30 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 
hand, though doubtless also comparatively rare, is more frequent ; and the further research 
is carried, the more manifest does it appear that—whatever be the originating cause,—the 
preferential use of what we designate the right hand is instinctive with a sufficiently large 
number to determine the prevalent usage; while with a smaller number an equally strong 
impulse is felt prompting to the use of the left hand, in defiance of all restraining influences. 
It is indeed always necessary to give full weight to the influences of education, the whole 
tendency of which, from early childhood, operates in one direction. The extent to which 
this is systematically employed to develop the use of the one hand at the expense of the 
other, is illustrated by the conventional rules for the use of the knife and fork. It is not 
sufficient that the knife shall be invariably held in the right hand. The child is taught 
to hold his knife in the right hand and his fork in the left when cutting his food ; but 
when either the fork or spoon is used alone, it must forthwith be transferred to the right 
hand. All voluntary employment of the left hand in any independent action is discoun- 
tenanced as awkwardness or gaucherie ; and thus, with a large majority, especially among 
the more refined and artificial classes of society, it is rendered a comparatively useless 
member, employed at best merely to supplement the other. Yet I am not aware that left- 
handedness is greatly more prevalent among the rude and uncultured classes, or among 
savage than civilized races ; as would certainly be the case if right-handedness mainly 
depended on an acquired habit. The Rev. George Brown, who has spent upwards of 
fourteen years as a missionary among the Polynesians, informs me that left-handedness is 
as rare among the natives of the Pacific islands as with ourselves; while in all their 
languages the distinction is clearly indicated. Dr. Rae, to whose own inveterate left- 
handedness I have alluded, thus writes to me in reference to its prevalence among the 
races of Arctic America: ‘“ Unfortunately, I did not take particular care to notice when 
among the Indians and Eskimos, whether any or many of them were left-handed. From 
what I have noticed, some of them seem to be ambidextrous. But from a curious story 
told me about a bear throwing a large piece of ice at the head of a walrus, and the narrator 
telling me that he threw it with the left forepaw, as if it was something unusual, 
probably left-handedness is not very common among the Eskimos.” 
Turning next to the idea set forth by Dr. Buchanan as to the greater preponderance of 
ambidexterity or left-handedness among females, the results of my own observation by no 
means tend to confirm this. I have already noted the case of a lady whose left-handedness 
is accompanied by great dexterity. I have repeatedly met with cases of ladies who use the 
needle skilfully with the left hand ; but the results of enquiries addressed to musicians 
and music teachers, indicate that in the great majority of cases the cultivation of the 
left, as the weaker or less skilful hand, has to be sedulously enforced in the training 
of the female organist and pianist. It is because left-handed pianists are rare that their 
exceptional dexterity is noted, as in the case of a Canadian lady referred to above: “She 
had great advantages from her left-handedness. She was a very good performer on the 
piano, and her bass was magnificent.” 
Again asto the pirouetting of the trained ballet-dancer, I have been assured that much 
practise is required to obtain equal facility on either foot. Dr. Buchanan traces the deve- 
lopment of the limbs in their active use, from the first effort of the child to stand erect ; 
next, the learning to balance himself and turn round on a single foot, and so through a 
succession of stages, until at length “the child becomes right-footed. It is not till long 
