“...Cheiromancy, the art of foretelling the
events of life by the lineaments of the hand, derived its name from the Greek
word cheiros, the palm, and manteia, to foretell, whence it has been vulgarly
called Palmistry—as it is named in a recent Act of Parliament to forbid its
practice for gain or reward. In Coleman's Mythology of the Hindoos, p. 202, it
is written: “On the Buddha's foot is the mark called the ‘chakravarti,' wheel
or discus, which should have been on the palm of the hand, by which the sages
at his birth divined that he would rise to considerable eminence.” He says (p.
19): “Various data have been assigned to the period of Buddha's existence. The
most correct seems to be about 550 B.C., whence, as the sages practised
cheiromancy at Buddha's birth, its existence must have been much earlier known
among the Indians.” “In the year 1652,” writes Zadkiel, “the celebrated
astrologer, Geo. Wharton, Esq., published a translation of ‘a matchless piece'
as he terms it, on the subject, written in Latin by Dr. J. Rothman.” Since that
period the art of cheiromancy has gradually fallen into disuse, chiefly from
the extensive nonsense published by recent writers. One of the writers makes a
shallow attempt to disprove the connection which exists between astrology and
palmistry, while another says it is based on the principles of the Kabalah, the
latter being nothing more than a mnemonical system of astrology...”
“...Cheiromancy, the art of foretelling the
events of life by the lineaments of the hand, derived its name from the Greek
word cheiros, the palm, and manteia, to foretell, whence it has been vulgarly
called Palmistry—as it is named in a recent Act of Parliament to forbid its
practice for gain or reward. In Coleman's Mythology of the Hindoos, p. 202, it
is written: “On the Buddha's foot is the mark called the ‘chakravarti,' wheel
or discus, which should have been on the palm of the hand, by which the sages
at his birth divined that he would rise to considerable eminence.” He says (p.
19): “Various data have been assigned to the period of Buddha's existence. The
most correct seems to be about 550 B.C., whence, as the sages practised
cheiromancy at Buddha's birth, its existence must have been much earlier known
among the Indians.” “In the year 1652,” writes Zadkiel, “the celebrated
astrologer, Geo. Wharton, Esq., published a translation of ‘a matchless piece'
as he terms it, on the subject, written in Latin by Dr. J. Rothman.” Since that
period the art of cheiromancy has gradually fallen into disuse, chiefly from
the extensive nonsense published by recent writers. One of the writers makes a
shallow attempt to disprove the connection which exists between astrology and
palmistry, while another says it is based on the principles of the Kabalah, the
latter being nothing more than a mnemonical system of astrology...”
