MECHANICAL APPLIANCES 263 



so, but, such are the anomalies of Life, that we 

 may owe to its influence our family relationships, 

 our homes, and the very idea of our possessions. 



The gorilla builds a nest amidst branches, 

 and, prompted by a like impulse, man provided 

 himself with shelter on the ground. In the 

 tropics huts of grass or leaves would be his 

 first essays in home-building. In the colder 

 climate of Northern Europe he seems to have 

 commonly taken refuge in caves, the occupancy 

 of which he disputed with bears and hyenas. 

 With an increasing population a new danger 

 arose : inter-tribal wars became frequent and 

 buildings were desired for protection against 

 enemies. An earthern rampart might be thrown 

 up, or the safeguard of a moat might be secured 

 by building the village huts upon piles that were 

 surrounded with water. On this plan the ancient 

 lake villages of Switzerland were designed. With 

 the improvement of tools durable materials could 

 be handled : dwellings of more than one storey 

 might be erected : castles for defence, temples in 

 honour of the gods and monuments in honour of 

 the dead might be built so solidly as to resist the 

 corrosions of time during many centuries. But 

 it was long before designs were altered with 

 the change in materials ; and to this day the 

 bridges in Japan mimic in stone the beams and 

 joints of wooden structures. 



Man has been defined as a " tool-using animal." 

 Without special appliances insects would be 

 unable to construct their elaborate fabrics : by 

 peculiar modifications of the jaw they are provided 

 with as varied an assortment of implements as 

 may be found in a mason's tool bag. Left to the 

 guidance of his reason man for countless genera- 

 tions possessed no such resources as this instinc- 

 tive equipment. His only tools were fragments of 



