RIGHTHANDEDNESS. 215 



later page, ia considering how far this peculiarity is really abnormal. 

 But other references suflSce to show how thoroughly the distinction of 

 right and left-handedness was recognized among the ancient Hebrews- 

 Ehud, the deliverer of Israel from their servitude to Eglon, king of 

 Moab, is noted as " a Benjamite, a man left-handed;" and in the act 

 by which he delivered them from their oppressor, it is stated that he 

 "put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh," 

 (Judges, c. iii. v. 21). Again it is recorded (1 Chron. xii. v. 2), when 

 David was in hiding at Ziklag, there came to him a company of mighty 

 men, '' who were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand 

 and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.'' 

 These latter, it will be observed, are not left-handed, but ambidextrous. 

 Even among those who, by reason of a natural left-handedness, have 

 ultimately acquired unwonted facility with both hands, it is rare indeed 

 to find one who can use both the right and the left hand to throw a 

 stone with equal force and precision. 



But this leads to another inquiry, of no slight importance in refer- 

 ence to the whole bearing of the question. The application of the 

 Latin dexter to right-handedness specifically, as well as to general dex- 

 terity in its more comprehensive significance, points, like the record of 

 the old Benjamites, to the habitual use of one hand in preference to the 

 other; but does it necessarily imply that their " right hand" was the 

 one on that side which we now concur in calling dexter or right ? In 

 the exigencies of war or the chase, and still more in many of the daily 

 requirements of civilized life, it is necessary that there should be no 

 hesitation as to which hand shall be used. Promptness and dexterity 

 depend on this, and no hesitation is felt. But, still further, in many 

 cases of combined action, it is needful that the hand so used shall be 

 the same ; and wherever such a conformity of practice is recognized — as 

 among the seven hundred slingers of the tribe of Benjamin, — the hand 

 so used, whichever it be, is that on which their dexterity depends, and 

 becomes practically the right hand. Curiously, indeed, the term 

 yamin (the right hand) is the root of the proper name, Benjamin, i.e., 

 son of the right hand. It is derived from the verb yaman, to be firm, 

 to be faithful, as the right hand is given as a pledge of fidelity, e. g., 

 " The Lord hath sworn by his right hand" (Isaiah, Ixii. 8). So in the 

 Arabic form, Bimin Allah, by the right hand of Allah. Or again, as 

 symbolical of treachery, "■ Their right hand is a right hand of false- 

 hood," (Psalm cxliv. 8). 



