484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



repeated with the left hand uppermost, for " peace." The idea of 

 union or linking is obvious. Other deaf-mutes, to express friend- 

 ship, link the index-fingers twice, first holding the left hand hack 

 down and then turning it back up. 



In this connection it is to be noted that the Japanese, in actual 

 salutation, not merely as a sign of it, only indicate the hand- 

 grasp. They fumble with their own hands in greeting, instead 

 of troubling those of the person greeted, which is a proof of their 

 refinement, deserving of imitation in the United States, where the 

 continual and promiscuous hand-taking, which often is hand-shak- 

 ing, is a serious nuisance, and is properly ridiculed by foreign 

 visitors. The habit, however, is not peculiar to the United States, 

 most Teutonic peoples having the same and being also ridiculed 

 by the French. The Chinese, with a higher conception of polite- 

 ness, shake their own hands. The account of a recent observer of 

 the meeting of two polite Celestials is : " Each placed the fingers 

 of one hand over the fist of the other, so that the thumbs met, and 

 then, standing a few feet apart, raised his hands gently up and 

 down in front of his breast. For special courtesy, after the fore- 

 going gesture, they place the hand which had been the chief actor 

 in it over the stomach of its owner, not on that part of the inter- 

 locutor." The whole proceeding is symbolic, but doubtless is a 

 relic of objective performance. The Chinese symbol for friend, 

 doh, is two hands. 



Some writers have conjectured that the custom of giving and 

 taking hands is derived from the giving and taking of presents, 

 often an obligatory act of friendship. In several countries objects, 

 perhaps of no value, must always be exchanged on the meeting of 

 friends. To offer, accept, or refuse a hand undoubtedly has im- 

 port, independent of the manner of junction. Other suggestions 

 have been made to the effect that the hand-grasp was symbolic 

 of the action by which physical help is frequently rendered, as by 

 raising up a comrade who has fallen into a hole. A more poetical 

 concept is clearly indicated in the Oto addition to the common 

 sign for friend : Both hands are brought open before the chest, then 

 extended, and the left hand, with palm up, is grasped crosswise by 

 the right with palm down, and held thus several seconds. The 

 hands are then unclasped, and the right fist is held in the left 

 axilla, by which it is firmly grasped. " One whom I will not 

 let go/' 



Indians have another mode of expressing " union," " friend," 

 and specifically " brother," and " growing up together." They 

 hold the right hand in front of and back toward the neck, index 

 and second fingers extended, touching, pointing upward and 

 slightly to the front, the others and thumb closed ; raise the 

 hand, moving it slightly to the front until tips of fingers are as 



