The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-13
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Approximately { of every 100 per- sons are born left-handed. Of these four probably three are persuaded or compelled to use the right hand for fine or skilled work, especially for writing or drawing. If this forced change from natural left- handedness to unnatural right llandedness is not begun in infalncy or early childhood, it is imposed on the unfortunate child in the first year iii school. In some communi- ties school teachers still like to play the niartinet and parents, it seems haven't the courage or intelligence to interfere: s
 A correspondent writes fairly legible letter backhand for the first page: Then half way down the sec- ond page the writing abruptly be- comes forehand but considerably less legible. The correspondent ex- plains that in school he was taught to use his right hand and did so un- til he was 49 years of age, when he decided to try writing with his left 1ld1IG dSd9 1k1 OWO WGCAO 1lC 4OulINk he could write as well with his left hand, if not better than he could with his right, and with less nerve strain, in fact with none at all"
 In natural right-handed persons the brain center for control of mus cles used in writing, drawing and other fine or skilled work is in the left hemisphere of the cerebrurn. So is the center controlling the muscles of speech.
 In natural right-handed persons these brain centers are in the right cerebral hemisphere.
 In both right-handed and left handed persons there are such brain centers on both sides, but the centers and nerve paths conveying impulses to or from them are de- veloped on the one side, undevel- oped on the other. This explains why hemorrhage into the left siGe of the brain (apoplexy, stroke of paralysis) is likely to cause loss of speech with paralysis of the right arm or leg Gin a right-handed per- son) but not hemorrhage into the right side of the brain which may cause paralysis of the left arm or leg but not of articulation or speech, in the right-handed person; or vice versa for left-handed person.
 The correspondents remark, that, after more than forty years of ar tificial right-handedness he finds it less difficult (leSs nerve strain, as he expresses it) to write with the left hand, is signifi, cant.
 Nearly thirty years ago Prof. w. Franklin Jones, then head of the education department in University
 of s. Dakota, reported his obServa- tions, including brachiometer tests of 10000 children, which lead him to believe that forced transfer of natural left-handedness iaterfered with speech development. tended to cause stuttering, etc. The brachio- meter is a simple slide rule or cali- per for measuring the length of the "ulno-plus," that is, the length of forearm from elbow to knuckle.
 A great many naturally left handed persons. forced to change to right -handedness in childhood, have developed various other impedi- ments of temperament or person. ality if not speech impeachment. and in my opinion it is unwise to att tempt to change natural left-hand- edness to right -handedness. I would advise an yone who has even a little, skill with the unused hand to develop that hand by using it for writing, drawing. sewing, etc. It seems to me that individuals who are more or less ambidextrous gen. erally have higher than average ir- telligence and more than average personality and accomplishments.