of the Sun 158X. The Mount of Mercury 162
XI. The Mount of The Moon 168
XII. The Mount of Venus 173
XIII. Advice to The Student: the Best Means to make Casts or take Impressions of the Hands 178 [Pg xxv]
ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Cheiro Frontispiece
The Lines of the Hand 1
Lord Kitchener's Hand 2
PLATE
I. The Three Principal Positions for the Commencement of the Line of Head 11
II. The Line of Head joined to the Line of Life and its Terminations 18
III. The Line of Head separated from the Line of Life 20
IV. Islands on the Line of Head 24
V. More Variations of the Line of Head 27
VI. The Line of Head and Line of Heart running together 29
VII. Double Lines of Head, also Crosses and Squares 32
VIII. The Line of Life and Sections of Influences from the Mounts 37
IX. The Line of Life and its Variations 40
X. The Line of Life and Line of Mars 45
XI. The Line of Destiny and its Modifications 51
XII. The Line of Destiny and its Variations 53
XIII. The Line of Destiny and its Modifications 56
XIV. The Line of Destiny, Islands, and other Signs 59
XV. The Line of Sun and its Modifications 62
[Pg xxvi]
XVI. The Line of Heart and its Variations 68
XVII. The Line of Marriage 74
XVIII. Marriage Lines and Influence Lines which further help in denoting Marriage 78
XIX. The Line of Health 84
XX. The Girdle of Venus. The Ring of Saturn. The Bracelets. The Line of Intuition. The Via Lasciva 89
XXI. Travels, Voyages, Accidents, and Descending Lines from the Mounts 99
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XXII. The Island, the Circle, the Spot, the Grille, the Star, and the Square 102
XXIII. Minor Marks and Signs 105
XXIV. Minor Marks and Signs 108
XXV. The Great Triangle and the Quadrangle 111
XXVI. Times and Dates of Principal Events 113
CHEIROGNOMY ILLUSTRATIONS
I. The Elementary Hand 120
The Square or Useful Hand 120
The Spatulate Hand 120
The Philosophic Hand 120
II. The Conic or Artistic Hand 123
The Psychic Hand 123
The Mixed Hand 123 [Pg xxvii]
III. Thumbs:
The Clubbed Thumb 129
The Supple Jointed Thumb 129
The Firm Jointed Thumb 129
The Waist-Like Thumb 129
The Straight Thumb129
The Elementary Thumb 129
IV. The Fingers: The Smooth 134
The Square 134
The Knotty 134
V. The Nails: Delicacy of Throat 137
Chest and Bronchial 137
Spinal Weakness 137
Weak Action of the Heart 137
Paralysis 137
VI. The Mounts of the Hand: The Mount of Venus 141
The Mount of Mars 141
The Mount of Jupiter 141
The Mount of Saturn 141
The Mount of the Sun 141
The Mount of Mercury 141
The Mount of the Moon 141
THE LINES OF THE HAND. [Pg 1]
Palmistry for All
PART I--PALMISTRY OR CHEIROMANCY CHAPTER I
A BRIEF RESUME OF THE HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF HANDS THROUGH THE CENTURIES TO THE PRESENT DAY
The success I had during the twenty-five years in which I was connected with this study was, I believe, chiefly owing to the fact that although my principal study was the lines and formation of hands, yet I did not confine myself alone to that particular page in the book of Nature. I endeavoured to study every phase of thought that can throw light on human life; consequently the very ridges
of the skin, the hair found on the hands, all were used as a detective would use a clue to accumulate evidence. I found people were sceptical of such a study only because they had not the subject presented to them in a logical manner.
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There are hundreds of facts connected with the hand that people have rarely, if ever, heard of, and I[Pg 2] think it will not be out of place if I touch on them here. For instance, in regard to what are known as the corpuscles, Meissner, in 1853, proved that these little molecular substances were distributed in a peculiar manner in the hand itself. He found that in the tips of the fingers they were 108 to the square line, with 400 papillae; that they gave forth certain distinct crepitations, or vibrations, and that in the red lines of the
hand they were most numerous and, strange to say, were found in straight individual rows in the lines of the palm. Experiments were made as to these vibrations, and it was proved that, after a little study, one could distinctly detect and recognise the crepitations in relation to each individual. They increased or decreased in every phase of health, thought, or excitement, and were extinct the moment death had mastered its victim. About twenty years later, experiments were made with a man in Paris, who had an abnormally acute sense of sound (Nature's compensation for want of sight, as he had been born blind). In a very short time this man could detect the slightest change or irregularity in these crepitations, and through the changes was able to tell with wonderful accuracy about how old
a person was, and how near they were to illness, and even death.
The study of these corpuscles was also taken up by Sir Charles Bell, who,
