On the other side, many of these associations
are arbitrary, as when the study of spots on the nails is supposed to
give means for determining future fortune. Such conclusions depend partly
on the correct opinion that in the cradle lies the future man, with all
elements of his complex nature, and partly on external marks, the
interpretation of which is purely arbitrary.
The chapter on "Projects" presents the reader with a class of usages,
sufficiently foolish when considered in themselves, but none the less
demanding attention, as exhibiting, in full energy, the survival, at the
end of the nineteenth century, of the practice of divination. It is true
that these attempts to forecast the future are commonly made in a
sportive manner and only with partial belief, being now for the most part
reduced to social sports. They belong also almost exclusively to the
female sex, who by way of amusement still keep up rites which are to
determine the future partner in life. Yet that these observances were
formerly performed with sober forethought may be seen by the
superstitious character with which in retired districts they are still
invested; it is likely that in this limited field we have the final
echoes of ceremonies employed to determine action and to supply means for
the estimation of every species of good or evil fortune. Among these
customs a considerable part may be of relatively recent origin, but a
number are undoubtedly ancient.
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