- Hand Reading Mini-Course (P3) -

Nevertheless, the medical diagnostic potential of the human hand was noticed in the 16th century already. Gettings⁽¹⁾ writes:

"... Paracelsus used the stars of heaven to predict the future and he used the human hand for indications of diseases..."

Figure A-1: Portret of Paracelsus: an engraving created by Hirshvogel in 1538. The latin words op top of the engraving describe Paracelsus' motto for life: "Let no man belong who can belong to himself belong to another".

Figure A-2: Purkinje's fingerprint classification systeem.

The very first fingerprint classification system was presented in 1823. It was the work of Joannes Evangelista Purkinje⁽²⁾ - a Tsjech physiologist. Purkinje's system describes the variations among 9 fingerprint types.

Only a few years later, in 1833 the anatomist Bell² described the funtionality of the dermatoglyphs: "these give us a firmer grip".