Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-07-02
Use OF THE HANDS.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PREFER
eNcE FOR THE RIGHT.

In Primitive Times Both Were Ussd-sis-
nincanos OF the Words "Rishs" and
left" In Latin and French - What
Egyptian ssisroslyphios Teach Us.
The fact that some persons are left
handed may start the question whether
the human animal was always right hand
cd. for abnormality often indicates "try-
ing back" To an ancestral condition. Now
when we look at our language, and that
In the case Of man Is fair test, we find
how strongly the comparative force exhib-
tied by each of the hands has left Its mark
on our common expressions. The right Is
the "rullng" hand, the left Is the worth
Less or the weaker hand, II we regard
the deriyative meanings OF the names. In
words imported from the Latin a certain
ability Is called 'dexterity'' or right hand
edness. while that which has an evil or
unsuccessful influence becomes "sinister"
or left handed. In like manner, II we look
at words from French source, we find
that clever person Is "adroit' because
he has right handed qualities, but q
clumsy person Is "gauche" because his
work Is left handed.
1t Is evident that when our race became
so far advanced as to frame words for ideas
and things the rule was that the members
OF it were right handed. And II we ex-
anime other languages we find proofs that
such a rule existed among the people using
them. There Is, however, good reason for
thinking that man originally could use
either hand equally we'll "This seems
hazardous statement TO make about re-
mote ancestor In the age before the great
glacial epoch had furrowed the mountains
OF northern Europe, but nevertheless 1t Is
strictly true and strictly demonstrable.
just try, AS you read, to draw with the
forefinger and thumb of your right hand
an imaginary human profile on the page
on which these words are printed. Do you
observe that (unless you are an artist, and
therefore sophisticated) you naturally and
instinctively draw it with the face turned
toward your left shoulderY Try now to
draw IL with the profile to the right, and
you will find IL requires far greater effort
of the thumb and forehnger.
1.-THE hand moves OF its own accord from
without inward not from within outward
Then, again, draw with your left thumb
and foretinger another imaginary profile,
and you will find, for the same reason,
that the face in this case looks rightward
Existing savages and our own young chill
dren, whenever they draw a figure In pro-
file be IL of man or beast, with their right
hand, draw IL almost always with the face
or head turned 10 the left, in accordance
with this natural instinct. Their doing
so is test of their perfect right handed
ness
But primitive man, or, at any rate, the
most primitive men we know personally,
the carvers OF the figures from the French
bone caves, drew men and beasts on hone
OF mammoth tusk turned either way In
Discriminatory. The inference Is obvious.
They must have been ambidextrous. Only
ambidextrous people draw SO at the pres
emit day, and indeed, TO scrape a figure
otherwise with sharp flint on a piece of
bone or tooth or mammoth tusk would,
even for practiced hand, be compare
lively difficult" (Allen). In connection
with this passage IL Is interesting TO ex-
anime the reports OF the bureau Of ethnol-
ogy, where il will be seen that, although
the majority OF profiles executed by the
North American Indians follow the rule,
many faces also turn To the right, and IL
Is found that left handedness, or rather
ambidexterity, is very common among
these tribes
But doubtless the reader will notice
that in writing his hand moves from left
TO right, and not from right to left. Here
Is an apparent violation Of the principle
laid down in the quotation given from Mr..
Grant Allen. 1t Is, however, more appar-
ent than real. IL you study Egyptian hero
glyphics, you will find that protiles invari-
ably look to the left. Hebrew. Arabic,
Hindoostanee and other ancient languages
read from right To left. In these, as in
some modern tongues, we have TO begin
the book at what is To us the wrong end
The reason of this Is that the early Ian
guages were inscribed not written. A
tablet OF marble or brick formed the
page. The right hand could, therefore,
carve or impress the symbol In the natural
way, and pass on. With the introduction
OF wax tablets Of papyrus and, in later
times, OF parchment and paper, a difficulty
arose, for If the hand began at the right
and worked leftward, IL would obliterate
its own work.
Hence the habit of writing from left to
right, so that not only may the writing DO
clean, but also that it may be visible.
With writing from left to right came also
reading In the same direction, and one re-
suit Of this Is very curious. We have be-
come so accustomed to move the eyes from
left to right that we instinotively look at
things In that way. Close your eyes In
room and then open them. You will find,
unless you make a positive effort, that
your eyes take In the objects on the left
hand first and then move to the right.
This is the way in which we view land
scape or picture. The painter follows the
habit OF the writer and works from left to
right to avoid "smudging" his work, and
II has been remarked that when several
compositions enter into one picture, as In
some of the ancient altar pieces, the chron-
illogical order runs from the upper left
hand corner to the lower right hand one.