PECULIAR FACULTY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22461, 3 July 1936, Page 12

PECULIAR FACULTY

RESIDENT OF SYDNEY

WRITES WITH BOTH HANDS

(Received July 2, 8.25 p. 111.)

SYDNEY, July 2

A resident of tho Sydney suburb of Beecroft, Mr. Stirling Wilkinson, possesses the rare gift of being able to write or draw with both hands simultaneously. His own opinion is that he has a dual brain.

Mr. Wilkinson demonstrated by writing different words and sentences simultaneously with both hands. He also wrote the same words backwards and made simultaneous entries of figures with both hands. He drew separate sketches at the same time with an exactness which astonished his interviewer from the Sydney Morning Herald. When he attended a kindergarten school, said Mr. Wilkinson, he found that he was able to write words backwards with his left hand. He was medically examined and the opinion was expressed that he had a disease either of the brain or the arm. His left arm was strapped to his body in order that he might cultivate the correct manner of writing. Mr. Wilkinson related that while lie was attending college he was given 'IOO lines to writ a for some minor misdemeanour, and by using both hands at once he was able to accomplish tho task in half the time taken by the other boys. It was then that his ability to do two things at once was discovered and resulted in his subsequent impositions doubling those of the other boys. Mr. Wilkinson states that he finds it no strain on the brain to concentrate on writing or drawing with both hands.