 
 
106 Chiromancy. 
 
 and unreflecting in its utterances, or that envy, vanity, 
 or even a want of intelligence, perhaps falsehood, are 
 indicated. 
 
 If the intervening spaces be very large, and the 
 lines red and strongly marked, the supposition is 
 cruelty, vanity, love of money; or a violent death 
 may be foreshadowed. We say foreshadowed ad- 
 visedly, for, of course, circumstances will alter cases, 
 and the evil day may be staved off by higher influ- 
 ences, and the evil may disappear. 
 
 Again, in a case in which the line of Life and the 
 line of the Head continue for a long time united at 
 the beginning, and do not, as they ought to do, sepa- 
 rate beneath the mount of Jupiter (or index) the 
 supposition is that the development of the intellectual 
 life has been naturally slow, or retarded by some 
 means ; and that the child has been long in reaching 
 the normal standard of intellect. 
 
 If the line of Life unite with the line of the Heart, 
 and also the line of the Head, there is danger of 
 violent death. In this case the influence of the head 
 and heart are considered to be too great for the life 
 and dominate it, leading it into danger. Riches may 
 be expected if smaller lines extend from the line of 
 Life upwards, for our hopes and aspirations point up 
 to dignities ; a bifurcation at the point of departure 
 tells us of vanity. 
 
 Sometimes little points or circles may be observed 
 upon the line of Life : when these are noticed, they 
 indicate maladies connected with the heart or wounds 
 {tradition tells us they indicate the loss of one eye 
 or both). Black spots mean weakness of the heart 
 or consequent dangers. 
 
The Line of Life. 
 
 107 
 
 Connected with the line of Life is the line of Mars, 
 a kind of duplicate or secondary evidence of vital 
 force, which may announce success in the camps of 
 Venus or of Mars, ascending as the other indications 
 of the hand point to the tendency of the individual. 
 Sometimes it will accompany the line of Life through- 
 out its course, then riches may be expected or 
 honours. " Sister " lines are usually good omens, 
 unless they appear with bad characteristics, when, 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 instead of alleviating, they only serve to confirm the 
 evil influences of the original line. 
 
 There are some tokens upon the line of Life 
 which are best illustrated by small diagrams. For 
 instance, we perceive above, in Fig. 12, a drawing of 
 a hand with two small points, or lines rather, on either 
 side of this short line of life. These symptoms 
 indicate a short life and sudden death. We may 
 also find branches springing upwards and downwards 
 
io8 
 
 Chiromancy, 
 
 from the line of Life, and they tell us of violent 
 desires and of fading health respectively, as under- 
 neath (Fig. 13). 
 
 There are other lines sometimes very clearly 
 marked, which arise from the mount of Venus, and cut 
 into the line of lie, &c. This is an indication that 
 our destiny is being, or has been, interfered with by 
 Venus (Fig. 14). 
 
 Fig. 13, 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 To men of letters and those of sedentary and 
 studious habits, we will add a word of warning, even 
 at the risk of having addressed to us the taunt, 
 " Physician, heal thyself." Whenever such a person 
 finds the line of life on his hand parted or bifurcated, 
 he should be cautious in working his brain. Too 
 much fatigue will surely in his case bring on disease 
 or malady of the brain. So let him or her never 
 unduly prolong the tension of literary labour or 
 study. When the work is pressing we are apt to 
 
The Live of Life. log 
 
 labour unduly, and continue to tax our already hard- 
 worked brain. Our own hand plainly indicates the 
 risk we run in this way. If we ourselves do not 
 exercise due caution, the inevitable failing of health 
 and brain-power will overtake us. The lines dis- 
 tinctly point to a severe illness in our declining days, 
 which will be intimately connected with the brain. 
 The warning will not be neglected, depend upon it ; 
 and we would equally advise all our readers, whose 
 avocations necessitate continued application in 
 literary or kindred pursuits, to pause in time, and 
 give Chiromancy the credit which it deserves. We 
 Fay again, beware ! 
 
 " Bj warned in time by other's harm, 
 And ye will do full well." 
 
 A cross at the end of the line of life indicates a 
 good clever man or woman, but one who may, and 
 probably will, love his worldly possessions. Small 
 holes or figures of a dark colour in the beginning of 
 the line tell of murderous tendencies. 
 
 We may thus read our characters and probable 
 destiny from our line of Life. Our knowledge of our- 
 selves will be largely increased by this reading of the 
 palm. The knowledge may tend to our unhappiness 
 at first ; but if we are wise and take the warnings in 
 time which are written for our learning, we shall, in 
 all probability, be able to avoid the danger, and turn 
 our sorrows into blessings. 
 
I io Chiromancy. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LINE OF SATURN. 
 
 As fixed as Fate ! " There is no use in attempting 
 to alter destiny," say some people. What must be, 
 must be. Che sard sard, and such-like phrases, in- 
 dicate the taint of fatalism which is inherent in so 
 many minds. " A man who is born to be hanged 
 will never be drowned," says the proverb ; and the 
 phrase may be true when we find any man who was 
 born to be hanged I We may rough-hew our des- 
 tinies, but Providence shapes our ends \ and to say 
 that any person, who is a free agent in the world, with 
 a brain and hands, a soul and sense to make his way 
 in it, and into a better one, is born to a violent and 
 disgraceful death, is as ridiculous as to contend that 
 Judas Iscariot was destined from eternity to betray 
 his Redeemer. Circumstances, and our own passions 
 may bring us to such an end ; our unchecked avarice 
 or lust may bring us to grief, but we have always a 
 chance, and a loophole for escape. " Fatality " is 
 not to be considered as final, nor incapable of being 
 averted. 
 
 These observations have been made because we are 
 about to turn our attention to the Line of Saturn, or of 
 fate, or "chance," as it is sometimes most erroneously 
 termed ; for there is no such thing as " chance." 
 The indication of circumstances over which we have 
 no immediate or direct control are marked upon 
 
The Line of Saturn. in 
 
 Saturn's line, and here the fatalist will come up tri- 
 umphantly to convict us out of our own mouth. But 
 we may assure any such that there is no need for 
 " cock-crowing." We plant a seed, and it comes up, 
 but we have no control over the result. We plant 
 seeds in our lives, the crop must come up, the fruit 
 must be reaped, but we need not eat it if be injurious, 
 nor need we continue to plant evil seeds. The soil 
 may be cleared after the first crop ; and what is play- 
 fully termed our " wild oats," may be rooted up and 
 thrown away. 
 
 The indications of Saturn's line may, therefore, as 
 will be anticipated, be various, and the line itself 
 vary in its direction. Its point of departure is 
 irregular, and four places are indicated whence it 
 may spring. It may arise from the line of Life, 
 from the plain of Mars, from the line of the wrist (or 
 Rascette), or from the mount of the Moon, and all 
 this has a meaning ; for if we look back and Compare 
 the indication of the mounts and lines whence and 
 whither our destiny leads us, we shall find abundant 
 evidence of the tendency of our natures, and the 
 natural ending or progress of our lives, if they be 
 permitted to go on unchecked by good influences. 
 
 The points of arrival of the line of Saturn are as 
 varied as their points of departure. It may cease in 
 the centre of the hand, upon the line of the head, 
 upon the line of the heart, or, again, on the mount of 
 Jupiter, or Apollo, or even towards Mercury. But it 
 usually ends on the middle finger, and thus is called 
 the line of Saturn. Let us consider it, and take the 
 cases separately. 
 
 We will, in the first case, suppose the line to rise 
 
112 Chiromancy. 
 
 from the wrist , and, being of a good colour, cloarly 
 marked, rising steadily as far as the first joint, or 
 centre of the middle finger, it indicates unlimited 
 good fortune, notwithstanding all adverse influences 
 to the contrary, particularly if it so appears on the 
 left hand. In the right only, such success will be 
 brought about by our own exertions more than by 
 legacies or gifts. Action is in the right hand. 
 
 If the line be not so clearly indicated to the middle 
 of the Saturnian finger, we may anticipate obstacles 
 and interruptions in our career, which will depend 
 upon the place or line in which the "Saturnine" 
 stops. For instance, if it disappears at the line of 
 the heart, our interruptions will come from sentimental 
 causes, which will prevent us working for ourselves, 
 perhaps. If it cease in the line of the head, we r^ay 
 fear a sudden shock, or a failure of mind, particularly 
 if the line of Life be bifurcated, as already mentioned. 
 If it extends high up the middle finger, happiness, or 
 evil fortune ', may ensue in a high degree. 
 
 The line may commence faintly and become more 
 clear. This forebodes a better ending of life than 
 beginning. In the contrary case the opposite result 
 may be sought or feared. 
 
 If good at the beginning and subsequently tortuous 
 and faint, or even disappearing entirely, it indicates 
 that the happy circumstances of our early days will 
 not continue in after years. A fading in the centre 
 presages troubles in middle life (or if it be cut by 
 other lines) ; but the end of our days will be pros- 
 perous if the line be clear at the upper end. 
 
 There are cases in which the line of Fate is alto- 
 gether wanting — in the Esquimaux we do not find 
 
The Li?ie of Saturn, 113 
 
 (t as a rule. The lives of such people have no par- 
 ticular aims, and though there is no great risk run by 
 them, an accident may suddenly cut them off from 
 their insignificant lives. To such people there still 
 remain the same opportunities for improving their 
 fortunes as for others. It is only by application and 
 work that they will obtain anything. They must 
 remember the proverb, " Heaven helps those who 
 help themselves ;" which, however, does not apply 
 to thieving. 
 
 We have said that when the Saturnian Line ascends 
 nearly to the first joint of the middle finger, the bearer's 
 lot will be a happy one. This may equally arise from 
 good-fortune, or from bad or evil tendencies directed 
 by will to a proper use. Any surplus passion denotes 
 energy, and this need not be directed wrongly. A 
 person may possess a bad hand, full of energy for 
 self-gratification, but if he lead all this into a more 
 healthy channel he will accomplish much in the world 
 — the conquest of self ; such a man will most probably 
 succeed in what he undertakes. 
 
 When the line of Fate rises upon the mount of 
 the Moon and proceeds directly towards the middle 
 finger it is a good sign, and indicative of fortune 
 likely to accrue from the caprice of some one. The 
 reason is, because the moon is the parent of change 
 and caprice. If the line rise direct, with branches 
 tending upwards, it means riches in after-life. 
 
 From the line of Life the Saturnian line rises 
 sometimes. This indicates a good heart, and fortune 
 gained by meritorious labour in life. Any cutting 
 lines modify the good fortune, which may eventuate 
 in evil. Again, when the finger of Saturn is entered, 
 
 1 
 
H4 
 
 Chiromancy. 
 
 evil is always to be dreaded, and the higher the line 
 rises in the middle finger the greater is the danger to 
 the individual. 
 
 We annex diagrams of the line showing caprice 
 (15), and of misfortune followed by fortune (16). 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 When Saturn's line is finally interrupted upon the 
 line of the head or heart, we may expect that oppor- 
 tunity will be arrested by circumstances affecting the 
 brain or the affections ; but if it passes through the 
 latter line upwards, it means hard work and travail, 
 or, perhaps, in consequence, a heart broken by despair, 
 and failure of exertion in a good cause. 
 
 A double line of Saturn, particularly when the lines 
 are tortuous, means trouble and infirmities connected 
 with abuse of the pleasures of this life. So tortuous 
 lines at the upper end of the line give us anticipations 
 of unrest after a happy life. Pride is indicated by a 
 line passing from the line of the head to the mount of 
 
The Line of Saturn. 115 
 
 Jupiter, and if the Saturnine line decline towards it, 
 and is lost in the same place, folly, or even madness, 
 may be menaced. 
 
 In like manner Saturn's line, when it proceeds to- 
 wards Mercury, &c, modifies or alters the influence 
 of the mount upon which it fixes itself. Towards 
 Mercury it indicates commercial success, or fame in 
 art and eloquence. To Apollo it is happiness by art 
 or riches, according to the surroundings in which the 
 individual exists. Towards Jupiter, happiness obtained 
 by ambition, and pride of place. Passing (broken) 
 across the plain of Mars we must expect a fight for 
 existence, either moral or physical. So the influence 
 of Saturn is generally adverse, giving a cynical or 
 unhappy tinge to our desires, trouble and toil upon 
 our way. 
 
 It would appear, however, that labour to a great 
 extent, or occupation of a useful kind, has an influ- 
 ence also in determining the lines upon the hands, 
 and changes have been often noticed after the lapse of 
 years. If this be so — and there is no reason to doubt 
 it — it follows that the mind and soul have power by 
 the medium of will to modify or reduce the adverse 
 lines upon the hands ; and if they can thus alter the 
 lines and indications upon the hands, and in this way 
 show us that " destiny " can be altered, we perceive 
 at once that we have it in our power, after effort 
 properly directed, to improve ourselves, and bid defi- 
 ance to what some term " predestination " for evil. 
 
 We may now rest assured that we have our fate in 
 our own hands, in every sense of the term, and it 
 should be our care to improve our position and van- 
 quish the (evil) tendencies of the line of Saturn. 
 
 I 2 
 
Ii6 Chiromancy, 
 
 These tendencies on one hand are confirmed by 
 the other. For example, we know that the " line of 
 chance " may depart from three different places in dif- 
 ferent individuals, but though it arise from the mount 
 of Venus in the left hand, it is merely an indication 
 of a loving or amorous nature, while in the right the 
 same indicates a person determined to carry out his 
 amorous designs at any hazard. In the same way the 
 line setting out from the wrist of the left hand means 
 that in combating the obstacles which we expect to 
 meet we shall be more indolent or thoughtful than if 
 the line appears so in the right hand, which means full 
 action in the struggle. 
 
 Similarly the line in question, when it starts from 
 the mount of the Moon indicates long journeys, or a 
 desire for them. These, when observed in the left 
 hand, show they have been planned ; the right palm 
 will tell us of those accomplished. If two branches 
 separate from the Moon and Venus, our travels will 
 be under the influence of the opposite sex, man or 
 woman, as the case may be. In the same way fatal 
 influence of an individual over one of the opposite 
 sex can be guessed when the line of Saturn (in two 
 branches) divides, one branch going from the mount 
 of Venus, and the other from the centre of the hand ; 
 the planning and carrying out of such ideas being 
 shown by the left and right hands respectively. 
 When these divisions exist in both hands the will 
 and power to carry it out are both present in the 
 individual. 
 
 We may summarize the general signs thus : — 
 
 Under Jupiter, thoughts and acts characterized by 
 ambition. 
 
The Line of Saturn. 117 
 
 Under Saturn, thoughts and acts relative to agricul- 
 tural arrangements. 
 
 Under Apollo, thoughts and projects for renown in 
 the world of art or literature. 
 
 Under Mercury, interested views, or commercial 
 interests. 
 
 Under Mars, violence, love of conquest. 
 
 The Line of Saturn ceasing at the line of Heart 
 on both hands indicates sentiment and action, which 
 has benevolence for the issue. The left side thinks, 
 and the right hand acts. So its termination in the 
 line of Life means that our destiny will be dependent 
 upon the state of our health. 
 
 We may, therefore, regard our destiny from the two 
 standpoints of thought and action ; the spirit, or 
 thought influence being shown upon the left hand ; 
 the action being indicated upon the right. Both 
 hands must accordingly be inspected, and the lines 
 carefully compared ; most carefully compared, for a 
 serious error may be easily made, and offence unin* 
 tentionally given, by a hasty inspection. 
 
n8 Chiromancy. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HEPATIC OR LIVER LINE AND THE " CINGULUM 
 VENERIS. " 
 
 This line is the barometer of Health. The wire, so to 
 speak, which being " connected " chiefly with the 
 liver — a most important organ — informs us concern- 
 ing our state of bodily health. 
 
 The Hepatic line forms an angle between the line 
 of Life and the line of the Head \ in other words, it is 
 the connecting link, or point of contact, between the 
 heart and the brain. In England we all suffer in a 
 more or less degree from disarrangement of the liver 
 at times. The appearance of the line at present 
 under consideration has therefore a wide interest, 
 though it is not to be found in every one. It apper- 
 tains to the material portion of the hand. 
 
 We will now, as in preceding chapters, consider 
 the various appearances generally shown by the 
 Hepatic line, as compared with the others. 
 
 The line of the Liver usually rises from the root of 
 the thumb near the line of Life, by the wrist, and 
 passes directly towards the mount of Mercury, and 
 may unite with the line of the Head in the percus- 
 sion of the hand. (See Fig. 8 and Frontispiece.) 
 
 If the line commence with or near the line of Life, 
 without cutting it, and joins the line of the Head, i/ 
 it appears well coloured, direct, moderately well- 
 marked, pure and clear, it indicates good health and 
 
The Hepatic or Live} Line. 119 
 
 blood, harmony in the various juices of the body ; 
 good memory, success in business, and a good con- 
 science. It also shows that heart and brain are in 
 tquilibrio. 
 
 If, however, it unite with the line of Life it 
 announces weakness of heart ; if separated from it, it 
 indicates long life. It may appear winding or undu- 
 lating ; in this case bilious attacks are to be feared, 
 and also headaches, &c, are premised, especially if it 
 be unequally coloured and red when it reaches the 
 line of the Head. A thin and red line of the liver 
 tells us of fever — very highly coloured of brutality or 
 pride; while if it appear intersected and broken, it 
 means weakness of digestion and stomachic affec- 
 tions. 
 
 These indications can easily be read by any one for 
 himself. He can easily verify by experience the facts 
 as shown upon his hands. Sometimes this line will 
 be found starting from the mount of Mars ; occasion- 
 ally it forms part of the line of Life ; sometimes it will 
 be found ascending to the fingers ; when it is not tound 
 at all it signifies delicacy of skin, activity of body, 
 and an aptitude for vivacity in speech and conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 A cross found upon the Hepatic line is a warning of 
 illness. Ascending well-formed to the base of the 
 little finger it presages long life, while if it be thick 
 and intersected it means old age and failing health 
 therein. 
 
 We must be cautious when we find this line unit- 
 ing under bad conditions with the line of the Head, 
 for such symptoms denote a tendency to brain 
 attacks, in consequence of a too intense application^ 
 
120 Chiromancy. 
 
 and they may lead to brain disorders and suicide, 
 Any person, therefore, who finds these signs in his 
 hand must be careful not to overtax his brain by 
 study or work. By the colour and clear cutting ol 
 the line the amount of labour and study may approxi- 
 mately be gauged, and the pursuits should be varied 
 when the warning is first heard or seen. " Occa- 
 sionally," says M. Desbarrolles, "the line of the 
 Liver is accompanied by a sister line," called the 
 " Milky Way " (voie lacte'e), which rises in the wrist 
 and proceeds to the mount of Mercury. The 
 tendency of this second line is to increase the ardour 
 of love, and when in the hands with the most unfor- 
 tunate girdle of Venus the indications are decidedly 
 • of an evil nature, from a moral point of view. 
 
 THE GIRDLE OF VENUS, 
 
 We have not much to say concerning this line, for 
 details are quite unnecessary. We trust most of our 
 readers are without it, for its tendencies are certainly 
 immoral. It may be observed between Jupiter and 
 Saturn, and forms a semi-circle ending between the 
 ring finger and the little finger. 
 
 It possesses all the evil tendencies of the mounts ; 
 false ambition, lying, libertinism, coquetry, for the 
 ennobling influence of the Sun is lost. Fate and 
 the light are in continual opposition, and Venus's 
 girdle is no fit zone for us to wear. It may, however, 
 be found, and the soul may quench the passions ; if it 
 end upon the mount of Mercury this will be the 
 case, and energy will quell luxury and sensuality. 
 
The Girdle of Venus, 12 1 
 
 As we have already remarked, the mind and religion 
 can neutralize the evil, and the very force which ill- 
 used would bring one to grief, may, properly directed 
 lead to a better condition of things, even if the fatal 
 zone of the goddess be observable on our palms. 
 The very worst feature is when the girdle instead of 
 turning upwards descends much broken to the root 
 flf the little finger in a curve, like a J on its back. 
 We need give no illustration of this figure; it is 
 sufficient to say that in such an individual, unless 
 religious training and strong will turn his mind to 
 higher things, the chances are that his passions will 
 become so ungovernable that he will hesitate at no- 
 crime short of murder to accomplish his desires. 
 
 At the same time, to have these evil significations 
 the rest of the hand must be bad. The mount of 
 Venus must be high, the outer phalange of the 
 thumb small, the line of Heart chained and pale. It 
 always appears in an intellectual hand to a certain 
 extent, but modified by concomitant signs, for it is 
 only a very crass intelligence that is dead to the 
 charms of passion, and has no appreciation of fervour 
 in affairs of the heart. 
 
 We will now leave this unpleasant topic, which we. 
 are obliged to mention, and come to the more healthy 
 and pleasant regions of the Sun. 
 
122 Chiromancy. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE LINES OF THE SUN AND OF THE WRIST. 
 "MARRIAGE LINES." 
 
 We may recall to our minds that the ring-finger (tl.e 
 third) is under the dominion of the Sun, and the 
 mount of the Sun, or Apollo, is situated at its base. 
 This mount is frequently traversed by vertical lines of 
 more or less intensity, sometimes parted or forked. 
 The line — or, in many instances, the lines — are known 
 as those of the Sun or of Fame. 
 
 It may happen that the line of the Sun will be 
 found starting from the mount of the Moon, or per- 
 haps from the line of Life ; but it signifies celebrity, 
 riches, success in our endeavours, love of art, &c, 
 according to that one of the three " worlds " whence it 
 departs. If it should be found rising from the wrist 
 the prediction will be all the more favourable. It is 
 said that President Lincoln had this line developed 
 in a very high degree, and the fact was pointed out 
 to him that the construction of lines in his hand 
 predicted a violent death, which prediction was 
 eventually fulfilled. 
 
 The line of the Sun is indicative of success in life, 
 particularly as to work and art creations. We can, 
 without much difficulty, by considering the starting 
 and arriving points of the line, ascertain in what 
 manner the individual is likely to obtain renown. It 
 may descend upon him as family honour ; it may be 
 
The Lines of the Sun. 
 
 123 
 
 won by hard work, as when the line leaves the hollow 
 of the hand. It may only signify a good-nature or 
 generosity of character when it rises from the line of 
 Heart. 
 
 There are certain forms which this line takes, and 
 much depends upon it. We will give a few indica- 
 tions : — 
 
 If the line be clear and deeply furrowed, and opens 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 up the mount of the Sun " like a ploughshare, " it 
 indicates celebrity in art, riches, or the reward of 
 merit, according to the greater or less elevated quali- 
 ties of the mind, which will influence the body and 
 its actions. It may even elevate the taste of the 
 inartistic. 
 
 The appearance of several small lines in the mount 
 mean a great devotion to art and a desire for effect 
 which is carried too far, and has been compared to an 
 arrow shot into space, which is aimed at nothing in 
 
124 Chiromancy, 
 
 particular, and loses itself eventually. Cross line9 
 indicate obstacles, and disappointment in art will 
 probably ensue. 
 
 Two or more lines of equal depth may be perceived 
 cutting into the mount of the Sun. If they are 
 unequal and indirect we may expect to find a desire 
 for many branches of art, which tends to make a man 
 a " Jack-of-all-trades and master of none." The 
 sun's face is divided and concentration upon each line 
 is weak ; the attempt at toe much gives us no decided 
 success in any one direction. 
 
 When we find a line dividing like a trident upon 
 the mount of the Sun we have a tendency to riches, 
 glory, and talent ; two at least of which neutralizing 
 each other, leaves only wealth perhaps. It may 
 happen that all three fail to arrive at any decided 
 point. So in the case of two lines which separate 
 from the trunk-line and form the letter V, the power 
 is then neutralized by division, and we may entertain 
 a great wish for success, but it will not be realized. 
 
 But if we find these branches uniting in a single line 
 upon the mount, and having their rise from the line 
 of the Heart, we may predict fortune from the branch 
 which emanates from Mercury, while the main line 
 indicates glory, and the Saturnine one merit. Three 
 equal furrows upon the hill mean great and universal 
 fame when they are of the same form, and ascend 
 towards the third finger with equal intensity. 
 
 Lines which invade without actually cutting'- the 
 line of the Sun mean envious interferences, and con- 
 sequently bars to the success which we should other- 
 wise attain in due time. 
 
 The above are the principal indications of good 
 
The Lines of the Wrist 1 25 
 
 and bad fortune imparted to us by the line of Apollo. 
 We find in the hand of the literary or artistic man 
 the three lines running upwards, and the finger has 
 also certain promises of success or failure. The Sun 
 attracts the favour of powerful friends, and many 
 ascending lines indicate the exuberance of " sap " or 
 vital force. When we find the lines of Apollo and 
 the Moon and Venus we have an author's hand, 
 without the latter a critic's. 
 
 THE LINES OF THE WRIST. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter with a few remarks 
 concerning the Rascette or " bracelets," which will be 
 found in two or three distinctly marked lines under- 
 neath the hand. These, with a tendency to rise, 
 mean elevated ideas ; if they descend they are a 
 mark of inferiority. 
 
 By the number of the lines we can, in a measure, 
 predict the duration of your lives, for every line 
 represents thirty years of our existence. We occa- 
 sionally, comparatively speaking, find three lines upon 
 the wrist. These show us that, in all probability, we 
 have a long life before us, and that health and wealth 
 await us. This combination of three lines is called 
 the royal bracelet or " triple magic bracelet," accord- 
 ing to French writers. 
 
 If the lines be continuous, without any break, anl 
 of a pure red colour, we may fairly expect happiness 
 in our lives; and considering the possession of health 
 and wealth is indicated by the three lines, it is not an 
 extraordinary circumstance that, granting these two 
 
1 26 Chiromancy. 
 
 blessings, happiness should follow. There are, how- 
 ever, other conditions which have, in these as in all 
 lines, to be noted and taken into consideration, so 
 eren in the apparently simple reading of the wrist 
 lines we must not pronounce too quickly. 
 
 Sometimes a chain-like line will be observed, and 
 this appearance usually will be found upon the first 
 line of the wrist. Under these circumstances, we may 
 anticipate a life of hard work ; but such will eventually 
 redound to our benefit, for the results will be com- 
 petency, if not riches, though we shall have, or have 
 had, to work steadily to gain them. M. Desbarrolles 
 mentions a cross in this line as a good sign, and con- 
 siders, in such a case, a future reward certain after 
 toil. 
 
 Long and continuous travel is also foretold or 
 marked upon these lines if they throw up branches 
 which terminate upon the mount of the Moon. It 
 would be interesting to observe the hands of certain 
 " Special Correspondents ; " and even commercial 
 travellers might find out either their possible destiny 
 vr actual journeys marked upon the lines of the wrist. 
 
 There is another condition connected with the lines 
 rising from the Rascette. We occasionally have per- 
 ceived them crossing the plain of Mars, and proceed- 
 ing to the mount of the Sun, which readers will remem- 
 ber is underneath the third or " ring-finger." Should 
 this line be present it foretells honours and riches, 
 which may be expected from the favour of some in- 
 fluential personages. 
 
 Where a line, rising from the wrist, near the 
 percussion or striking part of the hand, passes up 
 the mountain of the Moon, we may argue from it 
 
The Lines of the Wrist. 127 
 
 "tribulation," if it be directed towards the Liver 
 line, and more particularly if the line thus ascending 
 show any irregularity in its course. 
 
 [There is an old authority for saying that if a line can 
 be traced from the wrist, which rises upwards directlv 
 to the index-finger, the individual will have to under- 
 take long voyages. This statement, like many others 
 of the old students of Chiromancy, must be accepted 
 with caution, and observers must judge for them- 
 selves.] 
 
 Two branches can sometimes be 6een in the line 
 of the Wrist. When this is so, they tell us of a person 
 who will, in all probability, become very rich, and re- 
 ceive many honours and distinction in his old age. 
 
 A cross or a star in the angle thus formed is, more- 
 over, a particularly good indication ; and one old 
 authority declares he will be healthy, as well as en- 
 dowed with the world's goods. 
 
 Four lines are rarely discernible upon the wrist ; 
 when this is the case, the line of Life will be found 
 lengthened, and even doubled ; for long and happy 
 existence may be almost certainly presaged for the 
 fortunate possessor. Such people as have these four 
 lines may — unless some specially adverse sign inter- 
 fere — attain the greatest age at present allotted to 
 mankind, and they will live, probably, till they are one 
 hundred years old. 
 
 The right and left hands must be studied in this, 
 as in all other examinations ; and if the lines of the 
 wrist are better formed upon the left hand than upon 
 the right, although they may be equal in number upon 
 both, it cells us that we were originally intended for a 
 better existence — that is, that we have somehow of 
 
128 Chiromancy. 
 
 other played with our ruturally good constitutions, 
 and our imprudence has, in some degree, reacted 
 upon ourselves. 
 
 On the other hand, if the lines appear so upon the 
 right hand more distinctly, or as distinctly, we may 
 accept the token that, by care, we have already re- 
 couped ourselves, and that our system is reinvigorated. 
 This is another proof that lines alter in the hand, that 
 bad ones may, by our will and moral improvement, be 
 modified or obliterated to a certain extent ; and there- 
 fore every one's future, humanly speaking, depends 
 upon his adhesion to the plain and straightforward 
 laws of Nature. 
 
 The lines striking out from the wrist : thf.se in- 
 dicate the tendencies of our nature, according to the 
 mounts towards which they advance. Venus gives u? 
 one class ; Mars another — the latter a kind of blind 
 bungling into difficulties in our lives, which may 
 swamp us, Mars being the type of the battle ground 
 — as the Moon indicates the water, and, consequently, 
 voyages and travel. 
 
 Again, a line from the wrist, ascending to the line 
 of the Head, means a change from an inferior to a 
 superior position in life, and, of course, according to 
 the mount towards which it aspires. 1/ it cut the 
 line of the Heart, and ascend one of the upper and 
 " divine " mounts, this sign is extremely fortunate, 
 and means elevation to certain dignities ; for in- 
 stance — 
 
 (i) If it ascend Jupiter, it means success in law 
 or command, and a high position in it 
 
 (2) If it ascend Saturn, the bench of Bishops, or 
 elevation in science. 
 
The Lines of the Wrist 129 
 
 (3) If it ascend the Sun, literary success. 
 
 (4) If it reach the mount of Mercury, it indicatea 
 commercial or industrial success, already attained, or 
 in near prospect. 
 
 Nor is it difficult to suppose this the case. Granting 
 that our wills, ruled by Providence, impel us to make 
 these efforts, the lines will come, and, unobserved, will 
 quickly indicate the tendency to the wished f or goal. 
 
 Furthermore, a line starting from the Rascette to 
 a branch upon the mount of Venus, and extending as 
 far as Jupiter, tells us of a rich marriage, a wealthy 
 alliance ; and if a cross likewise appears upon the 
 mount of Jupiter, the match will be a happy one. 
 
 But " marriages are made in Heaven," they say. 
 Well, let us endeavour to find what the hand tells us 
 concerning them. If the line end, as said, in Jupiter, a 
 rich marriage. 
 
 In Saturn, marriage with an old person. 
 
 In the Sun, marriage with a person of artistic 
 tastes. 
 
 In Mercury, with a rich merchant, or one whose 
 means are derived from commercial undertakings. 
 
 These signs, again, are dependent upon their ap- 
 pearances in the left or right hand. If they appear 
 upon the former, the marriage will depend upon the 
 good offices of a third person. If upon the right 
 hand, the success will be entirely owing to our own 
 efforts or worthiness {tradition). 
 
 Before closing this chapter, we will give an illustra- 
 tion and a description, after Desbarrolles, of a per- 
 fectly fortunate hand — a hand, we may add, for the 
 Job-like consolation of our readers, very seldom 
 encountered in this life, perhaps, because perfect 
 
 K 
 
130 Ch iromancy. 
 
 happiness, even from a purely worldly point of Hew, 
 is seldom, if ever, attained. There are, however, 
 many approaches to it, and we trust many of our 
 readers will find theirs a good match. Our own is a 
 sad departure from the perfection here foreshadowed. 
 We have said in a former chapter, that the girdle of 
 Venus is a bad sign, and so it is in a bad hand. But 
 in the hand here shown, it is present because its 
 affections are directed into a proper channel; and 
 no one will affirm that love, even in excess, when 
 directed to the happiness of one's husband or wife, is 
 a moral fault, particularly as it is in this case tem- 
 pered by good sense and wisdom. The energy to 
 direct one's goings in the right paths is present, and 
 thus we may make our very faults subservient by 
 the application of a strong sense of right. Self- 
 estraint, or force turned into a good channel, are 
 equally good. The stream may pass its low banks, 
 and overwhelm a village, but if confined within 
 proper bounds it will turn a mill, and conduce to 
 the happiness of the population. 
 
 There are, however, circumstances connected with 
 this unfortunate " Girdle," to which, in snch a work 
 as this, we must be severely silent. 
 
Fig. iS. — A Fortunate Hand. 
 
 a. Double line of life. b. Perfect happiness, c. Enjoyment 
 of true love. d. Happy marriage, e. Girdle of Venus. /. 
 Talents, g. Art successes (renown), h. Perspicacity — fortune 
 and love. i. Good temperament. /. Long life. k. Love for 
 one only. 
 
The Reading tf the Hands, 133 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON THE READING OF THE HANDS. — THE DIFFERENCE 
 BETWEEN THE RIGHT AND LEFT. 
 
 In the foregoing pages we have briefly, and in no 
 scientific manner, described the various mounts and 
 lines of the hands and their significance, the qualities 
 which may be expected to be found in consequence 
 of their presence. They are the testimony of our 
 lives ; the Book from which we may be eventually 
 convicted, unless We eradicate the writing by a change 
 of existence. 
 
 We have now, in a short chapter, to indicate the 
 various marks which will, under certain circumstances, 
 be found upon the hand. But we will do so circum- 
 spectly. No one will be any the wiser or the worse 
 for our description, though we could warn many a 
 one, were this volume not written for popular and 
 indiscriminate circulation. It may happen that a 
 more scientific treatise will be published, and then 
 those who fear will have their fears either removed 
 or confirmed. Little do we guess how our acts are 
 almost indelibly graven upon our palms. We may 
 forget ourselves, but the writing of Nature is never 
 wrong in our hands, and "the trad of the serpent is 
 over them all." 
 
 Let none, therefore, deceive themselves, be they 
 whom they may ; the imprint of virtue or vice is as 
 plainly to be read by the Chiromant as this print. 
 
134 Chiromancy. 
 
 Some very painful instances have recently come under 
 our notice ; and while uttering, in these pages, many a 
 warning, we would, at the same time, advise anyone not 
 to be nervous or startled. The marks and lines will 
 fade in the good time coming, and, as repentance may 
 be gained, so the mark of the pitch we have touched, 
 and which has defiled us, may be removed. 
 
 The whole art of Palmistry is exceedingly simple 
 in theory. Practice is a different thing ; but in a few 
 sentences we can explain the raison d'etre of the 
 plan, which has probably already been, in a measure, 
 anticipated by those who have followed us so far 
 through the volume. It is simply an observance of 
 the length and formations of lines. We shall soon 
 devote a chapter to this subject. But we can now 
 see how, when a line of Life is short, life is short ; 
 when the line is long, life is also likely to be long. 
 When the line is formed in a chain, existence is 
 painful and weary. If the line of Life be pale and 
 broken, we may expect broken health, perhaps break- 
 ing spirits, as we pass through the world. 
 
 These indications, which every one can understand, 
 are the bases of the Mysteries of the Hand. They 
 are simple enough for a child to rea- 1, but the appli- 
 cation of them is the difficult problem; and, as in a 
 landscape, we must have all the objects in proportion 
 and our surroundings carefully considered before we 
 make our picture. So in hand-reading we must 
 attend to something besides the principal figures. 
 
 Nature gives nothing, unless we take the trouble 
 to seek and inquire for what we want. It is thus all 
 through life. We must dig for coal and iron; we 
 must search diligently for the gold. We must laboui 
 
The Reading of the Hands. 135 
 
 in the sweat of our brow for (literally) our daily 
 bread. Nature hides her secrets as the fond mothei 
 hides her child's playthings ; she tells us where to 
 look, but we must look and search, and probe and 
 iearn diligently before we can use the information. 
 So in the readings of the hand. 
 
 Now, there are hundreds of honest and sensible 
 people who deride or good-naturedly "pooh-pooh" 
 the Science of Chiromancy, because — and this is the 
 only reason they can give — " it is quite impossible to 
 read such lines." We have — albeit we are not 
 deeply read philosophers — we have read secrets in 
 the hands of men and women which the individuals 
 • — people we had never met before, of whose very 
 existence we were ignorant until we were introduced 
 — confessed were true, and known only to them- 
 selves. We could multiply instances of this kind, 
 but one will suffice. 
 
 A young lady, a few weeks ago, hearing our 
 name mentioned, at a country house where we 
 were staying, came up merrily, and, holding out her 
 hand, said — " Can you tell me anything ? " She 
 was a perfect stranger to us until we sat down to 
 luncheon. We looked at her hand, and said, " I 
 see you were engaged to be married, but your 
 pride interfered, you dissolved the engagement a 
 year or two ago, and your health suffered in con- 
 sequence." She at once withdrew her hand, say- 
 ing, with a vivid blush, " Quit^ right ; and I have 
 suffered; no one but my sister ever knew the real 
 cause. You have told the truth. It was Pride ! " 
 
 Here, then, is an instance — a very simple case, yet 
 it will serve as an illustration. There is no \mpossi« 
 
136 Chiromancy. 
 
 bility in the science. The enemies, of Columbus 
 told him it was impossible to make an egg stand 
 upright ; but he did make it stand up on end, and then 
 they saw how easy it was to do it. Before Stephen- 
 son made the " Rocket," and even afterwards, rail- 
 ways were derided or feared. What should we be 
 without them ? So with electricity. Newton made 
 the greatest discovery ever made by seeing an apple 
 fall. We only claim a fair field for Chiromancy. 
 
 But we must remember that it by no means follows 
 that because a person has a certain vein or line upon 
 his hand that he or she is evil-disposed, or likely to 
 reach great honour. All we contend for is a careful 
 examination of both hands, and if we can have our 
 patient behind a curtain, and the hands only visible, 
 we prefer it. For then we have no fear of speaking, 
 and are not led away by any facial expression to doubt 
 the plain evidence of the hand. 
 
 In examining the palms, we must recollect that 
 the right hand is usually the more active, and the 
 initiative comes first from the right hand; the left 
 will always come to its assistance, however, still it is 
 practically the passive hand. So we seek the more 
 passive signs upon the left hand, and active tenden- 
 cies upon the right. The indications of thought, as 
 opposed to action, are found upon the left hand. 
 
 So if the latter present signs of greater regularity, 
 we may fairly conclude that the individual is of a 
 more passive than active temperament — a man of 
 thought more than of action ; a student rather than 
 a player of games. Thus the success of such an one 
 will depend more upon what he will direct to be done 
 than upon what he will do himself. He will conceive 
 
The Reading of the Hands. 137 
 
 the plan, and the execution of it should be entrusted 
 to a " right " man. 
 
 Those who possess the most correct and regulaf 
 signs in the right hand should never wait for 
 Fortune to come to them. Their only real chance 
 of success lies in their rising up and doing — " with a 
 heart for any fate." They must labour and put their 
 shoulders to the wheel manfully. They must win 
 Fortune, or Miss-Fortune will ensnare them. On 
 the other hand, we shall find that those who have the 
 clearer indentions upon the left will succeed, so to 
 speak, of themselves, almost in spite of their passive- 
 ness. They will only need " to wait" and not " to 
 labour," particularly if the line of Fate (or Chance) 
 be distinctly and very clearly marked. 
 
 These latter are the fortunate individuals who 
 have fortunes dropping into their laps ; who having 
 possessions, have numerous presents given to them ; 
 who remain quiet and restful, if thoughtful and of 
 indicative mind and mood ; who tell others there 
 are burthens heavy to be borne, but will not touch 
 them with one of their fingers. They work with their 
 brain like the Moltkes and the Bismarcks ; the 
 others do the manual portion of the toil like the 
 Stephensons and the crowd of labourers in the fields 
 of existence who receive but a scant reward, and 
 then only after hard labour and toil. Look, there- 
 fore, to thy hands, oh ! reader ; to which section ok 
 the community dost thou belong? 
 
138 Chiromancy, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE QUADRANGLE — ADVICE TO THOSE "ABOUT TC 
 MARRY ' ; THE GRAND TRIANGLE. 
 
 Before speaking of the little signs which so materi- 
 ally affect the lines and mounds, and, as it were, 
 turn bitter to sweet and sweet to bitter, we will con- 
 sider the positions and significations of the figures 
 upon the hands as above-mentioned. The first is 
 the Quadrangle. 
 
 The Quadrangle is that portion of the human 
 hand comprised between the line of the Head and 
 the line of the Heart, and between the line of Fate 
 and the line of Apollo. It is sometimes called the 
 table of the Hand, and its form will depend, of 
 course, upon the good — or ill-placement of the two 
 lines aforesaid.' The boundaries of this figure are 
 the lines above and below, and on either side of it. 
 Its formation will be perceived at a glance. 
 
 If the Quadrangle be regular in its development, 
 wide in the centre, larger by the mound 01 
 Jupiter, and wide on the " percussion " of the hand, 
 it denotes a good and straightforward person, an 
 honest and devoted man or woman, good constitu- 
 tion, and good character. 
 
 But if, on the contrary, the two lines, viz., the line 
 of the Heart and the Line of the Head are not well 
 placed, or if the former line descend towards the 
 other, or the latter arise to meet the other, it indi- 
 
The Quadrangle. 139 
 
 cates want of decision, timidity, nervousness, and 
 generally want of spontaneity — a retiring character. 
 It may be modified thus : — 
 
 Firstly, if the line of the Heart descends far to 
 the line of the Head. In that case it may be 
 accepted that the individual is rather egotistical, and 
 has by looking after his own interests dwarfed his 
 character — or will so dwarf it. 
 
 Secondly, if the line of the Head ascend near 
 the line of the Heart, the character may be pro- 
 nounced good and generous in the main, fundamen- 
 tally ; but it will be timid and shy, nevertheless, and 
 sometimes maladroit in its manifestations of grati- 
 tude, &c. Such an individual will be always hoping 
 to do some really great thing; to do good and to 
 benefit his fellow-creatures. He wishes to be 
 generous, perhaps, but permits the opportunity to 
 slide past him. He has no time ! So, by reason of 
 this want of talent to seize opportunity, to " take 
 time by the forelock," he will always be more or less 
 dwarfed in his actions by indecision. 
 
 Numerous small lines or signs will frequently be 
 found in the Quadrangle of an irregular and uneven 
 form. A number of lines is a weakness, decidedly. 
 A cross is a disposition to mysticism, if it appear 
 under the finger of Saturn. Superstition is also thus 
 indicated. 
 
 A badly-formed cross in the Quadrangle is a mis- 
 fortune; it may even mean misfortune by wofdly 
 elevation. A well-made star in the space tells us of 
 a good man— an honest, well-meaning man — who will 
 nevertheless be henpecked as a husband, and per- 
 haps the plaything of woman if he love her, and so 
 
140 Chiromancy. 
 
 by her dominant influence his naturally good qualities 
 are perverted. 
 
 [It is traditionally stated that such a man will be 
 very likely to restore his broken fortunes by hard 
 work.] 
 
 A cross in the Quadrangle near the mount oi 
 Mars and tending towards the mount of the Moon 
 is (also traditionally) indicative of travel, which, if 
 undertaken, will lead to fortune. 
 
 If the Quadrangle be entirely wanting in the 
 hand this is a bad sign, an indication of evil and 
 wickedness. 
 
 Thus, by the inspection of the hand any one may 
 determine for himself, or herself, the character of the 
 individual. Any man who is desirous of entering 
 into connubial relations with any woman, may, by 
 attention to the foregoing rules, obtain an insight 
 into his beloved one's character. Similarly, a 
 woman may be informed concerning her fiance ; 
 and, while fondly clasping each other's hands, both 
 lovers may all the while be intent upon each other's 
 private and hitherto hidden characteristics, and their 
 chances of success in life ! 
 
 A fond father may "demand the hand" of the 
 suitor for his daughter's ; and therein discover his 
 disposition and tendencies, and his girl's chances of 
 happiness in married life. 
 
 The young man may judge of the temperament of 
 his intended spouse, and even of the liberality and 
 designs of his expected parents-in-law. Every man's 
 hand may be against him, and his own hand may 
 be against himself! We cannot always tell fu; 
 cei^ain, however; the yielding one nay by cireum* 
 
The Grand Triangle. 141 
 
 stances become as hard as "spongy iron," aud yet 
 permit the dropping of good-nature to exude from 
 his heart's pores. The "cross" in the hand may 
 only be the beginning of the lucky "star," and for- 
 tune may by industry be achieved ! 
 
 So let us not play the part of Puck, and separate 
 happy lovers by our whispers. If there be discus- 
 sions (not dissensions) of the lines of Head and 
 Heart in honest lovers' hands, let them clasp them 
 tighter and decide manfully by patience, pluck, and 
 determination to vanquish Fate together ; to combat 
 the portents, to avoid the evil, and decide at once, 
 as a first step towards the cure of irresolution, to 
 get married, and do their duty in the state of life to 
 which they may in all honesty be called. So shall 
 they find happiness instead of misery and separation. 
 Experientia docet. 
 
 THE GRAND TRIANGLE. 
 
 This form will be found described in the hand 
 between the line of the Head, the line of Life, and 
 the Hepatic or Liver line, supposing it to exist. In 
 examining the boundaries of the Grand Triangle we 
 must be guided by the direction, form and colour of 
 the lines surrounding it, just as we considered these 
 points in our consideration of the Quadrangle. The 
 evenness, therefore, of the Grand Triangle is a good 
 sign : the irregularity a less good one. 
 
 When we find the Triangle regular, we can tell the 
 blood is good and pure, the constitution good in 
 consequence ; and, in fact, unless the head and the 
 
142 Chiromancy. 
 
 stomach are all interdependent and yet in excellent 
 condition, health, mental vigour, kindness and 
 spirit, cannot be combined and nicely balanced in 
 such a life or hand. 
 
 But if any of these lines be wanting, or if present 
 irregular, intermittent or misshapen, then the indi- 
 vidual is wanting in the characteristics connected 
 with the line in which he is deficient. Life, intelli- 
 gence, health, may each and all be fitful and weak, 
 and even if the man be quite sound upon two, he 
 may be unsound in the third, or weak in all. 
 
 So will his life be worried, crossed, and troubled ; 
 so will it, perhaps, be a burthen hardly to be borne. 
 The same indication, as already commented upon in 
 the consideration of the Quadrangle, will find place 
 in the Triangle. Troubles will rise, and mark them- 
 selves in little lines upon men's palms. The worries 
 of his head and in his life will reproduce themselves 
 as indentations upon his hands. As the Indian 
 carries his scalps ; as the trapper notches his rifle- 
 stock as a record of the number of his slain victims, 
 human or quadruped ; as the schoolboy nicks his 
 "runs" upon his bat, called affectionately "Jehu," 
 because it " driveth furiously ; " so will our life- 
 troubles be impressed and cut upon our palms, to 
 remind us in our prosperity that we have seen and 
 overcome the worries of existence. We have passed 
 through the rapids, and are in the smooth gently- 
 flov ing stream once for all. 
 
 The inspection of the Grand Triangle may be use- 
 fully made, when selecting a person for any particular 
 situation which demands coolness, and certain bodily 
 qualities. The head and life must with digestion be 
 
The Little Triangle. 14^ 
 
 in good order, and where a medical examination be 
 not possible, the condition of man for action or 
 command may be estimated with absolute certainty 
 by the Grand Triangle. 
 
 By the Quadrangle, the moral and social attributes 
 are distinguished. By the Grand Triangle we can 
 recognize vital and intellectual power, and estimate 
 the duties for which by our condition we are most fitted 
 and most likely to perform to the satisfaction of our 
 employers, our superiors, and ourselves. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE LITTLE TRIANGLE — THE ANGLES. 
 
 Thts is not always present. It is dependent on 
 the existence of the Liver line and the line of 
 " Chance," for it is enclosed between those lines 
 and the line of the Head. The line of Chance or 
 Saturn ascends through the centre of the hand, 
 bisecting the Grand Triangle. The Little Triangle 
 is, therefore, one-half (more or less) of its greater 
 namesake. When we have considered this Triangle 
 we will speak separately of the Angles made in the 
 hand. The Little Triangle should be regular both in 
 the direction and length of its lines. If it be so, 
 and — 
 
144 Chiromancy. 
 
 (i.) If the Liver line quit the root of the thumb 
 to unite with the Head line, and so form a right 
 angle or nearly, well formed, 
 
 (2.) If the line of Fate ascend the centre of the 
 hand directly, and cut the line of the Head at an 
 acute angle, but regularly, 
 
 Then the individual is possessed of much intel- 
 lectual strength and power, and his efforts towards 
 success will, in all probability, be assisted by a concur- 
 rence of good luck or fortune. 
 
 So by these lines in the Little Triangle we can 
 ascertain probable success in our undertakings, which 
 depend upon brain work for their development. 
 Here again we may, and with seriousness, indicate a 
 way by which parents may ascertain the natural bent 
 of their children's minds and dispositions. Many 
 lives have been rendered unhappy by uncongenial 
 surroundings ; and if we can in any way mitigate the 
 probabilities of such very real unhappiness, particu- 
 larly to young men and boys, we will endeavour to 
 do so. 
 
 If, therefore, children have the Grand Triangle 
 formed by the three lines — the lines of Life, Head 
 and Liver, throughout ; if these lines are regular, 
 and the Little Triangle, at the same time, exist in the 
 favourable condition just mentioned, such boys may 
 fearlessly be launched upon the sea of Study. They 
 will succeed in it. They are capable of much, and 
 will accomplish much. 
 
 But in the absence of these indications in the 
 absence of the Grand Triangle, or in the malforma 
 tion thereof, such children will not succeed in intel- 
 lectual occupations, because either the taste fo* suet 
 
The Angles. 145 
 
 is not inherent in them, or their natural tendency tc 
 idleness will not permit them to apply themselves 
 with sufficient diligence. The presence of much 
 imagination will frequently militate against regular 
 study, and be a bar to a plodding existence. So it 
 the line of Chance be wanting in the Little Triangle, 
 even if the Grand Triangle be well-formed, the libera] 
 professions will not suit the lad so marked ; but if 
 their line of "Chance" be wanting, or insufficient, 
 their success may be imperilled by want of fore- 
 thought 
 
 The Angles which are perceptible in the two 
 Triangles specified in this and preceding chapter, 
 claim a few words. The Great Triangle encloses 
 the Plain of Mars, and has been divided for con- 
 sideration into three sections containing the angles, 
 viz. :— 
 
 (1.) The Upper Angle. 
 
 (2.) The Inner Angle. 
 
 (3.) The Lower Angle. 
 
 (1.) The first is that formed beneath the fore-finger 
 by the union of the line of the Head and the line 
 ol Life. 
 
 When this angle is acute, well formed and " clean 
 cut, : ' it indicates a good disposition, and frequently 
 nobility of disposition. If obtuse it marks a some- 
 what dull intelligence. 
 
 If the angle commence beneath the finger of 
 Saturn, his influence will interfere with the existence, 
 and Saturn is always a bad companion. In this case, 
 he pre-supposes avarice; or, as old writers assert, 
 captivity. 
 
146 Chiromancy. 
 
 Again, when the line of Life unites with the line 
 of the Head, lower down still, on the top of the 
 Plain of Mars, it indicates an unhappy life and 
 miserly qualities. 
 
 (2.) The Inner angle made by the meeting of the 
 Liver line and the end of the line of the Head 
 towards the Mount of the Moon and the base of 
 the Mount of Mars, if well traced, and of good 
 colour, promises long life. 
 
 If very acute, it premises a nervous temperament, 
 and evil associations. If obtuse, we have obtuseness 
 and inconstancy. 
 
 (3.) The Lower Angle is formed by the junction of 
 the line of Life and the line of the Liver. 
 
 If this angle be well-formed and coloured, it means 
 that our health and our heart are good. 
 
 But when very acute it may presage or bear wit- 
 ness to debility, or a desire for money. 
 
 If it is thick, and formed of indistinct lines, it in- 
 dicates a bad disposition; rudeness; even idleness, 
 or inaction generally. 
 
 These are the three angles, which should be com- 
 pared with the lines of the Triangle. We cannot too 
 often repeat our injunction to the reader to bear all 
 the points bearing upon the case in his mind when he 
 desires to make a forecast, or pronounces upon a 
 hand submitted to him. Only in this way will his 
 verdict be correct ; and he should be cautious, even 
 if he fancy he is quite right. There is no " royal 
 road " to Chiromancy, any more than there is to any 
 other science or study 
 
Signs which Modify Ejects of Mounts. 147 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON SIGNS WHICH MODIFY THE PREDICTED EFFECTS 
 OF THE MOUNTS AND LINES. 
 
 In the previous portion of this book we have 
 spoken of stars, crosses, and, perhaps, islands. We 
 must, before concluding our summary, say something 
 about these. 
 
 The Star ( * ) on the hand predicts something to 
 come, or which has occurred beyond our own control, 
 and almost invariably indicates danger. It is the 
 Red light of Chiromancy ; and even if it be turned to 
 our worldly advantage, it will bring in its train some 
 fatality, such as the troubles and anxiety allied to 
 riches, or the worries inseparable from literary or 
 business excess. 
 
 The Star may appear on any part of the hand. 
 On Jupiter it means the gaining of our love or ambi- 
 tion. A good " fatality " for Jupiter, we may accept 
 as favourable to our interests. On the first finger- 
 joints, great power and glory as a commander of 
 statesman ; particularly on Saturn's (the middle) finger. 
 Under Saturn it is a fatal sign. On the Mount of 
 Saturn it means assassination or execution, according 
 to the interpretation of the lines, &c. Two Stars on 
 the third phalange of the middle finger indicate a 
 shameful death, and may be in consequence of a 
 career of vice. 
 
 The s'-ar again upon the Mount of the Sun means 
 
 L 2 
 
148 Chiromancy. 
 
 riches (unhappy in their arrival) ; or it may be renown 
 by chance, and unlasting. A line and a star indicate 
 celebrity, in consequence of talent, which has been 
 forced upon one. A number of lines and a star 
 mean wealth. 
 
 A Star situated upon the Mount of Venus at the 
 base is evil or unhappiness from the opposite sex. 
 
 A star upon the Mount of Mercury is a sign of dis- 
 honour. Upon Mars it is death in battle or conflict. 
 If upon the Mount of the Moon it is hypocrisy and 
 dissimulation. But it also indicates misfortune, oc- 
 curring through the excess of imagination (perhaps 
 trustfulness), and most likely drowning, for the Moon 
 is the ruler of the sea. 
 
 The square ( a ) is an indication of force or energy 
 wherever it be may found. It gives coolness in 
 danger, good sense, and the power of "taking in 
 things at a glance," as the phrase is. This sign upon 
 Venus, is, however, unfortunate, and means a con- 
 vent, cell, or durance vile; and is near the line of 
 Life. 
 
 A circle (O) is an indication of glory, as the 
 " halo " behind the head of saints in old pictures is 
 supposed to represent holiness. If this glory mark 
 be found upon the Mount of the Sun, it is an excel- 
 lent sign ; in any of the lines it is a bad one. 
 According to ancient Chiromants, if on the line of 
 Life or on the Mount of the Moon, it foretells the 
 loss of an eye, or, if double, of both eyes. 
 
 A point (•), like an exaggerated "full-stop/' 
 is a wound, or madness when on the line of the 
 Head. A white point upon the line of the Heart is 
 an indication of conquest in the lists of love j and 
 
Signs which Modify Effects of Mounts. 149 
 
 may mean, if in the Head line, scientific discovery 
 (tradition). 
 
 An isle, or break in a line, as where a stream 
 separates into two branches, which unite again, is 
 generally a bad sign, and often means hereditary 
 maladies. On the Head line it may mean assassina- 
 tion or murderous projects ; on the line of the Heart, 
 illicit love; on the line of the Liver, going towards 
 Mercury, robbery, or, what is much the same, bad 
 faith in business, or fraudulent bankruptcy. On the 
 line of Life it indicates a mystery of birth. On the 
 line of Saturn it has a curious signification, and yet 
 implies happiness by any dishonourable means, which 
 need not be explained. 
 
 The Triangle (a) tells of aptitude for science, 
 and M. Desbanolles gives us types and examples of 
 this. He says : — 
 
 On the Mount of Mercury the triangle means skil- 
 fulness in politics (as in Talleyrand). 
 
 On the Mount of Jupiter, diplomacy and power 
 greatly developed (as in Napoleon I.). 
 
 On the Mount of Saturn, the dark sciences, 
 magic, &c, based upon fear of eternal punishment 
 (Necromancus). 
 
 On the Mount of the Sun, science in art (ex. gr. 
 Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, &c). 
 
 On the Mount of Mars, skilful, military combina- 
 tions (Turenne). 
 
 On the Mount of the Moon, reasoning, mystic in« 
 telligence (Paracelsus). 
 
 On the Mount of Venus, calculation in love (Ma- 
 dame de Main tenon). 
 
 The Cross (X) is usually an unfavourable sign, but 
 
ISO Chiromancy, 
 
 upon the Mount of Jupiter it signifies a happy mar- 
 riage; in all cases this is true. In the Grand Triangle 
 it means religion and superstition, and, if united with 
 the Saturnian line, some good in consequence of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The Cross on Saturn is the bad influence of the 
 planet. On the Mount of the Sun, the Cross signi- 
 fies effort checked in art, &c, because the Sun is 
 deflected, and things get into a wrong light in con- 
 consequence. 
 
 A Cross on Mercury is kleptomania (to use no 
 harsher term). 
 
 A Cross on Mars indicates a tendency to strife, and, 
 perhaps, homicide. 
 
 A Cross on the plain of Mars, between the Mount 
 of Venus and the Mount of the Moon, means a 
 struggle in life of importance, and a change of posi- 
 tion, perhaps occupation. 
 
 A Cross upon the Mount of the Moon indicates a 
 liar, who will even use self-deception, and he is not 
 a good character who possesses it, if the lines do not 
 absolve him. 
 
 A Cross upon the Mount of Venus is Unselfish 
 (single) and fatal love, unless another be found upon 
 Jupiter's hill, when it tells of happy marriage and 
 undivided affection. 
 
 A well-made Cross is to be accepted as a good 
 omen, when all its limbs are of equal length. A 
 badly-made Cross is a bad sign ; the former adds to 
 the influence of its Mount. 
 
 Bra?iches extending from any line are signs of 
 strength and energy upon such lines. Those oc- 
 cuHng at the end of a line are only favourable when 
 
Signs which Modify Effects of Mounts. 151 
 
 they ascend. They partake of the qualities of their 
 trunks, and upon the line of Saturn are promises 
 of extreme happiness. On the lines of Heart, Life, 
 and Head, they signify exuberance of love, vigour, 
 and health, and of intelligence respectively. 
 
 Chawlike formations of the lines are obstacles or 
 entanglements. On the line of the Heart, " flirtations." 
 
 Broken or disconnected waving lines are signs of 
 ill-luck ; and madness or weakness of brain when on 
 the line of the Head. 
 
 Parallel lines, called " Capillary " lines, which, after 
 a time unite to make one single line, are a weakness, 
 and indicate an ill-future in a bodily sense. But 
 when there are a great many of these little lines upon a 
 mount, there is a tendency to embarrassment, and 
 they interfere with each other, rendering the result 
 more or less futile. 
 
 People who have many rays upon the mount of 
 the Moon are subject to presentiments and such ima- 
 ginary suggestions. They are of the ghost-seeing 
 class ; for the astral fluid in them has a superabund- 
 ance ; and, being in the region of imagination, they 
 fancy they see images, and have forebodings, which 
 arise merely from their own imaginings. To such 
 people we would say — 
 
 " . . . Be ne'er by forebodings deterred ; 
 But think how oft lives have been blighted 
 By fears of what never occurred!" 
 
 Grating-marks, a kind of beatified gridiron upon 
 the hand, are also considered as unfortunate, and they 
 have special significance. They are supposed to be 
 faults upon the mounts on which they occur, and 
 
152 
 
 Chiromancy. 
 
 generate exaggerated qualities, or qualify benefits, 
 according to the hills which they adorn (or disfigure). 
 We need not recapitulate these tendencies ; the bars 
 suppose an absorption of the generous fluids, and 
 preserve them in the material world of the hand. 
 
 Cross rays on the mounts are also obstacles. They 
 interfere with the direct benefits which would accrue 
 from a direct line alone in the same way, as small 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 lines of a downward tendency are hostile to the main 
 lines whence they fall. 
 
 Lines proceeding upwards are good, and intensify 
 the benefits already arising from the line or mount 
 on which it rises. For instance, Mercury unadorned 
 is a sign of commercial intelligence. With one 
 line it shows a "chance" in fortune; if very much 
 "rayed," it becomes robbery, the "chance" being 
 guided by an ill-will to do evil. 
 
 Thus, well-placed mounts are good. 
 
Hints upon "Reading the Hand!* 157 
 
 Mercury is scientific, eloquent, and gives us 
 finesse and robbery. 
 
 Mars gives us courage, poverty, and resignation. 
 
 Venus gives us love, passion, charity, and fellow- 
 feeling. 
 
 The Moon principally imagination. 
 Let us apply these in excess — 
 
 Jupiter, being religious, will, you imagine, if in 
 excess, be very good. He is not. His pos- 
 sessor is simply proud. 
 
 Apollo in excess is fond of riches, instead of 
 art, and he will tend to luxury and show. 
 
 Mercury in excelsis is simply a thief. . . . 
 
 And so on. We shall find excess bad. All super- 
 abundance is a blemish. 
 
 But we must read " with the fingers," as do the 
 blind. We cannot find out the meaning without the 
 fingers, and the pointed, the spatulated, the square, 
 all qualify the mount. 
 
 Apollo with pointed fingers, wish for glory. 
 
 Apollo with spatulated fingers, desire for ricnes. 
 
 Apollo with square fingers, love of truth in art, 
 
 Jupiter with pointed fingers, religion. 
 
 Jupiter with spatulated fingers, command. 
 
 Jupiter with square fingers, ambition. 
 We might carry these on to the other fingers, but 
 we have said enough to indicate the view which must 
 be taken of the mounts in connection with certain 
 indications of the fingers. The lines, again, will give 
 us plenty of occupation, and it will be some consider- 
 able time, and not until earnest application has been 
 made, that the horoscope will be correctly cast 
 
158 Chiromancy. 
 
 There are a great many things concerning Chiro 
 mancy which are not written in this book. To do 
 the subject justice, three such volumes as this 
 would not be too many ; there are so many interest- 
 ing combinations, so many scientific facts, so many 
 anecdotes and curious confirmations of characters 
 pronounced, that they would, if written, fill a large 
 volume. But for all popular and amateur purposes, 
 the Chiromant will find the foregoing pages, we be- 
 lieve, perfectly trustworthy. After some considerable 
 personal experience, we have consulted numerous 
 writers, ancient and modern, male and female, upon 
 this fascinating science, which is again rapidly 
 coming into favour. The results of our joint expe- 
 riences and reading are partly embodied in this 
 volume. The remainder will be added to as expe- 
 rience may decide. 
 
 In saying farewell to our public, let us add a little 
 advice to those about to " Chiromant " their friends. 
 Be cautious. Never make guesses. Be perfectly cer- 
 tain, and then do not give utterance to your thoughts 
 unless you feel assured of their reception. We have 
 said all this before, you will retort. Perhaps we 
 have ; but we cannot repeat it too often. An enemy 
 may be made for life by an incautious statement ; and 
 when the individual has a tendency to murder and 
 homicide, with other angry passions, telling tales in 
 his hand, he may turn and rend you ! 
 
 As to the future, be particularly careful. It is not 
 " in our hands " in one sense, if it be in another 
 The marks in our palms are God's warnings to us, 
 and we may pay no more attention to them than we 
 do to Sunday Sermons or Services. Very well. But 
 
Hints upoji "Reading the Hand!* 159 
 
 do not say you had no warning when the axe falls. 
 Be also very circumspect with children, their doting 
 parents, and nervous persons. All Evil may be 
 checked by Will and Religion. Strong as the strong 
 man is, Another is stronger, and will prevail. 
 
 Finally, do not despise the hand, or its teaching, 
 nor one view of its reality. The marks are there for 
 some reason; until you can prove we are wrong ^ e 
 claim to be right ! Farewell I 
 
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