The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-30
LEFT HANDED PEOPLE
CriminoIogist Sounds a Warn
ing Against Them.
LOMBROSO MAKES STUDY
Presents Startling Facts to
SubStantiate His Theory.

Lombroso, the great criminologist, now
sounds a warning against
The left-handed man,
The anan with a sensitive left side, and
The man with a protuberance Of the
right side of the skull.
In the current number of the North
American Review Lombroso puts forth
some startling facts to substantiate his
theory. which includes the general propo-
sition that as races advance in civiliza-
ton and culture they show an always
greater right-sidedness as compared to
savages.
The lower that men sink in the social
scale. ne declares. the more left-sided
they become. Thus criminals are more
often left-handed than honest men.
Thus also. says Lombroso. lunatics are
more sensibly left handed than either Gull
tured sane men or savages.
II is his theory that the left side of
the human brain controls the right side
of the body and vice versa Therefore,
TO follow out the idea, we must believe
that the right lobe of the brain is the
more criminal side
Loml,roso also believes that naturally
moral men think morally with the left
side oC their brains and that all the inn
moral thoughts of criminals emanate from
the right lobe.
In the past we have seen many issues
of life and death hang on crooked An
ger. a flat-topped ear an abnormal nose
or any one of dozen other indications
OF individually or heredity According
t. hos ri
of "degeneracy" indicating a tendency
to insane or criminal irresponsibilty .Ac-
cording to others. and among them the
learned Lombroso himself. crime is atav-
ISM. matter of inheritance and rever-
sion. The germs of all the crimes lay
within the heart of prehistoric man.
Sometimes he developed them as oppor-
funity offered. sometimes he did not: but
If developed at all they were developed
along the left-handed tendency the sensi-
tive left side and the protuberant right
side of the skull.
Max Nordau. the famous writer on de-
generation. does not believe this Some
time ago he announced that the criminal
was 4 mere parasite a. fungus. 70 he
stamped out and eradicated as weeds in
garden.
Both theories are worthy Of considera-
ton. That of Lombroso is given here
Cesare Lombroso, in the New York
World. SAYS:
As is universally known. we use the
right hand very much more commonly
than the left. the number of persons who
are more agile with the left hand being
comparatively small. They are ordinarily
found among women, children and saw
ages, and they were more numerous in
ages past than they are now. Much has
been written of these persons, but as no
one has heretofore tried to determine
their frequency by means of statistics 7
decided to take that risk with the aid OF
my friend. Prof. Mario.
Among 1.oe9 operatives and soldiers I
found a proportion Of ( per cent in men
end to per cent in women. Among
funatics the proportions are not much DIFF
ferent. On the other hand, studying
certain number Of criminals. the quota
of left-handedness was found more than
trtpled in men. 13 per cent. and nearly
uuintupled in women. % per cent. Some
particular kinds OF criminals. however. as
Tor example. swindlers offered me again