"Now there are besides these characters in our faces certain
mystical figures in our hands," wrote Sir Thomas Browne in his
Religio Medici. ...the presence of lines for children in this
area of the hand may or may not indicate Small ovals or islands
on the lines and mounts of the hands generally are regarded as a
defect. “This sign is one which has been misunderstood and
improperly handled by many palmists,” writes William Benham in
his book, The Laws of Scientific Hand-Reading. The island itself
is not a single sign but is created by the splitting of the
main, or major, line and a return of the split back to the major
line. A chronology of life is implicit in the visible lines of
the hands, a linear clock of our personal progression and
growth. It is possible to get a very quick--snapshot of
character by looking at a person's thumbs. This most unique of
digits is what distinguishes us from almost all other creatures
on the earth.