HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 39 
to left, sloping the letters towards the left, and so would place the right-handed penman 
at a like disadvantage, wholly independent of any supposed change in the functions or 
preponderating energy of either hemisphere of the brain. But even in the absence of 
practice, the command of the left hand in the case of a truly left-handed person is so great 
that very slight effort is required to enable him to write with ease with that hand. 
In so far as right-handedness is a result of organic structure, and not a mere acquired 
habit ; some trace of it should be found in the lower animals; though in a less degree. 
Dr. Buchanan, in discussing his “ Mechanical Theory,” notes that, “ While the viscera of 
the quadruped have the same general lateralised position as in man, there is a reason why 
this should be carried to a greater extent in man than in the quadruped, owing to the 
much greater lateral development of the chest and abdomen of the human figure, in order 
to adapt it to the erect posture, as contrasted with the great lateral flattening of the 
trunk in quadrupeds. The equipoise is therefore more disturbed in man than in the 
quadruped.” In the case of the monkey, its necessities as a climber no doubt tend to 
bring all its limbs into constant use ; but, possibly, careful study of the habits and gestures 
of monkeys may disclose, along with their ambidextrous skill, some traces of a preference 
for the limbs on the one side. The elephant has been repeatedly affirmed to betray a 
strongly marked right-sidedness ; and this is reiterated in a communication by Mr. James 
Shaw to the Anthropological section of the British Association, where he notes the 
“curious fact that elephants have been frequently known to use the right tusk more than 
But the statement is vague, and, 
, 
the left in digging up roots, and in doing other things.’ 
even if confirmed by adequate proof, can scarcely be regarded as the equivalent of right- 
handedness. In dogs it may be noticed that they rarely move in the direct line of their 
own body, but incline to one side or the other, the right hind-foot stepping into the print 
of the left fore-foot, or vice versa. In the horse, as in other quadrupeds, a regular alternation 
in the pace is manifest, except when modified by education for the requirements of inan. 
I experienced no difficulty in teaching a favourite dog to give the right paw ; and no child 
could more strongly manifest a sense of shame, than he did when reproved for the 
gaucherie of offering the wrong one. The saddle horse is trained to prefer the right foot 
to lead with in the canter; while the same animal is educated differently when destined 
for a lady’s use ; but I have been informed by two experienced veterinary surgeons that, 
while some horses learn with very slight training to start with the right foot, others 
require long and persevering insistency before they acquire the habit. A curious relation 
between man and the lower animals in the manifestation of the organic influences here 
noted, is indicated by a writer in the “Cornhill Magazine,” when referring to the well 
ascertained fact that aphasia is ordinarily accompanied with disease of the right side of the 
brain, says: “ Right-sidedness extends to the lower races. Birds, and especially parrots, 
show right-sidedness. Dr. W. Ogle has found that few parrots perch on the left leg. Now, 
parrots have that part at least of the faculty of speech which depends on the memory of 
successive sounds, and of the method of reproducing such imitation of them as a parrot’s 
powers permit ; and it is remarkable that their left brain receives more blood, and is better 
developed than the right brain.” The same writer expresses his doubt as to monkeys 
showing any tendency to right-handedness ; but with the constant use and training of the 
hands by the quadrumana in their arboreal life, opportunities for the manifestation of any 
