YOU will encounter many hands on which the fingers are distinctly smooth in appearance (57). This means that the knotty joints, which are the distinctive feature of knotty fingers, are not seen, and the sides of smooth fingers, where the joints would naturally show a development, are even and without bulges. These smooth fingers may have any shape of tip; it is only the absence of developed joints which leads you to recognize them. As analysis and reasoning are the attributes of knotty fingers, so impulse, inspiration, intuition, and the lack of a disposition to pick everything to pieces, belong to the smooth fingers. This smoothness, or lack of prominent joints, has always been considered in Palmistry as constituting artistic fingers, but in order to have the strongest artistic sense, smooth fingers must also have conic tips. The conic tip, which we suppose to afford less resistance to the entrance of the vital spark, stands for ideality, and this in many minds stands for true art. In the examination of the hands of successful artists, I was surprised and disappointed to find, instead of smooth, conic fingers, the ideal of an artistic hand, large knots, square or spatulate tips, or distinctly mixed tips.

This at first seemed an anomaly, for the hand of the artisan had become the hand of the artist. Still another anomaly lay in the fact that small thumbs have always been considered the accompanying indication, with conic tips, of an artistic hand, and I found large square thumbs on the hands of many successful artists. In using the word successful artist, I mean not merely a dabbler with color, but one who has made a name. When we analyze the matter, however, this is not at all wonderful. Smooth fingers are artistic in that their owners act by impulse, inspiration, and intuition, not by reason, calculation, and premeditation. To be a genius, brilliant, full of inspiration and talent, means one thing, to put these talents to practical use is another. The one who can dream best is the one who has the artistic visions that would be most valued if transferred to canvas. From such visions have come the inspirational pictures that have lived through centuries of time. But how many all told are there of these masterpieces? Countless numbers of human beings have lived and died, and yet how few have produced anything immortal? I believe only a few inspired visions out of the countless millions which have floated through human brains have ever been recorded.

This is because the minds able to dream artistic dreams have had, with their smooth fingers, soft or flabby hands (laziness), and small thumbs (no determination), consequently they have only dreamed, always meaning to work "to-morrow." The large hands, knotty joints, and square tips, while not possessing the genius or inspiration of smooth fingers, have had common sense (square tips), and determination (big thumbs), so they have worked to-day; and while not so gifted, they have copied nature in field and forest, copied humanity by portraying men and women as they saw them, so that while they have had no dreams to paint, they have reproduced material surroundings, and that is what comprises much of the art we see today. It is labor, determination, and common sense that have won the victory over imagination. This is why successful artists are found without artistic fingers.

No. 57. SMOOTH FINGERS.

Smooth fingers always speak of the unimpeded current flowing through them. These people are artistic in taste, quick to think, and act always by inspiration, not by reasoning. They do not delve to the bottom of every subject, but rely on the impressions which come to them without stopping to reason out all the "whys and wherefores." They are not by nature reasoners, though they often grow into a habit of analyzing, and as these tendencies increase, knots appear on their fingers. Smooth-fingered subjects are most safely guided by their first impressions and seldom are wrong in their intuitive deductions. Their minds, not being formed in an analytical mould, are not prepared to cope with knotty fingers on matters requiring deep analysis, consequently smooth-fingered folk in dealing with knotty-fingered ones are safer if they rely upon their leading characteristic, inspiration, than if they use analysis, which is the Gibraltar of the knotty fingers. In reading smooth fingers, do not fall into a common error in the use of the word artistic. That is, do not confuse a lover of the beautiful with a producer of it.

It is true that with their impulsive, quick, intuitive qualities, smooth fingers see more beauty in life, see more of the artistic side, the grace and attractiveness of color and form, and in this sense they are artistic. They think quicker, dispose of any subject with greater rapidity, and consequently cover more ground in a day than their knotty-fingered brethren, but they are not as a rule so thorough. In religion, while seldom skeptics, they vary from profound devotees to those who merely have a respect for religion, but are not often agnostics. They do not doubt, for they take much for granted. They do not reason out their religious faith, but take the word of others for much of it. They are not always trying to find flaws as are the knotty fingers, so smooth fingers are more agreeable and pleasant companions. In daily life a love of beauty will be one of their prevailing characteristics. Being less engrossed in mental deductions than knotty-fingered people, they consequently think more of dress, of surroundings, of decoration in the home, of the adornment of their cities, places of business, and of their religion.

The smooth-fingered Latin nations love ritual and decoration in their churches rather than simplicity which belongs to the knotty, square-fingered Puritans. Smooth-fingered persons love those things which please the eye or appeal to the sense of beauty, are inclined to love tasteful dress, and this may degenerate into a love of show if the fingers are coarse. In dealing with smooth fingers always bear in mind the kind of hand on which they are found. You must not expect that the quick, inspirational, intuitive, impulsive nature will always belong to a high grade of character. Neither must the word artistic be associated with high-born dames alone. You will find smooth fingers on the most unenlightened, and on people far removed from the "four hundred." But be the nature fine or coarse, the station in life high or low, smooth fingers will always tell you of one who does not rely on reason and analysis, but on inspiration, impulse, and intuition, who loves the beautiful according to his standard, and who acts generally on the spur of the moment.