Left Hand
Left Hand
Open Hand
Open Hand
Hand with tool
Hand with tool
Hand with scale
Hand with scale
Hand with gloves
Hand with gloves
Hands in pockets
Hands in pockets
Positions of the Hands on Divining Rods
From “Lettres qui découvrent l’Illusion des Philosophes sur la Baguette.” Paris, 1693
The Flipper of a Whale compared to the hand of man
In the bones and in their arrangement there is a close resemblance in the two cases, yet the outcome is very different. The multiplication of finger joints in the whale is a striking feature.
Rowing grip
Top - Wrong grip Bottom - correct grip After the pose, the student should learn to hold his belt. Inadvertently when rowing to apply some force, he will tighten his belt tightly, even pinch it. Now this is nothing but a waste of forces, because it makes the muscles, namely those of the lower arm, tense and tired, without obtaining any greater result. The hands should only serve as a means of connecting the strap to the body; so the looser the belt is held, the better, and to that end only the two extremities of the fingers are bent, as a result of which a hook is formed, as it were, which wraps around the belt; (bottom picture) the thumb is held under the belt and also only with the extreme member pressed against it. The wrist joints should absolutely not be bent downwards, because this is precisely what makes the muscles of the lower arm tense, which is of no use and should therefore be strictly forbidden. After all, the aim must be not to exert a muscle without obtaining any result proportional to the effort. The hand must therefore be held in such a way that it forms a straight line with the arm.
Hand of Gorilla, Orang, Gibbon, and Chimpanzee
Hand
Right Hand
How to hold chopsticks
Chopsticks may appear at first hard to manage; but their manipulation is not really difficult when one comes to see the way in which they should be handled. They are held near the upper or thicker end in the right hand. One chopstick is laid between the thumb and the forefinger and on the first joint of the ring finger which is slightly bent, and held in position by the basal phalanx of the thumb; this chopstick is almost stationary. The other is laid near the third joint of the forefinger and between the tips of that and the middle finger which are kept together, and is held down by the tip of the thumb; it is, in short, held somewhat like a pen, only the pressure of the thumb is much lighter, for if it were heavy, the force put into it as the chopstick is moved would relax the pressure on the other stick and cause it to drop. The tip of the thumb serves, therefore, only as a loose fulcrum for moving the stick with tips of the fore and middle fingers, while the upper half resting on the last joint of the forefinger is allowed free play. The most difficult part is the use of the thumb; beginners press the stationary chopstick too hard and make the tip of the thumb so stiff that the other chopstick cannot be freely moved. It is quite easy, when one gets used to the thing, even to move the stationary chopstick a little at the same time as the other. The tips of the chopsticks must always meet. In the hand of a skilled user a needle may be picked up with them; but it is quite enough for ordinary purposes if we can pick a fish or take up a grain of boiled rice.
Silhoette - Right Hand pointing
Hand holding Card
Hand holding Card
Left Hand holding a card
Left Hand Pointing - Fine detail
Left Hand Pointing Coarse detail
Left hand pointing
Right Hand Pointing - Coarse Detail
Right Hand Pointing - Fine detail
Right Hand Pointing
Silhoette - Left Hand pointing
Handshake
Handshake
Card
Right hand holding small card
Hands
Praying Hands
Praying Hands
Hands clasped