Anonymous

“ During infancy and childhood the hand retains, to a certain extent, the same character, the hand of the child being soft and thick, with a broad palm and short rudimentary fingers. With the period of puberty it attains its perfect developement, and acquires characters which it preserves throughout manhood. As old age creeps on the hand loses its softness and pliancy, it becomes hard and insensible, and its vigour, like that of the mind, may be said to be gone. “Le cal de la main, presque toujours, jette une ombre sur l’esprit,” says D’Arpentigny. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Smooth, even fingers, on the contrary, with a regular outline and articulations but slightly prominent, denote that the nervous system is more developed than the bony and muscular, and that the member is endowed with fine sensibility. Such an individual will be more or less swayed by imagination, will act rather from the impulse of the moment than from reason and experience, will be rather disposed to view things as a whole than to consider in detail their several parts,—in fact, will be furnished with a mind with more of imagination and synthetical talent than of reason or logical ability. ”

“ The Artistic Hand of D’Arpentigny is a variety of this type. It is characterised by a moderately-developed palm, long tapering fingers, very flexible, and a small thumb. 73 It has for its object the worship of material beauty, is disposed to view things through a romantic medium, is fond of leisure, of liberty, and of change; is at once bold and timid, humble and vain, exalted and depressed, enthusiastic and desponding. The charms of a quiet, regulated, domestic life possess but little attraction for such persons, who, with much originality, have equal fickleness of character. ”

“ Look at a coward, his countenance blanched, and almost cadaverous,—the heavy limbs drooping and powerless,—the instruments of life paralysed, as though the fountain of existence were suddenly dried up. ”

“ 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 ”

“ In individuals of the choleric, or motive temperament, the bony frame-work of the body is strong and much developed; the articulations are large and prominent; the muscles firm, with but little cellular tissue and fat; the physiognomy decided, with sharply-chiselled features. Such individuals are remarkable for promptitude and energy of action; impetuous, passionate, and endowed with great determination, opposition only increases their endurance, and excites a proportionate effort to conquer it. ”

“ Compared with the stature it is small and delicate; the fingers are thin, without articular prominences, and long and tapering; the palm is of average dimensions, the thumb well formed and but of moderate size. Persons with such a hand are led by ideality; soul is for them every thing; great interests alone move them; in religion and politics they are tolerant. ”

“ En France nos armées sont pleines de mains artistiques de tout genre; elles leur doivent le caractère de mobilité aventureuse, insouciante, pittoresque; cet élan fulgurant et prime sautier, qui les distinguent. Elles s’accommodent de tout et sont propre à tout. ”

“ The hand of woman is smaller, more delicate, and much more finely articulated than that of man; it has a softer palm, and joints which are but slightly prominent. The hand of man, on the contrary, is large, firm, and broad, is furnished with strong projecting joints, and a hard wide palm, together with a large thumb, with a strong convex ball or root.” Here, again, we find the physical structure in harmony with the mental disposition—the firm, strong, broad hand of man being indicative of his active, energetic, reasoning mind ”

“ In some of the gnawing animals, as the squirrel, the anterior extremity commences to assume the function of a hand; and in a few of the kangaroo tribe, such as the opossum, the hinder extremities are provided with a thumb capable of being brought into apposition with the other toes. The hand of bats, which serves these animals not merely for flying, but also supplies the place of eyes and ears, enabling them to avoid objects during the obscurity of night, is furnished with a sense of touch extremely delicate. It is in man and the monkey tribe only that we meet with a true and perfect hand. ”

“ From this cursory examination of the animal world we may gather the important conclusion, that from the structure of an extremity we may obtain a complete insight into the entire organisation of an animal; and thus the paws furnished with sharp retractile claws of the lion indicate at once to a naturalist its strong teeth, its powerful jaws, and its muscular strength of limb; while from the cleft foot of the cow, the complicated structure of its stomach, the definite peculiarities of its jaws, and its vegetable diet, may with equal certainty be predicated. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Climate may thus affect the mind in two ways, by modifying the structure of the body, and by the more direct action which it exerts upon the mind itself; and it is to these two causes that we must ascribe the differences in the form and habits, the government and laws, the superstitions and literature, of northern and southern nations. ”

“ In others they are as characters deeply graven upon metal; arousing the attention with an irresistible force, they enchain and captivate the faculties, ceasing but to leave behind them a powerful and lasting impression upon the mind. ”

“ In man the upper members are disposed42 in a manner the most favourable for the exercise of their functions as organs of prehension and of touch: the fingers are long and flexible; they have all, with the occasional exception of the ring-finger, separate movements, which other animals (even those provided with hands) have not; the thumb, which is apposable to these latter, is longer in proportion to the fingers than in monkeys, and consequently can more readily apply itself to the extremity of their palm or surface, and better seize small objects. ”

“ The form of the feet fixes the character of the animal. They are so many shovels; they determine its action to that of rooting in the ground; and every thing about its body agrees with this destination. The cylindrical figure of the50 mole, as well as the compactness of its form, arising from the terseness of its limbs, proportionally lessens its labour; because, according to its bulk, it thereby requires the least possible quantity of earth to be removed for its progress. It has nearly the same structure of the face and jaws as a swine, and the same office for them. ”

“ The form of the hand, like that of the entire body, is materially influenced by age, sex, and race; and it is not less affected by the particular kind of organisation, the mental disposition, and the temperament of the individual. ”

“ Age.—In the minute germ, or embryo of a month, the form of the hand resembles that of one of the lower animals. It puts on the appearance rather of a respiratory organ than of an instrument of prehension, and, being completely destitute of fingers, presents a great analogy in form with the fin of a fish. As the little being increases in size, the fingers become gradually developed. They at first appear as small bud-like projections attached to the perfectly-formed palm. ”

“ The scales covering the foot are regularly disposed, and as they are not needed for the purpose of defence, they are thin and tender, resembling ordinary scarf skin. Even in the shrikes,—the birds of prey of this order, who feed upon living creatures and use the foot for securing them, the claws are not sharp, nor is the foot formed in such a manner as to ensure a very secure grasp, and we accordingly find that they merely press this organ upon their prey for the purpose of holding it. ”

“ Politics, science, literature—whatever active intellectual pursuit the mind formerly delighted in, commences at this period of life to lose its former charm, to be succeeded by a love of quiet rural occupation. ”

“ In some they are like figures traced upon the sand of the sea-shore, which are obliterated by the first advancing wave; they pass away together with the ideas to which they give rise, without leaving any, even the slightest evidence, of their existence. ”

“ If we compare the foot of these creatures with that of the true lizards, the difference of structure will be found to be considerable. The foot of the true lizard is provided with five toes to both the fore and hind members, while attached to the hinder members of crocodiles and alligators we find but four toes. The toes of the lizard are not connected by a membrane, but are separate, and armed with nails, for these creatures live on land, and have need of well-constructed locomotive organs to enable them to catch their active prey. ”

“ Again, the physiognomy of the passions affords us further proof that the emotions of the mind betray themselves by peculiar corporeal phenomena,—each having, as it were, its own proper dialect. Notice the expression of the passions which follow each other in such quick succession, and are so forcibly depicted upon the mobile countenance of an infant, even before any voluntary movements can be executed by the feeble and powerless limbs. ”

“ A knowledge of the form of the appendages to the trunk of animals is of great service to the geologist, for it has been well and truly said, that the organic remains imbedded in rocks are as medals struck in commemoration of the great revolutions which the earth has undergone, and so small a portion as the extremity of an animal is sufficient to indicate its nature, and to enable us to ascertain the class and order to which it belongs. ”

“ In nature these temperaments are not frequently encountered pure and free from admixture, but mostly more or less mixed the one with the other. That must be held to be the most perfect temperament in which they are all blended in such proportions that neither is in excess; “in which moderate excitability is combined with a due amount9 of energy of action; in which imagination is tempered by reason, and the ideas and conceptions are regulated by judgment, and rectified by reflection.” Impressions thus do not react upon all in the same manner. ”

“ With a rapid glance a mere infant will seize the prevailing expression of the physiognomy, and detect at once the mental constitution of those by whom it is surrounded; for pride and impatience, and kindness and benevolence, are written on the plastic countenance in broad legible characters, though the many, with their blunted perceptions, may, to a certain extent, have lost the key to their solution. Contrast the expression of the physiognomy of some of the more celebrated among the ancients, as exemplified in the collection of antique busts preserved in the museum of the Capitol at Rome. ”

“ It is essentially Protestant. “Amoureuses de l’art, de la poésie, du roman, des mystères, les mains pointues veulent un dieu selon leur imagination; amoureuses des sciences et de la réalité, les mains en spatule veulent un dieu selon leur raison.” ”

“ 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 an elementary hand with long, slender nails, must be looked upon as having a decided tendency to assume a higher type of organisation, while if the nails be broad and short like the fingers, the signification is thereby the more confirmed. ”