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HANCOCK

833

HAND

Han'cock, John, an American statesman, was born at Quincy, Mass., Jan. 12, 1737. He became a prominent merchant in Boston, having received a large fortune from an uncle in whose counting house he had been trained. He was a member of the legislature of Massachusetts in 1766. The attempt to seize his sloop Liberty for evading the customs-law caused a riot, and the royal commissioners barely escaped with their lives. An address, delivered at the funeral of the victims of what is known as the Boston Massacre, offended the colonial governor, who attempted to seize Hancock and Samuel Adams; and after the first battle of the Revolution the* governor offered pardon to all except these two. He was president of the Continental Congress, and his name stands first on the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War he was a major-general of militia, serving in Rhode Island. In 1780 he was made the first governor of his state and, with the exception of two years, he was re-elected every year until his death. He was a fine speaker and a dignified presiding officer. His large fortune he used liberally. He died at Quincy, Oct. 8,

Hancock,  Winfield   Scott,   one   of   the

most distinguished generals of the Civil War,

was born at Montgomery Square near Philadelphia, Feb. 14, 1824. He graduated at West Point in 1844, served in the War with Mexico, and was a captain in the regular army when the Civil War broke out. He was commissioned brigadier-general in 1861, helped to organize the Army of the Potomac, and did gallant service in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. He was made major-general of volunteers in 1862. At Frederieksburg he led his corps, 5,000 strong, to the desperate assault on Maryes' heights through a deadly fire from which less than 3,000 came back. At Gettysburg he was in command of the Second Corps, and was severely wounded, but stayed on the field until Pickett's desperate charge was repulsed by his corps. In 1864 he bore an important part in the hard-fought battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, at Spottsyl-vania carrying the Confederate works known as the "bloody angle" and capturing, 3,000 prisoners. He was made a brigadier-gen-

GEN. W.  S.   HANCOCK

eral in the regular army in 1864, and promoted to major-general in 1866. At the close of the war he was placed in command of the department of the Missouri. From 1872 until his death he was in command of the division of the Atlantic. He was the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1880, but was defeated by Gar-field. He died at Governor's Island, N. Y., Feb. 9, 1886. Hancock was a brave, fearless leader, and an able commander. McClellan called him "superb," and Grant wrote: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command." See Life by Junkin and Norton and History of the Second Corps by Walker.

Hand, the extremity of the fore limb, including the wrist and the parts below it. The name is usually applied to the human hand and that of apes and monkeys, but, technically, it should embrace the extremity of the fore limbs of other vertebrated animals. The fore limbs are composed of corresponding parts in the different vertebrates; for example, the paddle of a whale, the wing of a bird, the wing of a bat, the fore limb of a dog or a horse are all equivalent structures, with bones, muscles and other parts corresponding to those in the arm of man. The hand proper consists of the wrist or carpus, the palm or metacarpus and the digits or fingers, corresponding respectively to the ankle, instep and toes of the foot. There are in all twenty-seven bones in the human hand—eight wrist or carpal bones, five metacarpals and fourteen phalanges belonging to the thumb and fingers. In man the thumb is opposable, or can be touched to the different fingers, and the hand, therefore, under the direction of the mind is a most marvelous instrument, being adapted to handling with accuracy minute objects, turned to the uses of art etc. In the minds of philosophers this adaptability of the hand has been an important factor in the progress of the race from a barbarous condition to one of a high grade of civilization. The hand is capable of much training, and the cultivation of its powers reacts upon the mind, as is shown in manual training, the educated touch of surgeons etc. The hand of apes is less perfect; it suffices for grasping, but the thumb is not so movable and it lacks the possibilities of the human hand. As is well-known, the feet of apes and monkeys have a grasping power also — the great toe is separated from the others by a considerable space. This led Cuvier to make a group, called the four-handed (quadrumana}, to contain the apes and monkeys, and another group called the two-handed (di-mana), for man. The various modifications of the hand in different vertebrates are interesting. In birds the bones above the wrist correspond to those