A Guide to Palmistry. By Mrs. Eliza Carter-Henderson. (Gay and
Bird.)—If any one wants to be his or her fortuneteller—and Mrs. Carter-Henderson promises such a possibility—here is the guide to that knowledge, whether it be desirable or not. What are your hands ? "Large, short, and thick hands, with a large thumb, betray a desire for riches, fortune, and greatness; get them by stratagem." This is sad ; but here is something sadder. " The palm larger than the finger is a life of sensuality, mate- rialism, and gluttony." The writer of this hastily measured his own, but declines to tell the result. Then about your fingers. These seem to have better meanings than the hands. We do not see any fingers that are so really significant as the long palm. Here are "All the Signs of a Poet." " Very smooth, pointed fingers. A short thumb. A large and raised mount of the moon." [The "mount of the moon" is at the bottom of the right side of the hand, the left hand, it must be understood.] "A line of the hand falling abruptly towards the moon." " The headline rises between the thumb and index-finger." Writers of volumes of verse wishing to be reviewed in the Spectator will assist the critic by sending a plaster cast of their left hand. He will then be able at least to start fair. Candour compels us to complete our quotation about poets. " All these signs carried to excess make a first-class lunatic." People who think that the liver is the most important thing in life must study the look of the "hepatic line." (This starts from the central or Saturnian line, and tends towards the little finger.) The writer of this, if he may again obtrude a personal experience, finds it strong for a time, then ceasing alto- gether, then reappearing somewhat faintly,—not a bad summary of the facts. This is certainly a curious little volume.
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