Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-01-13
BY JOSEPH X. SHEPARD

While doting parents bend
over the crib. baby's fumbling
fingers first find their mark
mothers lips, the rattle, or,
maybe. Just moonbeam.
Darling one of you says.
II think he's she's going to
be right (leftl handed.
You might be as wrong
about that as you were-at
your first glance-about what
color baby's eyes were going to
be.
Seventh Month
Baby's "handedness" doesn't
manifest itself at all until
about the seventh month.
When it does. he'll Cor she'lD
fit himself Tor HERSELF into
the human system as suits
himself COR herself. Just sit
back and watch and-above
all-Q0nt worry.
And another thing. modern
educators advise. don't try to
steer baby. Let the chins fell,
and the hands fly, where they
may. So Junior is a so'lthpow.
To be left-handed in right
handed world definitely is not
a handicap. There are even
advantages.
To be siniStrorsal (tending
toward the Left saws one ex-
pert, DR.. Robert L. Milisen, In
diana University speech peth-
ologist. is Just as human. Just
as normal, as it is to be red
haired or brown-eyed. Some
what more than 4 per cent of
us are quite naturally and OBJ
viously left-handed.
Your left-handed child not
only is no freak: he's as sharp
mentally, dextrous. as adroit.
more efficient with both hands
than his right-handed rela-
tives. If he ever should be in
terested in certain sports. such
as baseball. he NAV be glad of
those Sinistrorsal traits.
1t is true that a lusty right
handed majority of us. 96 per
cent. have built the world TO
suit ourselves. and the minor
ity have to conform.
Better Conformists
So, perforce. left-handers be-
come better conformists. The
lefty learns instinctivelv to
shove out his hand to shake.
It's no strain on him to learn
to do that. any more than it
is for the right-hander in the
Army to learn to step off with
his left foot.
Some of the worlds greatest
musicians have been left
handed, playing on inStru-
ments devised for the other
hand. And there have been
compositions composed for the
left hand. played with equal
facility by right-handers.
The left-hander. in compen-
sation for his minority status,
learns to use his right hand
much better than the right
handler ever learns to use his
left.
Science has sought for gen.
erationS to find out whether
handedness is a product of
heredity. environment, or an
interplay of the two. Climb
Ing plants are handed. The
sinistrorsal. like hops. Irvine
toward the left, the dextrorsal
turn toward the right-for in
stance morning glories.
Animals, too, are handed.
DR.. Milisen found in expert
ments with rats. dogs and
chipmunks at the University
of Iowa and Pennsylvania
State College they are almost
equally divided. But a recent
oxford University paper says
most cats are left-pawed:
most rats are right-handed
dhey have prehensile fingers
most parrots are right-footed,
and chimpanzees are half and
half.
More Men Lefthanded
One researcher declares left
handedness is more frequent
among males. Another declares
most people are right-handed
because the left half of the
human brain (Which controls
the muscular action of the
right side of the body is sew
eral grams heavier.
Another anatomiSt insists
right-handednesS is prepon-
derant because the right side
of the body is heavier due to
the arrangement of our in
ternal organs. Another is posi-
tive people are right-handed
because the aorta in crossing
the chest from the heart de-
livers a more bountiful and
fresher blood supply to the
right side.
Whatever the facts, the why's
of left-handedness do not con-
Germ Dr.. Milisen nearly so
much as the left-handed child
whose nervous organization is
upset by efforts of parent or
teacher to change him. DR..
Milisen heads the university's