FINGEK-PEINT SYSTEM LAUFEK. 645 



tified. We must remember, also, that no system of palmistry has 

 been handed down to us from ancient times; we merely know the 

 fact that the practice itself existed at an early date. The philosopher 

 Wang ('h'ung, who wrote in 82 or 83 A. D., states in regard to palm-= 

 isters that they examine the left palm, but neglect the right one, 

 because the lines of the former are decisive, whereas diviners turn to 

 the right side and neglect the left one, because the former are 

 conclusive,^ 



The view of the independence of finger prints from palmistry is by 

 no means contradicted by the following statement of A. H. Smith r^ 



The Chinese, like the gypsies and many other peoples, tell fortunes by the lines 

 upon the inside of the fingers. The circular striae upon the finger tips are called tou, 

 a peck, while those which are curved, without forming a circle are styled H, being 

 supposed to resemble a dustpan. Hence the follomng saying: "One peck, poor; 

 two pecks, rich; three pecks, four pecks, open a pawnshop; five pecks, be a go- 

 between; six pecks, be a thief; seven pecks, meet calamities; eight pecks, eat chaff; 

 nine pecks and one dustpan, no work to do — eat till you are old." 



This is neither fortune telling nor palmistry, but harmless jocular 

 play which merely goes to prove that the striae on the finger bulbs 

 are noticed by the people and made the object of slight reflections. 

 The above saying belongs to a well-known category of folklore 

 which may be described under the title ''counting out." 



We alluded above to the hand stamp and its fundamental dif- 

 ference from finger prints in that it is unsuitable for identification. 

 Let us now enter more particularly into this subject. 



W. G. Aston ^ has given three examples of the use of the hand 

 stamp in the East. In the Chinese novel Shui hu chuan of the 

 thirteenth century a writing of divorce is authenticated by the 

 husband stamping on it the impress of his hand smeared with ink.^ 

 In Japan, deeds, notes of hand, certificates, and other documents to 



1 A Forke, Lun-hgng, Part II (Berlin, 1911), p. 275. — Many ideas of Chinese palmistry are directly bor- 

 rowed from India. Prominent among these is the exaltation of long arms reaching down to the knees, 

 which appears among the beauty marks of the Buddha and is in fact an ancient Aryan conception of the 

 ruler (A. Griinwedel. Buddhist Art in India, p. 162; Laufer, Dokumente, pp. 166, 167). With the Indians 

 as with the Persians, this is an old mark of noble birth (compare the name Longimanus, old Persian 

 Darghabdzu, Sanskrit Dlrghahahu). In China we meet the notion that a man whose hand reaches below 

 his knees will be among the bravest and worthiest of his generation, but one whose hand does not reach 

 below his waist will ever be poor and lowly (Giles, 1. c, p. 181). In regard to Liu Pei (162-223 A. D.), it 

 is on record that his ears reached to his shoulders and his hands to his knees (Giles, Biographical Diction- 

 arj', p. 516). 



» Proverbs and Common Sayings from the Chinese, Shanghai, 1902, p. 314. 



3 Folk-lore, vol. 17, 1907, p. 113. 



* K. Minakata (1. c, p. 199) tries to make out finger prints occurring in this work, which seems to me 

 an unwarranted statement. It Ls there plainly the question of hand impressions only. He states: 



"In the novel Shui hu chuan examples are given of the use of finger prints, not only in divorce, but also 

 in criminal causes. Thus the chapter narrating Lin Chung's divorce of his wife has this passage: 'Lin 

 Chung, after his amanuensis had copied what he dictated, marked his sign character, and stamped his 

 hand pattern.' And in another place, giving details of Wu Song's capture of the two women, the mur- 

 derers of his brother, we read: ' lie called forth the two women; compelled them both to ink and stamp 

 theirfingers; then called forth the neighbors; made them write down the names and stamp (with fingers).'" 

 85360°— SM 1912 42 



