Muscular Hand

Notice the hands of the people you meet and you will be surprised to
see how different and how interesting they are. Their size, shape and
structure as seen from the back of the hand are especially significant
and tell us much more about the individual's nature than the palm does.

Perhaps you have thought that a hand was just a hand. But there are
hands and hands. Each pure type has its own and no other is ever seen on
the extreme of that type.

The hand of the Muscular, like all the rest of his body, is built in a
series of squares. It runs out from the wrist and down in a straighter
line and tends to right angles. (See Chart 6)

The Square Fingers of This Type

"Spatulate fingers"--meaning fingers that are square or paddle-shaped
at the tips--are sure indications of a decided muscular tendency.

He may have other types in combination but if his fingers are really
square--"sawed off at the ends" in such a way as to give them large
instead of tapering ends--that person has more than average muscularity
and the activities of his life will tend in the directions referred to
in this chapter.

The Manual Worker

Musculars are the hand-workers of the world. They are the artisans,
craftsmen, the constructors and builders.

We all tend to use most those organs or parts of the body which are
largest and most highly developed. The Muscular's hand is
proportionately larger than the hand of any other type. It has more
muscle, that one element without which good hand work is impossible.

So it has followed inevitably that the manual work of the world is done
largely by Musculars. Their hands are also so much more powerful that
they do not tire easily.

The Hand of the Creative Artist

"The artist's hand" and "the artistic hand" are phrases long used but
misused. Delicate tapering fingers were supposed in ancient times to
denote artistic ability. The frail curving hand was also supposed to be
a sign of artistic talent.

From the stage of old down to the movies of today the typical artist is
pictured with a slight, slender hand.

This tapering-fingered hand denotes a keen sense of artistic values; a
love of the esthetic, refined and beautiful; and real artistic
_appreciation_, but _not_ the ability to create.

The "Hand Arts"

Before we explain this, kindly understand that we are speaking only of
those arts which require hand work--and not of such arts as singing,
dancing, or musical comp