The Opelousas courier., 1907-08-17
NORMAL MAN RIGHT cared
THAT IS, THE RIGHT EAR is THE
BETTER SERVANT.

Why Left Handed Children Shout
Be Trained That Way.
Most men, 1t has Just been discoV
cred, are right cared. It Is not 81
much that they hear better with tn
right ear, for the left ear will de
tect the ticking of a watch as ia
away as the other; but while boil
ears hear, 1T is the right ear tina
listens-a fact which any n cal
easily test for himself. One ear will
catch a faint sound about as quickl.
as the other, but the right is first tt
recognize the noise and to know |
for a watch or distant trolley a o.
railway train or what not.
Curiously, too, the right a is The
better servant Of the mind. Not only
are sounds better recognized and 10
Gated with this ear, but-always, O.
course, in right handed men-theJ
are remembered better.
The usual test is to stop n eal
of the subject, read him a string o.
disconnected words or a coherent
sentence, and after the lapse OF a
fixed time let him see how much
he can recall. It turns out that when
the left ear has been stopped and
the hearing has been done with the
right, distinctly more can be recol'
lected than when the conditions are
reversed.
A few persons have been found
who can remember more when they
listen with the right ear alone than
when both are in use. The a which
merely hears only confuses the one
that pays attention.
Apparently with men naturally left
handed all this is reversed and the
left ear does most of the work.
The better a is, then, on the
side of the more skilful hand.
So, too, is the better eye. We sit
on the right side to drive, the loco
motive engineer has the right side
of the cab, although this position
compels him to use his left hand to
control the throttle valve, and all
for the sake Of giving the better
outlook to the more useful eye.
Nearly all right handed men sight
with the right eye, use that eye with
a telescope and hold it opposite the
point where they read. Left handed
men are apt to use the left eye for
these purposes. ANY one can try
for himself and see whether, though
he can make out the letters on the
page equally well with either eye,
he does not read more rapidly and
easily with n eye than with the
other.
Right or left h%andedness, is there
fore, something more than an acct
dent or a matter Of education. There
is a fundamental right or left sided
ness WHICH affects eye and ear as
well as hand.
Butn this normal right sidedness
affects something far more important
and fundamental than eye, a or
hand. While one does his best see-
ing, hearing and acting on n side
OF the body, he does all his thinking
on one side Of his brain.
The brain is far more onesided
than the body. It isn't merely a
question of remembering better or
thinking quicker with n side than
with the other. One side absolutely
does it all.
This, one need not point out, is,
In nine men out of ten, the left side.
It is well known that the nerves cross
over from one side of the brain to
the other side of the body, s. that
the left brain manages the right side
Of the body and the right brain the
left half.
Practically, then, eye, hand, a and
brain are all tied together. The more
usefulss members of each pair are
most eIoSely related to one aRothea
We are right banded because we are
landed 1t is because we were, to
begin with, right Drained.
What, therefore, nature has joined
together parents and teachers should
not attempt to put asunder, some in
vestigators argue. II a child is nat
urally left handed it Is unwise to
attempt to make him change. The |
result will be to break up the
of hand, eye, ear and brain
and shift enc member over to the
other side to weaken its connection
with the other organs and to handi-
cap the victim Of mistaken effort.
It is commonly said that in the
power of speech lies the difference
between men and animals. It is
true that an essential differ
snqe is the onesidedness of man. No
animal-unless, of course, he has been
INJURED or specially taught-uses one
,oof or paw more skilfully than the
ether. Animals are neither right
lor left handed. They are ambidex-
srous as they are wordless.
The two go together. Though
mouth and lips and tongue lie equal
on both sides Of the body, right
persons do all their talking
with the left side Of their brains;
eft handed persons do all theirs
With the right side.
On one side OF the head only, in
j small region just e the ear, lies
he ~so-called speech centre. Through
his goes the nervous impulse for
very spoken word.
When, therefore, one is eating his
Inner he manages tongue, lips and
hrnat from both .cidoc of IL h.osa