I40 



NA TURE 



[June io, 1897 



that, in the great mass of stars of the sixth magnitude, the 

 smallest visible to the naked eye, the motion is about three 

 seconds per century. As a measure thus stated does not convey 

 an accurate conception of magnitude to one not practiced in the 

 subject, I would say that, in the heavens, to the ordinary eye, a 

 pair of stars will appear single unless they are separated by a 

 distance of 1 50 or 200 seconds. Let us then imagine ourselves 

 looking at a star of the sixth magnitude, which is at rest while 

 we are carried past it with the motion of six or eight miles per 

 second which I have described. Mark its position in the 

 heavens as we see it to-day ; then let its position again be 

 marked 5000 years hence. A good eye will just be able to 

 perceive that there are two stars marked instead of one. The 

 two would be so close together that no distinct space between 

 them could be perceived by unaided vision. It is due to the 

 magnifying power of the telescope, enlarging such small ap- 

 parent distances, that the motion has been determined in so 

 small a period as the 150 years during which accurate observa- 

 tions of the stars have been made. 



PRIMITIVE METHODS OF DRILLING. 

 " A STUDY of the Primitive Methods of Drilling " is the title 

 ■'"*■ of a monograph by Mr. J. D. McGuire, in the recently- 

 published Report of the United States National Museum (1894). 

 The paper covers 125 pages of the Report, and is fully illustrated, 

 in addition to which there are numerous references to books of 

 travel among peoples living under the most primitive conditions. 

 The author of the paper verified his opinions during the progress 

 of the work by experiments in a laboratory fitted up for the 

 purpose in the United States National Museum. 



The paper discusses the various ways by which holes are 

 bored in material, ranging from the softest to the hardest known, 

 with such implements as were possessed by different peoples 

 throughout the age of stone, and well through that of metal. 

 The implements employed in performing the work were chiefly 

 such as are on deposit in the Museum, the collections of which, 

 especially from the North American tribes of Indians, are very 

 rich. Yet the author has not hesitated, where circumstances 

 warranted, to seek further afield for examples, notably in the 

 concluding portion of the paper, where he describes a heretofore 

 unrecognised drill, which frequently 

 appears on the bases of royal seats 

 among Egyptian antiquities. The 

 act of cutting a hole through stone, 

 or other substance, is shown to be 

 a much simpler process than archce- 

 ologists have heretofore supposed. 

 The author has shown by specimens, 

 and by quotations, that man, from 

 the first time of which we have 

 evidence of his existence, perforated 

 with apparent ease material, such 

 as shell or bone or ivory, and that to 

 do this required nothing more than 

 a stick or a stone with a little sand. 

 It is shown that early in the Lake period of Switzerland, a 

 hollow cylinder of metal was often employed in boring stone 

 axes, and the same conditions have existed from very early 

 times in the history of the most ancient nations of which we 

 have any records. 



The seals of Mesopotamia, as well as the earliest intaglios, 

 it is asserted, were bored with the drill and wheel from a period 

 ante-dating the Christian era by thousands of years. The author 

 shows that the American Indian, at the time of the discovery of 

 the country, employed only the simple shaft-drill revolved be- 

 tween the extended palms of the hands, a method yet in use 

 among the most primitive peoples in producing fire. The same 

 implement, revolved horizontally upon the thigh, is illustrated 

 in Fig. I , by which means any of the simpler holes found in the 

 earliest antiquities may be readily and quickly reproduced. 



The " Bow Drill" (Fig. 2) is represented in the monograph 

 as it has been employed by various races, ancient and modern, 

 showing the manner of working it, and the differences in shape 

 of the bow and shaft of the drill. The author calls attention to 

 Fig- 3) which he says is the drill bow of ancient Egypt carried 

 in sacred processions as an emblem of ceremony. 



Fig. 4 is a drill of a complicated character used by certain 

 California tribes, and appears to be an aboriginal American 



NO. 1 44 1, VOL. 56] 



outgrowth of the " Pump Drill," which was imported into the 

 country from Europe or Asia in modern times. The author 

 illustrates what he designates as a "Top Drill " (Fig. 5), worked 

 by means of a single strap and head-piece, which was developed 

 in the course of his experiments. While in itself this drill is 

 not claimed to be of any great value, it did lead to most interest- 

 ing developments, the principle of which is, among other things, 

 recognised in the Hindu statue of Samudra Mutu (the third 

 incarnation of Vish- 

 nu). This again, in 

 its turn, led to the 

 recognition of the 

 "Disc Drill" with 

 double string, shown 

 in Fig. 6, a most 

 common glyph among 

 early and late Egyp- 

 tian antiquities known 

 as the "S. S. M." or 

 "Sam," which is by 

 some authors thought 

 to be " an altar 

 typical of the Upper 

 and Lower Nile 

 joined under a single 

 Pharaoh." Such a 

 drill was set up in 

 the Museum labora- 

 tory, and was found to work with perfect ease, and to be 

 capable of producing any of the holes met with among the 

 bored monumental stones of Egypt. The number of persons 

 who, upon occasion, might be employed at the same time in 

 working this drill, is unlimited ; though probably not more 

 than four would be required at any one time. 



^ 



3 



Fig. 3. — Ancient Egyptian Drill Bow. 



The author not only tested the different stone points em- 

 ployed in boring stone and softer substances, but used the 

 stone points themselves with sands of differing hardness upon 

 different stones. Metal points to drills, as well as metal cylin- 

 ders, were tested as to their cutting properties. Points of all 

 kinds were experimented with, demonstrating that the sharp 

 sand and wood points are capable of cutting a 

 hole through any material, provided it was not 

 harder than the sand. The paper shows the 

 different characters of holes met with in objects 

 of a prehistoric period, or by people in a low stage 

 of mechanical development, and describes how 

 such holes were made. 



In most instances the exact number of revolu- 

 tions per minute of each separate drill was re- 

 corded, and the character of cutting material was 

 noted ; the results were in every instance uniform. 

 The velocity of revolution and hardness of the 

 sand determined with mathematical accuracy the 

 time required to drill a hole through any given 

 material. 



The striae noticed upon the cores left in some 

 holes bored in stone in Egypt had led distinguished 

 Egyptologists to believe that the Egyptians pos- 

 sessed the diamond drill, with diamonds not only 

 set in the lower edge of the cylinder, but on the 

 outer and inner sides as well. Mr. McGuire's 

 experiments have demonstrated that with such a 

 drill as represented in Fig. 6, a hole of almost 

 any diameter may be made through the hardest 

 stone, and that the marks left on the interior of fig. 4.— Disc 

 the drill-hole, or exterior of the core in the hole, Drill 



is governed entirely by the hardness of the (California), 

 sand and size of its grains. The time requisite 

 to perforate any material is shown to be but a fraction of what 

 has been heretofore supposed necessary. 



The paper proves the value of a study of the technology of 

 archaeology, and its necessity in any intelligent study of primitive 

 implements. The manufacture of any product of ancient man 



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