ARE WE LEFT-LEGGED?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4867, 5 February 1894, Page 1

ARE WE LEFT-LEGGED?

[BT 5.C.00 By the use and exercise of any part of our body we develop that particular part, and conversely by not using a certain, limb we should make that limb degenerate and, in time, become utterly useless. Where one limb is used more than another, it becomes more adept and skilful in the work which it has to perform. Thus it is that the training we give to the right hand makes it far superior to the left in usefulness. In the same way we — but here unconsciously—train the left leg to be stronger and of greater utility than the right. Of course, if a person is left-handed, he will show a tendency to be right-legged. A few cases culled from various sources will go a Jong way to prove that we aie left-legged. Why should it be the universal custom to walk always on the right side of the path P This rule is adopted by all nations that are at all civilised. Some people have argued that, as the traffic of the road keeps to the left, it is safer to be able to watch the vehicles coming towards you than to have them/comine up behind you. But the rule, .of the road, viz., keeping to the left, is only adopted by a few nations. The greater number of the European nations, as well as' several of the Asiatic races, always keep on the right side of the road in driving, so this will not explain Ihe reason, for. i taking the right side; of the path. The real explanation is that the left leg is .pjightly— very slightly— longer than the v right in the majority of cases. Experiments to determine this fact have lately been carried on both in Paris and .Berlin, and the results .show clearly that at' least seventy-five per cent of right-handed people have their left 'leg and ltft foot larger and longer than the corresponding limb_ on the right side. The left leg, then, being longer, will therefore tend to push tho body to the right side of the footpath. Thus, to those who are not prohibitionists, it would be safer to walk on the side of the 'street which allows' of the left leg being nearest the gutter. > Again, another proof of our left-legged-ness may be seen, or rather could be Been, when our local bands performed, in the Christchurch Rotunda on Latimer Square. A superficial observer would soon notice that the majority of the people walked round the rotunda in one particular way, viz., in the direction of the hands, of a watch, oot the reverse way. Why ? Because the left.leg was outermost, and, consequently, the - exercise of walking round the band waa far easier this way than in the opposite direction. 7 ... , • This lef t-leggedhess was corroborated by an English; .visitor to the Paris Exhibition; When a person had entered-' the main entrance, he had to pass overtone of two bridges that were placed at an equal angle to the main entrance. No less than five times the .number of people went over the right-hand bridge than over the left-hand, and yet the distrance to be travelled was exactly the _ame in each case. However, there ia a simple method of proving this lef t-leggedness. Walk blind; fold across a lawn, and yon will find that you nnconsciouely bentf to the "right, pushed over by your long left-leg j or, better still,. go down to one of bur large State Schools ahd get half a dozen or more boys to walk up the playground blindfold. Notice tha results, and yon will find them bending more or less to the right, provided they are not left-handed. Again our Canterbury volunteers furnish ua with another proof. When marking time or commencing to march they Btart off with the left foot. In swimming we get a further When swimming the side stroke it is the left leg and not the right" that does most of the work; bo in bicycling we mount with the left leg. The former remarks as to going round f a circle will apply here. At the bicycle meetings held at Lancaster Park, the officials send the competifco 7 "*.. round the course in the direction, oppoßiW^o the hands of a watch. It would be far easier for the cyclist if they wera sent round the other way. The same advice might be given to the boys and girls who play rounders. In football, when a man is taking a place or drop kick: at goal, there is apparently a contradiction, but this is not really the case. Tbe ball is generally kicked with. the right foot, the left leg being required for the much more arduous duty of balancing and supporting the weight of the body., Another point with regard, to football will naturally follow front' some previous remarks, viz., lefthanded men (that is, right-legged) should aflwaya' play on the right Bide; especially in the three-quarters, the right-wing man should always be a left-hander. ' Many other examples' might be taken if necessary} from walking in a circle in the bush, dancing,' boxing, ladiea horse riding, &c, but the above will dearly prove that the left leg iB stronger ahd letter than the right. Moreover, the symmetry of the body demands that this ' should be the case. l ' Were the right hand and leg developed more than the left hand and leg, our bodies would become one-Bided, and we should have a convex right side and a concave left side— the reverse of beautiful.