Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-06-16
7. q ~
OUR FINGERS AND TOES.
Why They Number Tcn-Some Points
On How We Are Expected to Use

| Do You know why all your fingers
| are not the same length, why you were
born with finger nails, and why you
are much better language student if
you are right handed than If you are
| left handed An English Psychologist
has given us an interesting series Of
answers to the above everyday uues-
tions.
THE fact that all our fingers are not
the same length, has always been a
disadvantage to u.s." he says. And the
reason that our little fingers and our
ring fingers are so small and weak
might be difficult to account for if we
took irto consideration the present use
of the hand. But we can find good
rea sons when we. consider the history
of the land and look at the fingers of
many kinds of the lower animals which
have fingers more or less like ours
Our hands, he goes on to explain,
were probably used for standing and
walking, as we seem to inherit them
from our 'four-footed ancestors" Sure
ly we were never given them in the
first place, since our grasp of things is
so materially lessened by our Unequal
ity. But if we put our hands on a ta-
bic as if we meant TO walk on the tips
of the fingers we can immediately see
what a well-balanced support it makes
with the middle finger the longest
and the little finger and thumb falling
behind and balancing the whole.
We see the same thing at the zoolegi-
cal gardens in the case of the animals
that have three fingers, as the toes of
the fore feet might rightly be called,
and we can notice ii any day in the
case of the dog or the cat. This is only
one instance of large number of cases
furnished by our bodies which help
us To understand why certain things.
for which there seems no particular
reason and which may even seem in
convenient to us, arc rs they are.
Again the only possible use for fin
ger nails is to scratch with. an action
which is more or less dispensed with
in modern society, and that brings up
the question as to why we have Ten
fingers and toes instead of perhaps
nine. Nature" this same physiologist
says, decided on five fingers Tor eaeh
hand long, long ago, indeed, ages pc
fore man ever appeared or thus eafth
at all. 1t does seem ut first as though
there were some obvious exceptions To
this, for we find only one finger or toe
for each limb in the horse. two for the
pig. and so on. But the original hgefe
was FIVE
THE hen, for instance. has only
three and a half toes, and when we ex-
anime the skeleton of its wing, whieh
is really its arm. we find three ana Il
half fingers there. With the chicken
it is the same Only the birds apparent
Nv have found that they could dc as
well with three and Il part of fourth
and s. have stopped developing. For II
is the case with man and animals, the
world over and through countless gen
erations. as soon as they discover that
they can do without a particular part
of their anatomy they begin 10 dis
pense with it and finally lose IT alto
gether."
Again. we are given seme interesting
data on the fad that was much In
vogue some 10 years ago and which mas
now died down to certain extent, anu
that is the one that the children should
he taught to use both hands equally
well. The successes We're few ana the
results in the long run seemed 10 De
that the children who used only one
hand got along better in their intellect
nal studies, and especially in the pur-
suit of language, than those VINO We're
On dexterous in the use of their tW0
hands equally well.
An examination of thousands OF
skeletons showed in every case where
the right arm had had greater deVei-
opment than the left that there was
corresponding development on the left
side Of the skull, which was thought TO
nroye conclusively that left-haneed
nsersons have less language ability tran
right handed ones and thai children
who used both hands indifferent'y
would be still further behind in the
language capacity.-Chicago Tribune.