The Study of Palmistry: For Professional Purpose (A Complete Palmistic Dictionary with 1254 Original Illustrations)

AMONG the tens of thousands of readers who have given such a pleasant welcome to my syndicate articles and to my elementary work entitled "PRACTICAL PALMISTR Y," a large number have done me the honor of communicating with me with a view of increasing their knowledge of this most fascinating science. Many have even visited me and requested me to give them personal and exhaustive instruction in Palmistry. I finally decided, a year ago, to Comply with these solicitations. and have devoted a few hours, every day, to the teaching of the science rendered famous in this XX. Century by the splendidly successful efforts of Desbarrolles and d'Arpentigny. Class after class attended my studio and received favorably whatever conscientious instruction my twenty-nine years of chirosophic studies entitled me to give them. Typewritten copies of these lessons were distributed to the pupils, and gradually modified so as to suit almost any fair grade of intellect They have now grown to the size of a two-volume manual, and having stood well the test of actual and widely approved teaching, they are presented to the public at large with large additions, modifications and improvements and with over 1,254 illustrations, especially drawn for this work.

As a patient and painstaking instructor-and I may claim that much without fear of contradiction-I have aimed at the following results, which I failed to see realized in any book on Palmistry published to this day:

I. Clearness and absence of useless theorizing.

2. System and thoroughly logical classification.

3. Completeness. In this respect I may be allowed to state that the present book contains between nm and ten times more reliable observations than any work ever published in the English tongue.

For instance, in the two largest books, of comparatively recent date, devoted to chirosophy or to the language of the hand, I find that, concerning the Line of Life and the Lines of Influence that proceed from it, one of these works contains 69 observations and the other 49. In this book, the same subject is treated in over 200 observations, all of the first importance and all illustrated by means of one separate illustration for each indication.

To this wealth of technical information I have added hundreds of actual cases from life. chosen from the untranslated works of Desbarrolles and others, or from my own stock of experiences.

An illustration accompanies each of these most interesting Facts, completing the theory as fast as it is developed through the book. I soon found that in no other way can the pupil's mind be brought to grasp the intricacies of this most minute and ever varied study.

As to Clearness and Absence of theorizing or poetizing (the latter especially unbearable to the earnest student), I will say that I have strictly avoided dispersing my efforts toward imparting knowledge for the sake of ventilating some favorite doctrine, either of my own concoction or the product of a more inventive brain.

I have even played false to my beloved master, Desbarrolles, so far as to decline following him in his. Astrological or Kabbalistic surmises and deductions.

Physiology I found long ago-c-and I find every day-sufficient to fully explain the "Mysteries of the Hand." In fact, I am ready to declare, right here, that, in humble judgment, there are no such things as "Mysteries of the Hand" and that Chiromancy-the less explainable branch Of Palmistry-is fast leaving the ranks of Occult Sciences to enter the honored family of Sciences. no longer "a poor, disdained and distant relation."

Therefore, in the Introduction, you will find Desbarrolles' admirable reasoning about the Physiological explanations of Palmistry, and this will constitute, with a very few paragraphs scatterd through the book, all the theorizing to which I shall treat my readers. For this work is not to belie its title: its sole purpose is to teach you how to Read hands accurately.

And now I will resume, for a moment, my cap and gown and, after a few necessary explanations, I shall tell my pupils-for the readers of this book all become pupils of the author-what method to follow in the study of "THE STUDY OF PALMISTRY FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES".

First, do not allow the title of the book to worry you in the least. The word professional has been inserted herein with an object, but certainly not to frighten you away. It simply means that every item of information needed to make of you a respected, refined and reliable palmist is to be found within these pages. If, after the study is over and completed, it suits you convenience to read hands for a fee, well and good: you are equipped for the task and the money paid you will be honestly earned. Should your circumstances or tastes keep you away from the profession, you will still possess a thorough knowledge of indisputable value, whose practice, among your friends, will render it daily more precious to you and to them.

Next to this first-indispensable- statement, let me make another, addressed especially to those who have never perused any work on Palmistry. I wish them to clearly understand that this book, exhaustive though it be, takes matters ab ovo, from the start, and will be just as profitable to an absolute beginner, who does not even know the name of a Mount or a Line, than to one who has dabbled in Palmistry to while away an idle hour. In fact I truly believe that the present work will prove a great deal easier to understand and assimilate than many so-called Palmistry Primers, so much simpler in appearance. In such matters, classification is the lantern that lights the way, and, if it is thorough and based on logic, the smaller or greater number of objects (or ideas) to be classified is comparatively unimportant.

However, this allusion to beginners brings me to my third and last piece of advice, which I may entitle

How to Study this Book.

1. Read it slowly- Do not skim over parts and chapters as if the fire were in the house and you had just a minute left to reach the very last line.

2. Do not attempt to read further than Part First-"Preliminaries"- before being absolutely conversant with the Physiology of Palmistry, as laid down by Desbarrolles, and with the Map of the Hand. Let every technical term-and there are but few-be branded in your mind once for all, before attempting to interpret them.

3. In your first reading of the Book leave out the following chapters and interspersed paragraphs: The Leading Types of Hands,

The Signatures of the Mounts,

The Cases (in smaller type) scattered through the book, The Lines and Signs of Fingers and Thumb, and, finally,

The Palmistic Dictionary.Reserve those for '.l second, leisurely reading. You will enjoy them better and it is only then that they will prove really profitable.

4. Read consecutively and refrain from looking ahead to satisfy your-or somebody else's-curiosity. This jumping from one half-digested subject to another is the surest way to get tired-if not-disgusted- with the whole study. Remember that Palmistry is a language and that it has to be learned, like any other language, by gradually assimilating, first the elements-the letters-then the syllables, the words, the sentences, the paragraphs, the pages, the volumes. Fast work, in this case, is no work at all, indeed, it has destroyed the ambitions of more would-be palmists than any other mistake ever made by them.

5. Finally, when you will have decided to take this book as your Guide to Palmistry, attach yourself to it with a will, until you have master edits contents from cover to cover. While performing this task do not open any other work on the subject listen to no other teacher.

This safeguard against a "confusion of tongues" applies just as truly to any book and any teacher you may choose instead of the present ones. There can be but one commander, when a fortress is to be stormed; out one initiator at a time into the realms of such a delicate science as Modern, Orthodox Palmistry.

To these few paragraphs of advice, warning, encouragement, there remains only for me to add my earnest wishes that you will extract from the study of" THE STUDY OF PALMISTRY FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES." some of the delight-and mental profit-I have derived from my long and daily 'intercourse with the masterly works of d'Arpentigny and Desbarrolles, the only teachers worth listening to, the sole and direct inspires of the present book.