146 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



time to time arrived at the Museum, I was enabled to 

 take, among others, the impressions herewith reproduced. 

 Although they are not quite so successful as might be 

 desired, they are yet amply sufficient to show the general 

 plan of arrangement of their lines, and the variation to which 

 they are subject in different genera. Enlargements from 

 these same impressions are now exhibited in the British 

 (Natural History) Museum. 



Before proceeding farther I must disclaim any intention 

 of poaching on the preserves of the so-called science of 

 " palmistry." This, so far as I can understand its methods, 

 deals exclusively with the folds or creases on the human 

 palm (corresponding with the white lines in the annexed 

 figures) ; while attention is here concentrated on the mode 

 of arrangement of the raised ridges and their intervening 

 grooves. It may, however, be mentioned that the creases 

 in question have, both in man and monkeys, a definite 

 mode of arrangement, which appears to be due to the 

 position and action of the palmar muscles. What possible 

 connection there can be between such muscular creases and 

 the duration of human life or the vicissitudes of our mortal 

 career may well be left for the professors of palmistry to 

 explain as best they can. 



As regards the structure of the palmar ridges, an 

 examination of the reader's own hand with a lens will 

 easily show that these consist of a series of very minute 

 cone-like elevations, placed close together, and on the 

 summits of which are situated the apertures of the 

 sudoriferous or sweat-glands. If a section of the skin 

 be examined under a microscope, it will also be evident 

 that within these papillae are certain organs of touch 

 know as the tactile bodies. Between the papillary ridges, 

 as we may term them, are situated the equally narrow 



