1904

PALMISTRY IN CHINA

WITH the Chinese, palmistry is a branch of an ancient art which includes physiognomy, phrenology, and general inspection of the human body. Its origin has been assigned to prehistoric times-the third millennium before Christ.

The object of this art is twofold: (1) to ascertain the mental and moral characteristics of persons, and (2) to foretell happiness or misfortune, success or failure, disease, and death. An instance is given of a young lady of the tenth century A.D., who had no brothers and was obliged to perform some of the mourning ceremonies before the image of her dead father. While thus occupied she was observed by a visitor who had come to condole. 'I did not see her face,' he said, 'but when she grasped the incense-burner I noticed that her hands gave promise of a high position.' Later on this visitor married the young lady, and rose to be a Minister of State.

Restricting the inquiry to palmistry only an attempt will be made to show what the Chinese people have to say on a subject which has been much to the front of late years, and especially in the past few weeks.

One writer says:

The presence of lines in the hand may be compared with the grain of wood. If the grain of wood is beautiful, that wood becomes known as excellent material; and if the lines in the hand are beautiful, that hand is obviously well constituted. Therefore a hand cannot but have lines on it, those which have lines being of a higher order than those which have none. Fine and deep lines mean success; coarse and shallow lines mean failure. Of the three lines on the palm, the uppermost answers to heaven; it connotes sovereign or father, and determines station in life. The middle line answers to man; it connotes wisdom or folly, and determines poverty or wealth. The lowest line answers to earth; it connotes subject or mother, and determines length of days. If these three lines are well defined and unbroken, they are an augury of happiness and wealth. Vertical lines in excess mean a rebellious nature and calamity: horizontal lines in excess mean a foolish nature and ill-success. A vertical line running up the finger means that all plans will turn out well; random lines, which cross the creases of the fingers, mean that they will fail. Lines which are fine and resemble tangled silk mean wit and beauty; coarse lines, like the grain of the scrub oak, mean stupidity and a low estate. Lines like scattered filings mean a bitter life; lines like sprinkled rice-husks mean a life of joy, &c. &c.

VOL. LVI-No. 334

985

3 т

"The hand,' says the author of The Divine Art,

is used for taking hold, and this causes lines to appear on it. If these lines are long, the nature will be kindly and generous; if short, mean and grasping. A man whose hand reaches below his knees will top his generation; but one whose hand reaches only to his waist will ever be poor and lowly. A small body and a large hand portend happiness and emolument; a large body and a small hand, purity and poverty.

And so on.

Several illustrations are given of what might be termed the topography of the hand, showing its various elevations and depressions, and indicating the directions in which different influences make themselves felt. The fingers, with their several joints, are each separately mapped out; the commanding finger (thumb), the tasting finger, the middle finger, the nameless finger, and the little finger.

Then follow seventy-two diagrams of hands, each with certain sets of lines, of which an interpretation is given. With these sets

will, of course, be found other lines; they are merely characteristic combinations which have a recognised purport, and are given separately for the sake of convenience. It is impossible to reproduce all these diagrams here; a few specimens will no doubt suffice.

The first of these is simply a hand-always the left hand-the palm of which is divided into four regions, upper, lower, right, and left, known as summer, winter, autumn, and spring, respectively. That part of the hand under the influence of spring should be of a greenish hue; summer should be red, autumn white, and winter dark. If autumn is red, winter yellow, spring white, or summer dark, sorrow and disaster will inevitably ensue.

Possession of the 'lyre' hand (fig. 1) is a sign of an honest heart, of skill in composition, and of a large share of Imperial favour in the days to come.

The hand shown in fig. 2 indicates love of good works, placidity of temperament, and strong religious feelings.

Love of flowers (women) and wine is manifested in the middle of

the palm, as seen in fig. 3. The owner of this hand will be too fond of drink, and a slave to the charms of twice eight.'

Fig. 4 shows the covetous hand of the unreliable man who will cheat as soon as look at you.

There is also quite a little dictionary of combinations of two or more strokes, such as might occur in any portion of the hand; for

instance, and #, both of which are really borrowed from characters in the written language, meaning man and a well, respectively; X, ^, and others.

The Chinese, however, do not confine their investigations to the palm only; they examine carefully the lines on the back of the hand, thus making cheiromancy' a better term than palmistry. Nor do they omit the nails, each variety of which has its own signification.

FIG. 5.

Tapering nails mean brains; hard and thick nails mean old age; coarse, stumpy nails mean dulness of wit; broken and sloughing nails mean disease and ill-health; bright yellow nails mean high rank to come; dark thin nails mean obscurity; bright greenish nails mean loyalty and goodness of heart; fresh white nails mean love of ease; nails like sheet copper mean pomp and glory; nails of a half-moon shape mean health and happiness; nails like copper tiles mean skill in arts and crafts; nails like the end of a plank mean staunch

sincerity; nails with sharp-pointed tips mean cleverness and refinement; and nails which are rough like stone mean profound stupidity.

The Chinese, again, who are nothing if not thorough, push every investigation of this kind with German minuteness to its logical conclusion. Consequently, when they have exhausted palmistry, they proceed to 'solistry,' and extract indications from the lines on the feet.

Those combinations which augur best are the tortoise' and the 'bird' lines, the latter of which is shown in fig. 5.

In conclusion it may be pointed out, in simple justice to the Chinese, that the wonderful system of identification by finger-prints, which is forcing the modern burglar to carry on his trade in gloves, was in force in China many centuries before it was heard of in Scotland Yard. Title-deeds, and other legal instruments, are often found to bear, in addition to signatures, the finger-prints of the parties concerned; sometimes, indeed, the imprint of the whole hand.

In a small volume, entitled Omissions from History, published in the twelfth century, we have the following story:

A favourite concubine of the Emperor Ming Huang (A.D. 713–756), having several times dreamed that she was invited by a man to take wine with him on the sly, spoke about it to the Emperor. This is the work of a magician,' said his Majesty; 'next time you go, take care to leave behind you some record.' That very night she had the same dream; and accordingly she seized an opportunity of putting her hand on an ink-slab and then pressing it on a screen. When she awaked, she described what had happened; and on a secret investigation being made, the imprint of her hand was actually found in the Dawn-in-the-East Pavilion outside the palace. The magician, however, was nowhere to be found.

HERBERT A. GILES.

1904

QUEEN CHRISTINA'S PICTURES

QUEEN CHRISTINA of Sweden, the daughter of the Protestant hero Gustavus Adolphus, is best known for having resigned at one and the same time the throne of her father and the faith for which he died. Most people also know that she spent the last thirty years of her life in Rome, and that during a visit to France in 1657 she had her equerry, the Marquis Monaldesco, brutally put to death in the castle of Fontainebleau.

It is less generally known that she was one of the greatest patrons of art of her time, a passionate collector and a fine judge and 'connaisseur.' Her interest in matters of art was as varied as it was deep. Herself a good musician, she kept for years a splendid orchestra and the best singers in Rome. She was the centre of the theatrical world in the Eternal City, and it was chiefly owing to her protection that Roman drama and opera did not succumb under the bigoted perse cutions of Innocent the Eleventh. She was a dramatic writer of no mean talent. She started excavations in the hope of finding antique statuary, and eagerly bought what statues were offered to her, as far as her means allowed. Unfortunately she had them restored, too! And as for pictures her enthusiasm knew no bounds, not even those of the purse. In the midst of great financial troubles she did not hesitate to purchase the entire Carlo Imperiali gallery (1667).

That is what she practised. Lofty, duty-bound, half-indifferent patronage was all she professed. This is what she wrote about it:

La Pinture, la sculture et tous les autres arts qui en dépendent sont des impostures innocentes, qui plaisent et qui doivent plaire aux gens d'esprit. C'est un défaut à un honeste homme que de ne les aymer pas, mais il faut les aymer raisonnablement.

She was better than she made herself out to be in that pretentious sentence, and she was universally acknowledged in Rome as a 'connaisseur' of as much taste as erudition. The painter Bazziggi used to say about her that she was unequalled as a judge and critic of art, and that he had never been to see her without learning something from her. This much for the possessor of the collection; now for the pictures composing it.