SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 



45 



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A singular modification of the type, and one which forms a neces- 

 sary link in our present inquiry, is seen in monkeys, in which, owing 

 to their arboreal life and the consequent substitution of climbing for 

 walking, the pads have become low, flattened mounds, and the usual 

 hard covering has softened to a soft epidermis marked with curiously 

 disposed ridges, the seat of a highly developed tactile sense. The 

 volar surface of the paws thus forms a delicate organ of touch, specially 

 adapted to perceive the varying conditions of the tree-boughs, a power 

 often of vital importance to the 

 animal (Fig. 3). The epidermic 

 or papillary ridges cover the en- 

 tire volar surfaces and designate 

 the position of the typical pads 

 by elaborate patterns in the forms 

 of scrolls, loops and whorls as may 

 be seen by a comparison of the fig- 

 ures with the typical diagram. 

 It will be noticed, however, that 

 aside from the usual ten pads, 

 there is seen a small accessory 

 hypothenar, situated between the 

 hypothenar and the third palmar, 

 and that upon the fingers, aside 

 from the apical patterns, there are 

 suggestions of loops and other fig- 

 ures placed upon the first and 

 second joints. The morphological 

 significance of these extra parts is not known at present, and it is prob- 

 able that they have not other meaning than an attempt to increase still 

 farther the sensitiveness of the surface in places not covered by the origi- 

 nal pads. 



To supply the next and final link in our chain of reasoning the 

 reader may be asked to consult his own hand and compare it with 

 Fig. 3. Upon this the apical pads, or patterns, as they may now be 

 called, will be easily seen, much as in the Micmac drawings, and it is 

 probable that one at least of the palmar patterns, and perhaps also the 

 hypothenar, will be in evidence. Individual human hands differ 

 greatly, however, in the patterns represented, the limits in the authors 

 collection of one hundred palm-prints being shown in Fig. 4, both 

 taken from whites of American parentage, yet differing from each other 

 in the matter of patterns more than the first and more atavistic one 

 differs from that of the monkey. In the same way Fig. 5 represents 

 the extremes of a collection of about sixty sole-prints where the differ- 

 ences are as great as in the palms. 



Fig. 3. Volar Surface of Right Hand 

 of Large Monkey {Inuus) : (from author's 

 Illustration in Anat Anzeiger, 1896). Ace. 

 H, Accessory hypothenar pad (other abbre- 

 viations as in Fig. 2). 



