St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-08-09
GENERAL PeCULlARiTIes.

GENERAL PECULlARiTIE9.
Why the Human Family Il Right-HaaAe6
saA keet-Le9sod.
Tho reason why mon are - . general
rule right-handed Is thus ingeniously
given: Primitive man. being BY nature
. fighting animal. fought for the most
part at first with his great canine teeth.
his nails and his fists. till in process Of
time he added TO these early and nat
ursl weapons. the further persussioas
Of club or shillalah. He also fought
~ Darwin has conclusively shown. in
the main for the possession OF the TO
males Of his kind. against other mem-
bers Of his own sex and speciea And
IL you fight, you soon learn TO protect
the most exposed and vulnerable pof.
tion Of your body. Or, II yoa don't nat
ural selection manages It for you. BY
killing you Oh ~ IN immediate conse-
quence. To the boxer. wrestler OF
combatant that most vul-
nerable portion is undoubtedly the
heart A hard blow we'll delivered. ON
the left breast win easily kill, or. at any
rate, stun even . strong man. Hence.
from an early period, men have used
the right hand to fight with, and have
the left arm chiefly to cover
the heart and parry . blow aimed ut
that specially vulnerable region. And
when weapons Of offense and defense
supersede mere fists and teeth. 1t II the
right hand that grasps the spear OF
sword. while the left holds over the
heart for defense the shield or buckler.
From this simple origin. then. the
whole vast difference Of right and left
In civilized life takes its beginning. At
first NO doubt the superiority OF the
right hand was only felt in the manner
Of fighting. But that alone gave it .
pull. and paved the way at
last for tho supremacy elsewhere;
for when weapons came into use
the habitual employment Of the
right hand TO grasp the spear. sword OF
knife made the nerves or muscles Of the
right side far moro obedient to the con-
troll Of tho will than those Of the left
The dexterity thus acquired BY the
how the word ',dex terity"
(from the Latin dexter, the right i'm
plies this fact-made it more natural
for tho early hunter and artificer to en-
ploy the same hand prcferentially In tho
of flint hatchets, bown
and arrows, and all the other manifold
activities Of savage life. It was the
hand with which he grasped his weapon;
it was, therefore, tho hand with which
he Clipped it To the end, however,
the right hand remains especially ''the
hand In which you hold your knife;"
and that is how your own children 70
this day decide tho question. which II
which. when they begin to know their
right hand from their left for practical
purposeA
Now man being right-handed, 1t would
be supposed that he IL also
but this does not appear
to be the case. Standing and working
with his right hand. there is tendency
to use the left leg for balance. Many
people find less exertion in going round
circles to the right than TO the left
Race paths are nearly always made for
in circles to the right So the
ma siority OF movements are moro readily
performed to the right - dancing. rum
ming. etc. The rule in walking Is 70
keep to the right and this appears 70
be almost universal. 1t Is moro natural
10 bear to the right OF . largo num-
Der of people from the better educated
classes asked about the existence Of the
rule, only 81 per cent Of males and IS
per cent of the females were aware
Of the rule. The large majority obey It
nnconsciously in walking. Crowds tend
TO bear to the right The left leg being
The stronger, 1t 10 moro readily brought
into action. Hence, soldiers start Oh
with the left foot It IL the foot which
Is placed into the stirrup Of tho saddle
or step Of bicycle when mounting. So
The left is the foot wich man takes OF
from in jumping. In the experiments
of Mr.. G. II. Darwin, blindfolding boys
md tellingl them to walk straight the
one divefed to the right
md vice versa From measurements Of
Dr.. Carson Of the skeletons Of the two
EGGS, in 54.2 per cent the left leg was tie
longer, and SSs the right For meas
arements Of feet Prot Ball collected
The drawings and measurements Of 200
pairs, with the result that In ~ per cent
tho left was longer, in as per cent
the right, and In SA5 per cent they
we're the same size. Measurements st
The first Joint gave IS per cent left
larger, and at the instep cas- per cent
From the table iof the figures 1t 10 OBJ
served that the left foot il moro fro
.uently the larger in the male than in
the female. The percentage Of tho
right larger than the left is ve:y con.
,tant whereas the numbers Of the left
larger aud those in which both feet
we're the same size are much moro
variable. Man. being naturally or srti-
8cially right-handed ANA left-footed.
lends unconsciously to bear 70 the right;
lower suimals, on the other hand. ap-
pear nearly always to circle 70 the left
Boston Herald.
Perfectly Natural.
Mauds (bursting into the Young
Ladies' Browning Club)-Oh. Enc, what
10 you think? I saw young Mr.. Ardente
} moment ago dressed in heavy furs.
md here We are swelterinSl
Chorus Of ''ohs" and ''ahs" rejecting
u poor A. . mental state.
Miss Enc (demursly)-Don't trouble
yourselves. girls; Mr.. Ardente's intel-
lect 10 not shattered. / gave him the
,old shoulder whom he proposed 70 ne
|ast night and don't suppose he has
rotten over the incident yet-Dfsko's
Magazine.
First Miss-''Where sro you going
his summer?" Second Miss-'I haven't
- N>>.A a. Af&~~ -eSRvpA