24 Developjiext of Ae^is. 



So wrote Thomas Carlyle ; and primitive man, when lie made his 

 appearance on this planet, must have found himself in immediate 

 need of loose stones and broken tree branches to use as missiles 

 and weapons, alike to keep off his more dang-erous animal neigh- 

 bours, and to take the lives of the weaker ones, in order that he 

 might sustain his own. Necessity, best of teachers, would speedily 

 drive him to select the hardest and most durable of the stones, 

 and such as could be fashioned into a cutting edge ; and the stone 

 axe, the flint knife, arrcw, and spear-head, gradually supplanted 

 the first casual or fortuitous implements. Indeed, the weapons of 

 this prehistoric time, as it is called, are divided into the rough, the 

 chipped, and the polished ; and the highly-wrought jade axes and 

 hammers, w^eapons which have survived among- savages of the 

 Southern Seas down to the present day, bespeak an amount of art 

 and craftsmanship far removed from those associated with our 

 aboriginal forefathers, yet still belonging to the same class. 



As gunpowder in later ages, and the terrible weapons of war 

 of modern times, are held to have been the strongest factors in 

 promoting peace, enlightenment, and progress, so in early times 

 did the improvement of weapons lead to what w^e know^ as civilisa- 

 tion. The i^eoples who first learnt the art of working- metals, and 

 of making- swords, spears, and shields of bronze and iron, could 

 not only conquer their less advanced neighbours, but by the terror 

 and prestige of these arms, turn their newly-won powers to 

 the industrial arts, and thence to decorative art and to luxury. 

 Probably the earliest civilisation, although the one we as jei 

 know the least of, was the American ; and metal weapons and! 

 armour ai-e to be found among the ruins, and carved on the wallsl 

 of cities there, which are credibly believed to date back for 4000J 

 years. Those, however, of which we have more knowledge and 

 better records, are the Indian, the Assyrian, and the Chinese. It 

 was the custom, till comparatively recently, to speak of the Bronze 

 Age as separate from, and anterior to, that of iron, but extended 

 researches in Assyria and Asia Minor have proved that these 

 metals existed, and were used at the same time, although, from its 

 easiness for working, nearly all the tools, and all the weaponsJ 

 including- edged ones, were made of bronze. In the Ilomei-ic war 

 bronze was the material in use, but iron is repeatedly mentioned^ 

 under a name which shews why, although harder and more dur-i 

 able, it was not preferred — it is called.'- difficult to work in." 



