PALAEOLITHIC DEXTEEITY. 123 



the most archaic Greek vases. The right side was Èn'i âôpv, the spear side, whik the left 

 was, fV àaniôa, the shield side. The familiar application of the terms in this sense is 

 seen in Xenophon's "Anabasis," IV. iii. 26. Ka\ napiiyyeiXe tiùs Xn^^ayols; nar èvo3/.tnT{as 

 Ttnu'iaaGt^ai (naC}r(>v tov fat'Tov Aojok, Trap' affrrtaitF 7Tap(vyayi)VT(x> ri)v (vcofinritw 

 Ènï (PâXayyn-:, " He ordered to draw up hi> centiiry in sqnads of twenty-five, and post 

 them in line to the left." And again, "Anabasis," IV. iii. 20; 'l'ois ôt Trap' eavrcp 

 TtapjjyyeiXev . . . <f ('n'OT/jt^/vicrrc- fV/ do'/jr, «.r. A., " He ordered his owu division, turn- 

 ing to the right," etc. Egyptian paintings are older than the earliest Greek vases, but they 

 are less reliable ; for in the symmetrical arrangements of hieroglyphic paintings the groups 

 of figures are habitvially reversed, right and left, looking toward a central line or point. 

 Yet, there also evidence may be found confirming the same idea. But a quaint philoso- 

 pher of the seventeenth century, the famous old Norwich physician. Sir Thomas Browne, 

 reverts to the mystic fancies of the Talmud for guidance, and quesiious the dictum re- 

 affirmed by the sage of Chelsea. "Whether," says the author of " Eeligio Medici," 

 " Eve was framed out of the left side of Adam, I dispute not ; because I stand not yet 

 assured which is the right side of a man, or whether there be such a distinction iu 

 nature." But whether the distinction is natural or the result of habit, the use of the left 

 hand appears to be everywhere exceptional. The terms " right," " dexterous," and all 

 their equivalents, are associated with dignity or eulogy ; while that of " left," alike iu 

 cultured and barbarous languages, expresses awkwardness, incapacity, defectiveness. The 

 left is the inferior, the ignoble, the sinister, the unlucky side ; until, at length, one of 

 the most ignoble perversions of social nobilit}^ a morganatic, or " left-handed " marriage, 

 gives its sinister pledge to a degrading travesty of the marriage tie. Thus, imbedded in 

 the roots of ancient languages, and the customs of civilized and barbarous nations, as well 

 as in sacred and profane history it becomes a question of some interest, wherein lies the 

 source of a distinction so universally recognized ? 



The disclosures of archœology, iu its cooperation with geological research, have 

 familiarized ns with phases of primitive history, inconceivable until very recent years. 

 The handiwork of the Drift Folk relegates to very modern centuries the earliest Egyptian 

 or Greek painting ; and if in their remains evidence of primeval dexterity can be found, 

 it will be scarcely possible to evade the conclusion that, from the beginning, man vva ; 

 right-handed. The earliest of all evidences of human dexterity, alike iu its technical, 

 and its popular sense, may be looked for among the products of the palœolithic workers 

 in flint. The Drift Folk, and the priiuitive Troglodytes, of Europe, have transmitted to us 

 works of human industry and skill, in comparison with which the oldest historical monu- 

 ments are of recent date. But the process of the ancient arrow-maker is no lost art. It 

 has been found iu use among many barbarous races : and is still practised by some of 

 the Indian tribes of this continent, to whom the art has doubtless been transmitted 

 through successive generations from remotest times. The modes of manufacture vary 

 somewhat among ditierent tribes : but they haA'e been repeatedly witnessed and desci'ibed 

 by explorers who have watched the native arrow-maker at work ; and his operations no 

 longer present the diificulties which were long supposed to beset this "lost art " of pre- 

 historic times. Among the rarer primitive implements are hammer-stones, oblong or 

 roiinded in shape, generally with cavities worked iu two faces, so as to admit of their 

 being conveniently held between the finger and thumb. Implements of this class have 



