374 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



would be perfectly easy to do so, since every variation 

 in the lines and the monticules has been mechanically 

 dealt with, and its supposed indications precisely deter- 

 mined by a formal set of rules. There are similar lines 

 on that part of the foot in human infants and in the 

 adult apes which corresponds to the palmar surface. But 

 no palmist has attempted to deal with them. The fact 

 is that the attributions indicated by such names as the 

 line of heart, the line of life, the line of the head, and 

 the line of fortune are purely arbitrary, as are those of 

 the monticules Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury, 

 Mars, and the Moon. In past times there have been 

 great divergences in their interpretation by different 

 schools, and the present uniformity is as devoid of any 

 conceivable relation to fact as were the former diverg- 

 ences. It is impossible to discuss the asserted correlation 

 of the lines and monticules of the hand with either 

 character or life-history, since no facts are offered in 

 support of the notion that there is such a correlation. 

 We have bare assertion, and nothing more, as in most 

 of the other doctrines of magic. 



The shape of the hand and of the fingers, and the 

 softness, hardness, dryness, and moisture of the skin are 

 taken into account by most palmists. Few, if any, of 

 those who pretend at the present day to " read " a hand 

 are really acquainted with the elaborate rules laid down 

 by the painstaking, if deluded, people who endeavoured 

 to construct a sort of astrology of the hand by assigning 

 the names of heavenly bodies to parts of it. The 

 modern professional palmist forms a judgment and guess 

 as to his or her client's character and probable past and 

 future history by indications and information obtained 

 from the client's face, manner, conversation, costume, and 

 personal acquaintance. If a vague prophec)' made by 



