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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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KISSING HANDS . Tke MayoT of Southampton kissed ( or was supposed to kiss ) the hand of the Queen , of Oude . There have been malicious hints that the feature thus saluted belonged to a Xalioo of Malabar , in the retinue of her throneless Majesty . The Mayor had not studied under M . d ' Abpentignt , and "was , consequently , unable to satisfy himself whether . 'the hand contained the real cold blood of an Oriental queen , or was no more than the extremity of
a slave . But others may profit , by the new science , Cliirognomy , the successor of Chiromancy . To electors , civil service examiners , suitors of all kinds , masters in want of servants , parents doubtful as to the capacities of their sons , parties in the House of ¦ ' Commons suspicious of their leaders , tliis art is xeconimended . It is the flow of M . d '
Aepeittigjnx ' s soul , M . D'AEPHNTiGNr not hesitating to pass beyond tlie bounds of chiromantic divination practised by * philosophers iu all ages from Pla . to to Mademoiselle Lenormand . lingers , indeed , are indices , in a new sense . Supple and elastic fingers , that bend easily backwards , are proofs of sagacity , of readiness , of an inquiring disposition , such as Excise officers should possess . ' -. Fingers
ill-Jn either an animal nor a born , idiot possesses a "thumb ; for that wiich seems a thumb in the monkey , is only a talon ; children begin to use their thumbs and their intellects at the same time ; the horrors of epilepsy begin wifch . a contraction of the thumb . GrA . iri < EO , Djssoabtes , Newtoh , LiebititZ , Fourier , St . Simon , bad large thumbs . The statue of YoiTAiEE shows that his thumbs were
enormotis . The people of Corsica and Brrtanny , fierce , resolute , powerful , are all Yoltaikes in this respect ; yet bands that are delicately developed and soft deserve the residuary respect of the reader ' s mind . If a large hard hand modelled the sculptures of Michael An"Gelo , hands soft and smooth modelled those of Pbadieb and Caitova . The Greeks , who had large hands , constructed only petty states , and erected mediocre monuments , while the Pyramids -were built by the smallhanded Egyptians .
At the next general election , since pledges are not to "be given , and promises not to be trusted , let us follow M . D'ARPENTiGinr ' s advice and cry " Show us your hands ! " But we might simplify the test , and not insist upon the hands of the candidates being large ot small , so that they be clean !
arranged aiid irregular , belong to hair-brained babblers , men without power or spirit , but capable of lampooning . Thick hands with fleshy fingers , indicate avarice ; short and thick fingers , cruelty ; nevertheless-, "beware of fingers long , and delicate , for these belong to kidnappers , sliarpers , and diplomatists ! Notice , also , that men who keep their thuinbs habitually hidden under thair fingers , axe of a sordid disposition .
M . d AntPENTiamrhas critics ^ but they are lenient . Chirognomy-j they admit , is a less ostentatious' science than Physiognomy , or Phrenology ; it would by no means have satisfied G-axij or Latatee . Yet the hand , as the instrument of our intelligence , is a very emphatic feature ; the hand of a poefc could not possibly resemble that of a metaphysician , or that of a dreamer the hand of an experimentalist . It depends upon thepalm of your hand whether you love like Don Jit an , and
eat like "BEiiiiiAT-SAVAKijsr , or whether you love like Louis XV ., and eat like G-arganttja . So , according to'the JSJatio ?\ al , your knuckles decide whether yoti will be n slave of fancy , of sentiment , of speculation ; whether you will be a synthetical or an analytical man , a reasoner , or a writer of verse ; at all events , if you have smooth knuckles , you will go to the hospital . As to the ends of the fingers , they may be spatular , square , or conical . Nimeod , Christopher Coi / cmbus , and
Casanova bad smooth fingers , with spatular ends ; Vaticanson's and Jacquaed ' s fingers , though spatular , were rougli , as were those of Vauban , Carnot , Cohorn , and Aeago ; the capacities for all sciences , mechanics , statistics , dynamics , navigation , civil , military , and naval architecture and strategy are intimately dependent on the form , of the hand . Nor are square-topped fiugers to bo disdained . They belong to the professors of moral , political , social , and philosophic
science , and of didactic , analytical , and dramatic verse , grammar , language , logic , and geometry . To them are attributable all theories and ideas ranging beneath the zenith of poetry . Aristotle's fingers were of this quality . Nations , in which these fingers prevail are more polite , simple , and elegant than spatular-lingered peoples . Thus , Buggosts M . d ' A : iipentickny , tho Trench liavo the square , tlie English the spatular form . Largo Lands lovo detail ; lessor hands aro synoptical ; small handa synthetic .
But the pride of the baud is the thumb . In default of nil other evidence , said Newton , my thumb convincos mo of the existonce of God .
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THE CHOLERA AT MADEIEA . The accounts we read of the plague at Athens , at Florence , and at London , seem to have been almost paralleled by tie narratives recently published of the cholera at Madeira . From the middle of July to the end of August , a pestilence of a most appalling kind raged in that beautiful island which has rescued from death many who have sought its shores when , far gone in consumption ; thousands died with , a suddenness that baffled all
attempts at Tescue ; the medical men speedily fell beneath the poison / which " hung in the sick air ;" the island was left without succour and with a very insufficient supply of drugs ; and a panic ensued , which induced all those to fly who had stren gth to move , or-who -were not induced to remain by feelings of humanity . In three weeks , there were 5000 cases and 1500 deaths in a population of 100 , 000 , and 116 deaths in one day in Fimchal alone , a town of 16 , 000 , where the sum total is calculated to have been eight times as
many as the deaths from cholera in London in 1849 . Persons attacked generally dropped down and expired instantly . Business came to a complete stop ; and the consequence is now being felt In an absolute want of provisions . A large amount of dru g s has alread y been sent out from England ; hut , now that the disease is over , subscriptions for the purchase of food are more wanted . A list has therefore been opened by the Kev . Mr . D'Orsay , one of the chaplains at Funchal , from ¦ whom we derive the foregoing particulars , and ¦ wh o thus indicates another cause of distress
The landed proprietors aro almost entirely ruined "by the failures of the vines since 1851 ; and the English merchants , formerly wealthy and always generous , arc unable to do what they wish , from the cessation of tlie wino trade , caused by a . popular error in England , that , because the crops have Jailed , tho wino is not to be had . " Subscriptions will be received by Messrs Prescott and Co . ; M " essrs . Ransom and Co . ; and Charles Phelps , Esq ^ ., Montague-place , Russellsquare .
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BOOKSELLERS' ADULTERATIONS . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Stn , —You state , in a paragraph headed " American Bookselling Adulteration , " that " Dr . Spiers ha 3 written to tho Times , complaining that in an American edition of his General French and English Dic ~ tionary tlie name of another gentleman is coupled with his own on the title-page . " This is certainly one of the grievances of whicli I complained . But tlie great grievance which rouaed my indignation and induced me to appeal to public opinion through tlio medium of your columns was , not that Mr . Appleton of New York had coupled another gentleman ' s namo with mino on my book ,
which is tolerably unfair , but that ho had put rny name to a dictionary I have not written ; so tlva , t . not content with adding another man ' s namo to my book , forsooth , he must add my namo to another man ' s book . This I consider to be an act of signal bad faith , a fraud on tho reader , tho author , and tho public at large—a nefarious transaction -unworthy of respectable publishers , and prejudicial to the whole republic of letters . It is , I trust , a novel grievance . Public animadversion on it would preclude th . o possibility of all emulation of the deed . I have tho honour to be , Sir , Your obedient servant , A , Spiers . 13 , Giouccstcr-placc .
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thanEvian . I "beg his pardon . There Is a difference in the result of our inquiries , which may arise from , the circumstance that one of us is imperfectly acquainted with the language in -which they must be made . Amphion is not Evian , any more than Savoy is Piedmont , 1 translate from a guide-book , published in 1855 , at Chambe ' ry , by M . Gabriel Mortillet : — c Amphion ( one hour and five minutes from Thenon ) . On leaving Thenon , the traveller proceeds towards the Dranse , crosses on . a bridge of twenty
aTches . . . . . He then arrives at-. Amphion , tlie cold ferruginous waters of which , after having enjoyed a great reputation towards the end of the last century , had falle n into complete neglect . They have nowbeen revived in a brilliant manner . The source arises from the ground near the lake , under a shed . Near at hand is an elegant Casino , which attracts numerous visitors , and from the terrace of which an admirable view may te obtained , of the Canton deVaud and the lake , along the borders of which the traveller proceeds to " Evtaw ( distant forty-five minutes ) , &c . "
It may toe that the Daily News relies for information on old . gentlemen who have not been lucid since the beginning of this century , when the waters of Amphion iiad indeed teen forgotten . I try to learn from younger sources . The animus of all this petty carping tending to diminish tte authority of more important allegations is obvious enough . I have told the truth about Piedmont , without caring whether it would please this party at home , or that coterie in Turin ; and I have told it in a language so measured , and with such careful criticism of facts , that , although most English reviewers have been ready to contradict me in general terms—because my statements do not agree witli their unfounded prejudices—yet no one lias ventured to point out any flaws , save one or two misprints , and this important geographical delinquency of - the invention of Amphion !
I have just received a letter from Piedmont containing some words which I copy without hesitation , because they bestow the praise which I wrote to earn . After alluding to some statements whicli , " from his point of view , " he "would not have published , the writer continues : — " But after all , truth will always be a great and respectable thing . The English press , moreover , has hitherto treated us like children who are put to sleep by bonbons and caresses . You have treated us as men . I thank you . " I feel persuaded that I shall have done better service to the cause of liberty in Italy by laying bare the obstacles that have to be overcome , and by
forestalling , as it were , the fatal surprise which always seizes the public in revolutionary times , when tlie personages it has been be-paragraphed into favouring suddenly disappear to make way for new , and therefore hateful , faces—it is doing ; better service , I say to perform this preliminary work , than to go on constructing- nauseous sentences of general encouragement , or to stain the English public with praises of the aristocratic , inabilities or dishonesties who arre now engaged in a foolish conspiracy to take advantage of the movement which has begun against their will , and which wants neither their praise nor their assistance .
WHERE IS AMPHION ? ( To the , Editor of . the Leader . ' ) Sin , —I am sorry to trouble you a second time on a personal matter . Some weeks ago , in reviewing my Suhalptne Kingdom , tho Daily News rnado a great point of a fact -which it assumed to have discovered , namel 3 , that for some sinister motivo I had invented a place in Savoy ,-and called it Amphiou , Perhaps it meant to infer that I knew nothing of tho country . However this may be , although I at once stated where information might be got , I find that a gentleman on his way out to Piedmont in connexion with that journal , has returned to tlie charge , taken evLdencc on the matter , and finds himself entitled to inform me that what I moan by Amphion is no other
The virtuous and intelligent Daniel Manin is endeavouring to act on public opinion in Italy from Paris . Why is he not in Turin ? Because in Turin he would be called a pessimo svggetto , and would "be hurled into a corner by men who pretend to a monopoly of Italian patriotism , because they have valuable estates and worthless titles . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Bayle St . Jomr .
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September 27 , 15860 THE LEAPEB . 927
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 927, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2160/page/15/
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