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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    143. The sensation of pain. to be anatomically connected with the nervous system hy means of nerve trunks and nerve fibres. Touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste are inconceivable without the presence of a nervous system, even if the sensory organs were in their present full develop- ment [eg., an arm of which the nerve is injured can feel nothing], the sensation itself evidently first takes place in the brain [<?.,§•., the sensation of light does not take place in the eye, where there is only an impres- sion of light upon the expanded surface of the optic nerve ; the sensation of light cannot, however, take place in the optic nerve itself, for it merely conveys the fact of the existence of the irritation to the brain]. Of all the senses the most perfect is undoubtedly that of Touch, and though it is very greatly assisted by that of Sight, still, the former can dispense with the latter far better than the latter with the former. The simultaneous action of the sensations of touch and sight is, in fact, for the human mind an important source of knowledge in the external world. Yet we must not on this account conclude that the sense of Touch alone, without the assistance of sight [as in the case of persons born blind], cannot lead to knowledge. It is probable that the sense of touch alone might enable us to distinguish our own body and external objects sooner than vision. For the act of touching our body with our hand calls forth a double sensation of touch, one through the hand, and the other through the part of the skin touched, whilst touching an external object causes only a single sensation of touch through the tactile organ. And it must be remembered that the sense of Touch is our great bodily safeguard, for it produces the sensation of pain [as distinguished from that of contact], which warns us to fly from the agent which produces that sensation. The limit between the sensations of touch and pain may be illustrated by