So far, then, it seems to be proved that not only among cultured and civilised races, but among the barbarous tribes of both hemispheres,--in Australia, Polynesia, among the Arctic tribes of our northern hemisphere at the present day, and among the palæolithic men of Europe’s post-pliocene times,--not only has a habitual preference been manifested for the use of one hand rather than the other, but among all alike the same hand has been preferred. Yet, also, it is no less noteworthy that this prevailing uniformity of practice has always been accompanied by some very pronounced exceptions. Not only are cases of exceptional facility in the use of both hands of frequent occurrence, but while right-handedness everywhere predominates, left-handedness is nowhere unknown. The skill of the combatant in hitting with both hands is indeed a favourite topic of poetic laudation, though this is characteristic of every well-trained boxer. In the combat between Entellus and Dares (_Æn._ v. 456), the passionate Entellus strikes now with his right hand and again with his left-- Præcipitemque Daren ardens agit æquore toto, Nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra. But the more general duty assigned to the left hand is as the guard or the shield-bearer, as where Æneas gives the signal to his comrades, in sight of the Trojans (_Æn._ x. 261)-- Stans celsa in puppi; clipeum cum delude sinistra Extulit ardentem. The right hand may be said to express all active volition and all beneficent action, as in _Æn._ vi. 370, “Da dextram misero,” “Give thy right hand to the wretched,” _i.e._ give him aid; and so in many other examples, all indicative of right-handedness as the rule. The only exception I have been able to discover occurs in a curious passage in the _Eclogues_ of Stobæus Περὶ ψυχῆς, in a dialogue between Horus and Isis, where, after describing a variety of races of men, and their peculiarities, it thus proceeds: “An indication of this is found in the circumstance that southern races, that is, those who dwell on the earth’s summit, have fine heads and good hair; eastern races are prompt to battle, and skilled in archery, for the right hand is the seat of these qualities. Western races are cautious, and for the most part left-handed; and whilst the activity which other men display belongs to their right side, these races favour the left.” Stobæus, the Macedonian, belongs, at earliest, to the end of the fifth century of our era, but he collected diligently from numerous ancient authors, some of whom would otherwise be unknown; but the passage is part of a description in which he speaks of the earth as having its apex or head to the south, the right shoulder to the east, and the left to the south-west; and the left-handed races of the west may be so merely in a figurative sense. This description, at any rate, is the only indication, vague and dubious as it is, of a belief in the existence of a left-handed race.