The evening world., 1904-03-31
IT'S NOT RIGHT TO
Be LEFT HANDED
Doctor Declares that Mothers
and Nurses Are Responsible
for the Streak of Sinister
6bstlnacy in Babies.
A very reasonable explanation Of a

A very reasonable explanation OF a
Very difficult problem, which has pug
Fled psychologists for centuries. is Of
fered by a New York physician who
has been making a study OF %left-handed
folks with a view to finding out why
they are l~eft-handed.
There is a peculiar streak OF infantile
obstinacy. probably unconscious. which
makes almost every baby reach for
things with its left hand. All physicians
hay that children's hands are born equal
and that the use of one hand more than
the other is the result of habit and
training. Therefore, unless a child is
directed to the use OF the right hand
from the start, 1t is apt to use the one
hand as the other. However this may
be, most fathers and mothers know that
babies have an exasperating way of ex-
tending the left hand when one at
tempts to give them something in the
right hand.
In the hospitals, asylums and chart
table institutions of a big city like New
York there is a great chance to study
he queer habits peculiar to many adults
N their infancy. This matter of left
aandedness has long been a study with
many physicians. and, while few ever
have been able to reach a satisfactory
explanation of why it is so. most all of
them agree that le~ft-handedness is on
the increase. =
and Nurses Responsible.
Now a New York physician, keener
than his brethren, has come forward
with an explanation. the very simplicity
Of which makes one marvel that no one
has ever thought OF 1t before. He says
L is due entirely TO the habit of Mothers
and nurses carrying their children on
the left arm. \ child starts out with
Two arms. equal III strength and abso-
lutely unframed. 1t is as apt to use the
one as the other. unless directed to
favor one The little hand that does the
hrst work Is sure to be favored the Sec
ond time when occasion arises.
Mothers, nurses and others who have
the care OF children, may not realize il. q,
Bays the wise observer of infantile
phenomena. but they carry their chill
fectly natural they should, for It leaves
the right hand free to hold a book or
do anything else that is necessary.
Baby's Lc-. Hand Free For Use.
A child held on the left arm has its
own right arm and hand elose to Its
II to cling 70 the neck or arm Of its
mother. But its left lar is. free and
a. anything Is handed to 1t, 1t uses It
II will reach for It with this free. hand
and In a very short time 1t gets In the
habit OF using the left hand.
A lot Of right-hand training between
parryings is necessary to overcome this
tendency to favor the left hand. n the
FIRST time a child Is taken in the arms
again It will forget the training and go
to the left hand.
Now, OF course, the way to. overcome
this evil Is simply to have mothers and
nurses switch from the left to the right
when they carry their children;
the right hand and tying up the
II this rule is followed generally. says
the doctor who has discovered all this.
the number OF ~left-hnnded children will
materially decrease and in time all will
be r~ight-handed.
Explanation Amuscs Nurses.
This plausible explanation was greeted
eth gigsies Of amusement by the nurses
ltreet, n Lexington avenue. Miss
Wheeler, the superintendent, volun-
teered the statement that the doctor
.edUanGing me isft-arm theory does not
babies are i~eft-handed because mothers
- eNeF fAA0Ne ~
cause every mother or nurse, unless
herself, carries the baby on
.he left arm. This is natural. BECAUSE
{ leaves the right hand free.
w nave fifty babies here all the
lime and / have seen thousands of them
,ome into and go out of the institution.
! should say that about one baby in 100
s l~eft-handed. What causes the use
If the left hand in this small percentage
pf little ones 1 do not know. Probably 4
heredity has as much to do with 1t as
enything else. Sometimes whole fam. \
lies are ~left-handed." 4
One of the officials Of the Founding /
asylum, where there are 2.l00 children,
fays that the use of the left hand is
argely n matter of training. Nearly
babies are ambidextrous when :
mail. The fact that SO out OF 100 of
hem are habitually taught 10 use the
light hand is. in his opinion. the reason
Why about 80 per cent. of the people are
This view Is shared by Z
superintendent of the Sloan Ma
Hospital, Il