And their Tools,
5
Chap. 1.]
moting the best interests of our race. It would have embraced incidentsrespecting man’s early wants, and his rüde efforts to supply them; par-ticulars respecting eminent individuals, and the origin of antediluvian dis-coveries and inventions, &c. of such thrilling interest, as no modern no-velist could equal, nor the most fertile imagination surpass.
It would have included a detail of those eventful experiments in whichiron was first cast into cauldrons, forged into hatchets, and drawn intowire; with an account of the individuals, by whose ingenuity and perse-verance, these invaluable operations, were, for the first time on this pla-net, successfully performed. Finally, it would have convinced us, thatthese men were the true heroes of old, the genuine benefactors of theirspecies, whose labors were for the benefit of 'äll ages, and all people ; andan account of whose lives (not those of robbers,) should have occupied thepages of history, and whose names should have been embalmed in ever-lasting remembrance.
A chronological account of a few mechanical implements, would have af-forded a clearer insight into the state of society in remote times, than any wri-tings now subsisting. Nay, if we could realize acomplete history of a singletool, as a h ammer, a saw, a chisel, a hatchet, an auger, or a loom, it would forma more comprehensive history of the world, than has ever been, or perhapsever will be written. Take for example a hammer; what a multitude of in-teresting circumstances are inseparably connected with its developmentand early uses ! circumstances, which, if we were in possession of, wouldexplain almost all that is dark and mysterious respecting our ancient pro-genitors. A history of this implement would embrace the origin and ge-neral progress of all the useful arts; and would elucidate the civil andscientific acquirements of man, in every age. It would open to ourview, the public and private economy of the ancients; introduce us intothe interior of their Workshops, their dwellings and their temples; itwould illustrate their manners, politics, religion, Superstition, &c. In tra-cing the various purposes to which it was applied, we should become ac-quainted with all the material transactions in the lives of some ancient in-dividuals from their birth to their death; and also, with the circumstanceswhich led to the rise and fall of empires. Like the celebrated “Historyof a Guinea,” it would open to our inspection all the minutias in privateand public life.
How infinitely various, are the materials, sizes, forms, and uses of thehammer 1 and how indicative are they all of the state of society and man-mers 1 At first, a club; then a rüde mailet of wood ; next, the head form-ed of stone, and bound to the handle by withes, or by the sinews of ani-mals ; afterward, the heads formed of metal. These, before iron or Steelwasknown, were often of copper and even of gold; and subsequently,those of the latter material were faced, like some ancient chisels, with themore scarce and expensive iron. a
Ancient hammers varied as now in size, from the huge sledge of theCyclops, to the portable one, with which Vulcan chased the more delicatework on the shield of Achilles,—from the maul, by which masses of orewere separated from their beds in the mines, to the diminutive ones, whichMyrmecides of Miletus , and Theodoras of Samos, used to fabricate car-nages and horses of metal, which were so minute as to be covered by the
““ It appears that in the tangible remains of smelting furnaces, found in Siberia , thatgold hammers, knives, chisels, &c. have been discovered, the edges of which were skil-inlly tipped with iron; showing the scarcity of the ore, the difficulty of manufacturingit, and the plenty and apparently trifling value of the other.” Scientific Tracts, Bos-ton , 1833. Voi. iii, 411.