The first reason is physiological. It developed when various theories of the blood circulated freely, before the blood itself was known to circulate. The Romans spoke of the _vena amoris_, the vein of love, but the idea was earlier expressed by the Greeks, who credited it to the Egyptians. This vein of love, they declared, connected the third finger of the left hand directly with the heart, which is the seat, as everyone knows, of the tender passion. The second reason is the product of logical elimination. The analysis was made by Macrobius, a Roman commentator of the late fourth century. The thumb, Macrobius declared, is too busy to be set apart for special dedication. Because of the shape of the hand, the forefinger and the little finger are only half protected. The middle finger (being in his time used by mothers as a practical suppository and by doctors for anal exploration) was too opprobrious. This left only what he called the _pronubus_, the one “for the nuptial,” which has ever since been called the ring finger. On the left hand, to indicate the woman’s subjection, it is the engagement finger. The third explanation grows out of old church practice. The bride was blessed “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” Starting with the thumb, if the bridegroom touched one finger with each name, he would complete the trinity with the middle finger, then put the ring on the next one. That finger is the husband’s to whom the woman owes allegiance next to God. For a long time, it should be mentioned, the wedding ring was worn on the right hand; sometimes on the little finger, as the least obtrusive; while in many eastern lands it has been worn upon the thumb. _Counting Fingers_ In his _Treatise of Spousals_ written in 1680, Henry Swinburne declared that the wedding ring “is to be worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, next unto the little finger.” Since his time there has been confusion in the counting. If we name the fingers, the matter is simple enough: holding the arms outstretched, palms down, and starting from the inside, we have the thumb, the index finger (or pointer or forefinger), the middle finger, the ring finger, and the little finger (or, to use the word borrowed from children, the pinkie). Numbers complicated the picture. Swinburne counted the thumb as the first finger. The Elizabethans a century before him, as we noted in their practice of indicating their attitude toward matrimony, counted the little finger as the first. The common system of counting today starts not with the thumb, but next to it. Thus the index finger is the first; and the engagement and the wedding ring adorn the third finger of the left hand. Perhaps it is wiser to speak of the fingers by their names. The important thing is that they be fitly adorned. _Memorial Rings_