8 



doing ; it is the practical useful, hand. The soft hand is the hand 

 of the poet, the musician, the artist, the dreamer ; who may attain 

 to excellence and fame, but by intuition rather than by energetic 

 labour. 



We come now to the more debateable and less scientific part of 

 my subject. There can, I think, be no question as to the general 

 conformation, or even, probably, the more characteristic of the 

 lines of the hand, corresponding, broadly, to the habits, race, and 

 temperament of the individual, or that these characteristics may be 

 transmitted to descendants. No one, for example, would fail to 

 perceive the difference between the hand of the day labourer, whose 

 ancestors had delved the soil for generations, and that of the 

 hereditaiy peer, whose delicate hand had never touched a spade. 

 But when we come to the mystic operations of chiromancy we are 

 on far less certain grounds, and if I venture into the realms of 

 superstition (for it is nothing less) you must not imagine I believe, 

 or wish you to believe, the mysterious teachings of chiromancy. I 

 enumerate some of them to-night for your amusement, and with 

 the same feeling of interest with which I might follow the re- 

 searches of the ancient alchemist in his vain search for the 

 philosopher's stone. I say vain search, but it was really far from 

 that, as the numberless experiments of the alchemist led to some 

 of the most useful and important discoveries in chemistry ; and as 

 the wild dreams and observations of the astrologer were the 

 foundation of the very practical science of astronomy. I shall 

 quote more largely from D'Arpentigny and Desbarrolles, the great 

 French masters of chiromancy, and from Mr. Beamish, their 

 learned English expositor. On most palms may be found, more 

 or less distinctly marked three principal lines ; the first arises 

 near the junction of the first and second finger, and passes in a 

 curved line with the concavity upwards, to the outer edge of the 

 palm about one inch below the root of the little finger. This is 

 called in the language of chiromancy, " the line of the heart." 

 The second line runs diagonally across the palm from midway 

 between the base of the thumb and first finger and terminates 

 in the fleshy part of the external palm (the mound of Mars). 

 This is "the line of the head." The third lines runs around the 

 fleshy prominence of the root of the thumb (the mound of Venus). 

 It arises from the same place as the line of the head, and is lost 

 near the wrist. It is the lire of life ; great stress is laid on the 

 colour, continuity, and appearance of these lines, and especially if 

 they be crossed by others. When the line of the heart has a 

 uniform and health appearance and colour, it indicates " an 

 affectionate and happy nature," the force or feebleness of attach- 

 ment being in direct proportion to the length of the line ; should it 



