PREFACE.
Since the time of John Indagine, who published his “Art of Chiromancy” in 1563, but little progress has been made in the study of the hand as an indication of the physical and mental peculiarities of the individual. In our time, by the publication of the classical work of Sir C. Bell “On the Hand,” public attention has been once more directed to the form, structure, and uses of this important organ.
The varieties in the structure and conformation of the human hand which are met with in different individuals have recently been investigated with much success, both in France and Germany.
It is to D’Arpentigny, a translation of whose work[1] is now in course of publication in the “Medical Times,” that we are indebted for much of the information we possess as to the mutual relation existing between particular mental tendencies and certain definite forms of hand. By Professor Carus, of Dresden,[2] the views of D’Arpentigny have been in part verified, and at the same time considerably extended. He has corrected much that was erroneous, and endeavoured to establish a science of Chirology, founded upon the anatomy and physiology of the hand.
I have availed myself freely of the materials collected by D’Arpentigny and Carus, and have modified, corrected, or omitted their theories and statements when not in accordance with my own experience. Much new matter has been added, and the whole arranged in a form which it is hoped may tend somewhat to contribute either to the amusement or instruction of the Reader.
June 1848.
THE HAND
PHRENOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED,
&c. &c.