Thumbscrew

“ And to this day, her thumbs retain somewhat of that largeness. By her account, these large strong thumbs were very useful to her during her wild life in the woods; for, when she had a mind to pass from one tree to another, if the branches of the two trees were but at a small distance, and though of no greater thickness than her finger, she would place her thumbs on a branch of the tree in which she happened to be, and by their means spring to the other, just like a squirrel. ”

“ It has no distinct handle beyond a slight projection from the end. The thumb-groove is shallow and chamfered on the lower side to fit exactly. There is a long, continuous notch for the four fingers, in which the index finger and the middle finger are set off by pegs. There is a depression, more or less profound, to receive the tips of the fingers. The groove for the harpoon or spear-shaft is at the lower extremity and runs out entirely near the index finger. ”

“ The thumb is in a different plane from the fingers; when the hand is laid flat on any surface—as this window-pane, for instance—the palmar surfaces of the fingers touch it, whereas it is the side of the thumb which comes in contact and not the palmar surface. But in this”—he tapped the framed glass with his finger—“the prints show the palmar surfaces of all the five digits in contact at once, which is an impossibility. Just try to put your own thumb in that position and you will see that it is so.” ”

“ Stick a little wax upon your thumb, and take a stander by, by the fingers, showing him the tester, and telling him you will put the same into his hand, then wring it down hard with your waxed thumb, and using many words, look him in the face, and as soon as you perceive him to look in your face, or on your hand, suddenly take away your thumb and close his hand, and it will seem to him that the tester remaineth; even as it you ring a tester upon one's forehead, it will seem to stick when it is taken away especially if it be wet ”

“ 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. ”

“ So that we have to consider not only the chance that the print of the prisoner's left thumb should be identical with the print of some other person's left thumb—which is as one to sixty-four thousand millions—but the further chance that these two identical thumb-prints should be traversed by the impression of a scar identical in size and appearance, and intersecting the ridges at exactly the same places and producing failures of continuity in the ridges of exactly the same character. ”

“ Did you ever see his left thumb? That the habit of the man was to sit with a glove on the left hand I am quite certain, and I believe he always did it. The case went on something like seventy days before we heard a word about the thumb, and the first we heard about it was in the re-examination of Mr. Baigent. It is remarkable the terms in which he introduced it, and the terms in which the charge is made, and the persons against whom it was made. “Attend to me carefully,” says Mr. Serjeant Ballantine; “were the photographs shown taken from the daguerreotype?” “Yes, they were.” ”

“ The thumb-screw should be released so that the legs may be moved without much effort. When the approximate setting has been secured, use the thumb-nut for adjusting to more accurate measurement. In describing circles, the dividers should be held as in Fig. 21 and swung to the right or left as is convenient. They should be leaned forward slightly and an effort made to secure a sharp, light line. For most work the two legs may be sharpened to points. Sometimes one is sharpened like a knife point. ”

“ Adduction of the thumb is carried out, not by the paralysed adductor pollicis, but the movement may be simulated by the long flexor and extensor muscles of the thumb. Epicritic sensibility is lost over the little finger, the ulnar half of the ring finger, and that part of the palm and dorsum of the hand to the ulnar side of a line drawn longitudinally through the ring finger and continued upwards. Protopathic sensibility is lost over an area which varies in different cases. Deep sensibility is usually lost over an area almost as extensive as that of protopathic insensibility. ”

“ The function of the thumb is that of a pivot; a fulcrum. The bow is a lever resting thereon, and its pressure on the string is regulated by the first and second fingers on the one side and by the third and fourth on the other. It would thus appear that the best place for the thumb would be exactly between the second and third fingers. But it is not given to every thumb to drop naturally into this position. And here is to be noted the germ of facility in bowing. Every thumb closes naturally on a certain spot ”

“ Continued practice with the thumb will form two grooves on the under side of the thumb, exactly the width of the strings apart; when this comes about, no inconvenience will be experienced either in rapidly sliding along the strings, or in putting on sufficient pressure. A common experience with students first learning thumb positions, is the feeling that the fingers are too long. To remedy this and also to gain sufficient weight on the fingers, some young players will allow the knuckles to protrude and the finger joints to bend inwards. ”

“ The cutting edge, if sharp, cuts the outer layer, the callous part of the ball of the thumb, just a little. The sense of feeling is so keen that the resulting friction, slight as it is, is transferred to the brain of the worker long before any injury need be done the thumb. ”

“ Should the section be somewhat tough we may find the razor slip suddenly over its surface, an event which will impress itself upon us painfully if we have forgotten the injunction not to bend the thumb, for the certain result of the slip will be the loss of a goodly portion of skin upon one’s joint. A straight thumb will be out of the danger zone of a slipping razor. ”

“ Block all the fingers together and draw an imaginary line from the tip of the thumb to the fingers to check your proportions. Close up your own thumb and note that it reaches to the first joint of your forefinger. Thumbs, because of the deceptive nature of a curve, are often deprived of strength, length, and muscle. Note the large surfaces of muscle, the almost square shape of the palm. Once you have the larger proportions of fingers and thumbs well fixed in your mind it will not be difficult to observe each finger each knuckle each finger-tip separately. ”

“ The curvature of the fingers forms a strong and broad hook, which renders excellent service in climbing; and the thumb, whose position enables it to be placed opposite all the other fingers, acts in conjunction with the latter like a pair of pincers, capable of seizing and feeling smaller objects. The thumb being easily moveable and strong at the same time, is a privilege of the human hand. It powerfully opposes itself against the other fingers into the fist, for the seizing and holding of heavy objects. ”

“ It was handed to me for examination at my office on the tenth of March."
"There is a mark upon it—the print of a finger or thumb. Can you tell us anything about that mark?"
"It is the print of the left thumb of Reuben Hornby, the prisoner at the bar."
"You are quite sure of that?"
"I am quite sure."
"Do you swear that the mark upon that paper was made by the thumb of the prisoner?"
"I do."
"Could it not have been made by the thumb of some other person?"
"No; it is impossible that it could have been made by any other person." ”

“ I painted the ball of the client's thumb, took a print of it on the paper, studied it that night, and revealed his fortune to him next day. What was my idea in this nonsense? It was this: When I was a youth, I knew an old Frenchman who had been a prison-keeper for thirty years, and he told me that there was one thing about a person which never changed, from the cradle to the grave—the lines in the ball of the thumb; and he said that these lines were never exactly alike in the thumbs of any two human beings. ”

“ The back of the grip is convex throughout its length, an arrangement which, when the thumb is pressed upon it, as it should be in the use of a light sabre, does not give so good a hold as one presenting in the lower part a concavity into which shall fit the convex surface of the extended thumb. ”

“ Hairs of forehead long and projecting anteriorly; tail one-quarter longer than the body; hands generally entirely lacking the thumbs, though sometimes a rudimentary thumb is present, and that occasionally on one hand only. Naked portion of tail covered with sensory papillæ, rendering it more sensitive, so it is said, than the hand. Length of body, 24 inches; tail, 30 inches. The skull in some specimens of the thumbed variety is compressed laterally, and shows a sagittal crest along the top. ”

“ The part connecting the legs with the tail is called the interfemoral membrane.
Looking more closely, however, we find that, though the four fingers of each hand are thus bound together, the thumb is free, standing out at a wide angle, and furnished with a very long and strong-hooked claw. Of the four fingers, it is only the first which is clawed.
The uses made by the bat of its singularly-formed limbs are, of course, in exact correspondence with their structure. The fore-limbs are true organs of flight; the hind-limbs and tail have a rudder-like action. ”

“ In a perpendicular line with the lobes of the ears two sets of muscles will be found running down the neck. One hand is employed in such manner that the assailant's thumb digs into these muscles on one side of the victim's neck, and the finger-tips in the corresponding muscles on the other side of the neck. This gives a form of attack that is painful and convincing to the recipient. ”

“ This fondness for loading the fingers with an abundance of rings is well displayed on the crossed hands of a figure of a woman (Fig. 82) upon a mummy case in the British Museum. Here the thumbs as well as the fingers are encircled by them. The left hand is most loaded; upon the thumb is a signet with hieroglyphics on its surface; three rings on the forefinger; two on the second, one formed like a snail-shell; the same number [79] on the next, and one on the little finger. The right hand carries only a thumb-ring, and two upon the third finger. ”

“ The percussion on the keys is effected solely by the fingers, which, without any actual blow, must press each key firmly down; and in doing this, neither the hand nor the arm must be allowed to make any unnecessary movements. The thumb should always strike the key with its external narrow surface, and in so doing it must be but very little bent. ”

“ While, however, in the bat all the fingers of each hand are enormously elongated (to support the alar membrane) —the thumb alone remaining free—in these flying reptiles only a single finger of each hand was thus elongated, the others remaining short, and being provided with claws like the thumb. ”

“ When these divisions are found large, the qualities are increased; when small, they play a smaller rôle in the life of the individual.
There are two distinct classes of Thumbs, the supple-jointed and the firm-jointed.
The former of these divisions is the Thumb bending [Pg 128] outwards and supple at the joint underneath the nail (Fig. 2, Plate III.) .
This denotes a nature pliable and adaptable to others, very broad-minded, rather unconventional, and not obstinate in its views of life. These characteristics will be increased if the Head Line be found sloping and bending downwards. ”

“ Holding the Gage.—The hand serves to keep the cheekpiece against the board, while the thumb pushes the gage forward. The hand must not, under any circumstances, be used to move the gage along. In fact, it is not necessary for the fingers to be clasped around the gage stem, if the forefinger presses tightly against the cheekpiece, since the thumb performs all the operation of moving it along. Naturally, the hand grasps the tool in [Pg 38] order to hold it down against the material, and to bring it back for a new cut. ”

“ The palms of the hands are provided with three tubercles, of which the innermost is the largest, and is carried by the vestige of the thumb. The coloration of this species is very variable. The ground-colour of the upper parts is a rich olive brown with darker, light-edged patches, which are either separate or confluent in various ways, forming broad, longitudinal bands, or a few larger asymmetrical patches, separated in some individuals by a broad and conspicuous light brown or yellowish vertebral stripe. An irregular reddish band frequently extends from the eyes backwards along the sides. ”

“ The friction is so great in casting, that the thumb must be protected by a thumb-stall or cot, as the natives call it, or better yet, one for each thumb, so that you can cast from either side, and snub the fish with either hand. ”

“ The reins are carried flat upon each other up through the hand, near the middle joint of the fore-finger, and the thumb is placed upon them so that their ends fall down in front of the knuckles. The elbow should neither be squeezed close to the side, nor thrust out into an awkward and unnatural position; but be carried easily and gracefully, at a moderate distance from the body. The thumb should be uppermost, and the hand so placed that the lower part of it be nearer the waist than the upper ”

“ With the right hand closed, curve the thumb and index, join their tips so as to form a circle, and place to the lobe of the ear. (Absaroka I; Hidatsa I.) "Big ear-rings." Fig. 285.
Both hands, fists, (B, except thumbs) in front of body, backs looking toward the sides of the body, thumbs obliquely upward, left hand stationary, the backs of the fingers of the two hands touching, carry the right thumb forward and backward at the inner side of the left thumb and without moving the hand from the left, in imitation of the act of shelling corn. ”