Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-05-23
An Anatomical Problem.
From the New York Times.

! liner d Is no TACT better established
than that a gitl cannot throw q
stone with any effect. When q
boy throws stone his arm moves
In a plane parallel with the plane
of his waistband. When a gill IN.
deItakes like feat, her arm is first
held upright in a line with her ma
Jor axis aud then moved rapidly in
a downward direction. The stone
thrown by the boy has an enormous
range and strikes the window, the
cat, the old gentleman, or other
object at which it is aimed, at a
surprisingly long distance. The
stone which the girl attempts 10
throw describes brief arc and de.
scends to the ground few yards
In front OF her. What is the cause
OF this difference in the sexes is a
mystery. It's solution has been
sought In vain by The ablest phi.
losophers, and every hypothesis
that has yet been made in order to
account tor the phenomena attend
ing the attempted throwing of
stones by girls has proved utterly
unsatisfactory.
Sir Isaac Newton long ago pro-
pounded theory which, in spite
OF It's tailacy, has had many adhe-
rents. He insisted thar the anato-
my of the female arm is such that
1t is Impossible for a girl to move
her arms IN the plane of her waist.
band. Without dwelling on the
fact that he uuwarrantubly assumed
the existence of female waist bands,
1t Is sufficient to say that facts con-
clusively contradict his assertion.
Several scientific persons have since
den onstrated by a simple and
pleasing experiment that girl can
move her arms III almost any plane.
Prof. Fariaday took a gill of the
usual pattern, and a young man
selected almost at random from his
class on the Theory and Practice
of Stone throwing" He placed
the young man on the floor CT his
lecture-room with the girl imme-
dlately 10 front of him. The lights
were then turned down fol O few
moments in order to favor chemi-
Cal action, aud on suddenly turning
them mp again the girls arms were
found to be tightly clasped around
the young man in the plane of his
waistband, although at somewhat
greater altitude. 1t is impossible
to break the force of this expert
ment. II conclusiveIy shows that
the female arm can move in the
very direction in which Sir Isaac
Newton asserted that it could not
move. The same experiment has
heen ofteu repeated, and always
with the same result. Any young
man who can command the coop
GRAFTON of girl can repeat it for
his own satisfaction, and it might
be added that it is universally
agreed that it is one OF the most
thoroughly satisfactory expert
ments known to science. We need,
then, pay no further attention to
Newtcn's hypothesis, since it has
been completely disproved and is
now held by no one who has even
a moderate acquaintance with
science.
DIR. Isaac Watts, who was cele-
brated in Byron's thrilling lines
''The British Isles, the British Isles.
Where burning Isaac loved and sang"
had his private hypothesis as to
female stone. throwing, and al
though be was not precisely a sci
entifc person, his opinion on al
most any subject is entitled to re-
spect. He took the ground that
nature had withheld from girls the
power TO throw stones, in order
that the human race might have
some little chance of perpetuity.
He argued that if girls could throw
stones, they would constantly hit
the wrong objects, and that SO great
wonld be the fatality from accidents
of this kind that in a comparatively
short time the world would become
depopulated. In reply to this it
may be observed that if nature has |
acted as DIR. Watts pretends, she
has strained at guat and swallow
ed whole droves of metaphoricaI
Nature has permitted the
female of our species to WELD the
broom haudIe and the stove lid
with degree of force and efficien-
cy which man rarely if ever dis
plays. To withhold a stone from
the very girl within whose grasp
the stovelid is put, would be
puerile and ridiculous. DIR. Watts
is wrong. OF Course, a good deal
of damage would he done if girls
could throw stones, bnt it is impos-
sible to believe that for this reason
nature has denied them the power
of stone-thl owing.
The most recent hypothesis is
probabl y the most untenable aud
preposterous of all that have hith.
erto bee n advanced. Some pre-
tender to anatomical knowledge
has recently announced that girls
cannot throw stones for the reason
that their collar bones are of n ne.