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History of Palmistry

Chiromancy, palmistry, hand-reading, hand analysis, chirology. For centuries the features of the hands have fascinated scholars, sages, theologians, doctors and laymen alike.

Discover the secrets of the hand as we take you through the years. The History of Handreading website will tell you the story of the study of the human hand.

This work originally began in 1989 as a short history of chirology of some three thousand words and was but merely a summary of the main events in the development of chirology over the centuries. However, historical studies have a habit of drawing you in and leaving you unsatisfied until all stones have been turned! The second draft multiplied to thirty thousand words and the third draft, in turn, multiplied to some sixty thousand words. Some seven years after finishing the research this, the fourth draft, was finally published in April 2001.

And yet, there are still many more nooks and crannies to be explored. For although this work comprehensively covers the literature to be found in academic institutions within the UK, notable gaps can readily be seen with regard to the literature held within European institutions and much more so with regard to the history of the development of the art in countries such as India, China and the Middle East. Despite these obvious shortfalls, it is some consolation to consider that a historical overview such as this can never be truly complete; it can only be a history of that which has been written down and can therefore only be a history of those texts which have survived the many centuries. Of that which has not been preserved, we can know nothing.

This work is therefore presented knowing that there is still yet more to be written.

I acknowledge a considerable indebtedness to the four men who have gone before me in this endeavour, Edward Heron-Allen, Gino Sabbattini, Fred Gettings and Andrew Fitzherbert. I owe a particular debt of thanks to Fred Gettings whose work 'The Book of the Hand' of 1965 was the inspiration for my own researches into this subject. Most of all I must thank my good friend and constant challenger on matters historical over many, many years of correspondence, Andrew Fitzherbert. It is to him that this work is dedicated.

And to all the frauds, imposters and would-be wizards, I thank you also. For it is always true that one can never find the jewel without having previously sifted through all the dross.

Judging by the number of hands painted in prehistoric caves it would seem that palmistry held a interest for humans since the stone age. Archaeological discoveries have discovered hands made of stone, wood and ivory by ancient civilizations. The emperor of china used his thumbprint when sealing documents in 3000 bc. Information on the laws and practise of hand reading have been found in vedic scripts, the bible and early semitic writings. Aristotle (384-322 bc) discovered a treatise on palmistry on an alter to the god hermes. The greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen (ad 130-200) were both knowledgeable about the use of palmistry as a clinical aid. Julius Caesar (102-44bc) judged his men by palmistry. Notable people such as Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Fludd (1574-1637) brought respectibility to palmistry through their writings. Later Dr Carl Carus, physician to the king of saxony in the 19th century matched palms to personality. Advances in genetics, psychology and forensics have propeled palmistry into the modern age. In 1901 scotland yard adopted the technique of fingerprinting in criminal investigation and identification. Medical researchers studying skin patterns (dermatoglyphics), have discovered a corrospondence between genetic abnormalities and unusual markings in the hand. Research has confirmed a link between specific fingerprint patterns and heart disease. These days palmistry is well accepted throughout the world. Proffesional palmists can be found reading palms in every country in the world. Pick up almost any copy of a womens magazine and there is some information on palmistry. There are thousands of books written on the subject and there are palmistry clubs the world across.

Palmistry existed in India for a few thousand years BC, but didn't arrive in Europe till the 12th Century. Indian hand reading had already spread to China and Japan where it was refined. Arabic traders picked it up on their travels and took it to Europe.

But since it was linked to Islam, Christian translators at Universities applied their own religious symbolism to the meanings of the hands. Not long after, the first European palmistry books appeared. In the 14th Century the Gypsies came to Europe from India with their system of Indian hand reading and combined it with their gifts for clairvoyance.

These early forms of hand reading: Arabic, Christian, and Gypsy, all came from ancient Indian palmistry.

A Chinese hand reader in the late 19th Century

The Modern Era of Hand Reading Begins

Casimir D'Arpentigny, a French army captain fighting in Spain, was curious after a Gypsy read his hands.

After retirement, he attended the parties of a local landowner. Here he noticed that, among the guests, the artistic ones had smooth fingers while the scientific types had knotty fingers and bulging knuckles.

This observation lead to an important study of finger and hand shapes.

By coincidence, Adrien Desbarrolles, another Frenchman, was also intrigued by a Gypsy hand reader while in Spain. He began a study of the lines in the palm.

D'Arpentigny and Desbarrolles wrote important books and are now recognized as the co-founders of modern hand analysis. In 1889 Katherine St Hill founded the Cheirological Society in London to promote the study of palmistry. And Cheiro the Palmist took the world by storm with his charismatic good looks and fascinating books on the subject.

William Benham, a New York doctor, penned his definitive work, The Laws of Scientific Palmistry. In 1924 Elizabeth Wilson undertook the first major study of palmistry at Columbia University. She compared line patterns and hand shapes of healthy people with those of psychiatric patients.

Then Dr Charlotte Wolff, a Polish psychologist, published three books on her investigations into the line patterns and hand shapes of delinquent boys. Since this time, hand analysis has been a subject of continued interest to many in the scientific community. Many investigations into its accuracy have been completed.

Cheiro - Born in Ireland in 1866.
The most famous hand reader in history.