rifle,—so obviously designed for a right-handed marksman,—the difficulty is soon overcome. It is not uncommon to find a left-handed soldier placed on the left of his company when firing; and an opportunity—hereafter referred to, has happily presented itself for determining the cerebral characteristics which accompany this strongly-marked type of left-handedness. As himself incorrigibly

left-handed, the author's own experience in drilling as a volunteer was that, after a little practice, he had no difficulty in firing from the right shoulder; but he never could acquire an equal facility with his companions in unfixing the bayonet and returning it to its sheath.

But as certain weapons and implements, like the rifle and the scythe, are specially adapted for the prevailing right hand, and some ancient implements have been recovered in confirmation of the antiquity of the bias; so the inveterate left-handed manipulator at times reinstates himself on an equality with rival workmen who have thus placed him at a disadvantage. Probably the most ancient example of an implement expressly adapted for the right hand is the handle of a bronze sickle, found in 1873 at the lake-dwelling of Möringen, on the

Lake of Brienne, Switzerland.

Bronze sickles have

long been familiar to the archæologist, among the relics of the prehistoric era known as the Bronze Age; and their forms are included among the illustrations of Dr. Ferdinand Keller's Lake Dwellings. But the one now referred to is the first example that has been recovered showing the complete hafted implement. The handle is of yew, and is ingeniously carved so as to lie obliquely to the blade, and allow of its use close to the ground. It is a right-handed implement, carefully fashioned so as to adapt it to the grasp of a very small hand; and is more incapable of use by a left-handed shearer than a mower's scythe. Its peculiar form is shown in an illustration which accompanies Dr. Keller's account; and in noting that the handle is designed for a right-handed person, he adds: “Even in the Stone Age, it has already been noticed that the implements in use at that time were fitted for the right hand only." But if so, the same adaptability was available for the left-handed workman, wherever no necessity for co-operation required him to conform to the usage of the majority. Instances of left-handed carpenters who have provided themselves with benches adapted to their special use

have come under my notice. I am also told of a scythe fitted to the requirements of a left-handed mower, who must have been content to work alone; and reference has already been made to sets of golfing drivers and clubs for the convenience of left-handed golfers.

The truly left-handed, equally with the larger percentage of those who may be designated truly right-handed, are exceptionally dexterous; and to the former the idea that the instinctive impulse which influences their preference is a mere acquired habit, traceable mainly to some such bias as the mode of carrying in the nurse's arms in infancy, is utterly untenable. The value of personal experience in determining some of the special points involved in this inquiry is obvious, and will excuse a reference to my own observations, as confirmed by a comparison with those of others equally affected, such as Professor Edward S. Morse, Dr. R. A. Reeve, a former pupil of my own, and my friend, Dr. John Rae, the Arctic explorer. The last remarked in a letter to me, confirming the idea of hereditary transmission: "Your case as to left-handedness seems very like my own. My mother was left-handed, and very neat-handed also. My father had a crooked little