LEFT HANDERS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9418, 14 April 1909, Page 7

LEFT HANDERS.

>JK !_go,bd many anatomists and , /physiologists have from time to time , attacked the problem as to how and the majority of the human ” species are right-handed, right-eyed and. right-footed, whereas a small percentage prefer the use of the organa p|f the left side; and a good many, ingenious .hypotheses have been hatched ont in explanation of 1 this'curious trait. No single one of these conjectured—for they are little more—has" obtained, acceptance over all others, though one or two present a' certain show .of inherent probability. But some of the solutions already put forward are really worthy of a little more attention than they receive at the hands of their psychologist critic. That ■ which is perhaps the best known, and has the greatest appearance of reaaon. was advanced years ago by Dr. Pye-Smith. According to this - hypothesis It is the eccentric position of the heart which accounts for I the greater dexterity—this word itself shows how ancient and ingrained is right-handedness of the right upper limb, it' was pointed ont chat, .supposing the human race to be ambidextrous when the first shield was invented, those who j the spear in the right hand and the shield in the.left would be less likely to sustain mortal wounds in battle than those who adopted the reverse plan. Hence in process of time natural selection would create a race of men who preferred the right hand to the left for especially skilled work. There is nothing in this conception in any way inconsistent with the Darwinian theory of evolution; nay, rather in respect of lew qualities would beneficial variations more quickly become established, for immediate death itself is the clinging to left-handed spear-wield-ing. The respective percentage of the naturally left-handed at the present day would also be explained by the (geologically) recent date at which shields have been invented. Granted the premise that the left side of the trunk is the more vulnerable, because of the situation of the heart, this guess is not one to be lightly pooh-poohed.—The Hospital. !