The positions are given as they appear to an observer facing the
gesturer, and are designed to show the relations of the fingers to the
hand rather than the positions of the hand relative to the body,
which must be shown by the outlines (see OUTLINES OF ARM POSITIONS)
or description. The right and left hands are figured above without
discrimination, but in description or reference the right hand will
be understood when the left is not specified. The hands as figured
can also with proper intimation be applied with changes either
upward, downward, or inclined to either side, so long as the relative
positions of the fingers are retained, and when in that respect no one
of the types exactly corresponds with a sign observed, modifications
may be made by pen or pencil on that one of the types, or a tracing of
it, found most convenient, as indicated in the EXAMPLES, and referred
to by the letter of the alphabet under the type changed, with the
addition of a numeral--e.g., A 1, and if that type, i.e., A, were
changed a second time by the observer (which change would necessarily
be drawn on another sheet of types or another tracing of a type
selected when there are no sheets provided), it should be referred to
as A 2.