Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1911 — FINGERS ARE LESS SKILLED [ARTICLE]

FINGERS ARE LESS SKILLED

English Doctor Urges Men and Women to Acquire Manual Skill to ' Stimulate Mentality.

London. —Business men and women should use their hands in every possible way if they want to increase the quickness and adaptability of their brains, according to the latest idea of a well-knowh London doctor. He says: “Tie knots, sew, do fretwork, learn to make some of your own clothes, prepare and cook all your food, repair your boots and shoes, dig and plant your garden—in fact, do anything and everything that calls for manual skill if you want to have an active, resourceful and versatile brain. “The business man whose work depends on a keen, quickly-working brain must use his fingers constantly if he wants to have these assets in full. He must, speaking literally, turn his hands to everything, and be capable of constructing almost anything with his fingers. “The truth of this statement lies in the fact that in every manual act the hand is directed by the brain. “Again, every act reacts back upon the brain, strengthening and stimulating it, which is the only sure method of keeping that organ in keen, efficient working order. “That our fingers are gradually becoming less skilled is due to the numerous mechanical appliances which now carry out the various processes formerly done by hand “This state of affairs, since it stunts the powers of the fingers, also stunts the brain. The worker does his work mechanically, unthinkingly, and gradually his brain grows torpid and impaired.”