The Types And Characteristics Of Hands

One of the few things which modern, scientific hand analysis has retained from ancient palmistry is the classification of human hands by their shapes.

Various students of the hand have divided their subject into as many as 170 typical divisions. But most authorities agree on 7 basic types, each with its characteristic traits.

THE ELEMENTARY HAND

The elementary hand belongs to the simplest and least cultivated persons. It is easily recognized, being thick, clumsy and stolid-looking.

Its fingers are short in proportion to the palm and have a stubby, childish appearance.

The fingernails have a squatty shape.

Such hands like to perform heavy labor.

They show little or no imagination.

They do not indicate sensitiveness to beauty, though their owners may be sentimentally affected by:

• simple melodies
• symbolic pictures or
• tender verse.

These have strong family affection and prideful nationalism.

Emotionally, they are limited to simple, direct responses.

The elementary hand does not show violent temper, as some authorities believe. In my experience, such people may be among the mildest and kindest of beings, though physical expression is their usual reaction to outside stimuli. Hence, the legend that they are brutal.

But, actually, only certain types of elementary-handed persons, in whom jealousy or other primitive passions are easily aroused, are given to violence, and their outbursts are of the moment, rarely lasting after the first impulse has passed.

This type of hand is fast disappearing. As men improve their broaden their cultural interests and conditions physical, their hands reflect the change.

THE CONIC HAND

Today the most common type is the conic, or sensitive hand.

It derives its name from its cone-like or triangular shape, broad at the base and tapering at the tip.

The pure type is conically shaped both in the palm and in the fingers, each finger tapering from a wide base to a small tip. The fingertips are rounded, sometimes slightly pointed.

The conic hand is the hand of feeling, not of action.

At its worst, when the palm is soft, full, and without energy, it marks the introspective dreamer.

It shows a vivid inner life, which may be shared with others through conversation, but rarely through activity.

The conic hand usually indicates a quick mentality, an intuitive grasp of ideas, an enthusiastic responsiveness but an interest which wanes rapidly.

People who shine company and like to be with others often have conic hands. Such people are admirably fitted for a social role, being quick, impulsive, talkative, witty and sometimes a bit malicious.

They have hundreds of friendships and no friends, for they form no deep attachments.

Even in love, they are inclined to be fickle.

They are generous, so long as generosity requires no great effort on their part. They love luxury and comfort. They are vain, easily flattered and easily hurt.

On the finer side, people with tapering hands make up the appreciative audiences which keep our artists, poets, sculptors, painters and musicians alive.

The conic hand is often called “artistic.” This, I have found, gives the wrong impression.

Persons with conic hands do not have the energy and force required to create beauty. They appreciate it.

They enjoy it and respond to it intuitively, often without analysis or theoretical understanding.

When hand is firm and full of energy, all its weaker and the strong ones emphasized. Adding stability to quick understanding, such hands promise much more consistent brilliancy. The result is not only day dreams, but actual the conic attributes are modified, accomplishment.