Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/402

398 indicated by several ridges. When the four main lines are traced, search should be made for a fifth triradius, the carpal, usually occurring in or near the middle of the palm just above the wrist, and its lines should be followed in the same way as in the other cases. The two short lines running downward to the wrist are the carpal lines and define the carpal area, and the longer one which curves about the base of the thumb is the thenar. A carpal triradius is not always present, but in some cases its place is taken by what may be termed a 'parting,' or a place where the ridges which run from the palm to the wrist divide

into two groups, one half of which diverge toward the inner, while the other half diverge toward the outer side (see Fig. 4, a and b). When the interpretation is complete the palm impressions will resemble Fig. 2 (compare with Fig. 1).

If, now, similar impressions are made of a half dozen palms, a great individual difference in the course of the main lines will be at once apparent. They will curve in different directions, sustain various relations with regard to one another and terminate at different points along the margin of the palm. Although occasionally two palms will show the same general course of the main lines, there are, on the other hand, a large number of distinct eases, and this system may well serve