Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 9.djvu/30

12 Among the contrivances which have come down to us from the ages before history was written, or the use of metals known, are found stones shaped, as we may suppose, by the action of water, and so rounded as to lit the hand. These stones are called by antiquarians "mauls," and they were probably held in the hand and struck against objects which otherwise could not have been broken. The maul is the original form of the hammer. This maul might occasionally have proved too heavy, but more frequently too light. For that tapping-action which in our minor wants is often more requisite than blows, our prehistoric ancestors seem to have devised an ingenious appliance consisting of a stone specially prepared for this somewhat delicate operation. (Fig. 1.)



This is supposed to be one of these tapping-hammers, held between a finger and the thumb; the original bears traces of wear, as if it had been employed in striking against a cylindrical or sharp surface.

When, now, we pass from this light to very heavy work, it will be obvious that to hold a stone in the hollow of the hand, and to strike an object with it so that the reaction of the blow shall be mainly met by the muscular action of the back of the hand, and the thinnest section of the wrist, would be not only fatiguing, but might be injurious to the delicate network of muscles there found, and so damage this part of the hand. It may have been from such effects that even in the Stone age there are traces of mauls which have double ends and are held by the middle. A blow given by such is counteracted not only by the increased mass of material, but also by the changed position of the hand and wrist in relation to the direction of the blow. When held in the hollow of the hand, the reaction was met by (say) a. depth of tissue of about three-quarters of an inch, but, when held as the maul now alluded to must have been held, this reaction is met by a depth of tissue of about three inches. Hence, while mechanically (owing to the mass of stone) and muscularly (owing to the position of the hand in reference to the direction of the blow) the maul in this second stage is a decided improvement upon its primitive form, we cannot but admit that experience would soon suggest that even thus there was wanting sufficient energy to overcome reactions, and that the double-headed maul might be improved.