HISTORY IN TOOLS. 1 



By W. M. Flinders Petbie, F. It. S., F. B. A., D. C. L., LL. D., Litt. D. 

 Professor of Egyptology, London University. 



In modern touching political history has overshadowed all other 

 aspects of man. and the general history of civilization has not yet 

 received recognition. It matters nothing whether Aristotle. Euclid, 

 Newton, or Pasteur lived under a republic or a despotism; but it is 

 of the first importance in history to know the influence of such 

 thinkers and discoverers. The movement of man's mind in ideas, 

 knowledge, and abilities should be one of the principal and most 

 stimulating subjects in education. This would not be a materialistic 

 limitation, and one side of it has been admirably written already in 

 Lecky's History of Morals. 



Among the activities of man the development of his means of 

 work must certainly be considered. But while there are many books 

 on offense and defense, arms and armor, there is none that traces 

 the history of the mechanical aids. Thousands of writers have 

 described the sculptures of the Parthenon; not one has described the 

 means used in performing that work. It is a mystery to us how 

 fluted columns with an entasis could be produced, true to a hun- 

 dredth of an inch in the diameters between the deep groovings. 



In taking up the neglected history of tools, 2 the nature of the mate- 

 rials used is the first view to consider. After the stone ages, the 

 order of metals — bronze and then iron — is tolerably well known. Of 

 late years an earlier age of copper has been noticed in several 

 countries, and this again may be divided into an age of native copper 

 and an age of smelted copper. The use of copper in the American 

 hemisphere was entirely limited to native copper, never smelted; 

 in fact, it was the stone age, including a malleable stone. Native 

 copper is also found in various places in Europe and Asia, and it 

 seems only reasonable to suppose that it would be worked before 

 smelting was discovered. What points to this is the pillowy form 

 of tools in the earliest metal age of most countries. This form could 

 not be cast except in closed molds, but it would be the most natural 

 for hammered native metal. The earliest stage of casting was the 



1 Reprinted by permission from Science Progress, July, 1917. 



2 A first step in historical treatment I have attempted, in a catalogue comparing the 

 tools of Egypt with those of other lands, " Tools and Weapons," with 3,000 figures. 



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