Part 9

Man had begun to make spears for use in a pinch, but would you like to tackle a husky bear or a well-horned stag with only a spear for a weapon?

No more did our undressed ancestors. The invention of the greatly desired arm probably came about in a most curious way.

Long ages ago man had learned to make fire by patiently rubbing two sticks together, or by twirling a round one between his hands with its point resting upon a flat piece of wood.

ONE OF ROBIN HOOD’S FAMOUS BAND ENCOUNTERS A SAVAGE TUSKER AT CLOSE RANGE]

In this way it could be made to smoke, and finally set fire to a tuft of dried moss, from which he might get a flame for cooking. This was such hard work that he bethought him to twist a string of sinew about the upright spindle and cause it to twirl by pulling alternately at the two string ends, as some savage races still do. From this it was a simple step to fasten the ends of the two strings to a bent piece of wood, another great advantage since now but one hand was needed to twirl the spindle, and the other could hold it in place. This was the “bow-drill” which also is used to this day.

But bent wood is apt to be springy. Suppose that while one were bearing on pretty hard with a well-tightened string, in order to bring fire quickly, the point of the spindle should slip from its block. Naturally, it would fly away with some force if the position were just right.

THIS COMPACT ARM WITH ITS SMALL BOLT AND GREAT POWER WAS POPULAR WITH MANY SPORTSMEN]

There was one man who stopped short when he lost his spindle, for a red-hot idea shot suddenly through his brain.

Once or twice he chuckled to himself softly. Thereupon he arose and began to experiment. He chose a longer, springier piece of wood, bent it into a bow, and strung it with a longer thong. He placed the end of a straight stick against the thong, drew it strongly back, and released it.

The shaft whizzed away with force enough to delight him, and lo, there was the first Bow-and-Arrow!

Armed with his bow-and-arrow, man now was lord of creation. No longer was it necessary for him to huddle with his fellows in some cave to avoid being eaten by prowling beasts. Instead he went where he would and boldly hunted the fiercest of them. In other words, his brain was beginning to tell, for though his body was still no match for the lion and the bear, he had thought out a way to conquer them.

Also he was better fed with a greater variety of game. And now, free to come and go wherever he might find it, he was able to spread into various lands and so to organize the tribes and nations which at last gave us civilization and history.

A new weapon now came about through warfare. Man has been a savage fighting animal through pretty much all his history, but while he tried to kill the other fellow, he objected to being killed himself.

Therefore he took to wearing armor. During the Middle Ages he piled on more and more, until at last one of the knights could hardly walk, and it took a strong horse to carry him. When such a one fell, he went over with a crash like a tin-peddler’s wagon, and had to be picked up again by some of his men. Such armor would turn most of the arrows. Hence invention got at work again and produced the Crossbow and its bolt. We have already learned how the tough skin of animals brought about the bow; now we see that man’s artificial iron skin caused the invention of the crossbow.

What was the Crossbow? It was the first real hand-shooting machine. It was another big step toward the day of the rifle. The idea was simple enough. Wooden bows had already been made as strong as the strongest man could pull, and they wished for still stronger ones--steel ones. How could they pull them? At first they mounted them upon a wooden frame and rested one end on the shoulder for a brace. Then they took to pressing the other end against the ground, and using both hands. Next, it was a bright idea to put a stirrup on this end, in order to hold it with the foot.

Still they were not satisfied. “Stronger, stronger!” they clamored; “give us bows which will kill the enemy farther away than he can shoot at us! If we cannot set such bows with both arms let us try our backs!” So they fastened “belt-claws” to their stout girdles and tugged the bow strings into place with their back and leg muscles.

Who First Discovered the Power of Gunpowder?

Probably the Chinese, although all authorities do not agree. Strange, is it not, that a race still using crossbows in its army should have known of explosives long before the Christian Era, and perhaps as far back as the time of Moses? Here is a passage from their ancient Gentoo Code of Laws: “The magistrate shall not make war with any deceitful machine, or with poisoned weapons, or with cannons or guns, or any kind of firearms.” But China might as well have been Mars before the age of travel. Our civilization had to work out the problem for itself.

It all began through playing with fire. It was desired to throw fire on an enemy’s buildings, or his ships, and so destroy them.

Burning torches were thrown by machines, made of cords and springs, over a city wall, and it became a great study to find the best burning compound with which to cover these torches. One was needed which would blaze with a great flame and was hard to put out.

Hence the early chemists made all possible mixtures of pitch, resin, naphtha, sulphur, saltpeter, etc.; “Greek fire” was one of the most famous.

Many of these were made in the monasteries. The monks were pretty much the only people in those days with time for study, and two of these shaven-headed scientists now had a chance to enter history. Roger Bacon was the first. One night he was working his diabolical mixture in the stone-walled laboratory, and watched, by the flickering lights, the progress of a certain interesting combination for which he had used pure instead of impure saltpeter.

Suddenly there was an explosion, shattering the chemical apparatus and probably alarming the whole building. That explosion proved the new combination was not fitted for use as a thrown fire; it also showed the existence of terrible forces far beyond the power of all bow-springs, even those made of steel.

Roger Bacon thus discovered what was practically gunpowder, as far back as the thirteenth century, and left writings in which he recorded mixing 11.2 parts of the saltpeter, 29.4 of charcoal, and 29 of sulphur. This was the formula developed as the result of his investigations.

Berthold Schwartz, a monk of Freiburg, studied Bacon’s works and carried on dangerous experiments of his own, so that he is ranked with Bacon for the honor. He was also the first one to rouse the interest of Europe in the great discovery.

~THE FIRST REAL FIRE ARMS~

And then began the first crude, clumsy efforts at gunmaking. Firearms were born.

Hand bombards and culverins were among the early types. Some of these were so heavy that a forked support had to be driven into the ground, and two men were needed, one to hold and aim, the other to prime and fire.