DIVINATION AND PALMISTRY 375 



the " fortune-teller " should by hazard turn out to be 

 near the truth, it is remembered and quoted by the 

 client as a proof of the truth of palmistry ; if it does not 

 prove to be correct, it is forgotten. 



The question of the possibility of judging of the 

 character and disposition of a man or woman by the 

 form and proportions of the hand or the foot is alto- 

 gether distinct from that of the reality of " divination " 

 of future events by applying a system of rules to the 

 interpretation of the lines and swellings of the palmar 

 surface. Persons of quick perception are in the habit 

 of forming judgments as to character from a first im- 

 pression of the face, expression, voice, and movements of 

 another individual. Often such judgments are erroneous, 

 and I do not know that they have ever been proved by a 

 large series of experiments to be more frequently right 

 than wrong. But it is possible that correct indications 

 may sometimes be thus obtained. Many people think 

 that they can form more or less correct judgments as to 

 certain mental characteristics by observing the shape and 

 play of the hand and fingers or of the foot. There may 

 be such a correlation of the gesture and form of hands 

 or feet with some mental qualities, but obviously this has 

 nothing to do with palmistry. It has never been really 

 proved that persons of what is called " good birth " have 

 smaller hands and feet than persons of " low birth," 

 although it is often assumed that they have. And it 

 has never been shown why small hands and feet should 

 go with " good birth," supposing that they do so, or why 

 some people have large and some small extremities. 

 The possible effect of certain manual occupations in 

 enlarging the hands of an individual is, of course, ex- 

 cluded ; the question raised is as to naturally or here- 

 ditarily small hands and feet. 



