TELL-TALE HANDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18833, 23 March 1931, Page 2

TELL-TALE HANDS.

REVEALING CHARACTER. Doctors one and all are hand readers. They cannot help being so. No examination could be complete without an inspection of the patient’s hands in some form or other, says a writer in the “Daily Express.” The hand is the most exposed part of the body. It runs risks of accidents and infection which the face, though equally exposed, is not liable to meet. Instruments for examining the hand can be Just as costly as those required for examining other parts of the body. The fingernails can be illuminated and so magnified that the blood corpuscles can be seen in the capillary stream. A glove can be used for physic purposes. It may also reveal what Its owner seeks to hide. A chain-smoker, lighting one cigarette from another till his daily box of 100 is exhausted, may avoid staining of the fingers by the constant use of his gloves. Women cigarette fiends achieve the same result by the use of the holder. Dramatic critics tell us that many of the modern younger actors and actresses try to achieve “success” by littering the stage with half-smoked and discarded cigarettes. They are unable otherwise to use their hands for the purpose of expressing themselves. The hands supply at a glance evidence, when present, of such diseases as gout and rheumatism. Many skin infections are confined to the hand alone. Writer’s cramp and telegraphist's cramp are types of localised nerve lesion which speak for themselves. The typist’s fingers are also distinctive. The fine and coarse tremor may result from abuse or drugs. It may be to a brain lesion or disease. Nervousness, self-consciousness —the modern inferiority complex—may cause the trembling hands in an otherwise healthy individual. The hand may be void of sensation. It may be limp and lifeless. It may be expressionless. When the hand is surveyed in relation to temperament, vice, and virtue, it reveals character and modes of living to which no confession can be an equal. The expectation of life is stamped on the hand. Good health or bad health is as apparent as the wearing of a glove. Happiness or sorrow leaves an Imprint which cannot be mistaken, while success or failure is as clearly outlined as if set forth in an open book. We know that sign language came before vocal. Our hands to-day are influenced by millions of years of heredity. That is why, whether we like it or not, whether we try to disguise it or exaggerate, our hands proclaim our very inmost thoughts and desires. It is merely commonplace to remark whether a person’s hand is cold or warm, damp or dry. It may be steady or shaky. It may be healthy or unhealthy looking. It may be deformed, mutilated, or crippled. All these count for nothing as compared with the manner in which the hands reflect the workings of the brain. A simple movement or gesture of the right hand has cost many a man his life. An inclination of one finger will control an orchestra of a hundred performers.