HARRIS HAWTHORNE WILDER. 



there opens up to the investigator an almost endless series of 

 new phenomena the study of which, in the few years during which 

 the subject has received special attention, has been no more than 

 begun. 



As this paper is intended in part as an invitation, or perhaps 

 a propaganda, for more work in this subject, a bibliography of 

 the entire subject is appended, with some suggestions as to the 

 character of the separate titles. It may not come amiss, also, 

 to give in this place a key to the method of formulation now in 

 use, which, although somewhat artificial in the sense that it 

 does not have much morphological significance, is a convenient 

 way in which to express the fundamental conditions found in a 

 given palm or sole, and as such, has already been extensively 

 used. 1 



In the palm the starting-points of this system are four triradii 

 (Galton's deltas} which lie at the bases of the four fingers, and 

 may be designated as A, B, C, and D, the first situated beneath 

 the index finger, and so on. As in all triradii, these points form 

 each the meeting place of three radiating lines, at approximately 

 120 from each other, and of these three radiants two short ones 

 pass obliquely upwards (distally), defining a small digital area, 

 while the third follows a longer and quite variable course across 

 the palm. These latter are the four Main Lines, designated by 

 the same letters as are used for their triradii of origin, and as 

 their position indicates the configuration of the entire palm, a 

 simple method of describing their course is of first importance. 



To "interpret" a given palm it is first necessary to locate the 

 four digital triradii, A, B, C, and D, and then to trace from these 

 centers their three radiants, and more especially the main lines, 

 following them across the palm wherever they may lead, never 

 crossing a ridge. Often, in this pursuit a single ridge may be 

 followed almost the entire distance; again, the ridge that is being 

 followed may come to an end, yet the direction be immediately 

 taken up with a new one, upon which the line may be continued. 

 Where a ridge forks, and thus allows two or more possible courses, 

 the most distal one should be taken. If, now, these courses be 



1 Cf. the recent papers of Schlaginhaufen, 1906; Loth, 1906, and the two papers 

 of Wilder on "Racial Differences," 1904, 1913; cf. also the exposition of the method 

 in Martin's new "Lehrbuch der Anthropologie," Jena, 1914, pp. 360-367. 



