Why the Majority of Men are Right-Handed 429 



embodiment of the reflections suggested by this privation 

 is thus recorded in his journal upwards of a year after 

 experience had familiarized him with all that the loss 

 involved : ' ' Curious to consider the institution of the 

 " right hand among universal mankind; probably the 

 ' ' very oldest human institution that exists, indispensable 

 " to all human co-operation whatsoever. He that has 

 " seen three mowers, one of whom is lelt-handed, trying 

 " to mow together and how impossible it is, has witnessed 

 " the simplest form of an impossibility, which but for 

 " the distinction of a right hand could have pervaded 

 " all human things. Have often thought of all that, 

 ' ' never saw so clearly as this morning, while out walking, 

 " unslept and dreary enough, in the windy sunshine. 

 " How old? old! I wonder if there is any people bar- 

 " barous enough not to have this distinction of hands; 

 ' ' no human cosmos possible to be even begun without it. 

 ' ' Oldest Hebrews, etc., writing from right to left, are as 

 ' ' familiar with the world-old institution as we, why that 

 " particular hand was chosen is a question not to be 

 " settled, not worth asking except as a kind of riddle; 

 " probably arose in fighting; most important to protect 

 " your heart and its adjacencies and to carry the shield 

 " on that hand." 



It has been suggested that right-handedness is hered- 

 itary and so it certainly is, so also is left-handedness 

 which runs in families 1 



The world is made up of right-handed men the ma- 

 jority, left-handed men the minority, but between the 

 two there are probably many who use either hand indis- 

 criminately. These would soon become right-handed by 

 example and education and so throw their weight with 

 the right-handed number. 



It is also suggested that the lower animals, the apes 

 and quadrupeds, do not exhibit any peculiarity of right 

 and left-handedness; this statement is perhaps due to 



1 Judges, 20 Chap., 16 verse. 



