And Horns on the Toads Page: 71
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SOUTHPAWS, PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL SCIENCE
several facts and presented corresponding theories concerning
left-handedness.5 Neolithic and Paleolithic man's flint instru-
ments were chipped for left-hand as well as right-hand use.
Stone Age man had no distinctly right-hand tools, no social
pressure required him to be right-handed, and the theory is
that his population was in equal percentage sinistral. Then,
from 4,000 to 2,000 B.c. when Bronze Age writings, plows,
carts, and potter's wheels were invented, dextrality began to
prevail. Finally, from 2,000 B.c. to the present, the Iron Age
implements have become more and more dextral. Among
North American Indians, tools and implements indicate little
lateral preference; and among modern primitives such as Aus-
tralians, Africans, Bushmen, Bantus, Pygmies, and Hottentots,
an equal number engage in work with marked left-handed pref-
erences. With the passage of time and with the advancement of
machinery, dextrality has increased and sinistrality decreased
correspondingly.
Exactly how the preference for dextrality evolved in the
human race is still a matter of conjecture. Plato advanced the
theory that right-handedness was developed in the infant by
the way the mother held it in her arms. He reasoned that the
mother would hold her child in her stronger right arm, thus
pressing its left arm to her body and leaving its right arm free.
The fallacies in this reasoning are, of course, obvious. Any
observer will note that a right-handed mother will hold her
infant in her left hand in order to tend it with her right. Thus,
if Plato's theory were true, it would follow that every other
generation would be left-handed.
For the want of a better surmise, present-day psychologists
such as Abram Blau have accepted Thomas Carlyle's theory
of primitive warfare. Carlyle became much concerned about
handedness when his own right arm became paralyzed. He
mentioned in his diary, in 1871, that because the heart is on the
left side, the ancient warrior turned that more vulnerable side
away from his foe and held a shield over it with his left hand.71
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And Horns on the Toads (Book)
Volume of folk stories and tall tales about the horned toad and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 235.
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Boatright, Mody Coggin. And Horns on the Toads, book, 1959; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38856/m1/84/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.