nearer the wrist, is the Line of the Head. If
the lines of the heart and the head join each
other between the forefinger and thumb, it is a
bad sign— the presage of a violent death, if
occurring in both hands. The head and the
heart are led captive by life, by instinct. The
man puts a bandage over his eyes while walking
close to precipices. M. Desbarrolles, by the
way, appears rather fond of precipices. If the
line of the heart join the line of the head under
the Saturnian finger, it becomes the sign of a
violent death, Saturn being fatality. A hand
without a line of the heart, is bad faith,
maliciousness, aptitude for mischief, iron will, and
premature death.

The Line of Life surrounds the base of the
thumb, the mount of Venus. When it is long,
well formed, and bright coloured, it announces
a long and happy life, exempt from serious
illnesses; it is also the sign of a kindly temper.
When pale and broad, it denotes bad health, evil
instincts, and an envious disposition. Breadth
and paleness always influence lines unfavourably;
opposite qualities are conferred by long,
well-coloured lines. A short line of life is a
brief span of existence. A double line of life is
an extra allowance of longevity.

The Saturnine Line, running from the mount
of Saturn towards the wrist, is destiny, fatality.
Its combinations are multifold, ranging from the
height of good fortune to inevitable death upon
the scaffold. Chiromantists, therefore, out of
kind consideration, often refrain from telling
their clients all they see. Hands without a
Saturnine belong to insignificant beings. The
Esquimaux, for the most part, have no Saturnine;
theirs is a vegetative life, slowly dragged
on through the rigorous seasons of their tedious
year. M. Serras, a celebrated anthropologist,
even asserts that the Saturnine, which he calls
the Caucasian fold, is found only in individuals
of the white race of mankind and its varieties.
The Hepatic Line, or Line of the Liver, runs
from the mount of Venus to the mount of
Mercury. The Ring of Venus is a semicircular
Line enclosing the mounts of Saturn and
Apollo. It betrays more secrets than I dare
tell.

Chiromancy, like other modes of divination,
leaves the chiromancer many a loophole of
escape, many an opportunity of embroidering
the web of the human palm with accidental
ornamentation, suggested possibly by some
lucky piece of private information. Thus, a
broken line, or any other menacing circumstance
of the kind, is not fatally bad unless it is
repeated in both hands; in the contrary case, one
hand almost always corrects the malignant
influence of the other. One single unfavourable
sign does not suffice to announce a catastrophe;
there must be a combination of several fatal
signs. One isolated adverse mark is the
presumption of an untoward event, a warning of
a danger which will present itself, but which
may be avoided by consulting the causes—
always indicated in the hand by the excess of
such or such a mount, the form of such or such
a line, or by other marks as transverse stripes,
crosses, stars, on spots where their influence
becomes pernicious. Even when all the lines
concur in announcing a danger, that danger
still may be, if not avoided, at least rendered
less terrible by the will and by prudence placed
at the service of the will. Herein lies the great
use (and charlatanism) of chiromancy.

In this, as in every other art, we are told, the
leading rules can be indicated; BUT they are
incessantly modified, because diversity, taking
its source from unity, is the law of nature.
You say, "A man;" but there are a hundred
thousand different men: you say, "A tree;"
but there are a hundred thousand different
trees.

Thus, the mounts of the hand are rarely in
their proper place, at the root of their respective
fingers. But as nothing in the hand is without
its meaning, the displacement of the mounts has
also its significance. The mounts, at the base
of each finger, resume, as we have seen, the
aptitudes or the instincts with which each one
of the fingers is inspired by the influence of a
corresponding planet; which planet is indicated
by the name of the mount. Consequently, the
mounts which are in more vehement correspondence
with a planet, will exercise on the
neighbouring mounts a stronger attraction.
Sometimes they will entirely absorb them; and
consequently, a mount, by approaching or
inclining towards another stronger mount, will
carry over to it its instincts, which will be
modified by the leading instinct of the planet
(or of its representative mount) which attracts
it.

If, for instance, the mount of Jupiter inclines
towards the mount of Saturn, it is a sad, grave,
and sometimes fatal modification of the inclinations
inspired by Jupiter. It is often a noble
desire to succeed in science, theology, or
academic ambition, according to the significations
of the other signatures of the hand. If it is the
mount of Saturn which inclines towards the
mount of Jupiter, it is ambition which gets the
upper hand of science; it is a desire to shine in
serious matters, to acquire a reputation for
austerity or learning, even without deserving it.
It also announces celebrity, notoriety mingled
with misfortune, brought on, either of them, by
overweening pride. The lines are the sensitive,
intelligent portion of chiromancy; they modify
the actions of the mounts, and the Saturnine
suffices, and more, to replace the mount of
Saturn in a hand. But— the cool looker-on
would say— with such a nice balancing of lines
and mounts, it is possible to read, in any hand,
any character and any destiny. If M. D.
practises chiromancy in sincerity and good faith
(which is not denied), he certainly gives dangerous
hints to a hundred imitators who will exercise
the art quite otherwise.

M. Desbarrolles has a rival fortune-teller,
who beats him hollow. One M. Collonges can
tell the age and temperament of individuals
presented to him; he pronounces whether
they are fatigued or not, sick or well; he