PALM AND SOLE STUDIES. 



1 85 



III. In the more primitive patterns the underlying surface 

 often presents something of the shape of a conical mound, and the 

 center of the cone coincides with the exact center or core of the 

 pattern. The hypothenar pattern of the hand, of frequent oc- 

 currence in the European-American race, often shows this particu- 

 larly well, and in the occasional cases in which this pattern is in 

 the form of concentric circles, it forms a definite mound, rising 

 with each circle as one approaches the center, and at the apex is 

 pointed, like a papilla, so that it may be noticeable in profile 

 (Figs. I and 2). 



FIG. i. Photograph of the author's right hand, seen in profile and showing the 

 hypothenar pad covered with a whorl, plainly showing its mound-like relief and the 

 papilla at the core of the pattern. 



In spite of the great difference in the percentage of occurrence 

 of the different morphological patterns it is probable that in the 

 human race at the present time no one of the twenty-three 

 patterns of the hand and foot has been allowed to degenerate so 

 completely as never to occur in the primitive form, that of a whorl, 

 although in the more than 1,700 individuals which I have thus 

 far examined, there are at least three places out of the twenty-three 

 in which such a pattern has not yet been found. These, as may 

 be expected, are all in places where there is little contact. Two 

 are in the foot, the thenar, and the hypothenar, and one is in the 



