Just a very small question about Palmistry!

[SusanB-M1]

In #539 in the (main) astrology thread, Cheiro is mentioned so I thought I'd take this opportunity to tiptoe in quietly with a quick question. In my youth, when I was looking into all such things, I had several Cheiro books. I had read some by other authors which were full of signs which would foretell death by drowning, plane crashes and murder etc. At least Cheiro was a bit more cheerful! Anyway, what I would like to know is: Is there a genetic reason for the way the lines in the hand are formed? I wondered whether to put this in Science, but thought it would get a quicker answer here!!:)

[Lucian]

In #539 in the (main) astrology thread, Cheiro is mentioned so I thought I'd take this opportunity to tiptoe in quietly with a quick question. In my youth, when I was looking into all such things, I had several Cheiro books. I had read some by other authors which were full of signs which would foretell death by drowning, plane crashes and murder etc. At least Cheiro was a bit more cheerful! Anyway, what I would like to know is: Is there a genetic reason for the way the lines in the hand are formed? I wondered whether to put this in Science, but thought it would get a quicker answer here!!:)

***WARNING! This is probably completely wrong***

Some time ago, a friend of mine was giving a conference paper on a medieval palmistry treatise in some medical/magical manuscript (possibly an herbal). Someone in attendance was talking to him after the session. This guy said that the lines on the palm are formed in utero when the fetus makes little fists. People with fewer deeply incised lines are likely to have been rather chunky fetuses; people with lots of shallower lines were probably thin fetuses.

[Wolrab]

There is the question of simian creases:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transverse_palmar_crease

Both genetic and environmental influences. (I just scanned the article so there is a good chance I will have missed something that I am sure will be brought to my attention!)

[SusanB-M1]

Lucian and Wolrab

Thank you for your posts and the wikipedia link, which I've just been looking at. The lines being formed by developing hand in utero certainly makes the most sense rather than thinking the pattern is forming because the person's future is mapping itself out!!!

When I was young, there were always many who said they didn't believe it, that it's all nonsense, and that you can't tell the future; but they were individuals and their voices were drowned out by those who thought that there must be something in it because ....well, how else could things be explained. The dissenters were right of course, and the majority knew it was just a bit of fun and kept it firmly in perspective.

Because of my interest and because they knew I had gone into it a bit more, people used to ask me to look at their hands and I was quite good at making people laugh. There were a few 'hits' and that was interesting but only very marginally. However, there are some hand that I can remember - one woman's was very unusual. The palm was a network of fine lines where the three main, usually clear lines were impossible to detect. She was intelligent, artistic, confident etc.