EVOLUTION OF GUNS AND RIFLES 
wildest parts of distant lands, and the opportunity of meeting the fiercest 
and most powerful of creatures in single combat. To some, firearms 
appeal as a means by which pioneers of civilization are enabled to do 
their explorations in safety; others see them primarily in their aspect 
as weapons of war, becoming more powerful with each decade of time. 
From one point of view man’s mastery over Nature is becoming only too 
complete; from another, there is yet unlimited scope for increase in the 
destructive power of weapons. For us of the present generation, it is but 
barren employment to speculate on the future. We may well be satisfied 
to delight in our tools at their present stage of perfection, and to recognize 
gratefully the skill and inventiveness of the past. 
T. F. FREMANTLE. 
T T 
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