SERGEI M EISENSTEIN

2)Howtheinventor’sthoughtstumblesonit.
It must be at the stage of the production of tools, when, after a striking hammer
therealreadyexiststhestageofacuttingknife:theculminationofthis–asingleedged
knife blade – already occurs simultaneously, after the stone-age hammer,
withthebronzeage.
Striking on a drum as a stage is younger than the cutting movement of the bow,
analogous to the movement of a knife – after the early double-edged stone knife,
whichbecamethesingle-edgedmetalblade(forgedorcast).
I.e.,atthelevelofthoughtfromadifferentstage.
Where else would the prototype of the very sound of bowed instruments come
from – if not from the “screeching” of prey being cut again and again by a blunt
knife?
Or from the screech of a “sawblade”? There are two things that lead to this conclusion:
the screech of a buzz saw a few dacha lots away from me and... of
course, childhood recollections of a once-seen long-ago cartoon drawing in the
children’smagazineSt.Nicolas,whichIusedtogetinchildhood.
Initablindcellistisgivenasaw...instead ofhisbow.
He “saws” on and on, and as he saws up his cello, he doesn’t notice the difference.
And is it not – as so often* – funny, not only in the superficial resemblances between
a bow for the strings and a saw for wood, but it also has... the genetic
connectionofonecomingfromtheother?
The saw is, incidentally, a very ancient instrument – in a German book about
prehistorical culture, it is dated […] 12 and existed at first as a system of sharpedged
flat stones, planted and fastened in the fashion of the wooden jaws of a
shark and a pike, in which they sit like... teeth (could this not be its animal prototype?)
(Verifyinaccordancewithreferencesandnotes).
The stage of the “saw” – which must be a very elevated stage – already after the
discoveryofthe“cutting”abilities oftheknifeandtheelevationofthiscapability
toamuchmoreadvancedlevel.
Thesawitselfisameansformakingboardsetc.
I saw one of the most rudimentary types of the “bowed” kind of instruments
fromthedepthsoftheearthinHaiti.
(Itseems,inthebookbyWirkus,TheWhiteKingofLaGonave 13 ).
212 sergei m. eisenstein