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A paper on Palmistry and its purported use in Medicine has been published in the 2005 Archives of Goa Medical College. It has been described in a lead article in the current issue of the Goan Observer.

I think it is important to critique this paper for its scientific merit, if any, because it makes some extraordinary claims that have never been made in the mainstream medical scientific literature. Being in possession of a little bit of knowledge and experience in medical scientific research, I feel obliged to offer my comments on the Goan Observer article.

To begin with this article boldly claims that a field called Medical Palmistry is slowly emerging as a new branch of science or scientific medicine. In support of this claim it merely provides what appear to be some slightly reworded excerpts from a non–scientific internet website (Aarogya.Com) devoted to promoting alternative medical therapies. It does not provide any original references from the mainstream scientific or medical literature to back its claim.

If one looks into the mainstream medical literature over the last 40 years, one finds no mention of medical palmistry, and no mention of it being used to diagnose any disease.

There is, however, an area of research called Dermatoglyphics which deals with the study of finger prints, and to a lesser extent, palmar creases, in terms of their development and their relationship to some birth defects and genetic conditions.

This area of research has no connection with Palmistry with its heart lines, head lines, life lines, etc.

The assignment of names of organs, parts of the body, states of health, accidents and emergencies, and the very notions of life and death to various lines, crosses, cuts, kinks etc in Palmistry, has no basis in science as we know it. No scientific study in medical anatomy, developmental biology, physiology or pathology has revealed any such evidence or rationale.

So there is no underlying scientific hypothesis that would guide any objective medical researcher to look for tell–tale signs of accidental head injuries on the line of head, of heart ailment on the line of heart, or of fatal illness or longevity on the line of life.

Read more: The Palming of 'Medical Palmistry'