128 DANIEL WILSON ON 



Red Indians ; and found that he could fashion the fractured flint or obsidian into nearly 

 any shape that he desired. As has been . already noted, like Mr. Gushing, and Dr. Evans, 

 resorted subsequently to the easily available tool furnished by the handle of a tooth- 

 brush. Having thus mastered the secret of the old flint-workers, he had succeeded before 

 long in the manufacture of arrows, spear-heads, and daggers of flint, closely resembling 

 the products of primitive workmen both of the Old and the New "World. 



Thus far the results accord with other investigations ; but, in the course of his opera- 

 tions, Mr. Cushing also noted this fact that the grooves produced by the flaking of the flint, 

 or obsidian, all turned in one direction. This i^roved to be due to the constant use of his 

 right hand. "When the direction of pressure by the bone or stick was reversed, the result 

 was apparent in the opposite direction of the grooves. So far as his observations then 

 extended, he occasionally found an arrow-head or other primitive stone implement with the 

 flake grooA'es running from left to right, showing, as he believed, the manipulation of a left- 

 handed workman ; but, from the rarity of their occurrence, it might be concluded that, 

 as a rule, prehistoric man was right-handed. When Mr. Cushing reported the results of 

 those investigations into the arts of the Stone Age, at a meeting of the Anthropological 

 Society of Washington, in May, 1879, Professor Mason confirmed from his own observation 

 the occurrence of flint implements indicating by the reversed direction of the bevelling 

 that they were produced by left-handed workmen. Mr. Gushing further notes that "arrow- 

 making is accompanied by great fatigue and profuse perspiration. It has a prostrating 

 effect upon the nervous system, which shows itself again in the direction of fracture. 

 The first fruits of the workman's labour, while still fresh and vigorous, can be distin- 

 guished from the implements produced after he had become exhausted at his task ; and it 

 is thus noteworthy that on an unimpressible substance like flint even the moods and 

 passions of long-forgotten centuries may be found thus traced and recorded." 



In an ingenious brochure by Mr. Gharles Reade, styled "The GomingMan," specially 

 aiming at the development, in the rising generation, of the use of the left hand, so that the 

 man of the future shall be ambidextrous, or " either-handed," he remarks : " There cer- 

 tainly is, amongst mankind, a vast weight of opinion against my position that man is, by 

 nature, as either-handed as an ape ; and that custom should follow nature. The majority 

 believe the left arm and hand inferior to the right in three things, — power, dexterity, and 

 dignity. Nor is this notion either old-fashioned or new-fangled. It is many thousand 

 years old ; and comes down, by unbroken descent, to the present day." The writer then 

 goes on to affirm : " It has never existed amongst rank barbarians ; it is not indicated in 

 the genuine flint instrviments ; but only in those which modern dexterity plants in old 

 strata, to delight and defraud antiquarians ; and the few primitive barbarians that now 

 remain, living relics of the Stone Age, use both arms indifferently." ' The conclusions 

 here assumed as established by evidence derived from the study of " the genuine flint 

 instruments," imply, I presume, that they do embody indications of right and left 

 hand manipulation in nearly equal proportions ; whereas the forgeries of the modern 

 " Flint Jack " all betray evidence of right-handed manufacture, and of consequent modern- 

 ness. This, however, must have been set forth as a mere surmise ; for, as now appears, it 

 is in conflict with the results of careful investigations directed to the products of the 



' The Coming Man, p. 12. 



