Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1914 — A Theory of Hebrew Writing. [ARTICLE]

A Theory of Hebrew Writing.

Why the writing of the Semitic race should distinguish itself from that of nearly all other peopleain that it runs from right to left is a question, says a writer in the New York Bun, that has never been satisfactorily from a physiological standpoint, unless a neW theory is to be accepted, put forward by Dr. Erlenmeyer, a German savant He maintains that the ancient Hebrews were all lefthanded. In support of bis argument he quotes various passages in the Talmud, where special directions are given concerning the use of certain phylacteries with the right hand. Several passages in the Old Testament also seem to bear out Dr. Erlenmeyer’s contention, notably in the cases of Jacob and Job. The former, as related in the book of Genesis, laid his left hand—“wittingly,” the text s«yB —In blessing upon the-head of the first-born of Joseph’s sons. Herrings form the greatest harvest of the ocean. More herrings are eaten than anx other fish,