THE THUMB

THE THUMB

All modern Palmists attach such importance to the symptoms revealed by the Position and Shape of the Thumb, that it seems to me essential to inform that why, physiologically speaking, the Thumb ranks so high among the constituting elements of Palmistry. The superior animal is signalized by his possession of a hand the man is signalized by his possessing a thumb.
The thumb of the monkey, which is barely flexible, and for this reason scarcely able to be opposed, i.e., be made to act in conjunction with any of the other fingers, is looked upon by many naturalists as nothing more than a movable nail. Whereas, on the contrary, the human thumb is so situated and organized as to be able always to act in an opposite direction to the other fingers, and it is by this power that it symbolizes the inner or moral sense which we oppose to our will, and through it to the temptations of our instincts and our senses.
Proofs of this assertion abound; thus, for instance, idiots, who are idiotic from birth, come into the world either without thumbs or with thumbs which are powerless and atrophied: and this is perfectly logical, for where the essence is absent, its symbol also must be wanting.