PRIMEVAL DEXTERITY. a 677; 
a distinctly bevelled point is the result ; especially when the material 
worked upon is unusually hard. This accounts for the bevelled type 
of arrow and spear-head of comparatively common occurrence, and 
which has been assumed by some to be designed for the same end as 
the rifling of a musket; but as the bevel or twist appears to be 
almost invariably in the same direction, Mr. Cushing arrived at the 
conclusion that the aboriginal arrow-makers were, like ourselves, a 
right-handed people. But if so, there were exceptions to the rule 
then asnow. When the flaker is held in the left hand, so that the 
direction of pressure by the bone or stick is reversed, the result is 
apparent in the opposite direction of the grooves. So far as his 
observations extended, he occasionally found an arrow-head or other 
primitive stone implement with the flake grooves running from left 
to right, showing, as he believed, the manipulations of a left-handed 
workman ; but, from the rarity of their occurrence, it might be 
assumed that, as a rule, prehistoric man was right-handed. When 
the results of those investigations into the arts of the Stone Age 
were reported at a meeting of the Anthropological Society of Wash- 
ington, in May, 1879, Professor Mason confirmed from his own obser- 
vation the occurrence of flint implements indicating by the reversed 
direction of the bevelling that they were produced by left-handed 
workmen. Mr. Cushing further notes that ‘“ arrow-making is accom- 
-panied by great fatigue and profuse perspiration. It has a prostrat- 
ing 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 distinguished from the imple- 
ments 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.” 
The evidence thus appealed to is equally applicable to modern as 
to ancient workers in flint ; and should a sufficient number of observ- 
ers consider the question of sufficient importance to induce them to 
examine and report on the relative number of examples of what are 
thus assumed to be the result of left-handed manipulation, it is 
obvious that the class of implements referred to offers a trustworthy 
source of evidence whereby to arrive at an estimate of the prevalent 
use of one or the other hand among uncultured races alike in ancient 
and modern times. 
