The Hand Phrenologically Considered 6

The Hand Phrenologically Considered 6

Race._—We have not yet obtained sufficient data to enable us to

ascertain any thing very definite respecting this part of our subject.

Whether the hand of races springing from the Caucasian stock presents

a form essentially different from that of people originating from the

Mongolian,—whether the hand of the Negro races resembles or differs

from that of the American tribes, must be determined by the future

investigations of intelligent and observing travellers. From the

few observations that have hitherto been made, it would appear that

in the American and Mongolian races the hand is characterised by a

preponderance of the motive element over the sensitive, the member

being large and coarse, with the bones, muscles, and joints, strongly

developed. As regards the dark-coloured races we know that they differ

somewhat from the white in the texture of their skin: it is coarse

in its structure, provided with a larger number of sebaceous glands,

and covered by a thicker layer of cuticle, so that the sentient

terminations of the nerves being less exposed its general sensibility

must be considerably less than that of the skin of white people.

 

But the hand not only affords us characters by which the age and sex

may be determined, it is likewise an index of the general habit of

body, of the kind of temperament, and of the mental tendency and

disposition.

 

 

HAND, INDEX OF HABIT OF BODY AND TEMPERAMENT.

 

The general habit of body, and the kind of temperament, we determine

from certain general signs deduced from the hand. We observe the

structure of the skin—whether it be fine or coarse in its texture,

whether it be hard and unyielding, or soft and elastic. We note

the quantity of fat and of cellular tissue; and this enables us to

form a judgment respecting the degree of _embonpoint_, and we have

already abundantly proved that a man of a soft, lax habit, with an

abundance of cellular and fatty tissues, differs in mental tendency and

disposition from one of firm, tense fibre, in whom the bones, muscles,

and articulations, are strong and prominent. Thus, a soft, thick hand,

loaded with fat, denotes little energy of character, and a soft,

yielding, inactive disposition; while, on the contrary, a thin, firm,

bony, or muscular hand indicates a rough, active, energetic nature.

With respect to the texture of the skin—a hand possessing a delicate

and highly-sensitive skin is accompanied by a similar structure of the

tegumentary envelope of the entire body, and is always associated with

an excitable organisation, with a highly sensitive, mobile disposition.

A coarse, dry texture of the skin denotes a preponderance of muscular

force over sensibility, and a character more remarkable for solidity

and resolution than for imagination or vivacity of conception. The

hand partakes of the nature of the whole body; when the latter is

gracefully and symmetrically formed, with its several parts in nice

adaptation and co-ordination, the former shares its perfection and is

constructed after the same general plan; and we accordingly find that

a powerful, athletic individual is furnished with a large hard hand,

with its joints or articulations strong and prominent, and a delicate,

sensitive person, with a small, narrow hand, with its joints small and

but slightly prominent.

 

 

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.

 

* * * *

 

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.