industrial biography-第4节
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'could only have come from the latitudes of Spain; Southern France;
or Italy。'〃 Sir C。 LYELL; Antiquity of Man; 48…9。
。。。'
Their smaller boats; or coracles; were made of osiers interwoven;
covered with hides; and rigged with leathern sails and thong tackle。
It will readily be imagined that anything like civilization; as at
present understood; must have been next to impossible under such
circumstances。 〃Miserable indeed;〃 says Carlyle; 〃was the condition
of the aboriginal savage; glaring fiercely from under his fleece of
hair; which with the beard reached down to his loins; and hung round
them like a matted cloak; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick
natural fell。 He loitered in the sunny glades of the forest; living
on wild fruits; or; as the ancient Caledonians; squatted himself in
morasses; lurking for his bestial or human prey; without implements;
without arms; save the ball of heavy flint; to which; that his sole
possession and defence might not be lost; he had attached a long cord
of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as well as hurling it with
deadly; unerring skill。〃
The injunction given to man to 〃replenish the earth and subdue it〃
could not possibly be fulfilled with implements of stone。 To fell a
tree with a flint hatchet would occupy the labour of a month; and to
clear a small patch of ground for purposes of culture would require
the combined efforts of a tribe。 For the same reason; dwellings could
not be erected; and without dwellings domestic tranquillity;
security; culture; and refinement; especially in a rude climate; were
all but impossible。 Mr。 Emerson well observes; that 〃the effect of a
house is immense on human tranquillity; power; and refinement。 A man
in a cave or a campa nomaddies with no more estate than the wolf
or the horse leaves。 But so simple a labour as a house being
achieved; his chief enemies are kept at bay。 He is safe from the
teeth of wild animals; from frost; sunstroke; and weather; and fine
faculties begin to yield their fine harvest。 Inventions and arts are
born; manners; and social beauty and delight。〃 But to build a house
which should serve for shelter; for safety; and for comfortin a
word; as a home for the family; which is the nucleus of
societybetter tools than those of stone were absolutely
indispensable。
Hence most of the early European tribes were nomadic: first hunters;
wandering about from place to place like the American Indians; after
the game; then shepherds; following the herds of animals which they
had learnt to tame; from one grazing…ground to another; living upon
their milk and flesh; and clothing themselves in their skins held
together by leathern thongs。 It was only when implements of metal had
been invented that it was possible to practise the art of agriculture
with any considerable success。 Then tribes would cease from their
wanderings; and begin to form settlements; homesteads; villages; and
towns。 An old Scandinavian legend thus curiously illustrates this
last period: There was a giantess whose daughter one day saw a
husbandman ploughing in the field。 She ran and picked him up with her
finger and thumb; put him and his plough and oxen into her apron; and
carried them to her mother; saying; 〃Mother; what sort of beetle is
this that I have found wriggling in the sand? 〃 But the mother said;
〃Put it away; my child; we must begone out of this land; for these
people will dwell in it。〃
M。 Worsaae of Copenhagen; who has been followed by other antiquaries;
has even gone so far as to divide the natural history of civilization
into three epochs; according to the character of the tools used in
each。 The first was the Stone period; in which the implements chiefly
used were sticks; bones; stones; and flints。 The next was the Bronze
period; distinguished by the introduction and general use of a metal
composed of copper and tin; requiring a comparatively low degree of
temperature to smelt it; and render it capable of being fashioned
into weapons; tools; and implements; to make which; however;
indicated a great advance in experience; sagacity; and skill in the
manipulation of metals。 With tools of bronze; to which considerable
hardness could be given; trees were felled; stones hewn; houses and
ships built; and agriculture practised with comparative facility。
Last of all came the Iron period; when the art of smelting and
working that most difficult but widely diffused of the minerals was
discovered; from which point the progress made in all the arts of
life has been of the most remarkable character。
Although Mr。 Wright rejects this classification as empirical; because
the periods are not capable of being clearly defined; and all the
three kinds of implements are found to have been in use at or about
the same time;*
'footnote。。。
THOMAS WRIGHT; F。S。A。; The Celt; The Roman; and The Saxon;
ed。 1861。
。。。'
there is; nevertheless; reason to believe that it is; on the whole;
well founded。 It is doubtless true that implements of stone continued
in use long after those of bronze and iron had been invented; arising
most probably from the dearness and scarcity of articles of metal;
but when the art of smelting and working in iron and steel had
sufficiently advanced; the use of stone; and afterwards of bronze
tools and weapons; altogether ceased。
The views of M。 Worsaae; and the other Continental antiquarians who
follow his classification; have indeed received remarkable
confirmation of late years; by the discoveries which have been made
in the beds of most of the Swiss lakes。*
'footnote。。。
Referred to at length in the Antiquity of Man; by Sir C。 Lyell; who
adopts M。 Worsaae's classification。
。。。'
It appears that a subsidence took place in the waters of the Lake of
Zurich in the year 1854; laying bare considerable portions of its
bed。 The adjoining proprietors proceeded to enclose the new land; and
began by erecting permanent dykes to prevent the return of the
waters。 While carrying on the works; several rows of stakes were
exposed; and on digging down; the labourers turned up a number of
pieces of charred wood; stones blackened by fire; utensils; bones;
and other articles; showing that at some remote period; a number of
human beings had lived over the spot; in dwellings supported by
stakes driven into the bed of the lake。
The discovery having attracted attention; explorations were made at
other places; and it was shortly found that there was scarcely a lake
in Switzerland which did not yield similar evidence of the existence
of an ancient Lacustrine or Lake…dwelling population。 Numbers of
their tools and implements were brought to lightstone axes and
saws; flint arrowheads; bone needles; and such likemixed with the
bones of wild animals slain in the chase; pieces of old boats;
portions of twisted branches; bark; and rough planking; of which
their dwellings had been formed; the latter still bearing the marks
of the rude tools by which they had been laboriously cut。 In the most
ancient; or lowest series of deposits; no traces of metal; either of
bronze or iron; were discovered; and it is most probable that these
lake…dwellers lived in as primitive a state as the South Sea
islanders discovered by Captain Cook; and that the huts over the
water in which they lived resembled those found in Papua and Borneo;
and the islands of the Salomon group; to this day。
These aboriginal Swiss lake…dwellers seem to have been succeeded by a
race of men using tools; implements; and ornaments of bronze。 In some
places the remains of this bronze period directly overlay those of the
stone period; showing the latter to have been the most ancient; but in
others; the village sites are altogether distinct。 The articles with
which the metal implements are intermixed; show that considerable
progress had been made in the useful arts。 The potter's wheel had been
introduced。 Agriculture had begun; and wild animals had given place to
tame ones。 The abundance of bronze also shows that commerce must have
existed to a certain extent; for tin; which enters into its
composition; is a comparatively rare metal; and must necessarily have
been imported from other European countries。
The Swiss antiquarians are of opinion that the men of bronze suddenly
invaded and extirpated the men of flint; and that at some still later
period; another stronger and more skilful race; supposed to have been
Celts from Gaul; came armed with iron weapons; to whom the men of
bronze succumbed; or with whom; more probably; they gradually
intermingled。 When iron; or rather steel; came into use; its
superiority in affording a cutting edge was so decisive that it seems
to have supplanted bronze almost at once;*
'footnote。。。
Mr。 Mushet; however; observes that 〃the general use of hardened
copper by the ancients for edge…tools and warlike instruments; does
not preclude the suppo