STRIKING TOOLS. 255 



STRIKING TOOLS. 



IF we search the records of antiquity as left by races of men 

 that have for countless ages vanished from the face of the earth, 

 we shall find that in some shape or other the Hammer was a 

 tool in constant use, and that in principle, though not in mate- 

 rial, there was no difference between the Hammer of the Stone 

 Age and that of a blacksmith of the present day. 



The development of the instrument can easily be traced, 

 especially as it ie a tool which does not admit of much 

 elaboration. 



The original hammer was evidently a simple stone, and 

 answered equally as a tool and a weapon. As, however, man 

 progressed towards civilisation, he found that the stone itself 

 was insufficient for his needs, and that he required much more 

 force. The most obvious mode of doing so was to take a larger 

 stone, but this expedient soon became valueless, inasmuch as a 

 large stone was a cumbrous instrument to handle, and could not 

 be directed with any certainty or delicacy. 



The principle of the lever was then applied to the stone, 

 which was affixed to a handle, and thus became elevated into 

 the rank of a comparatively civilised tool. Sometimes the stone 

 had a hole bored through it, into which the handle of the 

 hammer was inserted, as is the case with most of our present 

 hammers and pickaxes. Sometimes the end of the handle was 

 enlarged, and the stone thrust through it, as is now done with 

 the axes of Southern Africa. Sometimes a long, flexible rod 

 was used by way of handle, the centre of it taking two turns 

 round the stone, and the ends being lashed together. Handles 

 thus made may be seen in any blacksmith's forge of the present 

 day. 



The tool thus made was soon developed into various forms 

 for different uses. By lengthening and pointing the head, it 

 became a pick for loosening the earth. By widening and flat- 

 tening the head, it became a hatchet ; and, by performing the 

 same alteration in the pickaxe blade, it became an adze. I 

 possess a singularly ingenious tool from Borneo, in which the 

 head is movable, so as to be used as a hatchet or adze at 

 pleasure. 



In Demmin's "Weapons of War" many such hammers and 



