THE OBEGO;i SUNDAY TOUBNAIV PORTIAND. SUNDAY MORNING, iDECEaiBEB 10, 1922.
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rain
Declare the Anatomists; :uM
Mere Are Notable Examples of Vhai
May Happ en If Even One
tigerJoint,
of a Toe, Is Lost
Paderevrtkl,
the Great "
Genius of
.the Pianoforte,
to Whom the
Los of & Finger
Tip Would Be An Eren
Greater Tragedy Than a
Similar Misfortune '
Would Be to Tennis
Champion Tilden
1
Or the Tip - X
",.
u u ,J
, The Riht
Hand and Forearm of
VUliam T -Tilden. the
Tennis F.iarVeL flote the Tip of
Middle Finger, the Loss of Which May
Cost Him a World Championship,
T The Well-Developed. Fingers and
Thumb of Gabong, An Ape, Which
" Enable Him to Handle Mechanical -Tools
like a Human Being.
r . -
TN tha construction of the httm&a hand
I pfixticxilsrly the fingertips science ,
, belieTes it has the fcfey to roan's risa
pver all the other animals and his material
conquest of. the earth. '
Monkeys and apes are 'the only other
j living creatures "which have anything
jsrhich even roughly corresponds to 'the
' human hand and the chief difference be
tween the paw of a monkey and the hand
of a man is that in the latter the fingers
are much longer and mors highly devel
Dped. : " T! .T t
t Man, because of his longer and better -developed
finger-tips, can make and handle
tools, weapons, machines, typewriters,
scientific appliances, musical iastruments
' the thousand and one appurtenances of .
modern civilization in the use of which a
creature without hands would' be almost
totally helpless. , - - . ;
Science now declares that the evolution -
ted by' natures.1 But yott are wreng.
The eye is more eomplkated and mors
delicately functioned, but It is anything
but a perfect Instrument not nearly so
efficient as the band for its respective
purposes. '
The eye gets out of order easily, Is
easily hurt or destroyed i it dimi and
"wears out with old tg; la many cases
it is defective from birth or early youth
(consider the number of people, who hare
to wear glasses), and event when normal
and st its best it focuses slowly and works
inefficiently, - It doesn't even tell you the
truth about the things it sees. -Sveryone '
is familiar with "optical illusions' and
"distorted images. Everyone Icadws that
"the hand is quicker than the eye." If
the eye Were perfect there wouldn't be
any such thing as motion pictures. All
you would see, if you looked at one, would
be a- success of ''still" images, separated
on' the screen by blank - white : flashes.
Humboldt the great scientist, once said:
"The human eve has everr fault and Im
perfection known to optical instrument
to this point, .to
th history of ev
olution. If any
evolutionists - be
lieve it has had as
much to do as the
brain itself with
making man superior to all ether animals.
For picking up and holding anything, :. .
from the tiniest hair to the thickest hladg
on J for handling Instruments . of the
greatest delicacy and tools or weapons of .
weight and power; for striking, seizing,'
rrahbindr. ehokinff. manlinir and tearinar it
and a few in addition which are pecu- T magnificently adapted i yet Its touch
liar only to itself . - can be gentle, soft and soothing at wilL
This essential imperfection, tn greater ! The finger-tips themselves are marvel
or less degree is true of all the organs ottsly endowed -with the sense of touch,
of the human body ecept the hand. . muck more se than other parts of the
The hand is nature's final triumph, ttp body. Draw your knuckle or elbow across
This Photograph of tha Left Hand of Jacob Scbaefer, Facsous Dilliardist,
Who Attained the Championship of the World, Indicates the Importance
to Him of Even the Tip of the little Finger of His Left Hand.
To a Famous
Dancer, Such
As Marilynn
Miller, the
Lots of the
First Joint of
One Dainty
Toe Would
Mean the
Ending of Her
, Dancing
Career.
ary development of the human brain alone
could nave aecompuxnea nouung iowara
this proirress if be hand had not devel
oped with it and that the superiority of
the human "machine over all other
evolved types is even more marked in tie
hand than in the brain.
The brain, after all, is still imperfect.
But the hand, according to anatomists, is
the most perfect mechanical instrument
ever produced by nature or derised by
as been startlifigly brought
the intrenuity of man.
I This fact h
.William T. Tdden in One of IlU
" - Championship f.Satches Against .
Gerald Patterson of Australia
How the mere loss of one finger-tip, .
less than an inch in length, can be of ,
such tremendous importance, is scientifi- ;
cally explained- v
The very perfeciao of the hand, la a ,
ease like that of Tilden's, is the cause of ;
the possible , disaster whea even a small r
part of the "perfect mechanism" is re
moved cr "rendered useless! The co-ordination
and balance of the parts are so ahso-
lute that to lose one piece may result' in
a vital impairment of the entire machine. 1
. Perhaps you have never stopped to look
at your ott hand and consider its ex '
traordinary mechanism.-. Maybe you were "
surprised at tne quoted statement ox the '
anatomkts that it was the "most perfect
organ ox -
Wifi5am T. Tildan. th tennis ch amnion, instrument, the most perfect.
Aa the result of a dirbt injury, the sur- the human body. . .
tnat ne must lose tne i;u ox cia iou mav qoudi me sxaem
croons sav
right-hand middle finger and wiU it ho
may lose the world championship.
erst. You
may say, lhe eye, Xor instance, is a much
nore marvelous - and perfect organ ere-
GumUM, 192S. fcr latamcUMal rmn Sarrk. Iae. 'I'Bmt BriUta 8US BMertaft,
:Bones. of tKe
Human Right -.
Hand Regarded Cy
Anatomists As "the most '
' perfect mechanical
instrument ever produced )
- by nature. ;
the surface of a desk or table or
cloth. Then move your finger-tip ;
over the same surface. You will
be amazed to discover how much -more
the second operation "teHs"
you ox me quauiy ana nature ana
characteristics of the thing you
.have touched. f
v The fingers ' are", endowed " with'
; muscles and sinews and tendons of
amazing strength, " compared with
their size, but also with nerves of
the mort tender sensibility. On
.of the worst tortures the Inquisi
tion , could devise was simply,
squeezing the finger-tips in vice.
' Look in any bag or box of tools,
. and then compare the best of them
with your own hand. There's not i
one that can vie with it for pure'
mechanical adaptability and efi3
- cienev. 1 ' S
The mishap which has occured '
to-Tilden's hand' would be of.
slight and almost negligible lm-
iportance to many another man. IS :
would be nothing ia the life of a champion
' runner or a great singer or a famous
lawyer or statesman. Their careers and
fame and, eficiency would go on exactly
aa before. . i
On the other hand, there are certain
equally famous people for whom the loss
of a finger-tip would be a misfortune sec
ond only to death itself- for it would
mean the end of career and skill and
fame and fortune. (
iz n osppenca 19 raaerewNu, great
genius of the pianoforte, it would be aa
even greater tragedy than that which it .
may mean to Tilden.
He could still compose, and he miht
even still be able to play the piano ekil-,
fully after - a fashion, but he' would no
longer be Paderewski, no longer the ma-!
gician of the ivory keys whose marvelous
playing has thrilled concert audiences .
from Petrograd to San Francisco. The
. supreme "touch" which Is an essential part ,
of his genius would be gone. The same
thing would bo true of any piano player.
stance, Kreisler, if the accident happened
to at finger of the left hand, the tragedy
would be complete. - His career would be .
irrevocably ruined. ;
To a ballet dancer, quite oppositely, the
loss of one finger-tip would mean nothing
at all, though the loss of the joint of one
toe might mean the end of her career.
- In the case of athletics and the field of
sports in general which require great skill -with
the hand, the loss of a finger-tip
would mean the same problem that eon
fronts TilrUrt. IS aba Tiut.h mir,t ti!l
pound out as many home rung as in the -.
past, for batting is a thing that require
solid ft ess of grip rather than digital skill.
cumuuieu wim .eeiuies e eye ana CO-
'ordination of the muscles. On the other
hand, the average pitcher would find him- '
self in great difficulties if he lost any pari
of a right-hand finger, though there are
exceptions to -all rules, and liordecal
Brown, famous two-fingered pitcher, of
Chicago, actually pitched in world cham
pionship games. Jacob Schafer, who at
talned the world's title at billiards, would
. find some of his finest shots impossible if
he suffered An injury similar to tha f
TiMen.
Supposing you lost the tip of a finter?
Itine chances out of ten, save for a eL-ht
inconvenience snd embarrassment, it
would net msie- the Ltest diilerence to
your present or future.
. Yet there are many people many fa
mous "stars" whose fame is bss4 in sonr
way on what they da superlatively wU
with their hand. whose fame litrrally
hans on a single nrertip, just a? tl.i
fame of Tilden and next year's worli ten
, rll championship are hanging now. . - ,