THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN HANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18257, 16 August 1921, Page 2

THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN HANDS

I IS PALMISTRY A SCIENCE? STRANGE STORIES AND STRANGER THEORIES. A fashionable woman disappeared a few days ago. She was acting on a strong hint from the police. She had been living in an expensive flat near Victoria Station, and for - two years had been extracting fees, ranging from five to fifty guineas, from gullible people who believed she could tell their fortunes by palmistry. That woman was a swindler. She practised palmistry because it provided her’with a “fat” living. She imposed upon credulous people who believe that the lines on the hand are an infallible index to the future. One has little sympathy for her victims, mostly well-to-do people who probably would still have been paying her, quite willingly, the fees she demanded for “hand-read-ings” and she not become greedy and attempted to blackmail one of her clients. IN THE BLACKMAILER’S DEN. The latter -was a young married woman who frightened by her gambling and speculation losses, consulted, the palmist. The trickster gained her confidence, and fiinally threatened to tell her husband if she was not paid to keep quiet. Luckily, the woman confessed to her husband, and it was he who put the police on the track of this charlatan. To save his Wife from further disgrace and worry, lie refused to prosecute. This is not an isolated ease of blackmail practised by fraudulent palmists. It is well known to the police that the fortune-telling boudoirs of the West-end are often a cloak for fashionable crooks, who are thus able to pry into the private lives of the wealthy and blackmail them when opportunity occurs. The worst feature of the evil aspect of palmistry is the effect the “prophecies” have upon the health, mind, and nerves of sensitive and imaginative people. ..

A West-end doctor stated recently that several people had come to him in a pitiable state of nervous breakdown because palmists had told them that they would be afflicted with some disease. One man was told he would contract cancer of the skin. Some time afterwards he developed a simple skin disease, but so great was his belief in the palmist that his health was almost completely shattered.

Another cruel instance was that of a mother who was told that her unborn child would die. The infant did die, and in his comments at a subsequent prosecution the magistrate remarked that it was “monstrous to tell a woman who was about- to become a. mother what would happen. People believed these wicked ‘prophecies, and unconsciously helped to bring the thfng about." PECULIAR PROPHECIES. Two more cases will suffice to show the tragic result of believing in the prophecies of the arrant impostors who thrive under the cloak of palmistry. A young airman was told that he would be killed in a railway accident. He was so convinced that he would die in that manner that he took all sorts of risks when flying. He was killed in the air on a day when he should not have ventured on a flight, and most certainly would nut have done so had it not been for his faith in the palmist’s prophecy. The most horrible case of which I have heard (writes our Special Investigator) was related by the Rev. F. B. Meyer. A woman was very unhappy with her husband. She went to a palmist, who told her that he would be killed under certain conditions. Those conditions the wife took no active part in bring about but the palmist’s words had such an effect upon her- mind that she lived in the hope that she would gain her freedom in the manner’ prophesied. Imagine a wife sitting, waiting, watching, at home, hoping to hear any moment that her husband had been killed according to a palmist’s prophecy. It would be easy to multiply these cases, but suflifficient has been said to emphasize the folly and danger of believing in the prophecies of these self-reputed palmistry experts. The pity is that these malpractices cause people to deride what, others honestly believe to be a means by which character and health can be read, and slight indications given as to future conduct. It must not be.forgotten that Mr. W. T. Stead’s death by drowning was foretold by a West-end palmist. Three years before Lord Russell of Killowen became Lord Chief Justice he was told the year, month, and day on which he would reach the pinnacle of his profession. His lordship sent for the palmist on the first day he wore his robes of office to acknowledge the astounding accuracy of his prediction. As a matter of fact palmistry, as a system for suggesting the future, existed four thousond years ago. Many people fail to realize the difference between imposters who use palmistry as a means of gaining a living at the expense of the credulous and those who really believe that character can be read by the. lines of the hand. There are those who study everything appertaining to the system and who give readings to their friends without fee or payment, in the hope of finding further proof of the theories suggested by their studies. Scientists differ among themselves as to the value of palmistry. Many interesting books on the subject have been written, and in one it is pointed out that the flinger-tips serve not only as eyes to the blind, but as an aid to hearing by the deaf. Beethoven, after he had become deaf, could solace his weary hours by playing the piano. He was unable to hear, but the delicate nerves in his finger-tips conveyed the harmony to his brain. It is contended by some experts that the hand is a map of life; that the lines on the palm and fingers indicate the milestones in our lives, and that palmistry is a science, which, however, has been brought into disrepute by charlatans, quacks, and fanatics. Others declare that anyone with the power of observation, aided by a lens, ought to be able to reconstruct the leading characteristics of the person whose hand is under examination. Every man’s hand bears some evidence of his daily occupation. The right hand of the navvy; the depression in the palm of the carpenter and ’sculptor from chisel, mallet, and

hammer; the “twine-finger” of the shop assistant; the corns, on the fingers of the violinists—almost ever occupation lends some peculiarity to the worker's hand. AN EASY ROAD TO FORTUNE! Furthermore, consumption, heart disease, gout, nerve diseases, paralysis, as well as diseases resulting from excess in alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, are betrayed by the hand or nails. The trading palmist knows this, and has no difficulty in playing on the credulity of those whose money is in excess of their sense. An eminent scientist has said: “The modern professional palmist forms a judgment and guess as to his or her client’s character and probable past and future, by indications and information obtained from the client’s face, manner, conversation, and costume. If a vague prophecy made by the ’fortune teller’ should by hazard turn out to be near the truth, it is remembered and- quoted by the client as a proof of the genuineness of palmistry.” It is obvious that persons who possessed the power to foretell the future would not waste time extracting fees from the public. They would speedily make a fortune on the Stock Exchange or Turf.