624 Sir James Crkhton-Broivne [May 3, 



upon ambidexterity have been published, pamphlets and leaflets deal- 

 ing with it are being circulated, schools are trying to attract pupils 

 by advertising that they give ambidextral training, of course with 

 unparalleled educational successes ; and in the most renowned of all 

 our schools the thin edge of the wedge has been introduced, for it 

 has been ordained, w^e are told, that at Eton the boys who for their 

 transgressions are called upon to write lines, are henceforth to do so 

 with the left hand. 



In this present movement in favour of ambidexterity I fancy I 

 detect the old taint of faddism. Some of those who promote it are 

 addicted to vegetarianism, hatlessness, or anti-vaccination, and other 

 aberrant forms of belief ; but it must be allowed that beyond that it 

 has the support of a large number of highly educated, intelligent and 

 reasonable people, and of some men of light and leading. 



An eminent admiral gives his blessing to ambidexterity, or either- 

 handedness, and evidently thinks it will conduce to our naval 

 supremacy ; an eminent soldier assures us that it is of the utmost 

 value from a military point of view ; an eminent artist opines that it 

 will contribute to personal beauty ; an eminent surgeon testifies that 

 it will increase brain power, and therefore, working and intellectual 

 ability by 25 per cent. ; and an eminent physician predicts that it 

 will to a large extent ward off paralysis. 



If this be so, there is no time to lose in amending our ways, and 

 it must certainly be worth while again seriously to reconsider the 

 question of ambidexterity, hackneyed though it has become. 



Is the preferential use of the right hand detrimental to our 

 species ? Is it a mere mischievous convention or acquired trick, to 

 be corrected by the " illuminati " of this new century ? Ought we 

 to aim at establishing an equality of power in the two hands ? I 

 think not. I shall endeavour to convince you that ambidexterity is, 

 on the large scale, impossible and undesirable ; that it is by the 

 superior skill of his right hand that man has gotten himself the 

 victory, and that to try to undo his dextral pre-eminence is simply to 

 fly in the face of evolution. 



Now right-handedness is, as I dare say you know, a very old 

 story. We can trace it back to remote antiquity in historical records, 

 in pictorial representations, in language, in religious rites, in the 

 weapons of war and the implements of peace. Of modern times I 

 need say nothing, Ijut I may just illustrate the kind of evidence, 

 enormous in amount, that justifies us in inferring the universality of 

 right-handedness among the ancients. Tacitus tells us that the 

 Lingones, a Belgian tribe, sent presents to the Legions, and in 

 accordance with ancient usage — ancient at that time — vetere institufo, 

 gave as the emblem of friendship two right hands clasped together. 

 Throughout the whole range of Roman and Greek art we see that 

 the right hand invariably took the leading part, just as it does with 

 us to-day. 



