PALMISTRY UP-TO-DATE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3572, 23 February 1914, Page 8

PALMISTRY UP-TO-DATE.

WHAT THE LINES REALLY MEAN. Science has until lately held aJ.icf f.o’.n any, iu.-estigaiion or acku. • !••• a merit of the ancient claims of astr'tigers, palmists, and other to-called charlatans. This arrogant assumption that-modern scientists mlono know the real facts in nature, that it is a folly to waste time and brain on subjects like astrology and palmistry is, happily, fast disappearing. W-e are beginning to realise that there have been men in the past ages who had some insight into the mysteries of life and nature’s laws. Especially true is this of those phenomena pertaining to man, his inheritance and the immutable laws showing the hold blood has upon the race. The question of life after death has ever been with man; the striving to discover some physical means of foretelling- the future of an individual has always occupied the best minds from the time man began to think. But only recently have we of tins age had the righteous boldness to look into these matters in a serious way. A distinct evidence of this change of attitude is seen in Sir Oliver Lodge’s recent address on the question cf Life after Heath. Freud has shown us what the interpretation of dreams means to our past andi future, while every properly equipped psychologist uses hypnotism for the cure of certain functional nervous diseases.

TELLING THE FUTURE. It is not difficult for the student of character —that is, one who understands the working of the body and mind under normal conditions—to tell what will "be the probable future of a certain individual under certain conditions. In fact the trained psychologist can predict the future of a man or woman when lie connects certain physi< ll signs with certain psychical signs. So also can the physician predict the almost certain outcome of disease in an individual, this outcome varying according to the character and inheritance of the patient. Palmists have claimed to be able to tell the future by the fines of the band. Naturally, in our mater - il d scientific age, where laboratory •experiments have displaced those cf‘the more speculative and less tangible kind, plus the hordes cf charlatans which ever hover around fundamental truths, the claims of palmists have been ridiculed and ignored. But it now appears as the result of the studies by Dr Crooks Franks and others that there is quite a real basis for some of their claims. If you will examine the palm of your hand—preferably the left—you will see three pronounced lines. One is a bold line running from the wrist around thjtbig base of the thumb and up to of the space between the thumb and the. index finger. This is callsp the “line of lie.” ThoSnext line you wifi notice starts in this space between the thumb and the Jpndex finger and runs almost straight across the palm of the hand. Tips is “the line of the -head.” The Lfflt line rises from the border of the TCilin below the little finger and ends Ipetween the index and middle finger—'the first middle finger. This is “the line of the* heart.”

HEAD AND HEART LINES. Now bear this in mind: These lines can be found in the hand of those endowed with good physicafand mental health—those well born, eugenically speaking. This is the real foundation upon which the art of science of forecasting by palmistry is built. It has ben shown by the doctors mentioned that in certain cases .of imbeciles these usual lines on the pa’m are not generally present. Even if they are slightly shown they are never regular. There is often but one line where in the normal individual two—the head and heart lines—are found.

Bend your ring and little finger on to the palm while you hold upright the index and middle finger—the apes, tolic sign of benediction. You will now see plainly how "the line of the heart” stands out. If you bend all four fingers over the palm you notice that "the line of the heart” and the "line of the head” practically merge into one. This is important to remember in order to grasp the full significance of what follows. The greater the dexterity of the

hand and finger movements, the delicate the power of control, over these mevments, the more marked will be the lines of the palms. The highest type of man uses complex hand movements ; the lower type, the mentally defective, the imbecile, are limited in their hand and finger movements. These latter unfortunates have little control or dexterity, and the .absence of normal lines in the palm tells us

this.fact even if we had no other proof. There is a delicate relation and adaption of the hand movements to their moving source—the brain cells. The greater the development of certain brain cells, the greater the ability of those organs controlled and governed by these groups of colls to do their allotted work.

An examination of the palms of apes shows that there is no separation of the lines of "the head and the heart.” The big apes have just one transverse line, as do the imbeciles. They cannot close the ring and little finger upon the palm and hold up the other two fingers. In other words, they can not give you the apostolic blessing. If you have ever watched a monkey or big apo grasp a stick or straw, you will have seen them close all four fingers upon it—upon anything they grasp. They cannot perform the intricate and complex movements of the hands and fingers as can man; for, as stated, these movements depend upon a certain brain development. The idea that the lines in the palm are developed after man begins to use the tools of his brain, the liands, that ■ they grow as the brain grows, is found to be wrong. Of course, the increase of use develops any and all organs or functions, but these organs must exist in some elemental form in the earliest of life—generally before birth. In the cage of the normal new-born baby, the two "lines of head and*heart” are to

be seen. They can also be seen a few weeks before birth. So, iVlien a new-born baby shows the two well-marked lines in its chubby palm, <ne can aay with certainty that i£ is well bo-n. That it comes from ancestors whose brains have bi.n active and dr/elopsd, and with this most excellent start in lift it is easy to predict ite success in the future.