Palm of the hand

“ To begin: when you see an irregular hand with large, broad palm, strong wrist, but shapely, tapering fingers, you may know that hand betokens a duplex temperament, where opposite characteristics are constantly struggling for the mastery. The palm may denote strength and industry, but the fingers may overbalance these qualities by their love of ease or generous prodigality. ”

“ Palm and Sole of Man.
The palm of man’s hand is a miracle of adaptations for touch and grasping, but has lost most of the coarse structure formed in response to stimuli of pressure and friction which we saw were common in lower mammals. This indeed he shares with most simian forms. The skin of our hands is now very much what we make it and responds very soon to fresh positive or passive conditions. ”

“ At the extremity of the hands are five fingers, four of which are in a row, and some long and some short, so that when they take hold of anything, they may come equally together in the palm of the hand. The thumb, which is opposite to the four fingers, is shorter than any of them and stronger, that it may be a help to the whole and render them capable of retaining and grasping. ”

“ Callosities of the same nature, although not so extensive, are not rare on the second finger joints. The palm of the hand is covered with a hard, horny skin, generally beset with warts, especially at the roots of the fingers. ”

“ The first is, that the presentation of the palm of the hand towards the object, which we wish to displace, often brings about the movement. I proceed in the manner I have indicated for a parakinetic levitation, but instead of presenting the palm of the hand to the top of the table and then drawing it slowly away, I direct it towards the side of the table, and I act as though I wished to attract or repulse the table. ”

“ 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 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 ”

“ An easy way to verify the last phenomenon is to beg some one to hold the forefinger of the right hand pointed to your left palm, at a quarter of an inch distance, and afterwards his left forefinger to your right palm, when the two sensations, and their difference, are appreciable by the majority of persons.
Persons entranced by mesmeric procedures are often keenly alive to the above impressions. They see light emanating from the finger-tips of the mesmeriser, and feel an agreeable afflatus from his manipulations. ”

“ The arm when folded will measure 2 faces up to the shoulder from the elbow and 2 from the elbow to the insertion of the four fingers on the palm of the hand. The length from the base of the fingers to the elbow never alters in any position of the arm. ”

“ The upper limbs, now relieved from having any share in the locomotion of the body, assumed great freedom in the various movements of flexion, pronation, and supination. The fingers became longer and could be opposed, singly or in groups, to the thumb so as to form a hook, a clasp or a pair of pincers; and the palm of the hand could be made into a cup-shaped hollow capable of grasping a sphere. In fact, the hand of man is the most perfect piece of mechanism Nature has yet produced. ”

“ Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,
Be not afraid of my body. ”

“ Father.—With fingers closed and thumb extended, place thumb at the right side of the forehead and at right angles to it; with a slightly twisting motion, bring hand away, opening fingers and turning palm upward; at the same time bring the left hand up similarly and place parallel to the right as if lifting up a babe. ”

“ Before we can discuss the first point with advantage we must consider with some attention, and compare together, the structure of the human hand and that of the human foot, so that we may have distinct and clear ideas of what constitutes a hand and what a foot.
The external form of the human hand is familiar enough to every one. It consists of a stout wrist followed by a broad palm, formed of flesh, and tendons, and skin, binding together four bones, and dividing into four long and flexible digits, or fingers, each of which bears on the back of its last joint a broad and flattened nail. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Wait.—Extend the left arm out a little away from the side, palm up; bring the right hand in the same position "tandem"-wise, so the arm rests across the body; work the fingers as in playing a piano or a stringed instrument, only have the fingers pointing up. ”

“ The left hand secretes the object in its palm, while the fingers are allowed to fall loosely down, appearing to retain nothing under them. At the very same moment the right hand must be closed, and remain in shape as if containing the object, with the second joints of the fingers pointed toward the spectators, and the back of the hand toward the ground. ”

“ The inner part of the hand is termed the palm', and is fleshy and divided by joints or lines: in the case of long-lived people by one or two extending right across, in the case of the short-lived by two, not so extending. ”

“ The disposition of the furrows in the palm is not strictly symmetrical in the two hands; in fact, it is said in chiromancy that the right hand represents our natural character, and our left hand the character which we have acquired in the course of living. ”

“ In matters of less consequence they reckon with their fingers, by bending the little finger of the right hand close to the palm, and the other fingers in succession, proceeding to the left hand, concluding the calculation by clapping both the hands together ”

“ They use the fingers of each hand, beginning with the little finger of the left hand, which is held in an upright position, the back of the hand facing the person counting, the palm turned outwards. Thus, when they wish to signify one, they raise one finger ”

“ Cross.—Place the hand, pointing upward before the face, palm to it; bend the fingers toward face like the talons of an eagle, repeating motion several times, and add meaning by expression of the face. IV, 57.
Angry.—With the fingers bent, talon-like, throw hand against the waist, partly at one side; give a tearing, upward motion against the body. Sometimes both hands are used. ”

“ The finer and more delicate movements of the fingers are performed by small muscles situated in the palm and between the bones of the hand, and by which the fingers are expanded and moved in all directions with wonderful rapidity. ”

“ Time has laid his hand
Upon my heart, gently, not smiting it,
But as a harper lays his open palm
Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations. ”

“ It will be simpler than the hand unclothed. The palm will be more of a mass, the seams will give the direction of the fingers, the wrinkles of the leather will give—more or less—the base of the thumb, the knuckles, and the wrist. ”

“ One theory, as you know, is that palmistry derives its authority from the fact that the lines are produced by the opening and closing of the hand—originally, at least—the fundamental markings being inherited, as are our fundamental mental characteristics—and that such alteration of the tissue is directly affected by the character. One stamps his own particular way of doing things upon his palm. ”

“ Her glance, the touch of her hand, set him aflame. He kissed the palm of his hand where she had touched it, and went home, happy in the sense that he had got nearer to the attainment of his aims that evening than during the last two months. ”

“ This motion of the arm will naturally bring the hand with the palm downwards, into an horizontal position, and when it approaches to the head, the arm should with a jerk be suddenly straitened into its first position, at the very moment the emphatical word is pronounced. ”

“ Teach.—Raise each of the hands to the corresponding side of the head on a level with the eyes; close ends of fingers against thumb (as in "&") ; push the hands straight out from the head, and open the thumb and fingers, as if you had grasped something from the head and thrown it out toward some one else. VI, 127.
Intend, Mean, Purpose.—Touch forehead with forefinger; then bring hand down and place the ends of the fingers of the "V" hand against palm of extended left; lift "U" hand off and twist it around, bringing the ends back to the palm but with positions reversed ”

“ The same vital powers that make the heart beat and the fingers move, roof the skull and arch the finger-nails. From the head to the back, from the shoulder to the arm, from the arm to the hand, from the hand to the finger, each depends on the other, and all on a determinate effect of a determinate power. ”

“ The man howls and breaks his lantern with a kick. My hand is partly in the man’s hand, but by a great miracle of the ebbing life in my wrist, my hand, at the moment it leaves my arm, has seized the hand of the man! ”

“ It is the hand that binds me to the world of men and women. The hand is my feeler with which I reach through isolation and darkness and seize every pleasure, every activity that my fingers encounter. With the dropping of a little word from another’s hand into mine, a slight flutter of the fingers, began the intelligence, the joy, the fullness of my life. Like Job, I feel as if a hand had made me, fashioned me together round about and molded my very soul. ”

“ It is not necessarily the right foot, but it is always the same. The unpremeditated action of hand or foot is uniform, as the reader will find by clasping his hands with the fingers interlaced, or inviting another to do so. ”

“ The slender, tapering fingers, with their pliant joints, together with the strong opposable thumb, enable the hand to mold itself upon and grasp a great variety of objects; so that great as are the delicacy and grace of the hand, it is not wanting in the elements of power. ”

“ Pretty hands—like sweet tempers and paragons of husbands—are largely a matter of care and cultivation. Much more so, in fact, than most of us are aware. While tapering fingers and perfect palms count for considerable, the general beauty of the hand lies not in its correct outline so much as in the whiteness and velvety softness of the skin and the perfectly trimmed, well-kept nails. ”

“ Generally, except in precise pointing, there is a graduated curving, not too nice, from the bent little finger to the straighter forefinger. As the gesture is concerned with thought more delicate, the action of the hand is lighter and tends more to the tips of the fingers; as it is more rugged and strong, the hand is held heavier. ”

“ Hands are often present: I have seen a case in which the position of a spirit hand would have necessitated a many-jointed arm about four feet long; but perhaps spirit arms are like this. One spirit extra I have seen has two hands, but both appear to be left hands—evidently a left-handed spirit. ”

“ People control their countenances, but the hand is under no such restraint. It relaxes and becomes listless when the spirit is low and dejected; the muscles tighten when the mind is excited or the heart glad; and permanent qualities stand written on it all the time.
As there are many beauties of the face, so the beauties of the hand are many. Touch has its ecstasies. The hands of people of strong individuality and sensitiveness are wonderfully mobile. In a glance of their finger-tips they express many shades of thought. ”

“ The right hand holds an instrument formed like an augur’s crook, probably of some sacred significance; the left grasps the sceptre. Arms and hands have broad muscles, blunt, rounded outlines, and the short and thick proportions peculiar to the entire body. ”

“ So you, who are untrained of touch, do not recognize a hand by the grasp; and so, too, any description I might give would fail to make you acquainted with a friendly hand which my fingers have often folded about, and which my affection translates to my memory. I cannot describe hands under any class or type; there is no democracy of hands. Some hands tell me that they do everything with the maximum of bustle and noise. Other hands are fidgety and unadvised, with nervous, fussy fingers which indicate a nature sensitive to the little pricks of daily life. ”

“ The circumstance that we oppose the thumb to the other four fingers in our hand, and so can grasp things, seemed to be a special distinction of the hand in contrast to the foot, in which the corresponding great toe cannot be opposed in this way to the others. ”