A manual of cheirosophy : being a complete practical handbook of the twin sciences of cheirognomy and cheiromancy, by means whereof the past, the present, and the future may be read in the formations of the hands ; preceded by an introductory argument upon the science of cheirosophy and its claims to rank as a physical science / by Ed. Heron-Allen ... with full-page and other illustrations by Rosamund Brunel Horsley.
- Heron-Allen, Edward, 1861-1943.
- Date:
- 1892
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A manual of cheirosophy : being a complete practical handbook of the twin sciences of cheirognomy and cheiromancy, by means whereof the past, the present, and the future may be read in the formations of the hands ; preceded by an introductory argument upon the science of cheirosophy and its claims to rank as a physical science / by Ed. Heron-Allen ... with full-page and other illustrations by Rosamund Brunel Horsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Pacinian bodies. Connection with the brain. 143 Parallels be- tween the nervous system and electricity. the tactile corpuscles, namely, long globules [pacinian bodies], in the hollows of which the nerve fibres terminate. In short, in the entire surface of the skin there exist terminal apparatus of a peculiar kind for the sensory nerves, and if we wish to follow the action of sensation further physiologically, we must start with the excitement of a nerve fibre which ends in a definite part of the skin, and follow the course of the excitement to the brain. The course of the nerve between brain and skin, along which the excitement passes, can be followed anatomically with a certain degree of exactness. A nervous fibre which ends in the skin forms, as far as its union with the spinal cord or brain, a long fine continuous thread. The fibres which terminate in the skin very soon unite in small branches, and finally in thick nerve trunks, before they enter the central organ of the nervous system, but [prac- tically] in no case do two nervous fibres coalesce in these nerve branches. We may, therefore, assume that every part of the skin is provided with isolated connections with the centre of the nervous system, which are united there just as telegraph lines unite at a terminus. Julius Bernstein is not the only writer who has likened the nervous system to an electric telegraph, and undoubtedly it is an extremely happy simile, for, the brain being the fountain head of the life, without it we should be dead to all impressions, physical or mental; thus, if a blow strikes the leg, the nerves there terminating, instantly carry to the brain the intelligence of a blow having been received, and this communication constitutes the sense of feeling; if the nerve is divided between the leg and the brain there is no telegraph to convey the news, and the brain, the sensitive power, has no intelligence of the blow, which consequently does not hurt the recipient.36 20 M. Desbarrolles, in the fifteenth edition of his work already cited [note p. 67], gives a striking and absolute proof of thi%](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28125721_0058.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
