Palmistry - a Manual of Cheirosophy

It is usual to divide the science of Cheirosophy into two principal sections : Cheirognomy, or the science of interpreting the characters Cheirosophy and instincts of men from the outward formations and aspects of their hands; and Cheiromancy, or the science of reading the characters and instincts of men, their actions and habits, and the events of their past, present, and future lives, in the lines and formations of the palms of their hands. Though, as will be seen anon, the line of demarcation which has been drawn between these two branches of the science is not only false in principle but misleading in practice, [for, as will be seen in the following pages, the two sections are inextricably intermingled, and cannot be separated if accuracy of result is aimed at,] it is still convenient to preserve the semblance of separation, so that the student may master the principia of cheirognomy before he begins to apply it to the interpretation and elucidation of the more intricate rules of cheiromancy, and for this reason I have divided the one great subject of cheirosophy into its two constituent and companion elements of cheirognomy and cheiromancy. Edward Heron-Allen (born Edward Heron Allen) was an English polymath, writer, scientist and Persian scholar who translated the works of Omar Khayyam.