The aegis & intelligencer., 1906-08-10
IS WE USE OUR HANDS
-4E PREFERENCE FOR THE RIGHT
AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE.

~HE PREFERENCE FOR THE RIGHT
AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE.
In Primitive Times 1t Is Probable
Jsed-What the Hicroglyphics of
the Egyptians Teach Us.
handed may start the question NTheth'
or the human animal was always right
handed, for abnormality often indicates
Il trying back to an ancestral condi-
ton Now, when we look at our Ian
guage. and that in the case of man is
Il fair test, we find how strongly the
comparative force exhibited by each
of the hands has left its mark on our
common expressions The right is the
ruling" hand: the left is the worth
less or the weaker" hand II we re-
gard the derivative meanings of the
names. IN words imported from the
Latin Il certain ability is called "dex-
which has an evil or unsuccessful infiu-
cnce becomes sinister" or left handed.
III like manner if we look at words
from French source we find that
clever person is "adroit" because he
has right handed qualities, but clum-
sy person is ''gauche" because his work
is left handed.
1t is evident that when our race be-
came so far advanced as to frame
words for ideas and things the rule was
that the members of it were right
handed. And if we examine other Ian
guages 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 well.
This seems Il hazardous statement to
make about remote ancestor In the
age before the great glacial epoch had
furrowcd the mountains of northern
Europe, but nevertheless it is strictly
true and strictly demonstrable. Just
try as you read to draw with the fore
an imaginary human profile on the
page on which these words are printed.
Do you observe that (unless you are au
artist and therefore sophisticated) you
naturally and instinctively draw it with
the face turned toward your left shoul-
der: Try now to draw it with the
profile to the right and you will find 1t
requires Il far greater effort of the
thumb and fOrefnger
The hand moves of its own accord
from without inward, not from within
outward. Then again draw with your
left thumb and forefnger another imag-
mary profile and you will find. for the
same reason, that the face in this case
looks rightward. Existing savages and
our own young children whenever they
draw a figure in profile, be it of man
or beast. with their right hand, draw ii
almost always with the face or head
turned to the left. in accordance with
this natural instinct. Their doing SO
is Il test of their perfect right handed
ness.
But primitive man, or, at any rate,
the most primitive men we know per-
sOnally, the carvers of the figures from
the French bone caves, drew men and
beasts on bone or mammoth tusk turn
c1 either way indiscriminately. The in
ference is obvious. They must have
been ambdcXtrOus. Only ambidextrous
people draw SO at the present day,
and, indeed, to scrape a figure other
wise with Il sharp flint on piece of
bone or tooth or mammoth tusk would,
even for Il practiced hand, be compara-
lively difficult" (Allem.
In connection with this passage 1t Is
interesting to examine the reports of
the bureau Of cthnology. where it will
he seen that although the majority of
profiles executed by the North Amer
lean Indians follow the rule, many
faces also turn to the right, and 1t Is
found that left handedness, or, rather,
ambidcXtcrity, is very common among
these tribes.
But doubtless the reader will notice
that i'll 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 Grant Allen. 1t Is. how
ever, more apparent than real. If you
study Egyptian hieroglyphics you will
find that prcfilcS invariably 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
GuagCS We're inscribed, not written. 4
tablet Of marble or brick formed the
page. The right hand could therefore
carve or impress the symbol in the nat
ural way and pass on. With the intro
ducion Of wax tablets of papyrus and
in later times Of parchment and paper,
= difficulty arose, for if the hand began
1T the right and worked leftward it
would obliterate it's own work.
Hence the habit of writing from left
10 right so that not only may the writ
ing be clean. but also that 1t may be
visible. With writing from left to right
came also reading in the same dircc-
ton, and one result of this is very Curl
Gus. We have become 50 accustomed
10 moving the eyes from left to right
that we inStinctively look at things in
that way. Close your eyes in Il room
and then open them. You will find. un-
less you make 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 Il landscape or a picture. The
painter follows the habit of the writer
and works from left to right to avoid
''smudging' his work, and 1t has been
remarked that when several compost
tions enter into one picture, as in some
of the ancient altar pieces, the chrono-
logical order runs from the upper left
hand corner to the lower right hand
one.