PRIMEVAL DEXTERITY. 137 



.:a distinctly bevelled point is the result j 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. Gushing arrived at the 

 conclusion that the aboriginal arrow-makers were, like ourselves, a 

 rightrhanded people. But if so, there were exceptions to the rule 

 then as now. 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. Gushing 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 ofiers 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. 



