Manual Characteristics.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 810, 9 September 1887, Page 4

Manual Characteristics.

These astrological teachings of the old masters in palmistry are not only interesting, , but very useful in the matter of reading the hand. For instance, in determining the • mounts—those terrible stumbling blocks toall amateurs—a regard to the type of hand: given by each planet would often set at rest-’, that doubtful matter. A hand will oftenappear to have the mounts of the Moon and that of Venus equally developed ; but in.order to determine what planet is really dominant, we must look to the shape and texture of the whole hand, and if we find ifci presents most forcibly the type given by Venus, then this planet wonld’be dominant this, of course, also applies to mil the other mounts, and is also a great guide when themounts appear—as they frequently do -tobe misplaced. These types are as follow : The hands of those born under the dominant* influence of Venus are small, dimpled, and: rather plump, with smooth fingers, rathershort than long, and with pointed tips ; the - thumb is small, but the root of it—the mount of Venus—is, of course, very well developed the palm of the hand is rose-tinted, and the hand itself of a delicate pinky white. The: Jupiterian hand is large, fleshy, and not' very white, with square-tipped fingers, thick at their base, and rather long than short;: the thumb is large and the first phalanx of it —that next the nail—is longer than thesecond. The Saturnian hand is a long bony hand with spatulated, long and large-jointed fingers ; the texture of the hand is hard,. and the skin dry and of a yellow colour.. The hand of those born under the dominant influence of the Sun has smooth fingers of the same length as the palm of the hand, and with square tips, except the third finger,, which is generally pointed ; the thumb is of medium size, -with the first and second : phalanx of equal length ; the hand is firmbut not hard in texture, and of a marblewhiteness. The Mercurian hand is long, with thin and supple fingers, generally allpointed, but the fourth finger in these hand s is always so ; the thumb is long ; the hand is delicate in texture and of a soft yellowish white. The hand typical of the dominance of Mars is thick and strong, with short fingers very thick at the base and with spatu-. lated tips ; the thumb is short and with a broad and spatulated tip, the first phalanx, of it is much longer than the second ; the texture of the hand is hard, it is red incolor, and the back of the fingers are ofterrcovered with hairs. The hands of those bortti under the Moon are soft, large, and" dimpled at the back like those of people born' under Venus, but the color is of a bluewhite, not roseate like the Venus hand ; thefingers are spatulated and the thumb is relatively short, with,the first phalanx much shorter than the second. Now all these hands have the distinctive character of the planet influencing them, it stands to reason that a knowledge of these types is of great service in determining that difficult question of the mounts; a knowledge, too, of astrological physiognomy, into which all the old works on the subject of palmistry enter, is equally useful, and no one can be a very efficient reader of the hand without consider.

ing these planetary influences, for, as Dr. Saunders in another part of the preface already quoted says, ‘Without astrology, palmistry could not subsist and be subservient to true wisdom.’ Now, why, in the face of this and many other equally forcible words among the old-world authorities, do the modern writers try to force their own crude theories upon us ? To drag the time-honored study of palmistry into the turmoil of nineteenth-century existence, to clip and strain it into unison with the deadly realism of present-day thought, strikes one with the same sense of incongruity as would a carnival mask slung over the mystically calm features of an antique statue.