HISTORY IN TOOLS 



n 



blade is needed, and for piercing armour of leather or metal 

 a mere spike is required. 



These forms which result from the necessities of use, and the 

 guidance of utility, may very probably be evolved in many 

 different centres quite independently. We know, in modern 

 times, the Patent Office shows how often a simple thing may be 

 reinvented. The case is different, however, when we look at 

 artistic style ; in that, each race or country has its own charac- 

 teristics which cling to it for ages, and are seldom adoptedby 



CAUCASUS 



RHINE 



SLIDING MOTION 



Forms of socket: i, 2, small for hard wood; 3, 4, lengthened for softer 



wood ; 5, 6, for lifting. 

 Forms of reaper : 7, sliding cut, Swiss ; 8, rotated round wrist, Egypt. 



others. When a design recurs we can generally trace its 

 descent, sometimes through thousands of years. Sometimes 

 principles of form also have an astonishing persistence. The 

 northern and Syrian peoples used flanged edges to stiffen tools, 

 the Egyptian and most Mediterranean peoples would have 

 none of them. The European and Asiatic used socket-holes, 

 the Egyptian always rejected them. The European cast in 

 flat moulds, and used punched ornament ; the Asiatic cast in 

 closed moulds, and used cast relief ornament. The Asiatic and 



