This series of typical pictures is intended roughly to illustrate
the upward progress of man from the almost nude savage to
the neatly and conveniently dressed gentleman of to-day. The
Elizabethan dandy is, of course, as fully dressed as man can be,
and is introduced only as indicating the great change of sartorial
ideas in modern times.
]
The discovery of how to produce fire by artificial means, independently
effected in all parts of the world--as was also the discovery of the
art of navigation--was of the greatest importance for the entire
future. Fire was first a result of chance.
When lightning set a portion of the forest in flames, and caused a
multitude of animals or fruits to be roasted, men put it to practical
use. They recognised the advantage that fire gave them and sought to
preserve it. The retention of the fire which had been sent down from
heaven became one of the most weighty and significant of functions. Man
learned how to keep wood-fibres smouldering, and how to blow them into
flame at will; he also learned that it was possible to convey fire, or
the potentiality of fire, along with him in his wanderings. But even
then success was uncertain until a lucky chance led him to discover
how to produce flames at will, by rubbing two sticks together or by
twirling one against the other. These actions were originally performed
for other purposes--to bore holes in a piece of wood, or to rub it into
fibres; finally, one or the other was carried out with such vigour that
a filament began to burn, and the discovery was made. Sparks from flint
must have suggested a second method of kindling a fire; certainly
the art of igniting soft filaments of wood by means of a spark--thus
enabling the very smallest source of combustion to be used for human
purposes--was known to man in the earliest times. The obvious results
of the use of fire are means of obtaining warmth and of cooking food.
[Illustration: ESQUIMAU MAKING FIRE BY FRICTION]
[Illustration: AN INGENIOUS INDIAN FIRE DRILL]
[Illustration: THE GAUCHO’S WAY OF GETTING A LIGHT]
Self-defence had already led to the use of weapons, and, at the same
time, the contrivances for hunting and fishing must have become
more and more perfect. A very low degree of civilisation is that of
races unacquainted with the bow and arrow, and familiar with club or
boomerang only--who know how to make use merely of the weight of a
substance, or, as in the case of the boomerang, of a peculiar means of
imparting motion.
The time previous to the discovery of the art of working in metal was
the Age of Stone. It was a natural transition period during which men
began to learn to make use of the malleable metals, which could be
hammered and beaten into various shapes, and finally discovered how
to work in iron. Iron, by being placed in the fire, brought to a white
heat, and smelted, was rendered capable of being put to such uses as
were impossible in the case of brittle materials--bone or stone, for
example. Many races never acquired the art of working even in the
softer metals, and procured metallic implements from other peoples.
The great importance of metal-working is borne out by the fact that
the position of the smith, even in legendary times, has been of the
utmost significance. The Ages of Stone and of Metal belong to the most
important stages of civilisation.
Having made himself weapons, man did not employ them in fights with
animals only; he also used them on his fellow-men, and at the same time
arose the necessity for protective coverings--that is, the need for a
means of neutralising the effect of weapons on the body. Thus followed
the invention of the shield as a portable shelter, of the coat of mail
and of the helmet, and of armour in general in all its different forms
and varieties.
Together with weapons, utensils are characteristic of material culture.
Utensils are implements used in the arts of peace, domestic and
industrial; they are instruments which enable us to increase power
over Nature. Some utensils have undergone the same transformations as
have weapons; others have their own independent history. Just as the
edges of shells served as patterns for knife-blades, so did hollow
stones, the shells of crustaceans or of tortoises, become models for
dishes and basins. From the discovery of the imperviousness of dried
earth, the potter’s art developed; it became possible to mould clay
into desired shapes while moist, and then, when dry, to employ it in
its new form as a vessel for holding liquids; for that which has always
been of the greatest importance in the making of utensils has been
the taking advantage of two opposite characteristics displayed by a
material during the different stages of its manufacture--plasticity,
which admits of its first being moulded into various forms, and another
quality, which causes it afterward to stiffen into solidity and
strength.
[Illustration:
Mansell
THE MAN WITH THE HOE
From the painting by Millet
]
[Illustration:
Underwood & Underwood
THE WONDERFUL ADVANCE IN AGRICULTURE
These pictures present a striking contrast: the sullen clod with
his primitive hoe, and the great Canadian reaper drawn by thirty
horses, both in use to-day.
]
[Sidenote: Growth of the Textile Arts]
A further acquisition was the art of braiding and plaiting, the joining
together of flexible materials in such a way that they held together
by force of friction alone. Thus coherent, durable fabrics may be
produced, and by joining together small parts into an aggregate it is
also possible to give a definite form to the whole and to adapt it to
various uses. The quality of adaptability is especially developed in
the products of plaiting, but the quality of imperviousness is lacking.
Wickerwork was used not only in the form of baskets, but also in other
shapes, as means for protection and shelter, as material for sails, as
well as for tying and binding. The art of weaving arises from plaiting,
and along with it come methods for spinning thread. It thus becomes
possible to make an immense number of different useful articles out of
shapeless vegetable material. Fibres are rendered more durable by being
bound together, and textures formed from threads are adapted to the
most various uses of life. This has an influence on the development of
weapons also: bow-strings, slings, and lassos presuppose a rudimentary
knowledge, at least, of the textile arts; and as knowledge increases,
so are the products improved in turn.
[Illustration: MAN’S METAL DRESS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARMOUR FROM
ANCIENT TO MEDIÆVAL TIMES
The way in which man has protected himself against his foes in
battle, and the gradual progress and decline of such methods,
is shown in these pictures. The first is from the monuments of
Nineveh, and shows the earliest form of chain mail. In the second
we see the armour of the Roman legionary, while the third shows
the heavy accoutrement of a mediæval warrior. A helmet of the same
period is also shown.
]
Means for conveyance are also invented, that difficulties arising
from distance may be overcome. At first men carry burdens upon their
backs, heads, or shoulders, or in the hand, placing whatever they
wish to transport in a utensil--a basket or a piece of cloth--thus
producing a coherent whole; later, in order to render conveyance
still more convenient, handles are invented. Objects are dragged
along the ground, and from an effort to save them from injury the
idea of sledges develops. Things that are round enough are rolled
to their destinations; this leads to the invention of rollers and
wheels, materials of required form being brought into combination with
rudimentary agents of circular motion, and thus, through a rotary, a
horizontal movement is obtained; and so the force of gravity is made
use of, consistency of motion procured, and the hindering effect of
friction overcome to the greatest possible degree.
Means for carrying inanimate objects once invented, it is not long
before they are put to use for the conveyance of man himself; thus
methods for the transportation of human beings are discovered in the
same manner as the means for the carriage of goods.
[Sidenote: Man’s First Boats]
In primitive times transportation by water is employed to a far greater
extent than by land. Man learns how to swim in the same way as other
animals do, by discovering how to repress his struggles, transforming
them into definite, regular movements. The sight of objects afloat
must, through unconscious analysis--experience--have taught men to make
light, water-tight structures for the conveyance of goods upon water,
and, later, for the use of man himself. The pole by which the first
raft was pushed along developed into the rudder. Kayaks and canoes were
built of wood, of bark, and of hides. In this connection, moreover,
an epoch-marking invention was that of cloths in which to catch the
wind--sails; and this, too, was a result of observation and experience.
Man had known the effect of the wind upon fluttering cloth, to his
loss, long enough before he hit upon the idea of employing it to his
advantage. Finally he learned that by adjusting the sails he might make
use of winds blowing from any direction.
[Illustration: MAN’S METAL DRESS: THE GRADUAL MODIFICATION OF ARMOUR IN
MODERN TIMES
The invention of gunpowder and firearms rendered the protection of
armour useless, and by the sixteenth century it had been greatly
modified. The first of these pictures shows the slight armour worn
by James II. The second is a suit of Japanese armour, discarded
in our own time; while the last is a portrait of a present day
Life-guardsman, whose cuirass is more ornamental than useful.
]
[Sidenote: Man’s First Houses]
Habitations are structures built in order to facilitate and assure
the existence of man and the preservation of his goods. Indeed, the
presence of caverns caused men to recognise the protective virtue of
roof and wall, and the knowledge thus acquired gave rise in turn to
the making of artificial caves. Holes beneath overhanging banks and
precipices led to the building of houses with roofs extending beyond
the rambling walls. Perhaps the protection afforded by leafy roofs,
and the walls formed by the trunks of trees in primeval forests, may
also have turned men’s thoughts to the construction of dwellings.
Houses of various forms were built, circular and rectangular; some with
store-rooms and hearths. The use of dwellings presupposes a certain
amount of consistency in the mode of living, the presence of local
ties, and a general spirit favouring fixed and permanent residence.
Nomadic races use movable or temporary shelters only--waggons, tents,
or huts.
[Sidenote: Home and Dress]
The houses of stationary peoples become more and more firm and stable.
At first they are built of earth and wickerwork, later of stone, and
finally of bricks, as among the Babylonians. Foundations are invented,
dwellings are accurately designed as to line and angle; the curved line
is introduced, bringing with it arches both round and pointed, as may
be seen in the remains of Roman and Etruscan buildings. The structure
is adorned, and it becomes a work of art.
But man also dwelt over the water, sometimes erecting his habitations
upon rafts and floats, often upon structures that rose from beneath the
surface. Thus was he, dwelling in communities of various sizes, secure
from the attacks of land enemies. Even to-day there are uncivilised
peoples who live over water, constructing their homes upon piles.
[Sidenote: Taming of the Wild]
Clothing, however, was invented partly that in cold climates men might
survive the winter, partly for the sake of ornament. In tropical
regions man originally had no knowledge of the necessity for clothing:
garments are masks, disguises; they bear with them a charm; they
are the peculiar property of the medicine-men or of those who in
the religious dance invoke the higher powers. Modesty is a derived
feeling; it cannot exist until a high state of individualisation has
been attained, until each man desires exclusive possession of his wife,
and therefore wishes to shield her from the covetousness of other men.
With the knowledge of dress, a desire for adornment, the effort to
assist Nature in producing certain definite æsthetic effects, arises.
Less uniformity in the appearance of the body is wanted, and this
brings tattooing and the use of ornament into vogue. Later there is a
fusing of these several aims; clothing becomes protection, veil, and
ornament in one, fulfilling all three functions at the same time.
Another epoch-marking discovery, often arrived at while races are
still in the state of subsistence by hunting, is the domestication of
animals. This may have originated in the practice of provoking one
beast to attack another in order to vanquish them both the more easily.
Further development, bringing with it the idea of totemism and the
notion that the soul of an animal dwells in man, drew him nearer to his
animal neighbours; and he sought them out as comrades and attendants.
The taming of wild creatures arose from two sources--human egoism, and
the innate feeling of unity and identification with Nature common to
all savages; hence on the one hand, the subjugation of animals, and,
on the other, their domestication. Neither employment rendered it by
any means less possible for men to hold animals in reverence, or to
attribute to them virtue as ancestral spirits.
Such acquisitions of external culture accompany man during the
transition from his subsistence by the pure products of Nature
to the cultivation of natural resources, cattle-breeding and
agriculture--occupations necessitating the greatest unrest and
mobility. The simple life in Nature incites men to wander forth that
they may discover land adapted for their support; they rove about in
search of roots as well as of living prey. The breeding of domestic
animals also causes them to travel in the hope of finding ground for
pasture; nor does agriculture in its primitive form tend to establish
permanence of residence, although it contains within itself latent
possibilities of developing a settled life, one of the most important
factors in the progress of mankind.
[Illustration: PRIMITIVE DWELLINGS OF TO-DAY: HOUSE-BOATS AT CANTON
[Sidenote: Mankind “Settling Down”]
Not only are there lake-dwellers to-day, as we have seen, but even
large communities, as at Canton, in China, live in boats.
]
Only fixed, domestic peoples are able to create great and lasting
institutions, to store up the results of civilisation for distant
later races, and to establish a developed, well-organised commercial
and civil life. The transition from nomadism to life in permanent
residences has, therefore, been one of the greatest steps in the
development of humanity. At the time of the beginnings of agriculture,
however, man was still a periodic wanderer. According to the
field-grass system of cultivation, seed is sown in hastily-cleared
ground, which soon becomes exhausted and is then abandoned. A migration
follows and new land is cleared. This system continues until men learn
to cultivate part of the land in a district, allowing the remainder
to lie fallow for a time in order that the soil may recover; thus
they remain fixed in their chosen district. Various circumstances--for
example, the danger of enemies from without, and the difficulties
attending migration--must have led to this change, the transition to
the system of alternation of crops. The wanderings are confined to less
extensive regions, the same fields are returned to after a few years,
until finally the relation of patches under cultivation to fallow land
is reduced to a system, and the time of wandering is past.
[Illustration: THE BEGINNINGS OF COMMERCE: PRIMITIVE PEOPLE BARTERING
IVORY TUSKS AND BULL-HIDES]
[Sidenote: The coming of the Craftsman]
With fixed residence the forms of communities alter. The group settles
in a certain district, homes are built close to one another, and the
patriarchal organisation gives place to the village, which, with
its definite boundaries, is thenceforth the nucleus of the social
aggregate. Often several village communities have fields and forests in
common, and a common ownership of dams and canals; Nature takes care
that they do not become isolated, but unite together in close contact
for common defence and protection. With agriculture is associated the
working up of raw products. These are fashioned into materials for the
support of life and for enjoyment; furniture for dwellings, clothing,
tools, utensils, and weapons are made. For, however much agriculture
favours a life of peace, so rarely does man live in friendship with
his fellows that agricultural peoples also find it necessary to arm
themselves for war.
At first manufacture is not separated from farming; the agriculturist
himself prepares the natural products, assisted by the members of
his family. Later, it is easily seen that some individuals are
more skilled than others; it is also recognised that skill may be
developed by practice and that employments must be learned. Therefore
it is requisite that special individuals of the community should
prepare themselves for particular activities in the working up of raw
products and pursue these activities in consistency with the needs
of the society--trade or craft. The craftsman at first labours for
the community; in every village the tailor, cobbler, smith, barber,
and schoolmaster is supported by society at large. The craftsman
receives his appointed income--that is, his portion of the common
supply of food; and, in addition, every one for whom he expends his
labour gives him something in compensation, or finds him food while
employed about his house, until, finally, a systematic method of
exchange is established; and with this another advance--an epoch for
civilisation--is arrived at.
[Sidenote: The First Labour Problem]
This is the division of labour. It is found advantageous not only that
the craftsman be employed as he is needed, but also that he produce a
supply of products peculiar to his trade; for the times of labour do
not in the least harmonise with the times of demand. Although during
the first periods of industrial life men sought more or less to adjust
these factors, in later times they become wholly separate from one
another. There is always, in addition, labour ready to be expended on
casual needs; in more advanced phases of civilisation this condition of
affairs is not avoided; but wherever labour can be disassociated from
fortuitous necessity, the capacity for production is greatly increased.
Commodities are manufactured during the best seasons for production
and are preserved until the times of need; thus men become independent
of the moment. Here also, as in other problems of civilisation, it is
necessary to surmount the incongruities of chance, and to render all
circumstances serviceable to our purposes.
[Sidenote: Crafts and Trades Developing]
Exchange and division of labour are the great factors of the progress
of a civilisation based upon industrialism. Crafts and trades develop
and improve; greater and greater skill is demanded, and consequently
the time of preparation necessary for the master craftsman becomes
longer and longer. The worker limits himself to a definite sphere of
production and carries his trade forward to a certain perfection. His
wares will then be more eagerly sought for than those made by another
hand; they are better, yet cheaper, for his labour is lightened by his
greater skill. His various fellow craftsmen, and the agriculturist
also, must exchange their goods for his; for the more specialised the
work of an individual, the more necessary the community is to him, in
order that he may satisfy all his various requirements. Exchange is
at first natural; that is, commodities are traded outright, each
individual giving goods directly in return for the goods he receives.
The production of the community as a whole has become far richer, far
more perfect. The labour of the organised society produces more than
the activity of separate individuals.
[Illustration: THE BEARERS OF MAN’S BURDENS: PRIMITIVE AND NATURAL
METHODS OF CARRYING
These illustrations show a palanquin borne by horses; the Chinese
single-wheel cart and the same assisted by a donkey and a sail;
pack mules and camels; and a sledge drawn by Esquimau dogs.
]
[Illustration: SOME METHODS OF CONVEYANCE IN VARIOUS AGES AND COUNTRIES
In this plate are illustrated a caravan of yaks; the elephant with
a howdah; the African litter; reindeers as pack animals; and the
familiar bullock waggon of France--a few of the many methods of
carrying used by man.
]
[Illustration: PRIMITIVE MONEY: SELLING A SLAVE FOR COWRIES
Cowries, which are small shells, are a very primitive form of
money, still used in parts of Africa and in Siam. They were
formerly so used in India, where $150,000 worth used to be imported
annually. In Africa 5,000 shells are equivalent to $1.
]
Here, again, is shown the impulse of man to free himself from the
exigencies of the moment, to lift himself above the fortuitous
differences that arise between supply and demand. The more varied the
production, the more difficult it becomes to find men who are able to
offer the required commodity in exchange for what has been brought
to them. An escape from this embarrassment lies in the discovery of
a universal measure of exchange value and medium of exchange--money.
Money is the means of adjustment which renders traffic between men
independent of individual requirements.
Mediums of exchange, particularly necessary for the carrying on of
traffic between different communities, which exist in large quantities
and can be divided up into parts, make their appearance in very early
times. At first their values are more or less empirical, dependent
upon the conditions of individual cases, until gradually a medium
obtains general recognition and thus becomes money. The same need for
surmounting the lack of uniformity in individual requirements has led
the most different peoples in the world to the invention of money.
Naturally, many different things have been employed as mediums of
exchange; these vary according to geographical situations, conditions
of civilisation, and the customs of races. Pastoral tribes at first
employed cattle; but tobacco, cowries, strings of flat shells, bits of
mother-of-pearl, rings, and hides are also used. At last it is found
that metal is stable, durable, divisible, and of generally recognised
value; and finally the precious metals take precedence of all others.
Finally this form of money is adopted by all civilised races.
Division of labour originates in the development of the handicrafts, in
the distinction made between the labour of working up the raw material
and that of its production. With the help of a currency it leads to a
complete transformation, not only of economic relations, but also of
the social conditions of men.
[Illustration:
Coin of Alexander the Great
The earliest inscribed coin, 7th century B.C.
Coin of Demetrius Poliorcetes, King of Macedonia
Early British coin
Coin of Tigranes, King of Armenia
Early British coin
Coin of Mithridates the Great, King of Pontus
A Tetradrachm of the 5th century B.C.
A Tetradrachm of the 6th century B.C.
Gold coin of Philip II. of Macedon
Persian Gold Daric, 5th century B.C.
Early Roman bar money of the 4th century B.C.
Iron bar money of South of England
THE BEGINNING OF MONEY: SOME OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN COINS IN EXISTENCE
Of these coins, chiefly from the British Museum, the South England
iron currency bars are perhaps most interesting. Our reproduction
of these is one-tenth actual size. It will be noticed that the
handles and the sizes vary.
]
[Illustration: THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING: STRADANUS’S PRINTING OFFICE
AT ANTWERP IN THE YEAR 1600
From a very rare engraving in the British Museum
]