_Thumb._—The thumb deserves particular notice in treating of the hand. It is the presence of a thumb that imparts to the hand of the higher animals its character of superiority. It is the higher developement and greater mobility of the human hand that render it so much more perfect than that of the ape: “L’animal supérieur est dans la main, l’homme est dans la pouce,” says D’Arpentigny. The thumb being, then, the characteristic element of the human hand—the part last developed and most strongly typical of its superiority over that of the lower animals, the perfect formation of this part of the hand must be regarded as a sign of the character of the species being well marked,—of a strong, active individuality; while the reverse obtains when it is small and rudimentary. The ball of the thumb is made up of strong muscles, and in it the motor function of the hand is, as it were, concentrated. It is the _mons Veneris_ of the old chiroscopists; the expression of “la volonté raisonnée,” of decision, perception, and the logical faculty, according to D’Arpentigny, who confirms the old opinion above alluded to, remarking, “Aimer c’est vouloir, et vouloir c’est aimer.” Persons with a small thumb are ruled by the heart, those with a large by the head. The motive hand is always furnished with a large thumb, and hence, probably, the origin of the term, from _domare_, to rule (Italian), _Daumen_ (German); power and objective force being imparted by it to the hand. The Romans applied the term _pollex truncatus_ to a person who, for the purpose of avoiding military service, cut off or mutilated his thumb—hence our word _poltroon_. It was by the position of the thumb that spectators determined the fate of conquered gladiators; if it were raised, life was spared, if it were depressed, it was a sentence of death. In the Anglo-Saxon laws, it is ordained that mutilation of the thumb shall be punished by a fine of twenty shillings, and that of the middle finger by a fine of four only. In La Vendée, a large thumb is still thought to be indicative of a dabbler in the forbidden mysteries of the black art. Biting the thumb was formerly held to be expressive of insult and defiance; thus Shakspeare in “Romeo and Juliet,”— “_Samson._ I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them if they bear it.” _Fingers._—Having fully examined the palm and thumb, we have next to direct our attention to the four fingers—to their length, their general outline, the size of the joints, and the shape of the pieces of which the fingers are made up,—the phalanges, more especially of the terminal one.