THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 195 



in the world the blunt stick and the pointed stick 

 that is to say, the Club and the Spear. 



In using these weapons at first, neither probably 

 was allowed to leave the hand. But already their 

 owners had learned to hurl down branches from the 

 tree-tops, and bombard their enemies with nuts and 

 fruits. Hence they came to throw their clubs and 

 spears, and so missiles were introduced. Under this 

 new use, the primitive weapons themselves received 

 a further specialization. From the heavy bludgeon 

 would arise on the one hand the shaped war-club, and 

 on the other the short throwing club, or waddy. The 

 spear would pass into the throwing assegai, or the 

 ponderous weapon such as the South Sea Islanders 

 use to-day. From the natural point of a torn branch 

 to the sharpening of a point deliberately is the next 

 improvement. From rubbing the point against the 

 sharp edge of a large stone, to picking up a sharp- 

 edged small stone and using it as a knife, is but a 

 step. So, by the mere necessities of the Struggle for 

 Life, development went on. Man became a tool-using 

 animal, and the foundations of the Arts were laid. 

 Next, the man who threw his missile furthest, had the 

 best chance in the Struggle for Life. To throw to 

 still greater distances, and with greater precision, he 

 sought out mechanical aids the bow, the boomerang, 

 the th rowing-stick, and the sling. Then instead of 

 using his own strength he borrowed strength from 

 nature, mixed different kinds of dust together and 

 invented gunpowder. All our modern weapons of 

 precision, from the rifle to the long range gun, are 

 evolutions from the missiles of the savage. These 

 suggestions are not mere fancies ; in savage tribes 



