HISTORICAL OUTLINE. — c. has been known since antiquity, and it may be said to have been cultivated at all times and among all the most important ethnic groups, such as the Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Jews, and Romans. For example, in antiquity c. was dealt with by Aristotle (who describes the lines of the hand in relation to the duration of life), Pliny (Nat. Hist., XI, 273), who refers to Aristotle, Juvenal (VI, 581), and others. c. flourished especially during the Renaissance through many authors, among whom Paracelso, Cardano, Batt. Cocles (Physiognonia et chir., Bologna 1504), Aless. Achillini (Opera omnia, Venezia 1545), Giovanni della Porta (Della chirofisonomia, Latin version by P. Sarnelli, Napoli 1677), etc., are noteworthy. Then having almost disappeared from the beginning of the seventeenth century, c. was restored to favor in France and throughout the world in the nineteenth century through D'Arpentigny and Desbarolles.
Historical Note
BIBL.: C. S. D'Arpentigny, La chirognomonie, Paris 1843; A. Desbarolles, Les mystères de la main, ibid. 1859; id., Les mystères de la main. Révélations complètes, ibid. 1879; A. De Thebes, L'énigme de la main, ibid. 1900; J. Leclercq, Le caractère et la main: histoire et documents, ibid. 1900; Wood, Scientific palustrity, London 1900; N. Vaschide, Essai sur la psychologie de la main, Paris 1900; E. Alta, Signum. Traité complet de chiromancie pratique, Vichy 1924; M. Choisy, Chirologie, Paris 1927; M. Raschig, Hand und Persönlichkeit, Hamburg 1930; A. del Bello, Astrochiromanzia, Milan 1941; J. Vergier-Boimond, Chiromancie, in DDC, III, cols. 683–85. Alighiero Tondi
Cite this article
“CENNO STORICO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III (1949), p. 903. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/cenno-storico.