The length of the Mercury line adds to the power of the line and its usefulness. If the line be long, running from the base of the hand to the Mount of Mercury, its influence will be felt during the subject's entire life. If the long line be also a good one its influence means good health and success during the entire life. If this long line be a defective one, it will indicate ill health and attendant indifferent business success during the entire life. By the length of the line and its character during the different periods of life, you can tell what years will be blessed with the greatest strength, best action of the liver, good digestion, and consequently the most productive periods in a business way. If the line starts deep, then grows this, and then is deep again (488), there is a period covered by the thinness of the line when the health is impaired, and at such a time the subject must use great care, take much sleep, and avoid dissipation. If this be done, with the good ending of the line, trouble may be avoided.

If (reading, of course, from its source upward) the line begins deep and grows chained (489) the good health of the first years on the line is followed by some serious affection of the liver and consequent stomach derangement will impair the health and success of the subject; the age of all periods to be read from the line, reading, of course, always from its source upward. If with this marking the Life line be defective after the chaining begins, the case is serious (490). If after the chaining of the Mercury line begins the Head line shows islands or other defects, the liver trouble will affect the mental strength of the subject. This will often account for sudden attacks of temporary insanity, especially if a star be seen in or near the Head line (491). If the Mercury line runs to the Head line and is absent or defective during the space between Head and Heart lines, but runs again on the Mount of Mercury (492), the subject will need to do as much as possible before the age of thirty, for at that time the powerful allies of the good Mercury line will for a time desert him, and as the years between Head and Heart lines are among the most important in his life, he will lose these supports at a critical period.

The line running again on the Mount will show that he may recover himself if care be used. If bars, crosses, dots, islands, or other defects terminate or are near the ending of the line, he is not likely to recover. By following the line from its source, noting its length, any changes in its character, during which parts it is good or deficient, all the changes in the conditions of the subject arising from a good, bad, or indifferent operation of his liver and digestion can be read. Knowing the effect of these upon the possibilities of successfully conducting business operations, you can gauge his material success.

No. 488.

No. 489.

No. 490.

No. 491.

No. 492.

In the absence of a Saturn or Apollo line, the Mercury line will often give indications which could be obtained from those lines if present. Sometimes the Mercury line is very short, hardly more than a chance line, in which case it is entitled to no more consideration than such a line. Often mere chance lines are incorrectly read as Mercury lines, owing to the large number of hands in which this line is either absent or wofully deficient. In this part of the work great caution should be used lest mere chance lines be mistaken for and read as Main lines. A line of Mercury cannot run to the Mount of Apollo, or anywhere but to the Mouut of Mercury, and to be diagnosed as this line must at least show that it is heading in that direction, even though it may not be quite long enough to reach the Mount. Before any line is called a Mercury line it must be enough of a line to entitle it to be classed among the Main lines.

Color in the Mercury line should increase or diminish the estimate of the strength of the qualities it indicates. If the line shows biliousness and defective liver conditions, yellow color will generally be present as a strong confirmatory indication. The type of the subject will, however, greatly affect color, and you should not fall into the way of expecting yellow color with all bad Mercury lines. A Jupiterian, Apollonian, Martian, or Venusian subject, even with pronounced biliousness, rarely has any color but pink or red, though blue is sometimes seen. These warmer types have bad Mercury lines occasionally, but they take more exercise, are more cheerful, and consequently throw off many of the ill effects arising from improper action of bile. The Saturnian first, Mercurian second, and Lunarian third, will show yellow color easily. On a Saturnian subject we expect yellow, for he is always more or less impregnated with bile, while the Mercurian has bile enough to give him an olive complexion. The Lunarian may be yellow, but white more often.

A Saturnian who has a bad Mercury line will be doubly sure to be gloomy, pessimistic, and disagreeable, and with such a subject all defects in a Mercury line must be given their full interpretation, for a bad Mercury line on a Saturnian is an exceedingly unfortunate combination. If yellow color be seen with the warmer types, it shows that the defects in the Mercury line are most pronounced, for when the natural red or pink of these types has been overcome by yellow, the poison has taken serious hold. In all estimates of color with the Mercury line, take full account of the type of the subject, and the natural color he should show, from which it can be judged how seriously he is affected. If the Mercury line shows indigestion, and yellow color be likewise present, the latter indicates that the subject has also liver disorder, even though it is not marked in the Mercury line.