HAND, FOUR PRIMARY FORMS OF, CONNECTED WITH PARTICULAR MENTAL TENDENCIES.
In order correctly to determine the more particular signs of the mental disposition which may be drawn from an examination of the hand, we must first take into consideration the special physiological functions of the organ. On the one hand, it is the most delicate instrument of feeling,—the organ of touch, by means of which we judge of so many properties of bodies; on the other hand, the finest and most skilful instrument of motion and of prehension; and it may likewise be regarded as the organ of art. A hand rather below the average size, and of which the skin is soft and delicate, the fingers long, and provided with numerous cuticular ridges, which are indicative of a large number of the sentient papillæ of touch, the bony portion but slightly developed, and the joints not prominent, is admirably adapted for an organ of sensation, but by no means suited for an instrument of motion; while, on the contrary, a size rather above the average, together with a massive, bony, framework, strong muscles and tendons, and large joints, are the characteristics of a powerful instrument of prehension—of a hand in which sensation is sacrificed to motion.
In the former case, we may with certainty predicate a mind mobile, imaginative, and inclined to abstraction,—a mind employed chiefly on subjective phenomena; in the latter, the mind is rather objective in its action than subjective, operating powerfully upon the external world, whether by arms, agriculture, or the mechanical arts: the former hand we term sensitive, the latter motive.
In the highest and most perfect form of hand, thin, delicate, conical fingers are combined with a moderate-sized palm and a well-developed thumb,—both the sensitive and motive parts are in nice and accurate adaptation; the instrument being thus rendered capable of executing whatever the intellect may desire: such a hand we term “psychical.” In the lowest form of hand, the member retains throughout adult life the character which it presented in infancy, and it strikingly resembles the hand of those of the monkey tribe most nearly allied to man in their organisation and outward form,—a hard, thick, palm being joined to short, rudimentary fingers: such a form of hand we style “elementary.” It is mostly associated with a crude, undeveloped state of the intellectual powers. Thus, by tracing the normal developement and the anatomy and physiology of the hand, we have obtained four definite types of formation founded upon anatomical and physiological characters, and corresponding to a certain extent to the temperaments,—the psychical as the highest form, the elementary as the lowest, and, as intermediate forms, the sensitive and the motive. The sensitive is characterised by softness, delicacy, and a rounded form,—by a member adapted by its structure for an accurate discrimination of the external world, and for a delicate organ of sensation; the motive, by great developement of the muscular, tendinous, and osseous structures, and exercising its objective influence by virtue of its active movements and its physical force; the psychical uniting the perfections of both the sensitive and the motive types, the elementary without the excellencies of either.
We pass on to a somewhat more detailed examination of the several parts of the hand. It may be considered as made up of the palm, the thumb, and the fingers.
Palm.—As regards the palm, we have to notice its size, thickness, and degree of hardness; its temperature, degree of dryness, and the furrows by which it is marked. In all the lower animals the palm is large, thick, and hard. Hence D’Arpentigny views the palm as indicative of the physical appetites or animal propensities, and of the degree and intensity of the mental affections to which they give rise. Thus, when the palm is narrow and thin, the temperament is feeble, the imagination without force, and the mind rather subtle than comprehensive; when its size and thickness are in harmony with the proportions of the thumb and fingers, sensual impressions easily excite the mind, but a salutary control is exercised by reason and imagination; when it is large in comparison with the fingers, sensuality and egotism predominate; and lastly, when it is large, thick and hard, the animal faculties preponderate over reason, and the passions, unrefined by imagination, have full and uncontrolled sway. A moist, warm, rosy palm denotes health, youth, delicate sensibility, and energy of the vegetative functions. Thus Shakspeare in “Othello,” speaking of the hand of Desdemona,—
“This hand is moist, my lady.
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This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart;
Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting, and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;
For there’s a young and sweating devil here
That commonly rebels.”
In febrile diseases, the palm is hot and dry; and the same obtains when the vegetative functions are languid, or in exhaustion from debauchery or other causes. As Shakspeare has it in the “Twelfth Night,”—
“Maria. Now, sir, thought is free: I pray you bring Your hand to the buttery bar, and let it drink.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Wherefore, sweetheart? What’s your metaphor?
Maria. It’s dry, sir.”
According to the old chiroscopists, the life-line—that is, the furrow at the line of demarcation between the ball of the thumb and the palm—measures by its length the term of existence; it is certainly more strongly marked in strong and healthy than in weak and sickly persons. A pallid or yellowish colour of the furrows marking the palm is indicative of disease.
Thumb.—The thumb deserves particular notice in treating of the hand. It is the presence of a thumb that imparts to the hand of the higher animals its character of superiority. It is the higher developement and greater mobility of the human hand that render it so much more perfect than that of the ape: “L’animal supérieur est dans la main, l’homme est dans la pouce,” says D’Arpentigny. The thumb being, then, the characteristic element of the human hand—the part last developed and most strongly typical of its superiority over that of the lower animals, the perfect formation of this part of the hand must be regarded as a sign of the character of the species being well marked,—of a strong, active individuality; while the reverse obtains when it is small and rudimentary. The ball of the thumb is made up of strong muscles, and in it the motor function of the hand is, as it were, concentrated. It is the mons Veneris of the old chiroscopists; the expression of “la volonté raisonnée,” of decision, perception, and the logical faculty, according to D’Arpentigny, who confirms the old opinion above alluded to, remarking, “Aimer c’est vouloir, et vouloir c’est aimer.” Persons with a small thumb are ruled by the heart, those with a large by the head. The motive hand is always furnished with a large thumb, and hence, probably, the origin of the term, from domare, to rule (Italian), Daumen (German); power and objective force being imparted by it to the hand.
The Romans applied the term pollex truncatus to a person who, for the purpose of avoiding military service, cut off or mutilated his thumb—hence our word poltroon. It was by the position of the thumb that spectators determined the fate of conquered gladiators; if it were raised, life was spared, if it were depressed, it was a sentence of death. In the Anglo-Saxon laws, it is ordained that mutilation of the thumb shall be punished by a fine of twenty shillings, and that of the middle finger by a fine of four only. In La Vendée, a large thumb is still thought to be indicative of a dabbler in the forbidden mysteries of the black art. Biting the thumb was formerly held to be expressive of insult and defiance; thus Shakspeare in “Romeo and Juliet,”—
“Samson. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a
disgrace to them if they bear it.”
Fingers.—Having fully examined the palm and thumb, we have next to direct our attention to the four fingers—to their length, their general outline, the size of the joints, and the shape of the pieces of which the fingers are made up,—the phalanges, more especially of the terminal one.
Prominent joints evince great development of the bony and muscular structures of the hand; they indicate a motive and prehensive organ. Persons with such fingers, according to D’Arpentigny, are remarkable for their love of order and arrangement, for a mind prone to analysis and reasoning, and for actions regulated by the calm dictates of judgment, and not impelled by the sudden inspiration of enthusiasm. Smooth, even fingers, on the contrary, with a regular outline and articulations but slightly prominent, denote that the nervous system is more developed than the bony and muscular, and that the member is endowed with fine sensibility. Such an individual will be more or less swayed by imagination, will act rather from the impulse of the moment than from reason and experience, will be rather disposed to view things as a whole than to consider in detail their several parts,—in fact, will be furnished with a mind with more of imagination and synthetical talent than of reason or logical ability. The joints become more distinctly marked as age advances. In fine, says D’Arpentigny, “Man becomes the more orderly, the less credulous, and the more logical, in proportion as the articular prominences become more strongly defined.”
The last phalanx, or terminal piece of the fingers, may terminate in either of three ways. It may be rounded, cushiony, somewhat enlarged as it were; it may be square and flattened; or it may be delicate, tapering, and conical. The enlarged, rounded, cushiony-terminated phalanx, characterises “the doigts en spatule” of D’Arpentigny, or, as we shall term them, “sensitive fingers.” It indicates a great number of the delicate papillæ of touch, and serves to denote a sensitive hand. The square terminal phalanx mostly accompanies the motive and elementary form of hand; and the tapering, conical extremity, the psychical. It is a remarkable fact, that among all nations the figures of saints, angels, and divinities, should have been invariably figured with delicate, tapering fingers. The hands of witches, demons, and sorcerers, have likewise been delineated with elongated fingers; but they are rough, thin, and bony, and armed with long nails or claws, like the toes of the lower animals.
Nails.—We must say a few words upon the nails,—parts corresponding to the horny skeleton of invertebrate animals. They are sometimes long and narrow, as in the psychical hand: sometimes short and broad, as in the elementary type; and sometimes square and strong, as in the motive, or they may be brittle or thickened, or otherwise diseased. In consumptive people they become curved, somewhat claw-like. If the characters which they furnish be in accordance with those which are indicated by the other parts of the hand, they are thereby doubly confirmed; if the two differ, they mutually render each other less positive. Thus an elementary hand with long, slender nails, must be looked upon as having a decided tendency to assume a higher type of organisation, while if the nails be broad and short like the fingers, the signification is thereby the more confirmed.