PRATT ON LEFT-HANDEDKESS IN THE CITY SCHOOLS. 1S7 



an's opinion,* that left-handeclness is more prevalent among females 

 than among males. 



We also have 24 parents, and only 18 uncles and amits, left-handed, 

 which again does not tend to corroborate the remark by Dr. Daniel Wil- 

 son,! that " it appears more generally to manifest itself collaterally than 

 in direct line of descent." 



It is true that children might be less likely to be aware of the exist- 

 ence of this condition among more distant relatives than in the case of 

 their own parents, though I usually caused them to make inquiry at 

 home, but we should also remember that children have more uncles and 

 aunts than parents, and one of these considerations may fairly offset the 

 other. 



I did not make the inquiry, which would be an interesting one in this 

 connection, how many of the right-handed persons had relatives who 

 were left-handed. 



Almost all of the teachers included in the list (of whom there are 

 eight), and also several of the pupils, are ambidextrous, as it is termed, 

 or using one hand about as readily as the other ; but this ambidexterity, 

 as far as I can learn, is the result of primary left-handedness and culti- 

 vation of the use of the right hand on account of its greater conven- 

 ience. Only seven of the whole '26 are in the habit of writing with the 

 left hand, as I, with the co-operation of the other teachers, have guarded 

 against the acquirement of that habit as far as possible. In each case, 

 except one, it appears that the original left-handed bias, or at least the 

 early habit of using that hand in preference, was quite decided. In one 

 instance the boy was deliberately made left-handed. His mother's sister 

 was left-handed, and his mother said it was " lucky to have one left- 

 handed in the family, and it might as well be he as any,"' so he was made 

 the victim. It would seem that the "good luck" was confined to those 

 who escaped such a conclusion. 



How much is usually due to a natural bias (if there be any such bias), 

 and how much to accident, determining the use of either hand by the 

 infant, it is impossible to determine, but there seems to be good reason 

 to conclude that in all ordinary cases the parents, by a little attention, 

 can easily cause the child to grow up left-handed or right-handed, as 

 they may choose, and hence, when a person is left-handed, it is almost 

 always the fault of the parents, and a very grave fault it certainly is, to 

 entail a life-time awkwardness upon the child, while he is incapable of 

 judging and choosing for himself. 



*"The Center of Gravity in Man," Proc. Pliil Society of Glasgow, Vol. X, page 413. 

 t" Left-handedness," Canadian Journal, Vol XV, page 481. 



