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[Illustration: Plate 1.
Elementary Hand.]
THE HAND PHRENOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED:
Being a Glimpse at the Relation of the Mind
with the Organisation of the Body.
London:
Chapman and Hall, 186 Strand.
M.DCCC.XLVIII.
“Les hommes ne peuvent en quelque genre que ce soit
arriver à quelque chose de raisonnable, qu’après
avoir en ce même genre, épuisé toutes les sottises
imaginables.”—FONTENELLE.
“Si la nature, au lieu de mains et de doigts flexibles,
eut terminé nos poignets par un pied de cheval; qui doute
que les hommes, sans arts, sans habitations, sans défense
contre les animaux, tout occupés du soin de pourvoir
à leur nourriture et d’éviter les bêtes féroces, ne
fussent encore errans dans les forêts comme des troupeaux
fugitifs?”—HELVETIUS, _Sur l’Esprit_.
“Manus sunt artium organa; sicut lyra musici, et forceps
fabri.”—GALEN.
London:
George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square.
PREFACE.
Since the time of JOHN INDAGINE, who published his “Art of Chiromancy”
in 1563, but little progress has been made in the study of the hand
as an indication of the physical and mental peculiarities of the
individual. In our time, by the publication of the classical work of
Sir C. BELL “On the Hand,” public attention has been once more directed
to the form, structure, and uses of this important organ.
The varieties in the structure and conformation of the human hand which
are met with in different individuals have recently been investigated
with much success, both in France and Germany.
It is to D’ARPENTIGNY, a translation of whose work[1] is now in course
of publication in the “Medical Times,” that we are indebted for much of
the information we possess as to the mutual relation existing between
particular mental tendencies and certain definite forms of hand. By
Professor CARUS, of Dresden,[2] the views of D’ARPENTIGNY have been
in part verified, and at the same time considerably extended. He has
corrected much that was erroneous, and endeavoured to establish a
science of CHIROLOGY, founded upon the anatomy and physiology of the
hand.
I have availed myself freely of the materials collected by D’ARPENTIGNY
and CARUS, and have modified, corrected, or omitted their theories
and statements when not in accordance with my own experience. Much
new matter has been added, and the whole arranged in a form which it
is hoped may tend somewhat to contribute either to the amusement or
instruction of the Reader.
_June 1848._
THE HAND
PHRENOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED,
_&c. &c._
CHAPTER I.
“The form and posture of the human body, and its various
organs of perception, have an obvious reference to man’s
rational nature; and are beautifully fitted to encourage
and facilitate his intellectual improvement.”—DUGALD
STEWART, _Moral Philosophy_.
THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND.
From the time of Thales and Pythagoras to our own day the opinions
of metaphysicians have been divided with respect to the mode in
which ideas take their origin. Some, with Descartes and Leibnitz,
have contended that the faculties of the mind are innate—that is,
that they originate solely from within; while others, with Locke and
Condillac, affirm that they are acquired, and in all cases derived,
from impressions received through the medium of the senses,—“Nihil est
in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu.”
However it may be with respect to this controverted point, whether
ideas originate from without or from within, it is at least certain
that the manifestations of the mind, far from being independent
of, are, on the contrary, closely linked and connected with, the
conditions of matter. Hippocrates, when sent for by the Abderites to
cure Democritus of his supposed madness, found him busily engaged in
dissecting the brains of animals for the purpose of ascertaining the
organs and causes of thought. That the brain is the organ through
which the manifestations of mind are made known to us, was therefore
suspected by Democritus; and the accumulated experience of centuries
has rendered that a certainty which with him was but a mere conjecture.
In the language of an eloquent modern writer, “Where shall we find
proofs of the mind’s independence of the bodily structure,—of that mind
which, like the corporeal frame, is infantile in the child, manly in
the adult, sick and debilitated in disease, frenzied or melancholy in
the madman, enfeebled in the decline of life, doting in decrepitude,
and annihilated by death?”
MIND AND OUTWARD FORM IN HARMONY.
Admitting, then, that the brain is the organ of mind—the instrument
by which we are rendered cognisant of our own mental operations
and conceptions—it must be evident that, for the purpose of making
them known to others, of carrying them into effect, certain other
parts become necessary, the conception requiring instruments for its
execution. This important duty is intrusted to the care of the senses,
and for this reason they have been correctly termed the hand-maidens
of the intellect, as it is through their agency that the brain receives
and transmits impressions. Hence the manifestations of mind are
indicated and expressed by the outward form; for the senses can act
only through the medium of physical organs, and with these latter the
active phenomena of life must necessarily be in strict accordance.
Thus, from the external configuration of the body, or of some of its
parts, we can legitimately draw conclusions respecting the degree
and kind of mental power. Let us examine this proposition a little
more in detail. In his _Instauratio Magna_, Bacon relates that “when
he was a young man at Poictiers in France, he conversed familiarly
with a certain Frenchman, a witty young man, but something talkative,
who afterwards grew to be a very eminent man. He was wont to inveigh
against the manners of old men, and would say, that if their minds
could be seen as their bodies are, they would appear no less deformed;
he would also maintain that the vices of old men’s minds have some
correspondence and were parallel to the putrefaction of their bodies.
For the dryness of their skin, he would bring in impudence; for the
hardness of their bowels, unmercifulness; for the lippitude of their
eyes, an evil eye and envy; for the casting down of their eyes and
bowing their bodies toward the earth, atheism (for, saith he, they
look no more up to heaven as they were wont); for the trembling of
their members, irresolution of their decrees and light inconstancy;
for the bending of their fingers, as it were to catch, rapacity and
covetousness; for the buckling of their knees, fearfulness; for their
wrinkles, craftiness and obliquity.”
Now, without hoping to attain to the nice discrimination of this
ingenious young gentleman, we shall attempt to elucidate a few general
facts connected with this part of our subject.
With that spirit of observation for which they were so eminently
remarkable, the ancients had long since remarked the constant
connexion of certain peculiarities of outward form with particular
modes of thinking—a correspondence between the physical and mental
condition. It was in accordance with this view that Galen founded his
celebrated doctrine of temperaments. His distinction of the sanguine,
phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic temperaments, was based upon
the notion of the Greek philosophers, that there were four primary
constituents of the human body corresponding to the four supposed
elements of nature, and that the presence of the one or the other of
these elements in excess occasioned the production of the different
temperaments. According to the definition of the able physiologist
Müller, the temperaments are peculiar, permanent conditions, or modes
of mutual reaction of the mind and organism, and they are chiefly
dependent on the relation which subsists between the strivings or
emotions of the mind and the excitable structure of the body. Even if
we may be disposed to contend that they are not absolutely _dependent_
on any particular constitution of the body, it must still be conceded
that they are at least _associated_ with certain peculiarities of
outward organisation, by which they may be readily recognised; so
that the physical structure, the mental tendency, and the character
of ideas, are always intimately connected. Thus persons of a sanguine
or sensitive temperament are, for the most part, of moderate stature
and _embonpoint_, with a smiling florid countenance, and light or
chestnut hair. Their ideas, like their physiognomy, are all _couleur
de rose_. Endowed with great excitability, they are easily moved; but
impressions are not durable, giving place quickly to other and newer
emotions. Hence their life is made up of transitions—now grave, now
gay; now happy, now miserable: their feelings are perpetually changing,
and impressions made upon their mobile minds become soon obliterated by
some fresh object of attention.
The phlegmatic, or elementary temperament, is characterised by a
persistence during adult existence of the physical structure proper
to early life. The body is loaded with cellular tissue and fat;
the muscles are large, but soft, and with indistinct outlines; the
countenance is pale; the physiognomy but little marked, and the
features not sharply defined. Such persons are unexcitable, their
sensations are dull, and the modes of reaction which they determine
slow and apathetic; their ideas are clear, but they possess neither the
quickness of conception and imagination of persons of the sanguine,
nor the energy of action and strong passions of those of the choleric
temperament. They love repose, and excel in occupations which demand
patience and attention, of which they are possessed in a remarkable
degree.
In individuals of the choleric, or motive temperament, the bony
frame-work of the body is strong and much developed; the articulations
are large and prominent; the muscles firm, with but little cellular
tissue and fat; the physiognomy decided, with sharply-chiselled
features. Such individuals are remarkable for promptitude and energy of
action; impetuous, passionate, and endowed with great determination,
opposition only increases their endurance, and excites a proportionate
effort to conquer it. In nature these temperaments are not frequently
encountered pure and free from admixture, but mostly more or less
mixed the one with the other. That must be held to be the most perfect
temperament in which they are all blended in such proportions that
neither is in excess; “in which moderate excitability is combined with
a due amount of energy of action; in which imagination is tempered by
reason, and the ideas and conceptions are regulated by judgment, and
rectified by reflection.” Impressions thus do not react upon all in the
same manner. In some they are like figures traced upon the sand of the
sea-shore, which are obliterated by the first advancing wave; they pass
away together with the ideas to which they give rise, without leaving
any, even the slightest evidence, of their existence. In others they
are as characters deeply graven upon metal; arousing the attention
with an irresistible force, they enchain and captivate the faculties,
ceasing but to leave behind them a powerful and lasting impression upon
the mind.
EFFECTS OF AGE, SEX, CLIMATE, ETC. UPON MIND.
By age, sex, locality, climate, and regimen the mental operations are
likewise powerfully influenced. By locality and climate we do not
mean air and temperature merely, but the sum total of all influences,
whether physical or moral, by which in every place we are surrounded.
The bodily structure is undoubtedly and materially influenced by
climate. Of this the modern Hungarians afford a most convincing proof—a
race of people of a fine physical conformation, and yet, as their
language and traditions attest, derived from the same stock as the
barbarous, deformed Ostiaks inhabiting the Uralian Chain, to whom,
as we learn from history, they bore no slight resemblance, on their
arrival in the countries in which they are at present located. Climate
may thus affect the mind in two ways, by modifying the structure of
the body, and by the more direct action which it exerts upon the
mind itself; and it is to these two causes that we must ascribe the
differences in the form and habits, the government and laws, the
superstitions and literature, of northern and southern nations.
To differences and modifications of structure constantly correspond
differences and modifications in ideas and passions. The physical form
and intellectual qualities are closely and mutually connected. Thus,
one individual may excel another in a given pursuit, this excellence
resulting rather from a peculiar aptitude for, than from a particular
devotion to, its cultivation.
This aptitude, in many cases at least, is to be mainly referred to some
peculiarity of structure in one or more of the organs of the senses;
it is original, and without the particular organic conformation could
never have been acquired by centuries of practice and experience.
BODILY SUFFERING DEPENDENT UPON ORGANISATION OF NERVOUS SYSTEM.
To differences in the degree of sensibility of the nervous system,
together with the varying amount of the peripheral ramifications
distributed to the external surface, must be ascribed the different
amount of suffering experienced upon the application of inordinate
stimuli to the nerves. The will is undoubtedly capable of exerting very
great control over the manifestations of feeling called forth by such
painful impressions upon sentient nerves. Of this Roman history affords
us many notable examples. But it seems probable that the Romans were
not endowed with a nervous system so delicately organised as that of
the more highly civilised Greeks; witness the general structure of
their language and their comparative inferiority in the fine arts.
Neither heroism, nor philosophy, nor even religion, can prevent some
organisations from exhibiting manifestations of great pain from
impressions upon nerves, which in others would occasion but a moderate
amount of suffering; a physical necessity compels them to manifest
evidences of intense feeling; and thus, by a rude shock inflicted
upon the nervous system, a mathematician may be at once recalled from
the contemplation of other spheres, or a metaphysician from the most
sublime speculations on the nature and essence of the Deity.
In the lowest grades of society the general nervous sensibility is
mostly obtuse; in the highest, on the contrary, it is frequently
morbidly acute: in the one case the mental manifestations are dull and
obscure; in the other they may be brilliant, but are frequently wanting
in strength and energy.
In his treatise on tropical diseases, Dr. Mosely observes, that
“Negroes are void of sensibility to a surprising degree. They are not
subject to nervous diseases. They sleep soundly in every disease, nor
does any mental disturbance ever keep them awake. They bear chirurgical
operations much better than white people; and what would be the cause
of insupportable pain to a white man, a Negro would almost disregard. I
have amputated the legs of many Negroes, who have held the upper part
of the limb themselves.”