The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-11-18
Wut @liu.
why arc We Right-Handed ?

Why are We ht-Handed2
There Is, IN Sir Charles Bells Bridge
ter treatise, . quaintly-worded passage
which the author endeayors to deal
HI the reason why we normally use the
ut hand il Preference of the left. AZ
asurfeit Of Haeckle and Darwin after,
must bs the case when one attempts to
ep en- rupport with modern scientific
ought, becoming fairly imbued with the
tion that distinct creative acts never
ok place and that fire, mist and the pri-
al germ are our legitimate ancestors in
broken line, there is something positively
ifeshing 10 turn back to earlier writings,
d there 70 find material theory con-
mptuously dismissed in order that the
thor may anchor his faith to the idea
at man was created right handed by
iyine intention. He says that "the pre-
renee Of the right hand is not the effect
habit, but Is natural provision, and is
atowcd for very obvious purpose )" but
bat that purpose is he fails to make clear,
kept infcrentially in the statement that
hero ought TO be no hesitation which
bud Is 70 be used or which foot is to be
ht forward nor is there, in fact, any such
deciaion. Any one who has ever wit
essed the ainusing spectacle of squad
raw recruits learning the goose step,
. III be disposed to combat this last asser-
on II requires longer teaching than
ould DO Imagined to impress upon the
nbryo soldier that the left foot is first to
moved Experience goes clearly to
low, besides, that the average individual
cps Oft Unfortunately with either foot
ID hence the selection of the left foot,
.erely 70 secure uniformity in the military
Is, has been made, though the very fact
ain is cnriously at variance with the
love authors intimation that heaven
iplanted instinct teaches us to put the
sht foot Forward.
| We have mentioned Bells treatise, not,
aveyer. for the sake of the theory which
d Iuhintains, but for the one which he
jecls Ia n few brief lines. Ait is affirm
y he says, shat the trunk of the artery
,ing TO the right arm passes off from the
sart so as to admit the blood directly and
ore fcrcibly into the small vessels of the
I'm. This is assigning cause which is
hequal to the effect" he adds and prob
bly, imposing that no other cause would
Fer be combined Herewith to bring it up
equality, he curtly pronounces III "par-
|cipation in the common error of seeking
Il the mechanism the cause of phenomena
hich have deeper source" said source
,ing supernatural. For the man who
discovered the functions of motion and
.nsation pertaining to the brain and
final marrow who located the sensory
Nvcs, and those which form the wonder
+ 4 tolcgraphs commanded by the will, and
ho showed that the nerves of the differ
lit senses are connected with distinct
,rtions Of the brain, SO implicit belief
f / the active interference of an Unknown
over With human mechanics is indeed
range. 1t is to this faith, however,
lat must be ascribed this neglect to
rosecute the investigation which, very
FecentIy carried through by French
|Aysician, DR.. Fleury, of Bordeaux, have
lduced facts showing that our natural
6 apulse 10 use the members on the right
% Of the body is clearly traceable to
obably physiological causes.
4 DR.. Fleury, after examining an immense
lumber Of human encephala, asserts that
10 leff anterior lobe is little larger than
10 right one. Again he shows that, by
kamining d large number of people, there
an unequal supply Of blood to the two
des Of the body. The branchio.cephalic
'unk, which only exists on the right of
/ 40 aorta, produces, by difference in
lEmination, an inequality in the waves
red blood which travel from right to
Eh. Moreover, the diameters Of the
arteries ON each side are differ
snt, that on the right being noticeably
anger.
The left lobe of the brain, therefore,
being more richly henatosed than the
light, becomes stronger and as, by the
of the nervous fibre, it COM
napds the right side of the body, it is
,bv;aus that that side will be more readily
This furnishes one reason for
he natural preference for the right hand,
ind another is found in the increased
Iupply of blood from the subclavian artery.
The aaementation of blood we have al
'eady seen suggested above; but the
'eason for it is here ascribed to the relative
|lre Of ne artery, and not to any directness
i path from the heart DIR. Fleury has
laxFjod bis investigations through the
Fholo aefies Of mammifera; and he finds
hat the right-handed peculiarity exists in
u that have arteries arranged similar to
hose Of man. At the same time, such
'nimals notably the chimpanzee, the seals,
md fho beavers, arc notably the most
Idroit and intelligent.