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94
The Science of Dress.
[CHAP. VI.

it should be strengthened by suitable exercises; and here I would allude to a practice which pervades the civilized world. The left side of the body in the majority is the weaker, and this is increased by the constant use of the right in preference to it. Thus spinal curvature generally takes place towards the right side, and the cause of this is the early and constant use of the right hand and arm in the preference to the left. Mr. Charles Reade, although ridiculed at the time, was perfectly wise in maintaining that the left hand should be trained to be equally useful with the right. The right side of the brain governs the left side of the body, and vice versâ; the parts of each hemisphere corresponding in their structure and functions to those of the other. Moreover, those parts which govern the action of certain muscles are developed by exercise of these muscles. The constant use of the right hand stimulates the hyper-development of the left side of the brain; whereas, if the left hand were more used, the right side of the brain would increase in development, and such terrible loss of power as now takes place during injury to or disease of the left hemisphere would not be experienced.

Under the present régime the right foot is used in sympathy with the right hand, and when people stand long, the weight of the body is rested upon it, by which the length of the limb is diminished, as also the arch of the foot. To produce equilibrium of body and brain, the muscles of both sides should be equally exercised, and little children should be