Part 1, Chapter 2: The Elementary, or Lowest Type

p. 27

This hand naturally belongs to the lowest type of mentality. In appearance it is coarse and clumsy, with large, thick, heavy palm, short fingers, and short nails (Plate I.). It is always important to notice the length of the palm and fingers. Some books on palmistry state that to show intellectuality the fingers should always be longer than the palm; but an examination of this statement will show that it is not correct. It has not been proved that fingers have been found longer than the palm. That they may be nearly as long, or as long, there can be no doubt; but it is a very rare case to find them even of the same length. When, however, in proportion to the size of the palm the fingers are long, it indicates a more intellectual nature than when they are short. In Dr. Cairn’s work on the physiognomy of the human body, he states that “the bones of the palm form, among brute animals, almost the whole hand.” The deduction, therefore, is that the more the palm dominates the hand, the more does the animal nature rule. This is the important point in the elementary hand: the palm is always thick and coarse, and the fingers short and clumsy. There are also very few lines to be seen on the palm. The people possessing such a type have very little mental capacity, and what they do possess leans more to the order of the brute. They have little or no control over their passions; love of form, color, and beauty does not appeal to them. The thumb of such hands is short and thick, with the upper part or nail phalange heavy, full, and generally square. Such people are violent in temper, passionate but not courageous. If they commit murder, it is in the fury and in the spirit of destruction. They possess a certain low cunning, but the cunning of instinct, not reason. These are people without aspirations; they but eat, drink, sleep, and die. (See also “The Hands of Nations,” Chapter XVI.)