258 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



for the same purposes. Indeed, this instrument is an almost 

 exact reproduction of the stone hammer which has already 

 been mentioned, the blunt end being represented by the carved 

 head, and the sharp end by the pickaxe point. 



GRASPING TOOLS. 



ALREADY we have spoken of the Shears and Scissors, together 

 with their mode of action and dependence upon leverage. 

 We now come to a set of tools which, although equally 

 dependent on leverage, develop that power by grasping instead 

 of cutting. Without these tools, the arts and sciences could 

 have scarcely made themselves felt, as there are but few 

 manufactures in which the artificer does not require a grasping 

 power far superior to that of the human hand. 



Perhaps the enormous power of the Pincers is never shown 

 to better advantage than in the great iron -works, where enor- 

 mous masses of white-hot metal have to be brought under the 

 blows of the steam hammer. I do not know of anything which 

 affords a more imposing realisation of the Divine command that 

 man is to subdue the earth as well as to replenish it. There is 

 the vast hammer, striking blows which are felt throughout a 

 large area as if a succession of earthquakes had been let loose. 

 In the furnace there is an enormous mass of iron, heated to 

 such a degree that an unpractised eye could no more dare to 

 look at it than to stare a midsummer sun out of face. 



Where are the armies who are to cope with such forces ? 

 A few stalwart and grimy men come forward, each man with 

 a curious but unmistakable air of one who wages a war of 

 giants. The furnace door is opened, and out rushes a blinding 

 light which strikes on the eyeballs like a shock of electricity. 

 The men seize the handles of an enormous pair of Pincers, 

 suspended in the middle by a chain, and though no unpractised 

 eye can distinguish the glowing iron from the enveloping fire, 

 they run the Pincers into the furnace, seize the iron, swing it 

 to the anvil, and turn it this way and that way as easily as if 

 it were a feather, while the blows of the gigantic hammer 

 descend upon it, enveloping them in a torrent of sparks which 

 spurt as if they were mere splashes of water, and seem to do 

 them no more harm. 



