It shows one who repels advances from the opposite sex instead of courting them, and for such reasons this line was used by the older palmists as an indication of barrenness. It may for the above reasons produce this condition, but it is not per se an indication of sterility.

No. 181.

This restriction of the Life line is also an indication of a diminished probability for long life, as it shows an abnormal dryness in the subject, and such conditions do not show the health and vigor that are present in subjects full of desire and warmth. Coldness indicates nearness to death, either of the physical body, or, as in this case, of some necessary emotion. When the line sweeps wide into the palm (181) it increases the boundary and scope of the Mount of Venus. All things which increase the size of the Mount increase its powers and effectiveness. This subject will be ardent, full of desire and warmth, passionate, generous, sympathetic, and will attract others. He will also be strongly attracted, will marry early, and in ninety-nine per cent, of cases the union will be fruitful. This comes from the converse of the reasoning applied to the restricted line. This converging line also indicates long life and a strong vitality and constitution. It is the presence of warmth as opposed to cold.

As a general proposition, the longer the line of Life, the longer will be the life of the subject, and the shorter the line, the shorter will it be. Experience has proven, however, that this general proposition, while in the main true, is still capable of considerable variation, and if taken absolutely as stated may lead to error, and this must be reduced to the minimum. In my examinations of the hands of dead persons, many startling confirmations of their death have been found on the Life line, but you will also find in the hands of other dead persons well-marked Life lines which run past the age of their decease. This might lead to the belief that the Life line is inaccurate if we did not understand the matter. The fact is that the Life line shows the vigor and natural health of the subject, but we must remember that death is marked on the Heart line, Head line, Mercury line, and is indicated by chance lines and individual signs as well, and in those hands where death has occurred and the Life line is found intact, the indication of death is present in one of the other places mentioned (see hand of Albert Frantz). It is because severe illnesses and death have been looked for on the Life line only, that so little proficiency has been attained in palm-reading. The Life line has been expected to perform a greater duty than it was able to do, and received the blame for ill-success that belonged to the practitioner alone.

In a study of the hands of those who have died from disease, accident, violence, hanging, or electrocution, these premises have been absolutely verified, for the indications of death were in each hand, if only sought in the proper place. Sometimes that place was in the Life line, sometimes in other lines. This matter I desire to make very clear at this point, for it will prevent your falling into the same mistakes which have overtaken others. When the line is found strong, good, and long, we may safely assume that the strong constitution will uphold that life in its natural course until old age is reached. The shorter the line, the shorter is the period that this vitality will remain in full operation and the sooner will the subject have to depend upon a careful handling of his forces to ensure the continuance of life. The two hands are most necessary in the examination of the Life line, for a naturally strong constitution shown by a long, deep line in the left hand may be found ruined in the right hand by a chained line. You can, in every case, read the natural condition correctly from the left hand and the present state from the right. These changes will be shown by the character of the line.

You will often encounter a short Life line in one hand and a long one in the other; if the longer line occur in the right hand, this must be read as prolonging of life and strengthening of constitution; if the shorter is in the right hand, it must be read as the shortening of the life. Nowhere is it necessary to use both hands more continually than in examinations of the Life line. In all hands where good, long Life lines are seen, feel sure that the natural vigor will last a long time, and in all hands where a short line is seen, there is a danger point indicated for that subject at the termination of the short line, and this cannot with safety be ignored by him.

The character of the line is most important, for from it you read the muscular strength, robustness, and vigor of your subject. If the line be deep and well cut, the Current is coursing in a good supply through a deep channel, and your subject is strong, vigorous, full of vitality, will resist disease, and have few illnesses. These strong lines are found most often on phlegmatic persons, for these subjects live on muscular strength, not nervous energy. So the deepest lines are in the hands having the least sensitive nerves, and consequently the fewest lines. The lives of these subjects are more even, for they worry little and are not burdened with delicacy and poor health. They are capable of great exertion physically.

In connection with consistency of the hands the deep-cut Life line is important to note. If the line be shallow and broad or chained, the subject, even with elastic consistency, will not possess the energy of one with a deep line. The subject with a deep Life line has more ability to throw off worry and remain calm in moments of excitement. He is endowed with vigor of constitution, is filled with self-confidence, and inspires it in others. He is intense in everything he does, work and play alike. If a Life line be deep and long it will show that the vitality and robustness continues during the entire life, but most Life lines become thin at the lower end, when the vitality naturally wanes. Vigor, strength, health, ardor, self-confidence, intensity, and energy sum up the attributes of the deep-cut Life line, and this line will affect all of the types. The strength and vigor will increase the Jupiterian propensities to "eat, drink, and be merry," and from this Life line and the Jupiterian type we get many drunkards. This is one of the distinguishing combinations which tells of danger in this direction. If the third phalanx of Jupiter be very full and the color of hand and line red, your subject is likely one who has already indulged heavily.