HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 25 
‘and she wished, if possible, to procure a left-handed pair. So also with the needle, she 
used the right hand generally; but in many delicate little operations, her habit was to 
shift it to the left hand.” 
In these and similar cases, the fact is illustrated that the left-handed person is neces- 
sarily. ambidextrous. He has the exceptional “dexterity” resulting from the special 
organic aptitude of the left hand, which is only paralleled in those cases of true right- 
handedness where a corresponding organic aptitude is innate. Education, enforced by 
the usage of the majority, begets for him the training of the other and less facile hand ; 
while by an unwise neglect the majority of mankind are content to leave the left hand as 
an untrained and merely supplementary organ. From the days of the seven hundred 
chosen men of the tribe of Benjamin, the left-handed have been noted for their skill ; and 
this has been repeatedly manifested by artists, Foremost among such stands Leonardo 
da Vinci, skilled as musician, painter, and mathematician, and accomplished in all the 
manly sports of his age. Hans Holbein, Mozzo of Antwerp, Amico Aspertino, and Ludo- 
vico Cangiago, were all left-handed, though the two latter are described as working 
equally well with both hands. In all the fine arts the mastery of both hands is advanta- 
geous ; and accordingly the left-handed artist, with his congenital skill and his cultivated 
dexterity, has the advantage of his right-handed rival, instead of—as is frequently assumed 
—starting at a disadvantage. 
It now remains to consider the source to which right-handedness is to be ascribed. 
Its universal predominance, alike among civilised and savage races, from the earliest 
prehistoric dawn, altogether precludes the idea that it isa mere habit begot by custom and 
usage, and developed into a system by education. The bias in which this predominant 
law of dexterity originated must be traceable to organic structure; but, while the results 
are so manifest, the source seems thus far to elude research. One anatomical feature in 
the arrangement of the bodily orgaus does, indeed, suggest a cause for the preference 
of the limbs on one side of the body over the other, which would seem to satisfy the 
requirements in this direction, if accompanied by exceptional deviations from the normal 
condition corresponding to the occurrence of left-handedness ; and in this direction a 
solution has been mainly sought. The bilateral symmetry of structure, so general in 
animal life, seems at first sight opposed to any inequality of action in symmetrical organs. 
But anatomical research reveals the deviation of internal organic structure from such 
seemingly balanced symmetry. Moreover, right or left-handedness is not limited to the 
hand, but partially affects the lower limbs, as may be seen in football, skating, in the 
training of the opera-dancer, etc. ; and eminent anatomists and physiologists have affirmed 
the existence of a greater development throughout the whole right side ot the body. Sir 
Charles Bell says: “The left side is not only the weaker, in regard to muscular strength, 
but also in its vital or constitutional properties. The development of the organs of action 
and motion is greatest upon the right side, as may at any time be ascertained by measure- 
ment, or the testimony of the tailor or shcemaker.” He adds, indeed, ‘“ Certainly, this 
superiority may be said to result from the more frequent exertion of the right hand; but 
the peculiarity extends to the constitution also, and disease attacks the left extremities 
more frequently than the right.” 
With the left-handed, the general vigour and immunity from disease appear to be 
transferred to that side; and this has naturally suggested the theory of a transposition of 
Sec. II., 1886. 4. 
