The Descent of Man

ous muscles. To chip a flint into the rudest tool,
or to form a barbed spear or hook from a bone,
demands the use of a perfect hand; for, as a
most capable judge, Mr. Schoolcraft (68. Quoted
by Mr. Lawson Tait in his 'Law of Natural
Selection,' 'Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical
Science,' Feb. 1869. Dr. Keller is likewise quoted
to the same effect.), remarks, the shaping fragments
of stone into knives, lances, or arrowheads,
shews "extraordinary ability and long
practice." This is to a great extent proved by the
fact that primeval men practised a division of
labour; each man did not manufacture his own
flint tools or rude pottery, but certain individuals
appear to have devoted themselves to such
work, no doubt receiving in exchange the produce
of the chase. Archaeologists are convinced
that an enormous interval of time elapsed before
our ancestors thought of grinding chipped
flints into smooth tools. One can hardly doubt,
that a man-like animal who possessed a hand
and arm sufficiently perfect to throw a stone