to have undertaken
a training towards practicality and level-headedness in order to rise
equal to the circumstances that he found himself forced to meet.

In this way the student obtains an insight into the earlier conditions of
the life under examination that is invaluable, especially when there is,
as will be found in many cases, no Line of Destiny visible in the early
years.

[Illustration: PLATE I.

THE THREE PRINCIPAL POSITIONS FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE LINE OF HEAD.]

If, on the contrary, the Line of Head is found exactly in the same
position on the right hand as on the left, or even very nearly so, the
student can be sure that there was little or no strain in the early
years, but that the subject had easy conditions which were favourable,
and which allowed him to develop his natural bent of Mentality.

If, however, it is found that the left hand shows a forked ending to the
Line of Head, namely, one end sloping downwards and the other end
straight, or nearly so, and that the right hand shows only the straight
line, then the student may decide that the subject inherited from the
parents two natures, the imaginative and the practical, and that he chose
to develop the latter, either in the direction of business or science.

In such a case, the student may state with confidence that the parents of
the subject were decidedly opposite in their characteristics. If the line
has become straight in the right hand the subject takes more after the
side that was practical.

In the case of boys or men it must be remembered that they will take more
after their mother's mental peculiarities, and in the case of girls or
women that they more generally take after the mental qualities of the
father.

On a man's left hand that has the forked ending with the upper end
straight, or nearly so, the student can state that the mother was the
more practical of the parents. If on the right hand the same mark has
become clearest the man developed, followed, or cultivated the mental
qualities of the mother more than those of the father. When reading a
woman's hand the reverse will apply.

If, on the contrary, the lower line was the more developed on the right
hand, then the subject, if a man, had developed the imaginative or
artistic qualities of the mother, and _vice versa_ if the subject be a
girl or a woman.

When the Line of Head looks light or faint on the left, and strong and
clear on the right, the student can safely state