READING THE HAND
As in the case of Dr, Joseph Bell, the prototype of Sherlock Holmes it is to an experienced doctor in the out-patient's department of a big London hespital that you must go to learn the trade-marks of the different occupations.
A medical man recently said that a railway porter's left hand is always several sizes larger than the right. The porter shuts hundreds of carriage doors in a hurry, and it is the left hand he uses, for 99 trains out of 100 leave the platform from right to left. As the porter stands facing the train he finds the left hand for shutting with, and the constant turning of the heavy handles, overdevelops tihe left at the expense of the other. A sailor is betrayed by his hands, though his gait may betray him. They are permanently half shut. Walking, talking, or sleeping, the sailor has his hands half shut and could not open them if he tried. This is the result of years of climbing and pulling ropes. And this second Sherlock Holmes assures us he has not read 10 novels in his life!
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Northern Advocate, 18 February 1911, Page 6
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189READING THE HAND Northern Advocate, 18 February 1911, Page 6
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