The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-12-16
R1eHr.HANDED FOLKS.


than the left is doubtless due to two
| influences an innate proclivity and
constant practice. The preference
shown by most infants at the age Of
one year for the use of the right hand
proves that there is an inherited ten
| dency. Further evidence of it is found
in the greater ease with which any en-
tirely new act is performed by the
/ right than by the left hand. Train
| ing, however, is an important factor.
| A mature person, having lost the
right hand by accident, can achieve
wonders with the other if he only
exercises patience, perseverance and
a strong will.
L The more mysterious of the two
factors in this problem is the Unborn
tendency. How did itarisel There
| are two out of every hundred babies
left handed. But when you stop
to think of it the natural inclination
of the other ninety eight is remark
able. A great many Psychologists
have speculated in regard to its cause
without reaching any conclusion
upon which all could agree.
DIR. George M. Gould says in the
Popular Science Monthly that right
bandedness is so thoroughly ingra-
tiated in human nature that it must
have been partially developed in the
savage ancestor of the race. Primitive
man, in his opinion, must have felt a
definite need for the exercise of his
right hand in preference to his left,
and that necessity must have been re-
cognized and obeyed for a long time
continuously. The impulse could not
we'll have dictated his habits in eat
ing, for knives and forks are of recent
origin, the modern gun had not been
invented, and writing was practically
unknown. Moreover, in such oper-
fations as chipping arrowheads, weav-
| ing baskets and welding clubs, bows
and arrows it could not have mattered
much which hand was employed.
When warfare had been carried to
such stage of advancement as to in
volve the use of a shield, however,
that object was probably held on the
left side in order to protect the heart.
Then as matter Of convenience the
right arm left free tor the more active
function of fighting with spear and
and sword. and with habitual exercise
came special skill. An attendant
phenomenon was finer organization
of that particular center in the brain
which controlled the movements and
which was situated in the left half of
the organ. The brain is the real seat
of all dexterity, and something takes
place there in correspondence with
external efficiency. With an increas-
ed use of the right hand, DIR. Gould
thinks, there must have been greater
demands upon the right eye, because
vision must precede the order to
strike or to give peaceful signals. In
this way there may have been devel-
oped a keener power vision in the
right eye than in the left. DR..
Gould assumes that there was and
declares that fright handed people
are right eyed" and that in their
brains the center of vision is on the
left side, in close proximity to that
governing the right arm.
While civilization was yet at a low
level communication was carried on,
especially with strangers, largely in
the sign language. Barter laid the
foundations of arithmetic and called
into play the digits. The preference
already given to the right hand in
battle may have guided men in the
choice for this service and also in Of
fetal and social ceremonies. Com
putation, DR.. Gould points out, was
an intellectual process which was
conducted in the speech center of the
brain. Nature was compelled to take
sides in locating the latter, and she
/ placed it to the left of the middle.
DR.. Gould thinks that the choice was
governed by the employment of the
right hand for giving signals. So
intimately related are the functions
of speech and vision and the control
of the muscular efforts with the right
arm that action would be quicker if
the cerebral centers controlling them
were closely associated.
Before discussing the cause of left
handedness DR.. Gould calls attention
| to the fact that with right handed peo-
pie the left hand is occasionally call
ed upon to perform task of greater
| importance than its mate. In eating
the fork is used more than the
knife. In playing violin or violin
cello the lingering is done with the
left hand and the bowling with the
right. 1t is suggested that some of
these operations may result from the
superiority Of the right eye. Perhaps
the latter can watch and guide them
better when they are performed with
the left than with the right hand.
|. Left handedness is considered by
DIR. Gould an inheritance from ances-
tors, savage or civilized, who were
obliged by some misfortune to aban-
don the use of the right hand. An
even more influential injury, he
thinks, would, have been as to the
right eye. With the cultivation of skill
with the left hand, he believes, there
followed change in the organization
of the brain. Owing to disease the
center, which had formerly controll-
ed action, lost its vigor and that on
the opposite side acquired increased
power. DR.. Gould says that the
speech center was also transferred
from tine left side to the right of the
brain in consequence. In the trans
mission of the cerebral popularity tc
to offspring he finds the key to the
manifestation of left handedness at
tender age.-New York Iri6vne.
THF BIRDS that attain the greatest