WOMEN AS INVENTORS 341 



The first knife was a woman's invention, as the arrow- 

 head and the spear point were the inventions of her hunter 

 husband. It was in the beginning a most primitive imple- 

 ment ; but, whether in the form of a simple flake of flint of 

 obsidian, or in that of an Eskimo ulu the woman 's knife 

 it was the archetype of all the forms of cutlery now in 

 use. With this rude knife the primitive housewife skinned 

 and carved the game brought to her by her male compan- 

 ion. With it she scraped the interior of the hide and cut 

 it up into articles of clothing. She was thus the first fur- 

 rier and tailor. With it she made the first sandals and 

 moccasins, and, in doing so, became the first shoemaker and 

 the original St. Crispin. 



To woman, the originator of the first home, is due also 

 the invention of the oven and the chimney. She was also 

 the first maker of salt that all-important condiment and 

 sanitary agent and the first to obtain nitre from wood 

 ashes. She was the first engineer, as is evinced in her 

 invention of the parbuckle and in the bamboo conduit, 

 which was the predecessor of the great canals of Baby- 

 lonia 1 and the imposing aqueducts of ancient Rome. 



Important, however, as are all the foregoing inventions, 

 we must not forget what was an equally important con- 

 tribution by woman to the welfare and progress of our 

 race the domestication of animals. No discovery after 

 that of artificially producing fire has contributed more 

 toward the development of our race than the taming of 

 milk- and fleece-bearing animals, like the cow, the sheep, 

 the goat and the llama, or of burden-bearing animals, like 

 the horse, the ass, the camel and the reindeer, or of hunt-, 

 ing and watching animals like the faithful, ubiquitous 

 dog. For, in the first place, the domestication of these 



iThe inventor of canals as well as of bridges over rivers and 

 causeways over morasses was, according to Greek historians, the 

 famous Assyrian queen, Semiramis, the builder of Babylon with its 

 wonderful hanging gardens. 



