MALLERY,] NEAPOLITAN SIGNS. 305 
hand touches the point of the nose with that of the thumb. It has the 
particular sense of stigmatizing the person addressed or in question as 
a dupe. A credulous person is generally imagined with a gaping mouth 
and staring eyes, and as thrusting forward his 
face, with pendant chin, so that the nose is well ad- 
vanced and _ therefore 
most prominent in the 
profile. A dupeisthere- 
fore called naso lungo or 
long-nose, and with Ital. & 
ian writers “restare con 
un palmo di naso”—to 
be left with a palm’s 
Fic. 107. length of nose—means 
to have met with loss, injury, or disappointment. 
The thumb stroking the forehead from one side to the other, Fig. 109, 
is a natural sign of fatigue, and of the physical toil that produces 
fatigue. The wiping off of perspiration is ob- 
viously indicated. This gest- 
ure is often used ironically. 
As a dupe was shown above, 
now the duper is signified, by 
Fig. 110. The gesture is to 
place the fingers between the 
cravat and the neck and rub 
; the latter with the back of the 
Fic. 109. hand. The ideais that the de- Fic. 110. 
ceit is put within the cravat, taken in and down, similar to our phrase to 
“swallow” a false and deceitful story, and a “cram” is also an English 
slang word for an incredible lie. The conception of the slang term is 
nearly related to that of the Neapolitan sign; viz., the artificial enlarge- 
ment of the @sophagus of the person victimized or on whom imposition 
is attempted to be practiced, which is necessary to take it down. 
Fig. 111 shows the ends of the index and 
thumb stroking the two sides of the nose from 
base to point. Thismeans astute, attentive, ready. 
Sharpness of the nasal organ is popularly asso- 
' ciated with subtlety and finesse. The old Ro- 
mans by homo emuncte naris meant an acute 
man attentive to his interests. The sign is often 
used in a bad sense, then signifying too sharp to 
be trusted. 
This somewhat lengthy but yet only partial 
list of Neapolitan gesture-signs must conclude 
with one common throughout Italy, and also among us with a somewhat 
different signification, yet perhaps also derived from classic times. To 
