edness
and clumsiness of build, even when his size is small, will express vigor,
virility, ruggedness, and even gruesomeness and horror, in his work. There
may be in his productions a wild, virile type of beauty, as in the music
of Wagner and the sculpture of Rodin, but the keynote of his work is
elemental force.

The dilettante has conical hands, with small, tapering fingers; this is
the hand which is popularly supposed to accompany artistic temperament.
He loves art. He appreciates art. He may even win fame and fortune as a
competent critic of art, but he cannot create it. Your true artist has
square, competent hands, with blunt, square-tipped fingers. The hands
shown in figure 57 page 317 are those of a music lover who can neither
play nor sing. Those in figure 58 are the hands of a true artist on the
piano and pipe organ. The true producing artist nearly always has square
hands, with large thumbs set near the wrist, thus giving a wide reach
between tip of thumb and tip of forefinger, as shown in figure 58. Actors
and operatic singers sometimes have conical hands, with tapering fingers.
They express emotion and beauty with voice, gesture, and facial expression
rather than with their hands.

In the world of art and literature many are called but few are chosen. The
pathway to the heights is steep and rugged and there are many pitfalls.
There are many by-paths. Furthermore, it is cold and lonesome on the
mountain-top. Before anyone sets out on the perilous journey he should
read Jack London's "Martin Eden," Louis M. Alcott's autobiography, the
story of Holman Hunt, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and the
biographies of others who have attained fame in these fields.

CHAPTER X

WASTE OF TALENT IN THE PROFESSIONS

In the old days the physician was often a priest. There was mystery,
magic, authority, and power in the profession. There were almost royal
privileges, prerogatives, robes, insignia, and emoluments.

Humanity sheds its superstitions slowly. Science and common sense have
smitten and shattered them for centuries, yet many fragments remain. And
so there is still a good deal of mysticism, magic, and awe connected with
both the art of healing and the priesthood. Hence, the lure of these
professions. Romantic and ambitious youth longs to enter into the holy of
holies, looks forward with trembling eagerness to the day when authority
shall clothe him like a garment, when his simple-hearted people,