The Hand Phrenologically Considered 1

The Hand Phrenologically Considered 1

The Hand Phrenologically Considered

Being a Glimpse at the Relation of the Mind with the Organisation of the Body

 

 

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._

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I.

 

“The form and posture of the human body, and its various

organs of perception, have an obvious reference to man’s

rational nature; and are beautifully fitted to encourage

and facilitate his intellectual improvement.”—DUGALD

STEWART, _Moral Philosophy_.

 

THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND.

 

 

From the time of Thales and Pythagoras to our own day the opinions

of metaphysicians have been divided with respect to the mode in

which ideas take their origin. Some, with Descartes and Leibnitz,

have contended that the faculties of the mind are innate—that is,

that they originate solely from within; while others, with Locke and

Condillac, affirm that they are acquired, and in all cases derived,

from impressions received through the medium of the senses,—“Nihil est

in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu.”

 

However it may be with respect to this controverted point, whether

ideas originate from without or from within, it is at least certain

that the manifestations of the mind, far from being independent

of, are, on the contrary, closely linked and connected with, the

conditions of matter. Hippocrates, when sent for by the Abderites to

cure Democritus of his supposed madness, found him busily engaged in

dissecting the brains of animals for the purpose of ascertaining the

organs and causes of thought. That the brain is the organ through

which the manifestations of mind are made known to us, was therefore

suspected by Democritus; and the accumulated experience of centuries

has rendered that a certainty which with him was but a mere conjecture.

In the language of an eloquent modern writer, “Where shall we find

proofs of the mind’s independence of the bodily structure,—of that mind

which, like the corporeal frame, is infantile in the child, manly in

the adult, sick and debilitated in disease, frenzied or melancholy in

the madman, enfeebled in the decline of life, doting in decrepitude,

and annihilated by death?”

 

 

MIND AND OUTWARD FORM IN HARMONY.

 

Admitting, then, that the brain is the organ of mind—the instrument

by which we are rendered cognisant of our own mental operations

and conceptions—it must be evident that, for the purpose of making

them known to others, of carrying them into effect, certain other

parts become necessary, the conception requiring instruments for its

execution. This important duty is intrusted to the care of the senses,

and for this reason they have been correctly termed the hand-maidens

of the intellect, as it is through their agency that the brain receives

and transmits impressions. Hence the manifestations of mind are

indicated and expressed by the outward form; for the senses can act

only through the medium of physical organs, and with these latter the

active phenomena of life must necessarily be in strict accordance.

Thus, from the external configuration of the body, or of some of its

parts, we can legitimately draw conclusions respecting the degree

and kind of mental power. Let us examine this proposition a little

more in detail. In his _Instauratio Magna_, Bacon relates that “when

he was a young man at Poictiers in France, he conversed familiarly

with a certain Frenchman, a witty young man, but something talkative,

who afterwards grew to be a very eminent man. He was wont to inveigh

against the manners of old men, and would say, that if their minds

could be seen as their bodies are, they would appear no less deformed;

he would also maintain that the vices of old men’s minds have some

correspondence and were parallel to the putrefaction of their bodies.

For the dryness of their skin, he would bring in impudence; for the

hardness of their bowels, unmercifulness; for the lippitude of their

eyes, an evil eye and envy; for the casting down of their eyes and

bowing their bodies toward the earth, atheism (for, saith he, they

look no more up to heaven as they were wont); for the trembling of

their members, irresolution of their decrees and light inconstancy;

for the bending of their fingers, as it were to catch, rapacity and

covetousness; for the buckling of their knees, fearfulness; for their

wrinkles, craftiness and obliquity.”

 

Now, without hoping to attain to the nice discrimination of this

ingenious young gentleman, we shall attempt to elucidate a few general

facts connected with this part of our subject.

 

With that spirit of observation for which they were so eminently

remarkable, the ancients had long since remarked the constant

connexion of certain peculiarities of outward form with particular

modes of thinking—a correspondence between the physical and mental

condition. It was in accordance with this view that Galen founded his

celebrated doctrine of temperaments. His distinction of the sanguine,

phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic temperaments, was based upon

the notion of the Greek philosophers, that there were four primary

constituents of the human body corresponding to the four supposed

elements of nature, and that the presence of the one or the other of

these elements in excess occasioned the production of the different

temperaments. According to the definition of the able physiologist

Müller, the temperaments are peculiar, permanent conditions, or modes

of mutual reaction of the mind and organism, and they are chiefly

dependent on the relation which subsists between the strivings or

emotions of the mind and the excitable structure of the body. Even if

we may be disposed to contend that they are not absolutely _dependent_

on any particular constitution of the body, it must still be conceded

that they are at least _associated_ with certain peculiarities of

outward organisation, by which they may be readily recognised; so

that the physical structure, the mental tendency, and the character

of ideas, are always intimately connected. Thus persons of a sanguine

or sensitive temperament are, for the most part, of moderate stature

and _embonpoint_, with a smiling florid countenance, and light or

chestnut hair. Their ideas, like their physiognomy, are all _couleur

de rose_. Endowed with great excitability, they are easily moved; but

impressions are not durable, giving place quickly to other and newer

emotions. Hence their life is made up of transitions—now grave, now

gay; now happy, now miserable: their feelings are perpetually changing,

and impressions made upon their mobile minds become soon obliterated by

some fresh object of attention.

 

The phlegmatic, or elementary temperament, is characterised by a

persistence during adult existence of the physical structure proper

to early life. The body is loaded with cellular tissue and fat;

the muscles are large, but soft, and with indistinct outlines; the

countenance is pale; the physiognomy but little marked, and the

features not sharply defined. Such persons are unexcitable, their

sensations are dull, and the modes of reaction which they determine

slow and apathetic; their ideas are clear, but they possess neither the

quickness of conception and imagination of persons of the sanguine,

nor the energy of action and strong passions of those of the choleric

temperament. They love repose, and excel in occupations which demand

patience and attention, of which they are possessed in a remarkable degree.