A manual of cheirosophy : being a complete practical handbook of the twin sciences of cheirognomy and cheiromancy, by means whereof the past, the present, and the future may be read in the formations of the hands ; preceded by an introductory argument upon the science of cheirosophy and its claims to rank as a physical science / by Ed. Heron-Allen ... with full-page and other illustrations by Rosamund Brunel Horsley.

  • Heron-Allen, Edward, 1861-1943.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of cheirosophy : being a complete practical handbook of the twin sciences of cheirognomy and cheiromancy, by means whereof the past, the present, and the future may be read in the formations of the hands ; preceded by an introductory argument upon the science of cheirosophy and its claims to rank as a physical science / by Ed. Heron-Allen ... with full-page and other illustrations by Rosamund Brunel Horsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    one of which [the superfcialis voice] supplies the palm, whilst the other divides into two branches [the arterice dorsalcs pollicis] which run along either side of the thumb, one of which branches sends off an artery to the index-finger. When the radial dips into the palm it gives off branches to the thumb and fore-finger, or index, and to the deep palm [where it joins the ulnar]. The arrangement of these arteries varies in different hands, a significant fact for us, which is noticed in another place [vide 72] ; the veins, which are generally very deep, accompany the arteries; there are very few superficial veins in the hands. These light notes will, I think, assist our anatomical comprehension of the hand, and will help to impress upon us the obvious design which enters into its construction, so that we may say with Professor Owen :—“ With regard to the structural correspond- ences manifested in the locomotive members, if the principle of special adaptation fails to explain them, and we reject the idea that these correspondences are manifestations of some arch itypal exemplar on which it has pleased the Creator to frame certain of His living creatures, there remains only the alternative that the organic atoms have concurred fortuitously to produce such harmony,”—an Epicurean argument23 from which every healthy mind naturally recoils. ^3g Of course, the most important subject for our Nervous system consideration in this place is that of the nerv«us of the hand, system of the hand, of that complicated plexus of nerves which gives to the hand its direct and con- stantly apparent connection with the brain. There are more nerves in the hand than at any other point of the body,30 and in the palm they are more nume- rous than at any other point of the hand. It is this that a 'Ktt'o tuv dri/xwv (rwfi&TWv, airpov6i)TOV Kal Tvx”-ia.v txbvruv tV kIvt)<tlv.—Epicurus, “Physica et Meteorologica ” (J. G. Schneider : Leipsic, 1813). 30 Aristotle calls attention to this in his IIEPI TA ZfiA'IETO-