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The Spatulate Hand
THE
spatulate hand is so called not only because the tip of
each finger resembles the spatula which chemists use in
mortars, but also because the palm, instead of having the
squareness of the preceding type, is either unusually broad
at the wrist or at the base of the fingers.
When
the greater breadth of formation is at the wrist, the palm
of the hand becomes pointed toward the fingers; when, on
the contrary, the greatest breadth is found at the base
of the fingers, the shape of the hand slopes back toward
the wrist. We will discuss these two points a little later,
but we must first consider the significance of the spatulate
hand itself.
- In
the first place, the spatulate hand, when hard and firm,
indicates a nature restless and excitable, but full
of energy of purpose and enthusiasm. When soft and flabby,
which is often the case, it denotes the restless but
irritable spirit. Such a person works in fits and starts,
but cannot stick to anything long. Now the peculiar
attribute that the spatulate hand has is its intense
love of action, energy, and independence. It belongs
to the great navigators, explorers, discoverers, and
also the great engineers and mechanics, but it is by
no means confined to such people, and may be found in
almost every walk of life.
- As
a rule, it is a large hand, with fairly long, well-developed
fingers. The most striking characteristic is the singular
independence of spirit that characterises individuals
possessing such a development. It is doubtless that
this spirit that makes them explorers and discoverers,
and causes them to depart from the known rules of engineering
and mechanics to seek the unknown, and thus become famous
inventors. No matter what grade or position these spatulate
hands are in, they always strike out for themselves,
and assert their right to possess a marked individuality
of their own. A singer, actress, doctor, or preacher
with such a development will break all rules of precedent
- not by any means for the sake of eccentricity, but
simply because they have an original way of looking
at things, and their sense of independence inclines
them to resent suiting their brain to other people's
idea.
-
It is from this hand that we get not only our great
discoverers and engineers, but also the whole army of
men and women we are pleased to call cranks, simply
because they will not follow the rut made by the centuries
of sheep that have gone before them. Such men and women
with the spatulate hands are the advance agents of thought.
They are very often before their time; they are often
wrong in the way they set about their work; but they
are, as a rule, the heralds of some new thought or life
that will, years later, give life to their fellow men.
- This
brings us down to the two divisions just mentioned.
We will now consider their meaning. The spatulate hand
with the broad development at the base of the fingers
is the more practical of the two. If he is an inventor,
he will use his talents for making locomotives, ships,
railways, and all the other useful things of life, for
the simple reason that he comes closer to the formation
of the square type. But if he has the greater angular
development at the wrist, his bent will be for action
in the domain of ideas. He will invent if he has the
inventive talent, hunt for new flowers if he were a
botanist, would be the demigods of some new gospel if
he were a priest. These people wonder that God took
six days to make the earth - with the little power that
they possess they would revolutionise the world in a
day. But they all have their purpose in the evolution
of life; they are necessary, therefore they are created.
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