Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-07-03
GENERAL PECULiAhiTlES.
Why the Human Family Is Right.1Ianded
and Left-Legged.

and Left-Legged
The reason why men are as a genera.
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
ural weapons, the further persuasions
Of club or shillalah. lie also fought,
as Darwin has conclusively shown, in
the main for the possession of the fe-
males of his kind, against other mem
bers of his own sex and species And
If you fight, you soon learn to protect
the most exposed and vulnerable por-
tion of your body. Or, If you don't nat
ural selection manages it for you, by
killing you off as an immediate conse-
quence. TO the boxer, wrestler or
hand-to-hand combatant, that most vul.
nerable portion is undoubtedly the
heart. A hard blow we'll delivered on
the left breast will 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
employed the left arm chiefly to cover
the heart and parry blow aimed at
that specially vulnerable region. And
when weapons of offense and defense
supersede mere fists and teeth, it is the
right hand that grasps the spear or
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
distinct pull, and paved the way at
last for the supremacy elsewhere;
for when weapons came into use
the habitual employment of the
right hand to grasp the spear, sword or
knife made the nerves or muscles of the
right side far more obedient to the con-
troll OF the will than those of the left.
The dexterity thus acquired by the
right-see how the word ''dexterity"
from the Latin dexter, the right i'm
plies this fact-made it more natural
for the early hunter and artiticer to en-
ploy the same hand preferentially in the
manufacture of flint, hatchets, bows
and arrows, and all the other manifold
activities of savage life. 1t was the
hand with which he grasped his weapon;
it was, therefore, the hand with which
he chipped it. To the end, however,
the right hand remains, especially "tho
hand in which you hold your knife;"
and that is how your own children to
this day decide the question, which is
which, when they begin to know their
right hand from their left for practical
purposes.
Now man being right-handed, it would
naturally be supposed that he is also
right-legged, 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
running in circles to the right. So the
majority Of movements are more readily
performed to the right, as dancing, run
ming, etc. The rule in walking is tc
keep to the right, and this appears tC
be almost universal. 1t is more natural
to bear to the right. OF a large mum
Der of people from the better educated
classes asked about the existence of the
rule, only 81 per cent of males and 5;
per cent. of the females were aware
Of the rule. The large majority obey i
unconsciously in walking. Crowds tent
to bear to the right. The left leg being
the stronger, it is more readily brough
into action. Hence, soldiers start OF
with the left foot. 1t is the foot which
Is placed into the stirrup of the saddle
or step of bicycle when mounting. S,
the left is the foot wich man takes of
from in jumping In the experiment
Of Mr. G.. II. Darwin, blindfolding boy
and telling them to walk straight tn
right-handed one divered to the right
and vice versa. From measurements o
DR.. Carson Of the skeletons of the two
legs, in $40 per sent. the left leg was tE'
longer and 35S the right. Foc meas
araments of feet. Prof, Ball collected
the drawings and measurements of 20
pairs, with the result that in A per cent
the left was longer, in 2l5 per cent
the right, and in 54.5 per cent the
we're the samo size. Measurements&
the first joint gave Sc per cent. lef
larger, and at the instep AZ per cen
From the table ,of the figures it is OF
served that the left foot is more frC
quently the larger in the male than i
the female The percentage of tn
right larger than the LETT is very cor
slant, whereas the numbers of the lei
larger and those in which both fec
were the same size are much NOR
: variable. Man, being naturally or art
ficially right-handed and left-foote(
tends unconsciously to bear to the righ
l lower animals, on the other hand, al
! pear nearly always to circle to the lef
| Boston Herald.