Harris Hawthorne Wilder 429 



below the base of the fingers at the apices of four small, but well- 

 marked triangular areas formed by the prolongation and intrusion of 

 the papillary ridges of the fingers into the surface of the palm, the four 

 digital areas (Dj — D4). 



Each triradius is in the form of a minute triangle with its three 

 angles prolonged, and, by continuing these angles, three lines are 

 obtained in the form of a Y, of which the two upper run to the sides 

 of the finger-base and bound each digital area, while the third runs 

 down over the palm and forms one of a series of four palmar lines which 

 mark off this region into three palmar areas (Figs. 1 and 2, Pi-Ps)- 

 The remaining surface includes the extensive thenar and hypothenar 

 areas, with usually an extension of the latter, and the small and often 

 obsolete carpal area; three territories which are usually located and 

 bounded by lines extended from a carpal triradius at the base of the 

 palm. In some cases, however, there is neither a definite carpal area 

 nor a carpal triradius and there the line separating the thenar^ and 

 hypothenar areas is indicated by a parting or separation of the ridges 

 at the middle of the wrist. 



&. Nomenclature.— That the lines and areas thus determined are of 

 definite morphological value seems to me highly probable, and by the 

 application of these methods to more than a hundred palms their con- 

 stant nature becomes evident, although the actual modifications^ are, 

 as might be expected, very numerous, and when the number of inde- 

 pendently modifying concepts is taken into consideration it may well 

 be seen that there is almost no possibility of two separate palms being 

 identical even in the general plan. (See below, the paragraph on 

 " Identical twins.") 



The morphological elements of a normal human palm are thus seen 

 to consist of lines, areas, and triradii, which may be conveniently tabu- 

 lated as follows, each name being followed by a convenient abbreviation 

 for use in the figures and to assist in the construction of descriptive 

 formulae. (See below, under " Personal identification.") 



LINES. AREAS. 



4 Palmar, [Pi — PJ ^ Palmar fS'^S'-'n 



„ J.. ., ,(4 outer [do, -do J 4 Digital Li^^lT *^ 



8 Digital|4j^„gj.^dj;_dij 1 Thenar [ Th ] 



1 Thenar [th] 1 S^P^'S'"^'-;-.!-^^ ^r tt 1 



, , r^^T 1 Hypothenar addition [H, J 



_ ^ , outer... [co] t n"^ ^ rm 



2 Carpal j.^^g^^^^^ij-^ 1 Carpal [C] 



TRIEADTI. 



4 Palmar [tr, -trj 



1 Carpal [ tr. c] 



