The Philosophic Hand

THE name of this type explains itself, the word 'philosophic' being derived from the Greek philos, live, and sophia, wisdom. This shape of hand is easily recognised: it is generally long and angular, with bony fingers, developed joints, and long nails. As far as success in the form of wealth is concerned, it is not a favourable type to have; it gleans wisdom, rarely, if ever, gold. People with such a type are, as a rule, students, but of peculiar subjects.

• They study mankind. They know every chord and tone in the harp of life; they play upon it, and are gratified with its responsive melody more than with the clink of coin. In this way they have as much ambition as other types of humanity, only theirs is of a different kind that is all. They like to be distinct from other people, and they will go through all kinds of privations to attain this end; but as knowledge gives power, so does the knowledge of mankind give power over man.

• Such people love mystery in all things. If they preach, they preach over the heads of the people; if they paint, they are mystic; if they are poets, they discard the dramatic clash and colour of life for the visionary similes and vapourish drapings of the spirit. Theirs is the peace of the aesthetic; theirs the domain beyond the borderland of matter; theirs the cloudland of thought, where the dreaded grub-worm of materialism dare not follow.
• Such hands are found very largely among the Oriental nations, particularly in India. The Brahmans, Yogis, and other mystics possess them in great numbers. In England, striking examples are found in the hands of Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Manning, and Tennyson. They are also largely seen among the Jesuits of the Catholic Church, rarely in the English Church, and more rarely still in Baptists, Presbyterians and Independents.
• In character they are silent and secretive; they are deep thinkers, careful over little matters, even in the use of little words; they are proud with the pride of being different from others; they rarely forget an injury, but they are patient with the patience of power.
• They wait for opportunities, and so opportunities serve them. Such hands are generally egotistical, which is in keeping with the life they lead. When in any excess of development they are more or less fanatical in religion or mysticism. Of this the most wonderful examples are found in the East, where from the earliest childhood the Yogi will separate himself from all claims of relationship and kindred, and starve and kill the body that the soul may live.

• With these hands, therefore, it must be borne in mind that the developed joints are the peculiar characteristic of thoughtful people. Again, such a development gives the love of analysing, but it is the shape or type of hand which determines whether that power of analysis be for chemicals or for mankind. The end of the finger being square and conic combined gives the solemn tone to their inspiration and fits them specially for the religious thought or the mysticism with which, as a rule, they become associated.
  
  
• These hands in the pursuit of what they consider truth will have the patience of the square type, with that love of self-martyrdom, which is the characteristic of the conic. It is the blending of these almost opposite characteristics, which brings about the peculiar ideas that make men and women with the philosophic type of hands so different from the practical drones in the vast hive of humanity.