THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE 249 



with nuts and fruits. Hence they came to throw 

 their clubs and spears, and so missiles were intro- 

 duced. 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 sharpen- 

 ing 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 throwing-stick, and the sling. 

 Then instead of using his own strength he bor- 

 rowed 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 



