Modern science : a general introduction / by J. Arthur Thomson.

  • John Arthur Thomson
Date:
[1929]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Modern science : a general introduction / by J. Arthur Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    193/244 page 165
    MAN’S EARLY INVENTIONS THE story of Robinson Crusoe is very well told, and part of its evergreen interest is that it takes us back to man’s making of things for himself, instead of getting them as ready-made gifts or purchases, as usually happens nowadays. But while Robinson Crusoe had in actual fact to begin afresh almost at the beginning, his head was full of lessons which he had learned at home. He was not like our earliest ancestors who had no memories of made things, but had to invent everything for themselves. It may not have been a comfortable time, but it cannot have been tedious—when genuine men began to think out inventions. Let us try for a little to picture these early days when genu¬ ine men had appeared on the earth, but were still struggling hard to gain a firm footing. They had to find food, partly in the form of fruits and roots, and partly of an animal nature, such as eggs and shell-fish, besides the flesh of small beasts. They had also to make shelters against the cold of night and of winter, and against the storms of rain and snow, for it was only in certain places that caves were available. Then, again, many wild beasts, though not much given to attacking man—it is an exception for a lion or a tiger to be a “ man-eater ”—greatly resent intruders and will fiercely defend their haunts. So early man had to defend himself against wild animals. In many cases, perhaps, he ran away or climbed a tree. It was not till ages had passed that he began to hunt large animals actively. No doubt he learned many a useful lesson in caution, alertness, and pres¬ ence of mind in avoiding a conflict, before he was in a posi¬ tion to show courage and wiliness in attack. Discretion came before valour. When an explorer sets off nowadays he takes with him an equipment, which for the most part he buys from the stores,
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