CHAPTER XXXI
PHRENOLOGY AND CHIROMANCY
In no country, so much as in China, has the belief in phrenologists and chiromancists been so general. According to these men of science, every mark on the face and body has its meaning. In consequence, as such and such a sign, say, on your left eye, may be counter-balanced by some other sign, say, on your right cheek, it will be seen that a whole series of combinations and calculations has to be gone through before the definite diagnosis of a person can be obtained. When one goes to consult these oracles, they first of all examine your face, then the hands, and then the body, just as a doctor who wishes to thoroughly examine a patient. After that they ask you to walk with your usual step, which is another factor in the combination. According to their lore, the various acts of life have significance—thus, slow eating, quick digestion, heavy sleep, and laziness in dressing are all very bad signs. A dark forehead means mourning for a near relation. A long face on a short body indicates a man of a calm and quiet life. A head short set in shoulders and a fat round stomach betoken a vile man. Long ears with the lobes ball-shaped are sure signs of a statesman. Large ears bent forward show that their owner leads an agitated and fatiguing existence. The famous Lao-Tse, the founder of the Taoist religion, had ears seven inches long. Thick and bushy eyebrows mean that their possessor will be rich in brothers and sisters. Each break in them means the loss of one brother, and the nearer the break is to the outer end, the younger that brother will be. When the eyebrows are longer than the eyes, that means that you have a literary man before you. A spot at the side of the eye means that the person will have tears to shed. The nose should be large and thick. It is then the “Spring of the Mountain,” the “Devil’s Well,” the “Lake of the Genii,” or the “Tower of the Soul.” The nose is considered the principal feature, because many of our sovereigns had very large noses, and notably Emperors Fou-Hi-U and Han-Kao-Tsou. The latter was further endowed with a thick, black beard, and besides having the face of a dragon, had seventy-two black birth marks below his hip. Another emperor, Weng-Ouang, who lived at an earlier date, had four breasts. It will be seen that teratology plays its part in China. To all these persons, as to Lao-Tse, the high places that they afterwards occupied were foretold. When the beard is bristly, the wearer is a sly man. A long beard is the sign of a long life. A brown beard betokens a general. A Buddhist high-priest, whose beard reached down to his knees, had his lofty position predicted on that account. A big mouth will always have food. A black spot at the corner of the mouth promises good cheer for ever. A sly and deceitful man has thin and pinched lips. Red lips betoken good birth. White and equal teeth are signs of aristocratic connections. Hard teeth foretell premature old age. A soft tongue is the tongue of an orator. A rough voice, like that of a wolf, and waspish eyes belong to pitiless and unfeeling people.
A number of tokens are to be read in the hand. The observations of our chiromancists being almost identical with those of their European confrères, I will therefore not enter into these details, but will break the monotony of this description with a few anecdotes.
A literary man, named Tao-Kan, had a line of happiness which went in a perfect straight line from the wrist to the middle of the first joint of the middle finger. He was told that, if this line lengthened out any more, he might expect the highest honours. He contented himself with pricking the extremity of this line with a needle, and writing the word “duke” with the blood; and as it happened he was created a duke.
Another, named Li-Kou, one day consulted a phrenologist, who pointed out to him that his temple-bones were very pronounced, and that they reached out to behind his head, and that, in consequence, he would be raised to a place of honour. This prophecy was duly realised.
A prefect of Ho-Nan, named Tcheou, met a phrenologist, who spoke to him as follows:—In three years you will be appointed minister and generalissimo, and one year later you will die of hunger. The prefect laughed, and said, that once in so high a position, he could not starve. But the phrenologist insisted that such was his destiny, and that he could not escape, basing his assertion on the fact that the little veins which usually flow vertically towards the mouth, had a horizontal position in his face. All that had been predicted happened. After having risen to be a minister and commander-in-chief, the former prefect had to retire in disgrace, and died of a disease which prevented him from taking any food.