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CHAPTER XVI. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



I HA YE already expressed my belief that the simple arts 

 and implements have been independently invented by 

 various tribes, at different times, and in different parts of the 

 world. Even at the present day, we may, I think, obtain 

 glimpses of the manner in which they were, or may have 

 been, invented. Elephants break off boughs to use as fans 

 and scrapers. Monkeys use clubs, and throw sticks and stones 

 at those who intrude upon them. Eengger saw a monkey 

 take a stick and use it to open the lid of a box, and this has 

 since been confirmed by other observers. They also use 

 round stones for cracking nuts, and surely a very small step 

 would lead from that to the application of a sharp stone for 

 cutting. When the edge became blunt, it would be thrown 

 away, and another chosen ; but after a while, accident, if not 

 reflection, would show that a round stone would crack other 

 stones, as well as nuts, and thus the savage would learn to 

 make sharp-edged stones for himself. At first, as we see in 

 the drift specimens, these would be coarse and rough, but 

 gradually the pieces chipped off would become smaller, the 

 blows would be more cautiously and thoughtfully given, and 

 at length it would be found that better work might be done 

 by pressure than by blows. From pressure to polishing would 

 again be but a small step. In making flint implements, sparks 

 would be produced ; in polishing them, it would not fail to be 

 observed that they became hot, and in this way it is easy to 



