SIGNIFICANCE of the FINGERS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 192, 1 August 1874, Page 2

SIGNIFICANCE of the FINGERS.

Each finger, and the mount at the base of it, is named from a planet. In the normal hand, the second finger is the longest, the third the next longest, the first nearly as long as the third, and much longer than the fourth, or little finger. Jupiter is the first finger. If it be long and not ill-shapen, and if the mount at its base be well developed, it indicates a noble and lofty character, and a religiousminded person. If disproportionately long, it will mean different things, according to the type of hand in which it may be found, or according to the type of that particular finger. In the first type, an over-long first finger would denote an inclination to the fantastic or exaggerated in religious matters; or it might, perhaps, mean religious madness; or, if other signs in the hand favored this view, it could be taken to denote pride. In the second type of hand, the excessive development of Jupiter might mean ambition, or, if it were ip a hand that was eminently unselfish, it would stand for a something puritanical in manners and morals—a too great severity. In the third type, a very long first finger would probably signify vanity. The second finger is Saturn. If too prominent, it announces melancholy, or misanthropy, or downright cruelty, according to the type of hand ; but if the finger be within due proportion, this sadness may take the form of pity for others, or it may mean a becoming gravity. The third finger is Apollo, and belongs to the arts. In a “ pointed ” hand, Apollo will give poetry and music (composition); in a “ square ” hand, painting, sculpture (here art leaves the domain of the purely contemplative : it becomes partly active from the combination of manual skill with what is only imaginative); and in a “ spade-shaped" hand, Apollo will give histrionic power and aptitude for acting, or a love of theatrical amusements. On the stage, art is joined in the closest manner to motion.

The fourth finger is Mercury. If well proportioned, it promises a scientific turn of mind, resourcefulness, and diplomacy —tact.

The thumb is Venus. Chiromancy and palmistry agree in almost all particulars about the thumb. In both systems it is treated as the most important part of the hand. The upper joint—that with the nail —stands for the will; the second division, the reasoning faculties; the base the, animal instincts.

On week-days you buy your music by the sheet; on Sundays you can have it by the cAoir.

A young lady asked a young gentleman which he thought the prettier flowers, roses or tulips. “ Your ladyship’s two lips before all the roses in the world,” said he.

Cold words freeze people, and hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them wrathful. Kind words make people good-natured. Though they do not cost much, yet they accomplish much.— Pascal.

“ Two sweet pledges of affection!” cried the nurse, addressing the anxious husband on the stairs. “ Ah,” sighed he, “ I was prepared for the pledge, but not for the duplicate.”