And here I say that the correct reading of the past, present, and possible future is based absolutely upon your recognition of the Mount type to which your client belongs, after which recognition you can apply to him what you know is common to the type which he represents. For example, the Jupiterian is always ambitious and a leader of men in whatever sphere of life he occupies; the same knowledge would apply to his health, his food, his home life, his religion, his business, his natural proficiency for certain employments, his vices, his passions, manner of living, thoughts, liability to marry or remain single, the kind of person he always marries, and everything else about him. This type has always the same ideas on all of these matters. Every other type has its own peculiarities. Thus, if your client is a pure specimen, you know he has them all, as have his predecessors of the same type. One type marries young, another marries people older than themselves, another avoids marriage entirely. If you have recognized the type to which your client belongs, you can tell him what he will be likely to do in these matters. Some types are long-lived, some die earlier, and, recognizing your type, you can handle this most delicate subject properly.

Length of life, however, is a field that should seldom be approached at all, certainly not unless you are absolutely proficient, careful, and tactful, and no system but that of the types which I am outlining here will enable you to handle this most delicate question without harm to your subject. In fact, all that there is to destiny or fate is this matter of the seven types. Humanity is cast in certain moulds, and unless the course of a type is changed it acts, thinks, lives, and dies in a certain way; the ancestors of this type have so lived, acted, and died, and it will do the same. If all the people in the world were pure specimens of one or the other of these types, then we might be fatalists in the extreme, but the deeper you go into a study of Palmistry the less will you accept an absolutely fatalistic doctrine. In every case, one type or the other will be predominant, its qualities will be the strong controlling element in the life of your client, and in his course through the world the qualities of his type will largely guide and shape his destiny. But there is nearly always present an alloy of some other type, something that may soften the severe lines of his natural mould.

If he strongly wishes to change his course in life, is fully conscious of what he wants to accomplish and has determination enough, he may modify the qualities of his type to a large degree. A knowledge of his shortcomings, coupled with desire and determination, will enable him largely to overcome them. Since they all emanate from the brain, these faults, these desires, these changes, will all be written on the hands.

People do not change their typical qualities until they have a strong desire to change, and are armed with a firm resolution to do it. Thus it will seem that there is no greater truth than that we are indeed free agents, planned for a prearranged destiny, but always able to change it if we determinedly desire to do so. There is, then, no such thing as absolute fatalism, even though we have so strong an indication in that direction from the seven types. The statement, "The Lord helps him who helps himself' applies.

Thus, instead of rebelling at what might seem a cruel predestination on the part of our Creator in adopting the plan of the seven types, we can see that there is nothing unkind in the operation of this plan. You see the Esquimaux living always in the same way. One generation succeeds the other, lives the same way, eats the same food, reaches the same age, and dies. There is nothing cruel in that; you have never thought that fate was unkind to the Esquimaux. He would laugh at you if you told him so. He enjoys life in his way, just as well as you do in yours. Each of our seven types reasons in the same fashion. They are best pleased with their way of living, thinking, and acting, they prefer it to your way. They think you odd that you do not see it as they do. You think it strange that they can be satisfied at all with their ways. Thus the world moves on, seemingly a heterogeneous mass, yet in reality possible of subdivision into seven well-classified types of people.

There is another fact about these types: they look alike, and in my future treatment of the subject I shall give you mental illustrations of their appearance. Thus, knowing each type well, what they look like, how they reason, live, think, work, play, treat their fellows, or marry, as well as their natural occupations and peculiarities, you can, when you meet one of a certain type, dissect him with ease, knowing him better than he knows himself.

The Mount of Jupiter is the place from which you locate the Jupiterian type, the Mount of Saturn identifies the Saturnian, the Mount of Apollo the Apollonian, the Mount of Mercury the Mercurian, the two Mounts of Mars the Martian, one of whom is filled with aggression, the other full of resistance, the Mount of Moon the Lunarian, and the Mount of Venus the Venusian. The Plain of Mars is a part of the Martian type. It may be asked with some reason, Why do the Mounts identify these types? To this question the answer must be given, that at this time we have not fully solved the mystery, but there are some facts leading in that direction which will doubtless in time give us a full explanation of the matter; for we know that the human hand, which is the servant of the brain and which executes all of the work we do, only operates in response to the commands of the brain. Sever the connection between hand and brain by cutting the complex system of nerve telegraph uniting the two (as in paralysis), and the hand becomes like a lump of putty, dead and useless.

The hand, which is the most wonderful instrument ever created, cannot perform one act by itself, for there is no brain or intelligence located in the hand to direct it, but all that it does is by command of the brain, the seat of mind and intelligence, which is located a considerable distance from the hand itself. This shows that the hand is entirely dependent on the brain for its intelligence, and that, being the servant, it reflects the kind of brain behind it by the manner and intelligence with which it performs its duties. It is a well-accepted fact that the centre of the brain, which is in connection with the hand, has been located, and dissections show that different formations of this brain centre are found accompanied by differently shaped hands. This proves that the hand physically shows what kind of a brain is directing it. If the brain centre which controls the hand is of one shape, the Mount of Jupiter will be largest, and we shall have a Jupiterian brain centre creating Jupiterian thoughts, ways and peculiarities, and the result will be that we have a Jupiterian subject.

If this brain centre changes its form the subject develops peculiarities of character, aptitude, and disease, and we shall find other Mounts most developed, for the hand reflects all the changes of the brain, and the subject will belong to the type as shown by the best-marked Mount in the hand. This is unquestionably the idea from which future scientific research will gain a full explanation of the Mounts. In the Chapter, "Mounts and Fingers : How to Judge Them/' I have given minute directions for classifying your subject, and when this is done you have solved the secret of his creation, and there is nothing about him which you cannot know. This is the inner secret of Palmistry, which professionals and amateurs, to whom I have taught it, declare has made them able to attain a proficiency they never hoped for nor believed possible.

The good types are the Jupiterian, Apollonian, and Venusian. These types have good health, happy dispositions, and do not easily become evil. The Saturnian and Mercurian easily cross the boundary and produce bad people. They are both bilious and become warped in their views and manner of life. The Martian easily becomes an ardent, intense type, not necessarily bad, but often violent. The Lunar subject is imaginative, cold, and selfish, easily producing a restless, disagreeable person. Thus you have three good types, two that may be bad, one violent, and one which may be disagreeable.

It will be apparent to those who have studied other authorities on Palmistry, that this work, with the Mounts for a basis, opens a rich field for investigation. Many realize how superficial their work has been, and have longed to know why they could go only so far and no farther. Without wishing to be captious, I must say that it is because, so far as I have been able to ascertain, no other work begins upon the proper foundation. The elementary hand (dulness), the square hand (regularity), the spatulate hand (activity and originality), the philosophic hand (analysis), the conic hand (artistic sense), the psychic hand (ideality), and the mixed hand (versatility) are the accepted types of all other modern works. These formations show only a certain quality of the subject; they do not reveal him in his entirety. They show only certain traits: they will not tell you of his health, how he marries, loves, hates, eats, lives, dies, whether he is good, bad, cross, or cheerful; they do not thus open the hidden recesses of his heart, as they are revealed by the Mount types, nor can you make that subtle distinction between disease and character except through the Mount types.

The works of other recent authors start from certain qualities of the subject (regularity, activity, etc.); this work starts from the man himself, created to fill a particular place, and endowed with all the qualities necessary to enable him to do it. Is it any wonder that greater revelations should come from such a beginning?

The success of hand-reading is a matter of combination. The type of a subject must be combined with his energy, brain power, good intentions, vices, health condition, and many other important factors, before a balance can be struck. Herein lies the difficulty in preparing a treatise on hand-reading. If the types are treated first, the beginner has no knowledge of the important underlying forces which must be combined with them. If the underlying forces are first discussed, the student is not familiar with the types. In the present work the leading attributes of the types are laid down in this chapter and shown in illustration "A." With this illustration and these attributes in mind, a sufficient knowledge of the types to begin with is obtained, and we pass to a thorough consideration of the underlying forces. When these have been fully mastered, we will take up a thorough discussion of the types, and will then have in our possession all the knowledge to combine with them. Thus the final chapters on the Mount types unfold the entire panorama, the difficulties in arranging the sequence of treatment of the various matters is reduced to a minimum, and put in the best form for the student's use.