PALMISTRY, a predictive system whereby the various irreg ularities and flexion-folds of the skin of the hand are interpreted as being associated with mental or moral dispositions and powers as well as with the current of future events in the life of the in dividual. It is also called chiromancy or cheiromancy from Xeip, the hand, and itarreia, divination.
How far back in prehistoric times this system has been prac tised it is impossible to say, but in China it is said to have existed 3,00o years before Christ, and in Greek literature it is treated even in the most ancient writings as well-known belief.
At the present day palmistry is practised in nearly all parts of China. It is also extensively practised in India, especially by one caste of Brahmins, the Joshi. In Syria and Egypt the palmist can be seen plying his trade at the cafés; and among the Arabs there are chiromantists who are consulted as to the probable suc cess of enterprises. It is probably from their original Indian home that the traditional dukkeripen (fortune-telling) of the gipsies has been derived.
This system of divination has the charm of simplicity and definiteness, as an application of the "doctrine of signatures" which formed so extensive an element in the occult writings of the past six centuries. In the course of ages every detail has been brought under a formal set of rules, which only need mechanical application. There have been in past times considerable diver gences in the practice, but at present there is a fairly uniform sys tern in vogue. One school lays special stress on the general shape and outline of the hand. Corvaeus enumerates 7o varieties, Pam philus cuts them down to 6, John de Indagine to 27, and Tricassus Mantuanus raises them to 80. The characters of softness or hard ness, dryness or moisture, etc., are taken account of in these classi fications. The lines of cardinal importance are (r) the rasceta or cross sulci, which isolate the hand from the forearm at the wrist, and which are the flexion folds between the looser forearm skin and that tied down to the fascia above the level of the anterior annular ligament. (2) The line which isolates the ball of the thumb, where the skin ceases to be tied to the front of the palmar fascia, is called the line of life. (3) A line starting above the bead of
the second metacarpal bone and crossing the hand to the middle of its ulnar border is the line. of the head. (4) The transverse line below this which passes from the ulnar border a little above the level of the head of the fifth metacarpal and ends somewhere about the root of the index finger is the line of the heart. (5) The vertical line descending from the middle of the wrist to end about the base of the middle finger is the line of fortune. (6) The oblique line which begins at the wrist end of the line of life and descends towards the ulnar end of the line of the head is the line of the liver.
These lines isolate certain swellings or monticuli, the largest of which is (r) the ball of the thumb, called the mountain of Venus; (2) that at the base of the index finger is the mountain of Jupiter; (3) at the root of the middle finger is the mountain of Saturn, while those at the bases of ring and little finger are respectively the mountains of the (4) Sun and (5) of Mercury. Above the mountain of Mercury, and between the lines of head and heart is (6) the mountain of Mars, and above the line of the heart is (7) the mountain of the Moon. The relative sizes of these mountains have assigned to them their definite correlations with characters : the 1st with charity, love, libertinage ; the 2nd with religiosity, ambition, love of honour, pride, superstition; the 3rd with wisdom, good fortune, prudence, or when deficient improvidence, ignorance, failure ; the 4th when large makes for success, celebrity, intelligence, audacity, when small meanness or love of obscurity; the 5th indicates love of knowledge, industry, aptitude for commerce, and in its extreme forms on the one hand love of gain and dishonesty, on the other slackness and laziness. The 6th is related to degrees of courage, resolution, rashness or timidity; the 7th indicates sensitiveness, morality, good conduct, or immorality, overbearing temper and self-will.