HAND POSTURES. 



297 



fingers. This spontaneous posture I have seen in 

 hundreds of cases, usually in females of nervous, 

 excitable temperament; in nervous children, bad 

 sleepers, etc. In a child in whom this posture is 

 usually seen when the hand is held out during the 

 day, it is not seen when at rest. If, in such a child 

 when asleep, the hand be held out by the wrist- 

 band during sleep, the hand naturally falls into the 

 posture of " the hand in rest." 



Fig. 33. The Nervous Hand. 



The most essential character of this nervous hand, 

 is the extension backwards of the knuckle-joints 

 and the thumb ; this may be seen in some of the 

 knuckle-joints only, as is well illustrated in Fig. 

 35, where each hand of the seated figures, if not 

 engaged in holding a shield or bowl, presents one 

 or more knuckles bent back beyond the straight 

 line of the hand. 



At the British Museum we have the statue of 

 Diana next to that of Venus; the figure of a 

 strong energetic woman in contrast with the figure 



