HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 99, 21 August 1945, Page 6

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

LEFT HANDERS

(By th'c Department of Health) There are just as many left handed people as right handed in any community, Very few folk are ambidexterous . Normally one side ol' the body i« dominant—probably a majority of us are right handed, right legged and right eyed.

Left handedness tends to be hereditary. The causes of right, and left handedness are sfill not understood but studies suggest that hereditary J actors influence left handedness. ll' both parents are left handed, approximately -1,") per cent of the children will be left handed; if only one parent is left handed about 12 per cent of the children follow suit. There is some relation to .stuttering with left handedness but no relationship to sex or intelligence. The left handed person is as bright as the right handed one.

While most people are right or left handed, a few are mixed. It is called eross-laterality and implies dominance of one hand and the opposite eye. Such folk are usually and backward. Fortunately there's a minority in which' this* occurs.

Left handed children are often made to change on the ground that most occupations are designed for right handed people. It may be necessary to acquire right handed skill lor certain trades. Some parents are afraid to encourage a change of hand } fearing unpleasant consequences such a change is said to cause.

Left handed children tend to suffer some spcech difficulties such as stuttering whether they become right handed or not. A change of hand accentuates the trouble. This doesn't mean a change over is prohibited—it only requires that the change-over should be treated symby teacher or parent, and that it should only be done for a valid reason. "Writing is certain] j r not a sufficient excuse. And don't u orry about left handedness in verv little children. They often change over later of their own accord.

A famous London (Harley Street) specialist's tribute to th'e value of tobacco: 'The ground on which tobacco holds so firm a footing is that, of nearly every luxury it is the least injurious. It does infinitely i less harm than opium. It is in no sense worse than tea. Also, a thor-. ough smoker is never a glutton. It brings quiet to the over-worn body and restless mind. Th'e over-wrought man finds in it a quietus for his exhaustion." But the doctor insists tbat tobacco must be pure. Well if purity is to be the how many of the foreign tobaccos will fill the bill? Brands reeking

with nicotine assuredly cannot be considered "pure." If you want d really pure article, go for the tobaccos grow ii' and manufactured in. New Zealand by the National Tobacco Company (pioneers of the New Zealand tobacco industry). Hardly any nicotine in them because they are toasted. They are peculiarly soothing? cool fragrant and delicious. Ask for Riverhead Cold, Desert Gold or Cut Plfig No. 10 (Bullshead); also tailormades. All toasted and- no cough.