MANUS A HAND. 97 



before the entrance of his cave. Months after, he 

 noticed young plants springing from the ground, and 

 in time he ate fruit /rom these new plants. It was this 

 that suggested to him to try gathering fruits, and sav- 

 ing the seeds for the purpose of experiment. He was 

 the first man of science. He performed an experi- 

 ment in agriculture. He planted seeds, and raised a 

 crop. Others saw it, and repeated the experiment ; 

 and in time the news slowly spread from man to man, 

 through the great forests. Thousands of years may 

 have passed before some other savage genius tried a 

 more daring experiment. He tried scratching the 

 ground about the poor little plants. He began to till 

 the soil perhaps at first with only his hands. After- 

 wards, perhaps long, long afterwards, some other bold 

 experimenter tried a broken limb from a tree for a 

 hoe. This too slowly spread, and it was found that 

 hand-labor or hand-tillage greatly improved all crops. 

 Then came a more wonderful experiment than all. 

 Some hard-working tiller found that if he took the 

 waste matter from the bodies of animals, and buried it 

 in the soil, it had the same effect as tillage, it acted 

 as a hand. It made the plants grow faster and larger, 

 and bear larger crops ; and, as this was the same as 

 the effect produced by hand-labor, he called this 

 animal waste manure. In the language of his time, 

 manus meant a hand : so we easily see why he in- 

 vented the word manure. 



We cannot tell who made this discovery of the value 

 of manure. Very likely it was discovered in many 



