For example, the difference in the shape of the hands of the French and German or the French and English races would convince any thinking person that temperament and disposition are indeed largely indicated by the shape of the hand itself.
It is even a remarkable thing that though work and exercise may enlarge and broaden the hand, yet the type to which it belongs is never destroyed, but can be easily detected by anyone who has made a study of such matters.
The Seven Types or Shapes of Hands are as follows:
(1) The Elementary—or lowest type.
(2) The Square—or the useful hand.
(3) The Spatulate—or nervous active type.
(4) The Philosophic—or jointed hand.
(5) The Conic—or the artistic type.
(6) The Psychic—or the idealistic hand.
(7) The Mixed Hand.
THE SEVEN TYPES OF HANDS
THE ELEMENTARY
As its name implies, the Elementary is the lowest type of all. It is just a little above the brute creation. This type is extremely short ([Plate I]., Part II.), thick set and brutal-looking. In passing I must draw the reader's attention to the fact that the shorter and thicker the hand is, the nearer the person is to the animal.
In examining this type one can therefore only expect to find it the expression of all that is coarse, brutal, and animal.
People having such hands naturally have very little mental development or ability. They are found engaged in occupations requiring only unskilled labour and the very lowest even of that.
They are violent in temper, and have little or no control over their passions or their anger. They are coarse in their ideas, possess little or no sentiment, no imagination or feeling, and it has been found that even the nerve system of such types is more or less in a state of non-development. They do not feel pain as the higher types of humanity feel it, and have little ambition except to eat, drink, and sleep.