The Line of Health, or the Hepatica

Some flowers are bruised that they may be more sweet, 4th some lie broken neath the rush of feet; and some are worn a while, then tossed aside; some grace the dead, while others deck the bride. And so in life everyone has seen the saddest face. The broken flower, give forth the sweetest grace.

CHEIRO.

On the hands of children and young people, it rises at the base, or on the face of the Mount of Mercury, and as it grows down the hand and into the line of life, so does it foreshadow the growth of the illness or germ of disease which at the time of its coming in contact with the line of life will reach its climax.

The hepatica should lie straight down the hand - the straighter the better.

It is an excellent sign to be without this line. Such absence denotes an extremely robust, healthy constitution. Its presence on the hand in any form indicates some delicate point to be guarded against.

When rising from the line of heart at the Mount of Mercury and running into or through the line of life, it foretells some weakness of the heart. If very pale in colour, and broad, it will be bad circulation.

If red in colour, particularly when it leaves the line of heart, with small, flat nails, it gives an indication of heart trouble.

When very red in small spots, it denotes a tendency in the system toward fever.

When twisted and irregular, biliousness and liver complaints.

When formed in little straight pieces, bad digestion.

In little islands, with long, filbert nails, trouble to lungs and chest.

The same mark, with the same kind of nail, but broad, throat trouble.

When heavily marked, joining the line of heart and head, and not found elsewhere, it threatens mental disturbance.

A straight line of hepatica lying down the hand may not give robust health, but it is a good mark because it gives a more wiry kind of health than one crossing the had.

It will thus be seen that though the student can depend very largely upon the indications afforded him by the hepatica, yet he must look for other illnesses, and for confirmation of illnesses, to other portions of the hand, as, for instance, to the chained life-line for naturally delicate health, to the line of head for head troubles, and to the nails, which must always be noted in conjunction with the study of the hepatica.