CHAPTER VI 



A Brief History 

 of Firearms 



WHEN man first inhabited the earth, and 

 wild animals were numerous, very rude 

 methods of hunting proved successful. 

 As time passed, and men increased, game was more 

 difficult to approach and capture, and the need of 

 a weapon that would kill at a distance, was felt. 

 Then some pre-historic genius, from a strong staff 

 and a piece of sinew, made the bow. 



Others found that they could hurl rocks to a 

 great distance by placing them in a shallow pouch 

 at the end of two thongs; and thus they made the 

 sling. But it was the discovery of gunpowder in 

 the XlVth century, that sounded the knell of the 

 spear and the bow, and made the deadly firearms 

 of modern times possible. 



But as it was with the bow, so it was with the 

 gun. Game became more difficult to approach, 

 and wars demanded improved weapons ; until to- 

 day we have guns that kill further than the eye can 

 sight the mark, and that shoot with unnecessary 



rapidity. 



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