ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE PKIMAL SHAPING 



ARTS. 1 



Bv W. H. Holmes. 



Modern science has gone far toward establishing the proposition 

 that the human race, like the various other groups of sentient beings, 

 is the product of evolutional processes, and the student of history has 

 added the corollary that human culture has likewise developed through 

 a long series of progressive stages from infinitesimal germs up to the 

 present complex and wonderful conditions. The history of culture 

 can not, therefore, be complete until the course of its development 

 has been traced back to the remotest beginnings. The phenomena of 

 art are the tangible representatives of human progress and achieve- 

 ment, and upon these we are almost w 7 holly dependent for an insight 

 into the initial stages of history. Furthermore, there is a shadowy 

 interval at the very beginning of culture history unrepresented by 

 art remains. Into this space we seek to extend our vision by the aid 

 of rays borrowed from other branches of science. 



Assuming the general uniformity of nature's genetic processes, we 

 conclude that in the beginning there was a period of rudimentary or 

 instinctive use of materials during which our race carried on its activi- 

 ties much as the bird builds her nest of sticks and grass and the 

 badger burrows a home in the ground. But the time must have come 

 when the hand of this creature, man, was so developed and his bruin 

 so matured that articles supplied by nature, such as sticks and stones, 

 were held in the hand for throwing, striking, and rubbing. These 

 things became implements, multiplying the powers of the hand and 

 finally giving man dominion over nature. 



The first stage of implement using w r ould consist in the employment 

 of articles furnished by nature. The second stage would be entered 

 upon when the things used began to be modified in shape designedly 

 to increase their efficiency. The passage from the first to the second 

 stage would be made possible Iry unintentional alterations of the 

 primal utensils brought about through use, and the observation of the 

 processes of modification by creatures able to profit by these observa- 

 tions. This stage would witness the beginning of those manual opera- 

 tions to which we give the name "the shaping arts." It is these first 

 necessary steps in art, weak and hesitating and almost infinitely slow 

 as they must have been, that more than any others demand the atten- 

 tion of the student of history. 



"From the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 



Vol. XLII, 1894. 



501 



