THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 1

THE TECHNOLOGY OF
HAMITIC PEOPLE

By Arthur C. Custance

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 2

Human History in Three Dimensions, III

THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE

by Arthur C. Custance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publishers Note

General Introduction

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I Conquest of Environments

Eskimos of the Arctic

Indians of the Sonoran Desert

Simplicity of solution

Bedouins of the Negev Desert

Indians of the New World

CHAPTER 2 Achievements of Primitive Societies

Food Gathering Techniques

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 3

Medicine, Psychology and Sociology

Rubber Technology

Textiles

Pottery

Conclusion

CHAPTER 3 Achievements of Ancient High Civilizations

Central America

Technology, but no Science

Cradle of Civilization

Sumeria

Egypt

Crete

Roots of Western Civilization

Africa

More Ingenuity and Intelligence

Ancient China

Why No Science?

Conclusion

EPILOGUE

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 4

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The Doorway Papers, a series of sixty scholarly monographs written and published by Arthur
Custance, commenced in 1957 and was completed in 1972. An agreement was then made with
Zondervan Publishers who, between 1975 and 1980, produced The Doorway Paper Series in a
set of ten volumes. In 1985 publication ceased. The Papers were again made available in their
original monograph format by Doorway Publications from 1988 until 1994.

This trilogy, (Part III) a shortened version of Noah's Three Sons, (Volume 1 of Zondervan 1975
edition of the Doorway Paper Series) which in turn, was a composite of five separate Papers,
includes only four Papers. Presented here in the basic framework of Dr. Arthur Custance's view
of human history in its simplified form, with limited expansion of two basic concepts. We have
omitted Paper #29 (A Christian World View), a detailed scholarly defence of his premises. (This
exclusion will exasperate those requiring that detail, but its inclusion would have distracted
others!).

For the most part, the text used is that of the original Paper, although changes made by Dr.
Custance for the 1975 Zondervan edition have been incorporated. Occasionally, some notes that
he had subsequently accumulated in his master copy have been added, where they clarified or
completed his thoughts.

We have made every effort to maintain his style, making changes only in the interest of clarity of
meaning. Often this was merely a matter of sentence structure or punctuation.

Another difficult problem encountered concerned specific words, for language is a living thing.
Meanings are not static. Words are embedded in a culture and find meanings that "everybody
knows" but may not be perceived and understood rightly by readers of another culture or time.
Words like Negro or Eskimo, or the term coloured races were in no sense derogatory in the
author's mind and, for lack of better terms, we have let them stand. When Dr. Custance uses
man in the abstract sense (as opposed to a man or the man indicating a particular male
individual), women are included, and children too. It is synonymous with people, human beings,
with humanity, the human race. Similarly, he, in the abstract includes she. It was too
cumbersome to change every instance (though often changes could be easily made and were),
For those who are offended by what is viewed as sexist language, please remember that, at the
time of writing, this was not a problem. Such terms should be understood in their generic sense.
Dr. Custance personally had a deep respect for all peoples, and for the worth of each individual,
irrespective of gender of colour. It is in this context that he (and also many writers of the past
century) used words which are now regarded as 'sexist' or 'politically incorrect'.

For some readers, the documentation may seem woefully out-of-date, but at the time of writing,
it was indeed current. (We have included the original title page that you might be aware of its

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 5

date." For some, this questions the validity of Dr. Custance's interpretation in light of new
knowledge.

New knowledge is not really a threat a recurring phrase in scientific literature is, "it is now
known" implying that past knowledge was erroneous. Dr. Custance did not "fear" science's
progress, nor did he claim any kind of finality for his views. This is how he explained the
purpose of The Doorway Papers in 1958:

he title for this Series is intended to signify that these Papers are exploratory and do not pretend
to provide final answers. They are designed to invite further exploration.

In the interests of clarity of exposition, no apology is made for statements which are matters of
faith rather than fact, but as far as possible the distinction is indicated where appropriate.

They are the result of over twenty-five years of careful examination of the biblical records and
the light they receive from, and contribute to, the whole field of modern knowledge.

As a rule, they represent new approaches to old issues, the author being fully persuaded that
Scripture has nothing to fear and everything to gain from the closest examination. possible.

This confidence that "Scripture has nothing to fear and everything to gain: is succinctly
expressed in the words of Lord Arundell of Wardour:

We desire only, by opening up fresh views, to contribute light to minds of greater precision who
may thus be enabled, perhaps, to hit upon the exact truth.

In this trilogy, Dr. Custance is inviting you to view history in the light of God's revealed
purposes and of acquired knowledge in a new and refreshing way, Here, may your discover and
explore your roots and your relationships, your uniqueness and significance, to fellow human
beings and to God.

Evelyn White, 1995.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

THIS TRILOGY is a short history of humankind. Of the writing of such books there is no end!
Perhaps "fresh" histories are necessary since each reflects the writer's ethnocentricity, cultural
values, and biases. So what is so special about this one?

This history takes a bird's eye view of the world after the Flood, and observes how the
descendants of Noah's three sons and their wives, the sole survivors of that catastrophe, re-
peopled the world. They simultaneously established (and destroyed) civilizations and cultures as
they spread over the earth, from that beginning, down to the present time.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 6

This history does not see the repeopling of the earth as a haphazard or chance occurrence but
discerns a purposeful progression of events when seen from the divine point of view. God has
sovereignly ordered the unfolding of His purposes for the well-being of all peoples so that the
complete potential of the human race might find full expression to the praise and glory of God
our Father.

Neither has the expression of human potential been left to chance. In a remarkable way, God
ensured that man's needs his propensity to worship, his urge to create with his hands, his
capacity for rational thought should be preserved by appointing to Shem, Ham, and Japheth
special responsibility in these three areas.

The whole panorama of history is viewed from an unusual, but highly intriguing, perspective
based on the genealogy of Noah's sons (Gen.10) and on the pithy statement made by Noah (Gen.
9: 24-27):

Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Blessed be the LORD God of Shem,
And Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth,
And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem,
And Canaan shall be his servant.

This cryptic statement, on the face of it, does not seem to say very much. Indeed, certain
assumptions were made about which there is plenty of room for disagreement! But if, for the
sake of argument, they are allowed, a view of history emerges which accommodates both biblical
and extra-biblical data.

The basic thesis is that the tenth chapter of Genesis, the oldest Table of Nations in existence, is a
statement about the origins of the present world population, and how the descendants of these
three brothers spread out over the earth. Evidence from linguistics, etymology and geography
confirms the validity of this Table.

It is further proposed that a division of responsibilities to care for the needs of man at three
fundamental levels spiritual, physical, and intellectual were divinely appointed to each of these
three branches of Noah's family. History bears out the uniqueness of each of these racial stocks
in a remarkable way.

Rightly understood, the thesis is a key that proves to be an exciting tool of research into the
spiritual, technological, and intellectual history of humanity since the Flood.

The trilogy is in three parts the last two are elaborations of various aspects of the framework
outlined in the first.

Volume 1 is a sketch of the History of Man, painted in broad strokes entitled: The Three
Branches. It is assumed, from the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, that the present world

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 7

population is derived from Noah's sons; that the three basic racial stocks are Semitic, Hamitic,
and Japhetic, which have, in spite of racial mixing, maintained a certain integrity throughout
history, even to the present time.

It is also assumed, from Noah's statement in Genesis 9, that God intended each branch to make a
unique contribution necessary for the welfare of the whole race.

Allowing these assumptions, it is shown in the first chapter how even Scripture recognizes this
threefold framework. In the next chapters, the contribution of each family and its effect upon
civilization is described in general terms.

The question,"Why did Noah curse his grandson (the innocent party) instead of his son (the
guilty one)?" has puzzled commentators for centuries. This is the subject of the second Paper in
Volume 1. A study of cultural anthropology suggests a new and simple explanation, which has
a bearing on the thesis.

Volume II, Roots of the Nations, deals with the origins of the nations. The tenth chapter of
Genesis, a list of names, is a record of the families of Noah's three sons from whom (as plainly
stated in verse 32) all the nations of the world arose.

That this Table is comprehensive and not just a summary of only the people known to the writer,
can be proved since these names can be traced down through history to modern times. It is
exciting reading, showing the origins, relationships and patterns of dispersion of all racial stocks.

If, as verse 32 implies, this Table includes everybody, then fossil man, primitive peoples (ancient
and modern) and modern man are all to be derived from Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In the light of
this implication, findings from anthropology, geology and archaeology are explored, giving an
alternate interpretation of the history of humanity.

In Volume III, The Second Branch, the focus shifts specifically to the contribution made by the
Hamites. It is not too difficult to establish the unique "gift" of Shem in the spiritual realm nor of
Japheth in the intellectual realm. What is so incredible to us is that when any technological
achievement (such as paper, gliders, stirrups, stringed instruments, gears and pulleys, vaccines,
etc.,) is traced back, we find the originator to be a member of the coloured races every time!

We see Ham, the servant par excellence who has indeed been a servant to his two brothers in
providing not only physical survival but also the organization of social life as seen in the
civilizations he developed.

Here it is briefly indicated how great a service the Hamitic people have rendered to all people, a
debt that has not been adequately acknowledged.

Thus, this three-dimensional view of history gives insights into the manner in which God
ordained that the full potential of the human race, wrapped up in the First Adam, should unfold
and find expression, both in the individual and in the nation whether for good or for ill.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 8

Here we shall find our roots, our origins, in one of Noah's three sons. And in that family we shall
also discover our unique endowment.

It is in the relationship of these three brothers, then, that we shall find the true kinship of
mankind. Only when each brother makes his contribution as God intended, shall we finally see
the entire human potential, in all its splendour and harmony.

In this grand plan of God's, we individually and nationally find our place and purpose in
relation to all other human beings, and ultimately to God Himself.

To God,
Whose Name is Holy,
Almighty God,
The only Wise God
Be all honour and glory and praise!

First Published 1960

INTRODUCTION

IF YOU ENJOY reading catalogues now and then, you will probably enjoy this paper, although
it is dull indeed if read merely as literature. But if it is treated as intended, namely, as a list of
technical achievements, it may come as a surprise to find how many, how varied, and how
fundamental have been the inventions of Hamitic people, and how great a service they have
rendered to mankind in the field of technology.

Hitherto our ethnocentrism in the writing of history has obscured this fact, but we now have a
sufficient and ever-growing body of documented materials to justify this presentation.

Some of these achievements may be considered slight by those who have never actually
contributed anything new to the sum total of human invention. But one should not be deceived
by simplicity: it may be the hallmark of genius.

It could also be argued that if we can only point to one invention of note in some particular tribe,
that people can hardly be termed inventive. However, if in this catalogue we have only
mentioned one invention, that does not mean it was their sole achievement. It was mentioned
because it illustrates a particular aspect of native ingenuity. That they do not invent more is
merely because they do not see the need for more inventions. When needs arise, their solutions
tend to be uncannily effective and simple.

Scarcely an anthropologist can be found who would not at once agree that even the most
primitive of people are peculiarly ingenious in finding practical solutions to practical problems.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 9

In this paper my purpose is only to seek to substantiate a rather bold claim made for the
descendants of Ham, namely, that as the inventors of almost everything basic to World
Civilization (in its mechanical as distinct from its spiritual aspects), they have indeed been
"servant of servants," servants par excellence.

The people whose inventiveness is here explored and illustrated are all assumed to be neither
Shemites nor Japhethites, and therefore descendants of Ham. This, in a word, includes all who
are Negroid or Mongoloid. It comprehends, in fact, the founders of virtually all ancient
civilizations in the Middle East, Africa, the Far East, and the New World, as well as presently
existing or recently extinct primitive people.

Hamites, it can be shown, have been in unexpected ways the world's great innovators. They have
an aptitude, a material 'bent' and a particular way of looking at things.

What may be said with a fair degree of certainty is that up until the time when Indo-Europeans
(i.e. Japhethites) began to make extensive contacts with other cultures, our technology was poor
in the extreme. But by building on their genius, we have greatly advanced technology. We have
been great borrowers and somewhat tardy in acknowledging our debt.

This Paper could help us obtain a more balanced view of our own technical achievements. It
demonstrates how great a service the Hamitic peoples have rendered to mankind, a service
essential to human survival in this world.

Online version created December 17, 1996, by Lambert Dolphin

The Technology of Hamitic People: Chapter 1

Conquest Of Environments

IT IS CUSTOMARY to view Western Man as the most inventive creature who ever lived, and
other peoples as unimaginative and backward by comparison. For this reason, it has never
surprised those who write textbooks of History that our own civilization advanced so far ahead
of all that preceded it.

Obviously, we are more inventive and so we have naturally achieved a higher civilization. At
one point in time, the stage was set for the logical development of Science and for the proper
extension of a certain innate superiority in controlling the forces of Nature for our own benefit.
Science thus developed automatically - or so it seemed.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 10

Very few people, until quite recently, were aware of the achievements of other ancient and
modern cultures which have not shared our tradition. Their arts and architecture were remarkable
enough; but their Mechanics and Technology were of little account except for an occasional odd
device like the compass, etc. And our own un-inventiveness as a whole completely escaped
notice. When it was found that Eskimos (a people generally held to be as nearly representative of
palaeolithic man as one could expect to find), could be trained to operate and repair sewing
machines and watches as quickly as (if not more quickly than) we ourselves, some surprise was
expressed.

In time, the ingenuity of the Eskimo became increasingly apparent, and writers began to vie with
one another in their search for superlatives to describe these otherwise 'backward' people. But it
soon became evident that the Eskimos were not alone in this. Their disadvantage of an
inhospitable environment (in this case a wilderness of ice and snow) is shared - in a different
way - by other primitive people, who also have proved themselves to be quite as ingenious in
making the most of the immediately available resources of this environment. For example, there
are the Indians of the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona. Considering their environment, it is
quite amazing to find what they have succeeded in extracting from it.

Throughout this discussion of primitive Culture, and in much of the treatment of more highly
complex civilizations of non-Western tradition, it is necessary to bear in mind that the greatest
displays of ingenuity frequently appear in the exploitation of the immediate resources of the
environment rather than the secondary or less immediate resources. This recognition, given
somewhat belatedly, is now being accorded at high levels. Claude Lévi-Strauss, speaking
officially for UNESCO, made the following admission in attempting to establish who has made
the greatest contribution to the world's wealth: (1)

If the criterion chosen had been the degree of ability to overcome even the most
inhospitable geographical conditions there can be scarcely any doubt that the
Eskimo on the one hand and the Bedouin on the other, would carry off the palm.

And one could have included another rather rugged environment: the high altitudes of the
Peruvian Andes, where the Aymara have shown themselves well able to hold their own with the
Eskimo, the Bedouin, and the Indians of Arizona. Let us examine very briefly some of the
achievements of such people.

Eskimos of the Arctic

One of the best modern authorities on this aspect of Eskimo life is Erwin H. Ackernecht. He
writes: (2)

The Eskimo is one of the great triumphs of our species. He has succeeded in
adapting himself to an environment which offers to man but the poorest chances
of survival...

His technical solution of problems of the Arctic are so excellent that white settlers
would have perished had they not adopted many elements of Eskimo technology.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 11

Frederick R. Wulsin, (3) an authority on clothing problems for cold climates, says candidly:
"There seems to be no doubt that Eskimo clothing is the most efficient yet devised for extremely
cold weather." Of this we have had personal experience, and can affirm its truth without
hesitation. Moreover, to the Eskimo must probably go the credit for developing the first 'tailored
clothing' and, not unnaturally, the first thimbles. (4)

In addressing a Scientific Defence Research Symposium in Ottawa, in 1955, Dr. O. Solandt

admitted frankly that:

The White Man has not introduced a single item of environmental protection in
the Arctic which was not already being used by the natives, and his substitute
products are not yet as effective as the native ones. Only in his means of
production has he the edge.

Ackernecht continues subsequently: (5)

A very short review of the Eskimo's hunting techniques has already revealed an
extraordinary number of well conceived implements. Eskimos are described as
very "gadget minded" and are able to use and repair machinery such as motors
and sewing machines with almost no instruction. It is impossible to give here a
complete list of aboriginal Eskimo instruments the number of which and quality
of which have been emphasized by all observers...

The best known type of Eskimo house is undoubtedly the dome shaped snow-house with its ice
window. With extra-ordinary ingenuity, the very products of the cold are used here as a
protection against it.

It might be thought that once the idea was conceived, the construction of such a house would be
comparatively simple. Actually, it is remarkably difficult to construct a dome without any means
of supporting the arch while in the process of completing it. As the wall rises, it converges upon
itself. Each new block overhangs more and more until, near the top, they rest almost in a
horizontal plane. The problem is to hold each block in place until the next one ties it in, and then
to hold that one until it too is tied in place.

Given enough hands the problem is not so difficult, but the Eskimos have overcome the problem
so effectively that a single individual can, if necessary, erect his own igloo without too much
difficulty.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 12

Top: Eskimo Igloo Building. Center: Eskimo Snow Goggles, wood or bone. Bottom: Polynesian
Canoe Building. Planks lashed insecurely (A) can slide to either side, thus loosening the
caulking. By adding a piece split to form two half-rounds (B), the planks are tied in such a way
that movement is virtually impossible. The whole is then caulked.

The solution is to carry the rising layers of blocks in a spiral instead of in a series of horizontal
levels. This is shown in the top illustration above. Thus, as each block is added, it not only rests
on the lower level but against the last block. One block would simply tend to fall in, and, so do
two or even three, when a new layer is started, if the tiers are horizontally laid. But the Eskimo
method overcomes the problem entirely.

The solution is, of course, amazingly simple - once it is known! Most solutions are, when
someone has discovered them for us. The problem is to visualize the solution before it exists. We
tend to assume we would discover the way quite quickly - but experience shows that this is not
true. As A.H. Sayce has put it so well, "one of the most significant lessons of Archaeology is that
man is not essentially creative but destructive" and, among ourselves at least, "constructiveness
belongs to the few." (6)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 13

H. M. Davies reminds us of this fact when he eloquently pointed out: (7)

We drive an automobile because it is nearly foolproof, with little appreciation of

the hidden, beautiful mechanism that powers it, and with no conception of the
creative thought that went into its development: meanwhile we demand the family
airplane. We listen to a radio receiver whose operation is utter magic to us and
demand even more complex television. We are a race of lever-twiddlers, button-
pushers, and knob-twisters, enjoying the prodigious technical labours of a
comparatively few men.

As Sayce put it in the article mentioned above: (8)

As compared with the mass of mankind, the number of those upon whom the
continuance of civilization depends is but small; let them be destroyed or rendered
powerless, and the culture they represent will disappear.

But to return for a moment to the Eskimo again: because his environment offers him little in the
way of raw materials, his solutions must always seem simple in nature. It is all the more to his
credit that he has achieved so much. Dr. Edward Weyer in an article rightly titled, "The
Ingenious Eskimo," gives two examples: (9)

Take the Eskimo's most annoying enemy, the wolf, which preys on the caribou
and wild reindeer that he needs for food. Because of its sharp eyesight and keen
intelligence, it is extremely difficult to approach in hunting. Yet the Eskimo kills
it with nothing more formidable than a piece of flexible whalebone. He sharpens
the strip of whalebone at both ends and doubles it back, tieing it with sinew. Then
he covers it with a lump of fat, allows it to freeze, and throws it out where the
wolf will get it. Swallowed at a gulp the frozen dainty melts in the wolf's stomach
and the sharp whale bone springs open, piercing the wolf internally and killing
it....

When the Eskimo gets a walrus weighing more than a ton on the end of a harpoon
line, he is faced with a major engineering problem: how to get it from the water
onto the ice. Mechanical contrivances belong to a world in whose development
the Eskimo has had no part. No implement ever devised by him had a wheel in it.
Yet this does not prevent him from improvising a block and tackle that works
without a pulley. He cuts slits in the hide of the walrus, and a U-shaped hole in
the ice some distance away. Through these he threads a slippery rawhide line,
once over and once again. He does not know the mechanical theory of the double
pulley, but he does know that if he hauls at one end of the line, he will drag the
walrus out of the water onto the ice.

The deceiving thing about his ingenuity is its very simplicity! He makes hunting devices of all
kinds, that are effective, inexpensive in time, easily repaired, and uses only raw materials that are
immediately available. His harpoon lines have floats of blown-up skins attached, so that the
speared animal is forced to come to the surface if he dives. To prevent such aquatic animals from

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 14

tearing off at high speed, dragging the hunter and his kayak, he attaches baffles to the line which
are like small parachutes that drag in the water. A bone hoop with a skin diaphragm stretched
over it, and some thongs, are all that he needs.

To locate the seal's movements under the ice he has devised a stethoscope which owes nothing to
its modern Western counterpart working on the same principle. (10) And recently a native
'telephone' was discovered in use, made entirely from locally available materials, linking two
igloos with a system of intercommunication, the effectiveness of which was demonstrated on the
spot to the Hudson's Bay Agent, a Mr. D. B. Marsh (11) who discovered it. Marsh adds at the
end of his report, this statement:

The most amazing thing of all was that no one in that camp had ever seen a
telephone, though doubtless they had heard of them from their friends who from
time to time visit Churchill.

Nevertheless, it is exceedingly unlikely that any such friends who had seen a telephone would
have seen the kind of arrangement this Eskimo had developed, which of course used no batteries.
We used to make a similar kind of thing as children with string and ordinary cans, but they were
never very much use, and anyway we got the idea from someone else. In this case the Eskimo
had used fur around the diaphragm to cushion it, and the sound came through remarkably well.

And finally, a word about Eskimo snow goggles. (See illustration above). These are well known
to Arctic explorers, and no one will travel in the Arctic without them - or something to replace
them - if he wishes to escape the very unpleasant ailment of snow blindness. Like everything else
the Eskimo makes, they are very effective, and often so designed that he does not need to turn his
head to see to either side. This is important, since the game he usually hunts would catch the
movement.

Indians of the Sonoran Desert

Turning now to the Indians of the Sonoran Desert, Macy H. Lapham has written illuminatingly
of their genius for making much of little. He writes: (12)

To the stranger, these desert wilderness areas seem to have little to contribute to
the subsistence of the native Indian... Notwithstanding this forbidding aspect, to
the initiated there is a veritable storehouse of the desert, from the widely scattered
resources of which essentials in food, clothing, shelter, tools, cooking utensils,
fuel, medicine, and articles of adornment or those sacred in ceremonial rites have
contributed for generations and still are contributing to the needs of the Indian...

Lapham gives many excellent photographs in which various plants are identified - and the
products which the Indians have extracted from them are also listed. These lists are impressive!
Thus, for example, he remarks:

The desert ironwood, a small tree, is known for its extremely hard wood, is prized
for the camp fire, and has been used for arrow heads and implements... The beans

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 15

of the Mesquite are made into meal and baked as cakes. The split and shredded
inner bark, along with similar materials from the willow and cotton wood, furnish
the fibres and strands for building and for woven baskets. Some of these baskets
are so finely woven that coated with gum and resins obtained from the desert
plants they may be used for liquids...

Condiments and seasonings for food, before the present era of the tin can were
obtained from native mints, pepper grass, sage and other herbs. Ashes of the salt
bush which grows in saline soils, were used as a substitute for baking powder.
Other plant products containing sugar and mucilaginous substances yielded
substitutes for candy and chewing gum...

Wild cotton was cultivated and harvested by the Indians before the White Man
and his wool-bearing animals found their way into the desert. In his arts and crafts
the Indian used gums and resins from the Mesquite and the creosote bush, as
adhesives; awls made from the cactus spines and sharpened bone; and dyes from
species of the indigo bush, mesquite, the fetid marigold, seeds of the sunflower,
and from minerals.

In the absence of the family drugstore, the Indian resorted to a range of desert
plants for cures of various ailments. Some of these were of doubtful value, but
others are to be found on the shelf of the modern druggist. These remedies
included materials for poultices and infusions, and decoctions of the manzanita,
creosote bush, catnip, canaigre or wild rhubarb, verba santa or mountain balm,
verba mansa, the inner bark of the cotton wood, winter fat, golden aster,
goldenrod, yarrow, horsebrush, and species of the sunflower. They were used for
sore throats, coughs, respiratory diseases, boils, toothaches, fevers, sore eyes,
headaches, and as tonics and emetics. Mullein leaves were smoked and used for
medicinal purposes, while roots of the yucca, winter fat, and four o'clock, and
leaves of the seepweed, were used as laxatives and for burns and stomach ache.
There was even an insecticide - a sweetened infusion of the leaves of the
Haplophyton or cockroach plant which was used as a poison for mosquitoes,
cockroaches, flies and other pests.

Even such random excerpts from Lapham's article might be sufficient indication of the
'inventiveness' of these so-called primitive people. But there is much more to wonder at. A
photograph of a Mesquite thicket in a river bed is accompanied by this observation:

Mesquite thickets supply fuel, poles, timbers for buildings and fences, and fibres
and strands for baskets and binding materials. From the mesquite's bark, seed
pods, and bean-like seeds come food, browse for livestock, medicine, gums, dyes,
and an alcoholic beverage.

The roots of the Yucca trees supply drugs and a 'soap substitute.' Like the pioneer farmers, it
seems that they use everything but the noise! Lapham concludes:

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 16

Thus, as the Indian made his rounds of this self-help commissary in an apparently
empty wasteland, he found an impressive stock to be harvested and added to his
market basket. We can only marvel at the wisdom and vast store of knowledge
accumulated by these primitive people as they made the desert feed, clothe and
shelter them.

This is a long quotation. But it serves to indicate what ingenuity can do with an otherwise
unpromising environment. It is difficult indeed to conceive of a more complete exploitation of
the primary resources of the desert in which they have been content to live.

One wonders if Lapham's use of the word 'found' is really just. They seem virtually to have
exhausted their environment, extracting from it wisely, ingeniously, and effectively all it could
possibly afford. Would we have 'found' much of this?

Simplicity of solution

The point I should like to emphasize particularly here, is that such people, for so long supposedly
unimaginative and dull, have demonstrated a remarkable genius. Their ingenuity has been
overlooked so often because those who surveyed their work were themselves unaware of the
effort required to invent anything. It all seems so obvious. Their solutions to mechanical
problems in particular are always characterized by a peculiar simplicity that is completely
deceiving.

To digress for a moment, we may use as an illustration of this aspect of primitive technology, a
method used by Polynesians to build the plank walls of their canoes. Anyone who has ever tried
to bind two planks together edgewise, so that they will be tight and rigid - and will remain so -
will have quickly discovered how difficult it is. It is, in fact, almost impossible. Yet the
Polynesian canoe builders do it easily. The illutration above shows how it was done. In a sense, it
really takes an engineer to see the genius of this. By using gums and resins in the joint, a
perfectly rigid, strong, and watertight union is effected. The solution seems obvious enough.
Such ingenuity was exercised wherever their comparatively simple needs were not completely
satisfied because of some mechanical obstacle.

Perhaps one more such 'simple' solution may be in order here. The Indians of North America
used leather for clothing - the familiar buckskin. However, one problem of all such materials is
that after a while the edge begins to curl up or to roll in such a way as to be both unsightly and
ill-fitting, and, of course, colder in winter. This was overcome by making a series of cuts into the
edge and at right angles to it, each cut being about two inches long, and spaced about one-
sixteenth of an inch to one-eight of an inch apart. This imparted to the edges the familiar 'frill'
effect, which is both decorative and fundamentally useful, preventing edge-curling entirely. It
required virtually nothing to do it - except ingenuity in the first place.

Bedouins of the Negev Desert

Desert areas always seem to hold so little promise of survival to the sophisticated European. The
very appearance of barrenness seems to hinder the processes of thought which would otherwise

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 17

find how to render it more habitable. But it seems to have been no great problem for non-Indo-
European people, whether ancient or modern.

In his UNESCO paper, Levi-Strauss mentions the Bedouin along with the Eskimo. Recent
archaeological exploration in the desert area of Transjordan has revealed a remarkable triumph
of early irrigation engineering.

Michael Evnari and Dov Koller reported recently on the results of their work in the Negev: (13)

The idea that anyone could have farmed a desert as arid as this is today, seemed
so incredible that many authorities concluded the climate of the region must have
been more lush in the time of the Nabataeans. Nelson Glueck went to Palestine in
the 1930's and to Transjordan, to re-explore the Nabataean Culture, and what he
found led him to acclaim the Nabataeans as "one of the most remarkable people
that ever crossed the stage of history." Their cities did indeed bloom in the midst
of a seemingly hopeless desert. Nowhere in all their houses was there a stick of
wood to show that any trees had ever grown in the region.

The authors then explain how these ancient people achieved a greater mastery of the desert than
any other people since, and they underline the fact that the Nabataeans "avoided the mistake" of
trying a method which is universally accepted by Indo-Europeans, namely the use of dams. Their
method was cheaper, more effective, more readily controlled, and brought a greater area of
desert land under successful cultivation. They so prospered, in fact, as to be able to build and
support the very famous city of Petra. The authors then describe the method of irrigation these
people employed. And in summing up, they remark - to quote their own words:

The more one examines the Nabataeans' elaborate system, the more impressed
one must be with the precision and scope of their work. Engineers today find it
difficult enough to measure and control the flow of water in a constantly flowing
river, but the Nabataean engineers had to make accurate flow estimates and devise
control measures for torrents which rushed over the land only briefly for a few
hours each year. They anticipated and solved every problem in a manner which
we can hardly improve upon today. Some of their structures still baffle
investigators.

Records tell that the crop yield was often seven or eight times the sowing. As the authors
conclude:

The Nabataeans' conquest of the desert remains a major challenge to our

civilization. With all the technological and scientific advances at our disposal, we
must still turn to them for some lessons... the best we can do today is no more
than a modification of the astute and truly mature scientific methods worked out
more than 2000 years ago by the Nabataean masters of the desert.

Snowy waste or sandy desert, bitter cold or stifling heat - we have little to contribute in the
conquest of such environments.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 18

Indians of the New World

J. Grahame Clark, speaking of the contributions made by the Indians of North and South
America to the Old World, has this to say: (14)

Baron Nordenskiold, unlike some European theorizers, who found it difficult to

credit the aborigines with the ability to raise their own civilization independently
of the Old World inspiration, had spent many long and arduous years in the field
of South American archaeology, and his conclusions carried with them
outstanding authority. In addition to many technical inventions he attributed to the
American Indian the achievement of domesticating the animal and plant life of his
habitat so effectively that during the four centuries since the Discovery the White
Man had failed to make a single contribution of importance. The native fauna
gave poor scope, but from it he domesticated the llama, alpaca, guinea-pig, and
turkey. Of plants he domesticated hundreds...

Matthew Stirling, Chief of the American Bureau of Ethnology at the time of this writing, makes
the following observation: (15)

Among the plants developed by these ancient botanists are maize, beans (kidney
and lima), potatoes, and sweet potatoes, now four of the leading foods of the
world. Manioc, extensively cultivated by the natives of tropical America is now
the staff of life for millions of people living in the equatorial belt. Other important
items, such as peanuts, squash, chocolate, peppers, tomatoes, pineapples and
avocados might be added.

In addition, the Indian was the discoverer of quinine, cocaine, tobacco, and rubber, useful
commodities of modern times. Maize or Indian corn was one of the most useful contributions of
the American Indian to mankind. Over a considerable portion of the Americas, it is the staff of
life.

Kenneth Macgowan adds to this list, the custard apple, strawberry, vanilla bean, chickle, and
cascara, besides a number of others less familiar. (16) His whole list of important plants made up
by the Indian's agriculture is impressive, as he says, for it contains fifty items, not one of which
is an Old World species! Every one of them can be cultivated with a hoe, requiring no draft
animals whatever. He also mentions one other accomplishment which is very difficult to account
for: The Indian devised a method of extracting a deadly poison (cyanide) from an otherwise
useless plant, manioc, without losing the valuable starch it contained. Macgowan says that Henry
J. Bruman called this "one of the outstanding accomplishments of the American Indian." The
remarkable thing about it is that they should ever have thought of making use of a plant which,
as they found it, contained a deadly poison.

M.D.C. Crawford gives a list of vegetables which were cultivated by the American Indians prior
to 1492, which in addition to the above are the following: (17)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 19

aloe
Jerusalem artichoke
alligator pear
pineapple
arrowroot
Indian fig
cacao
prickly pear
chili pepper
pumpkin
cotton (gossypium barbadense Linn.)
star apple

J.L. Collins wrote more recently: (18)

The pineapple shares the distinction accorded to all major food plants of the
civilized world, of having been selected, developed, and domesticated by people
of prehistoric times, and passed on to us through one or more earlier civilizations.
The pineapple, like a number of other contemporary agricultural crops...
originated in America and was unknown to the people of the Old World before its
discovery.

Just where the Indians found the original plants which they improved upon to produce modern
pineapples, we do not now know. None of the existing varieties compares with the domesticated
product, and as Collins observes, "none of these can be singled out now as the form or forms
which gave rise to the domesticated pineapples of today, or even of those varieties in the
possession of the Indians at the time of the Discovery of America." This was no accidental by-
product then, but a deliberate and intelligent breeding process which progressed so far before we
knew anything about it, that we cannot now retrace the steps by which it was first accomplished.

Melville Herskovits points out that the North American Indians increased the fertility of their
land artificially, by putting a fish in each maize hill, and practiced multi-planting highly
successfully. (19) In each hill planted with maize they placed squash and bean seeds together, so
that the bean plants could climb the corn stalks and the squash vines run along the ground. The
same practice is apparently found in West Africa, where gourds take the place of squashes. Their
reasoning here, as Herskovits points out, is different from ours: they hold that a plant which
grows erect, one that climbs, and one that hugs the earth must each have a different nature and
therefore extract a different food from the earth. Thus they will not compete with each other.

Speaking of the Orient, Dr. F. H. King (20) who has made a most careful examination of the
farming methods practised by the Chinese, the Koreans, and the Japanese, drew special attention
to their painstaking care in maintaining or enhancing the fertility of their soils by using all kinds
of fertilizers and other special means.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 20

As Japhethites we can only stand in awe of the deceptively simple but ingenious and numerous
achievements of our Hamitic brothers throughout the world - often in climates and geographic
locations that would daunt us.

References:

1. Ackernecht, Erwin H., "The Eskimo's Fight Against Hunger and Cold," Ciba Symposia, Vol.
10, July-August, 1948, 894.

2. Wulsin, Frederick R., "Adaptations to Climate Among Non-European Peoples," in The

Physiology of Heat Regulation and the Science of Clothing, edited by L. H. Newburgh,
Philadelphia, PA, Saunders, 1949, 26.

3. Jeffreys, Charles W., A Picture Gallery of Canadian History, Toronto, ON, Ryerson, 1942,
Vol. 1, 113.

4. Ackernecht, Erwin, H., op. cit. (ref.#2), 897.

5. Sayce, Archibald, H., "Archaeology and Its Lessons," in Wonders of the Past, edited by Sir
John Hammerton, London, UK, Putnam's, 1924, Vol. 1, 10.

6. Davies, H. M., "Liberal Education and the Physical Sciences," Scientific Monthly, 66(5), May,
1948, 422.

7. Sayce, A. H., op. cit., (ref. #6) 11.

8. Weyer, Edward, "The Ingenious Eskimo," Natural History, New York, NY, published by
National History Museum, May, 1939, 278, 279.

9. An illlustration of such an instrument is given by Alexander Golderweiser, Anthropology,

Crofts, New York, NY, 1937, 85, fig. 23.

10. Marsh, D. B., "Inventions Unlimited," The Beaver, The Hudson's Bay Co. Dec., 1943, 40.

11. Lapham, Macy H., "The Desert Storehouse," Scientific Monthly, 66(6), June, 1948, 451ff.

12. Evenari, Michael, and Dov Koller, Ancient Masters of the Desert, Scientific American,
194(4), April, 1956, 36ff.

13. Clark, J. Grahame, "New World Origins," Antiquity, 14(54), June, 1940, 118

14. Stirling, Matthew, "America's First Settlers, the Indians," National Geographic Magazine,
November, 1937, 592.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 21

15. Macgowan, Kenneth, Early Man in the New World, New York, NY, Macmillan, 1950, 199.

16. Crawford, Morris D. C., The Conquest of Culture, New York, NY, Fairchild, 1948, 145, 146.

17.Collins, J. L., "Pineapples in Ancient America, " Scientific Monthly, 66(11), November 1948,
372.

18. Herskovits, Melville, Man and His Works, New York, NY, Knopf, 1950, 250.

19. King, F. H., Farmers for 40 Centuries, Emmaus, PA, Rodale Press, reviewed by W. M.
Myers, under the title "Those Clever People," (in Scientific Monthly, 66, December, 1948, 448).

20. Murdock, George P., "Our Primitive Contemporaries," New York, NY, Macmillen, 1934,
167.

Corrections, May 13, 1997.

The Technology of Hamitic People: Chapter 2

Achievements of Primitive Societies

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER of invention (although laziness helps!) and food is a

necessity. Primitive people have shown extraordinary ingenuity in obtaining food. We have
already mentioned one or two devices used by the Eskimo - the spring bone for killing wolves,
for example. In other parts of the world there is the same remarkable ingenuity - and not the least
remarkable element is the variety.

Food Gathering Techniques

For example, according to George P. Murdock, the Ainu of Northern Japan use dogs to do their
fishing for them. (21) To catch the shoals of fish in the shallow water along some of their coasts,
the Ainu have trained their dogs to swim straight out to sea in a line. At a given signal, the dogs
wheel around and come back in an arc towards the shore, barking and splashing thus driving the
fish into even shallower water where each dog seizes one in his mouth, runs ashore, and drops it
at his master's feet, receiving the fish's head as a reward!

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 22

Ralph Linton speaks of one device for catching wild fowl, which he feels should certainly be
awarded top prize for simple ingenuity: (22) A flat stone of about 18" diameter is given a small
raised rim of mud or clay, and certain nuts are placed in the enclosure. These nuts are a particular
delight of the local guinea fowl. But the natives of several parts of Africa where these birds are
found, take care to ensure that the nuts are just too large for the fowl to pick up in their beaks.
Attracted to the food, the birds try again and again to get the nuts in their mouth, each time
striking the flat rock with their beak instead. They are persistent creatures apparently, and so they
keep it up until their beaks are quite swollen and they have literally knocked themselves silly.
Each day the owner of the stone comes by and picks up the stupefied birds from the immediate
neighbourhood.

Poultry farmers have found that the same thing can happen to chickens fed on a concrete floor.
But there is no evidence that Indo-Europeans ever put this observation to any practical use.

In this connection we may mention a further example of native ingenuity found in certain parts
of Oceania, where there are cuttlefish which have long sucker-tipped arms that are stretched out
to catch fish. The natives attach these cuttlefish to lines and use them to catch food for
themselves instead. (23)

Lord Raglan tells how, in some areas of Oceania, the natives of Java, of the Banda Islands, and
the Dobuans, catch a particular species of fish that is difficult to approach by using fishing-kites.
(24) The kite is flown on a line of some length, and the fish hook dangles from the tail of the
kite, thus allowing the fisherman to keep a considerable distance from the fish which would
otherwise evade him.

It is well known that the Japanese have for years used cormorants to do their fishing for them.
(25) The birds seem to be well trained and to enjoy themselves immensely! The Samoans use a
native plant drug which, when poured on the water, makes the fish dopey and easy to catch. (26)
According to Carleton Coon, the Australian aborigines poison the water holes with a mild drug
that similarly makes the animals who drink from them stupefied. (27) By such means, for
example, they easily catch the swift-footed emu. A paper published by the Smithsonian
Institution lists hundreds of such poisons used by primitive people in all parts of the world to
catch game. (28)

The Terra del Fuegians have so many different traps and other devices for catching ducks and
geese, etc., that it would be wearying to detail them. Coon refers to them as being many,
ingenious, and varying according to the nature of the locality. (29) They are, moreover,
characterized by a remarkable degree of originality, so that it becomes difficult to imagine any
further alternatives. Yet these same Terra del Fuegians were considered by Darwin, when he
visited them during his voyage with the Beagle, to be the very lowest of all humans - hardly
people at all. (30) Sir John Lubbock shared this opinion. (31) Yet their inventiveness, where it
had to be exercised, knew almost no limitations. I should like to draw attention to this point.

Inventiveness was exercised where needs arose, seldom otherwise. And this inventiveness did
not (as ours so often does) display itself by merely modifying the products of others. The results
were as diverse as they were original, and almost always characterized by a grand simplicity that

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 23

is completely misleading to the Westerner, whose products are so terribly complicated.

Simplicity is the very essence of genius!

Take as an illustration of this, the bola: here is a weapon that is effectiveness itself in bringing
down small rapidly moving game. The device is composed of a number of stones (usually about
2" to 3" in diameter), around each of which a cord is fastened in a groove with a free end about
12 to 18" long. From four to eight such stones form the weapon, which is made by tying together
the free ends of the long cords. Holding these cords at their junction, the native swings the stones
around like a windmill and lets the whole affair fly at a flock of birds, or rabbits, or other such
small game. The stones tend to part company in flight, but only to the extent of the cords which
tie them to one another. The weapon is thus widely spread by the time it reaches the game, and
the chance of a hit is greatly increased. The same effect is, of course, obtained with 'shot.'
However, if any one of the stones makes contact or if any of the cords do, the whole weapon at
once wraps itself around the victim and down it comes! What could be simpler?

These bolas are found in many parts of the world, and even in prehistoric sites - a mute
testimony to the inventiveness even of prehistoric man, (32) for it seems hard to believe that they
were invented only once and that all modern instances are derivatives.

Of all primitive people, perhaps the Australian aborigines have aroused the most interest, not
merely because they are so well-known and among the last to retain, to a large extent, the greater
part of their ancient skills and traditions but also because of the extraordinary simplicity of their
material culture. Virtually the whole of a man's worldly wealth can normally be carried with him,
often in one hand! Of added interest, of course, is the fact that they seem to be Negroid (because
their skin is so very black) and yet have much body hair and bushy beards - which Negroes never
have: thus their origin is somewhat of an intriguing mystery still.

But their ingenuity is also undoubted, in so far as they have cared to exercise it. Probably the
supreme example of this is the boomerang. These weapons are also found in other parts of the
world, and even in prehistoric sites. (33) As a weapon, it is remarkable: it has quite justly been
called the first 'guided missile.' Of course, all thrown objects are 'guided' in a sense; but the
boomerang can be so controlled in the hands of an expert that it will do extraordinary things in
the air, and return to the sender if it misses the target - a great saving of effort, and a real
advantage in war!

George Farwell recently authored an official Australian government paper on this device, in
which the design of the weapon is carefully considered. It is a much more complex affair than
would appear to the casual observer. Its response to controlled flight is outlined by the author,
who then explains how this is possible. It is a technical achievement of no mean order, and one
wonders what was going on inside the mind of the native who perfected it. Even if its special
construction features were purely accidentally discovered at first, it is still true that the inventor
discovered his discovery. This is not merely a play upon words. As we shall see subsequently,
Indo-Europeans are still making notable discoveries and not recognizing them for what they are.
Of the boomerang, Farwell writes: (34)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 24

There are sound reasons for its design features. The underside of the arms are flat,
the upper have a slight camber, a factor which provides lift. There is also a twist
from the horizontal at the outer end of each arm, one upward, the other down,
perhaps not more than two degrees in all. It may seem unreal to discuss a
prehistoric weapon in terms of aerodynamics, but therein lies the remarkable
achievement of the aborigine. His practical mind and acute observation
anticipated certain ideas of the 20th century aircraft designers.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, the explorer, made the characteristic twist of the boomerang
the basis for a new type of ship's propeller, which he patented 100 years ago.
Early in this century G. T. Walker of Cambridge University, spent no less than ten
years of research into the boomerang's properties, evolving certain theories on
gyroscopic flight.

Farwell then elaborates somewhat on the dynamics of its flight and gives some examples of feats
which the natives can achieve with very little effort. He presumes that it was perhaps by
observing the flight of falling leaves with their curled up edges that the natives came to the idea.
This sounds rather weak to me. At any rate, they created a very ingenious weapon, and we have
found no way to improve it yet.

George Sarton (35) uses this weapon as an illustration of "the uncanny ingenuity of 'primitive'
people." To this he adds the elastic plaited cylinder of jacitara palm bark, called a tipiti, which is
used to extract the poison cyanide from the manioc, to which reference has already been made.
As a third illustration, he refers to the prehistoric Chinese pottery vessels which took the form of
a tripod, the legs of which were hollow and formed the containers. It thus anticipated by
thousands of years the modern trisection aluminium wares! The legs straddled the fire. The
shape, of course, permitted cooking three separate dishes at one time.

Medicine, Psychology and Sociology

In the Peruvian Andes, living at an elevation of 14,000 feet approximately, are the Aymara -
believed to be the remnants of the creators of the Inca Empire. They are a rather impatient and
ill-tempered people, according to some observers, possibly by reason of the rarefied atmosphere
in which they live, and, possibly on the same account, they do not care to exert themselves much
to improve their condition - although obviously this was not true in the past. But they have
developed their medical skill quite extensively, and so organized the profession that there are
specialists in the various fields, who refer patients to one another as seems necessary. (36) Like
most primitive people, they mix magic with their medicine, but they evidently realize that the
magic has a psychological value as much as anything. This is true of other such native people. A.
P. Elkin has written on this point at some length and is convinced that the Witch Doctor is often
a man, as he put it, of "High Degree," by which he means, relatively, a Ph.D. in the context of his
own culture. (37) In the meantime, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the non-Indo-
Europeans far anticipated us in their medical practice, as well as in the field of Psychology. I
think this is particularly true in certain areas, such as in the problem of dealing with fear.
Speaking of African medical skill, Grantly Dick Read points out: (38)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 25

They had cures for diseases which modern science still finds difficult to heal - and
sometimes the knowledge of a good witch doctor could be of very good use to
modern psychology.

Frequently, of course, they did not reflect much upon the psychology they used - but it was
always very practical in its application, and it represented a kind of deep wisdom which modern
physicians sometimes lack. There are often amusing and revealing illustrations of this. In two
areas, in particular, they explored widely - in person-to-person relationships (especially with near
relatives) and in dealing with the supernatural. For example, they insisted, as a rule, that a man
go to live with his wife's people. There are a number of very good reasons for this, not the least
of which is the fact that they recognized that most emotional tensions revolve around the lady of
the house. When a man goes to his wife's home, the lady of the house 'gains' a son. If, however,
the wife goes to the husband's house to live, the lady of the house 'loses' a son! This is a serious
thing - the root of much jealousy - and causes emotional tensions which they sought to avoid.

As an illustration of the second area in which Psychology is applied, one can cite a case that
occurred in a Pueblo village after the last war. Many young Hopi volunteered for service
overseas. This often badly confused their traditional cultural behaviour patterns. One
anthropologist, noting this, suggested to a young Hopi veteran that he'd still be afraid to sleep in
one of their ancient cemeteries. He laughingly denied this. So he and an old villager agreed to the
test. The old man selected a spot to sleep, performed several little rites, sprinkling seed around
his bed and urinating on the seed. With a brief prayer, he then lay down and slept like a child.
The young man no longer believed in such things - neither the spirits (so he said) nor the 'magic.'
He tossed and turned, quite unable to sleep - pretending to be unafraid and having no longer any
accepted means to offset the fears he denied. He finally got up and returned to the village! A. P.
Elkin gives many instances of this kind of thing in Australia, and says that he often spoke to the
old men about their faith in the magic they used and was surprised to find how clearly they
understood its psychological value. Some of the witch doctors were Ph.D.s in Psychology, rather
than doctors with M.D.s, according to Elkin.

But even in the use of drugs that do actually work chemically the non-Indo-European has been
far ahead of us. Aldous Huxley speaks of the use of such drugs and tranquilizers and other
remedies for anxiety: (39)

Certain chemical compounds produce certain changes of consciousness and so

permit a measure of self-transcendence and a temporary relief of tension. Thus,
the so-called "tranquillizing drugs" are merely the latest addition to a long list of
chemicals which have been used from time immemorial for changing the quality
of consciousness and so making possible some degree of transcendence. Let us
always remember that, while modern pharmacology has given us a host of new
synthetics, it has made no basic discoveries in the field of the natural drugs; it has
merely improved the methods of extraction, purification, and combination. All the
naturally occurring sedatives, narcotics, euphorics, hallucinogens, and excitants
were discovered thousands of years ago before the dawn of civilization. This
surely is one of the strangest facts in that long catalogue of improbabilities known
as human history. Primitive man, it is evident, experimented with every root,

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 26

twig, leaf and flower, with every seed, nut and berry, and fungus, in his
environment. Pharmacology is older then agriculture. There is good reason to
believe that even in Palaeolithic times, while he was still a hunter and food
gatherer, man killed his animals and human enemies with a poisoned arrow. By
the Stone Age he was systematically poisoning himself. The preserved heads of
poppy in the kitchen middens of the Swiss Lake dwellers shows how early in his
history man discovered the techniques of self-transcendence through drugs. There
were dope addicts long before there were farmers.

As an example of the extent to which such people go, it may be mentioned that the Jagga even
developed truth serum. (40)

Claude Lévi-Strauss underscores another aspect of this psycho-medical contribution: (41)

The West, for all its mastery of machines, exhibits evidence of only the most
elementary understanding of the use and potential resources of that super-
machine, the human body. In this sphere on the contrary, the East and Far East are
several thousand years ahead; they have produced the great theoretical and
practical summae represented by Yoga in India, and Chinese "breath techniques,"
or the visceral control of the ancient Maoris....

In all matters touching on the organization of the family, and the achievement of
harmonious relations between the family group and the social group, the
Australian aborigines, though backward in the economic sphere, are so far ahead
of the rest of mankind that, to understand the careful and deliberate system of
rules they have elaborated, we have to use all the refinements of modern
mathematics....

The Australians with an admirable grasp of the facts, have converted this
machinery into terms of theory, and listed the main methods by which it may be
produced, with the advantages and the drawbacks attaching to each. They have
gone further than empirical observation to discover the laws governing the
system, so that it is no exaggeration to say that they are not merely the founders of
modern sociology as a whole, but are the real innovators of measurement in the
social sciences.

Not all sociologists would agree with Lévi-Strauss, of course, but there is no doubt that the social
aspects of human relationships have here been subjected to unusual scrutiny. It seems almost a
rule, in fact, that the simpler the culture in its materials, the more elaborate its formalized social
structure is apt to be, including its rituals. And conversely, the more complex the civilization, the
less formal its social patterns are likely to be. Ralph Linton speaks of one occasion in an
Australian tribe, where it happened that the regulations had become so involved that a time came
when it was found nobody could properly get married any more. (42)

All the American Indians had an extensive medical knowledge. Their surgical skill was
remarkable, and like non-Indo-Europeans in many other parts of the world, ancient and modern,

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 27

they practised such delicate operations as trephination with remarkable success. (43) Such
extremely delicate surgery implies the use of some kind of anaesthetic. Robert Lowie reminds us
that we owe this very fundamental discovery to the South American Indian. As he says, "What is
absolutely certain is that our local anaesthetics go back to the Peruvian Indian's coca leaves,
whence our cocaine." (44)

Another important invention from the same source is the enema. Robert Heizer, in an issue of a
well-known publication which was devoted to the history of this instrument, states that: (45)

The medical practices of the Indians of North and South America prior to the
shattering of their cultures by Caucasian wars and exploitation, were truly
amazing in their magnitude and excellence. Our fractional knowledge of these
attainments derives from early historical records, ethno-botanical works by
botanists and pharmacologists, and from intensive study of skeletal materials by
trained observers. Included in the roster of medical techniques was the
administration of enemas and lavements by means of a number of instruments -
bulb and piston type syringes and clyster tubes.

Nordenskiold, speaking of the American Indian as an inventor, refers to such enema syringes,
(46) one of which he illustrates. The illustration is taken from his work, and shows how little we
have been able to improve upon it! Even the decorative scheme is in excellent taste, and the
mode of manufacture was copied exactly when Indo-Europeans first began to exploit the native
development of rubber latex.

The same writer also mentions the invention of tweezers for medical purposes, for which he
gives the credit to the Araurcanians, another Peruvian tribe. The Jivaro Indians use the pincers of
living ants for the purpose of suturing wounds (47) - a most extraordinary procedure that has
been observed in other parts of the world also. The skin is drawn together, the small ant so
applied that it seizes the suture and holds it tightly closed in its strong mandibles, and then the
animal's body is quickly snipped off! So the series of fine pincers along the wound hold the skin
lesions together till healing takes place. Erwin Ackernecht, (48) in writing of this interesting
technique, concludes that it is a witness to

"the great inventive power that the 'savage' develops in all those fields that he
deems worthy of interest." [My emphasis]

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 28

Top: A modern reed house from the Middle East. Center: The first toothbrush?
This is reproduced from a Chinese manuscript which dates its invention to June
25, 1498. Bottom Left: A rubber-bilbed enema syringe from the Omagua Indians
of Guiana and the Upper Amazon Basin. Bottom Right: One of the Parthian
batteries reconstructed from remants found near Baghdad, Iraq.

Rubber Technology

We have mentioned rubber enemas. According to Nordenskiold, there appears to have been a
secondary development arising out of the making of hollow rubber balls for games. (49) Such
balls were made by forming a core of clay or some such material and then dipping this
repeatedly in a solution of latex, allowing each coating to dry before applying the next one.
When the skin was thick enough, a small round hole was cut through the rubber to the clay core
and the latter was removed through the hole, a small amount at a time. The hole was then
plugged with another wad of latex, in a semi-hard condition, and the whole re-dipped once more
in latex thus sealing the air inside the ball. Solid balls were also made, which weighed as much
as twenty-five pounds. These were used in the well-known games played by the Maya in such
open courts as have been found at Chichen Itza, Mexico, and elsewhere.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 29

An article in a rubber journal recently pointed out that these balls are only one example of the
use made by the American Indian of this plastic material. (50) He also made watertight shoes,
flasks, ponchos, and dolls. The same article states that:

The development and use of natural rubber by the American Indian is impressive,
for in 300 years his "civilized" conquerors made little improvement in the ancient
method of rubber manufacture.

The natives used a certain sap of a vine (Iponoea bona-nox) or from a liana (Catonyction
speciosum) to coagulate the latex. Certain trees have the latex in a form which is rubber in
suspension in water. The water can be evaporated and the rubber remains, without any need for a
catalyst.

The story of Charles Goodyear's efforts to take over the development of rubber from the natives
of Brazil and exploit it in America and elsewhere, is well known. The problem was to treat it so
that it would retain its structure, even in hot weather. Their own rubber served the Indians well
enough, especially since they had the secret of curing it by using local products as catalysts. (51)
Goodyear, again and again, brought himself, his family, and his backers to the point of ruin and
bankruptcy because he could not cure the stuff out of which he was trying to make raincoats,
mail bags, and overshoes. As soon as warm weather came, his products turned into a sticky
useless mess! Of course, he finally discovered how to cure by vulcanizing, using sulphur as a
catalyst. But it seems probable that many of his heartbreaks never would have occurred if he had
gone back to the originators of rubber articles and asked them to teach him what they knew first.

Moreover, it is very doubtful if Goodyear or anyone else of his cultural background would have
seen, in the Brazilian forest, what the natives had seen, i.e., a natural product requiring only to be
treated with another natural product to supply a remarkably versatile and useful material.

Textiles

In the matter of textiles, we have been borrowers in almost every detail. It is considered by G. P.
Murdock that the Central American Indian excelled here also: (52)

In skill and technique in the textile arts the ancient Peruvians have had no equal in
human history. They wove plain webs, double faced cloths, gauze and voile,
knitted and crocheted fabrics, feather work, tapestries, fine cloths interwoven with
gold and silver threads - employing in short, every technique save twilling known
to the Old World, in addition to some peculiar to themselves.... They employed
methods identical with those used in the famous Gobelin and Beauvais tapestries;
they nevertheless in harmony of colours, fastness of dyes, and perfection of
technique, far surpassed the finest products of Europe.

C. Langdon White says that the best of their fabrics were from the wool of the vicuna, softest of
all animal fibres, with 270 threads to the inch, as compared with 140 threads otherwise
considered to be outstanding. (53) M. D. C. Crawford, (54) writing in 1948 before certain very

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 30

recent developments, underscores this achievement of the Indian. He made a particular study of
this aspect of their art and skill, and concludes:

As a matter of fact, Europe has never produced a single original natural textile
fibre or any dye except perhaps wool. She has not contributed a single
fundamental or original idea to the basic mechanics of textiles, nor a single
original and fundamental process of finishing, dyeing, or printing....

In the broader world history of textiles and cloth, the ingenious English inventions
of the 18th century (led by Kay's fly-shuttle) are but incidental mechanical
modifications and developments of older ideas which grew out of the social
conditions in England, and were directly due to the importation of cotton and silk
fabrics from the Far East during the 16th and 17th centuries. No new basic
principles either in spinning, weaving, or fabric construction, nor new methods of
decoration, dyes, colours, or designs, are involved in the English machines. The
ancient principles of twisting and elongating masses of fibre into yarn, the
principle of interlacing one set of filaments held in place between parallel bars of
a second set of filaments, remains undisturbed. No new raw materials are
involved: flax, hemp, wool, cotton, and silk, remain the principle fibres. And for
colour the dyes of antiquity were still employed. As a matter of fact, all the dye
raw materials of antiquity, both from Asia and America, were still mentioned in
English dyer's manuals in the late part of the 19th century, and years after Perkin's
experiments with coal tar derivatives in 1856.

Silk, of course, came to us from China, felt from Mongolia, (55) non-woven materials made
from pulps were developed in Polynesia (tapa cloth, etc.). These last are coming into their own in
our day, the capacity for greater production being about our only claim for credit. And even here,
the claim may be somewhat premature, because considerable difficulty has been experienced
thus far in the manufacture of such materials on a large scale. The native products are hand
made, of course. Moreover, their methods of decoration, by tie-dyeing, batique, and silk-screen,
are simply not applicable to mass production methods at present. We do not have time for tie-
dyeing.

Moreover, as we shall see when we come to consider the textile 'industries' of ancient Sumeria,
virtually the whole concept of mechanization, of large mills and hundreds of specialized workers
each doing a single kind of operation, was well developed at least five thousand years ago in the
Middle East.

Meanwhile the Egyptians succeeded in weaving such fine fabrics that they are still equal to our
own best products woven by the very latest mechanical means. Some of the garments associated
with King Tutankhamen's tomb have 220 threads to the inch. Common handkerchiefs today, of
linen, show only about 60 to 70 threads per inch and good linen cloth for such purposes seldom
has more than 100 threads per inch, or less than the Egyptian prototype.

Pottery

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 31

Pottery has always been a source of amazement, whether in the New World or the Old. Chinese
pottery has long been prized for its beauty in form, colour and texture. Central American pottery
is remarkable for its complete freedom of form, and for its ingenuity also. In an environment
where evaporation rates are high, it is desirable to cut down the size of the opening at the top.
But this makes pouring more difficult. The air rushing in suddenly causes the water to flow out
unevenly, and to spill easily. But in many places water is too precious to be wasted in this way.
The Peruvians and the Maya overcame this by putting two spouts on the pot so that one became
both a handle and a separate air inlet. The variations on this theme were both ingenious and
aesthetically pleasing. Not content with this, they even went further and so designed the
passages, that when water was poured out, the air rushing in caused a whistle to blow. In some
cases it is difficult to see why this was done, unless it was to warn the adults when the children
were robbing them of a rather precious commodity! Other types seem clearly to have been
whistling 'kettles' - a further effort to conserve waste by warning the lady of the house that the
water was boiling away. (56)

Many of their vessels are shaped as heads, faces, animals, and even whole people. And these
reproductions were not approximations. They were so lifelike, in many cases, that they must
surely have been actual portraits. Their artistry and skill seem to have known no limits.

The same is true of Middle East pottery. In Minoan Crete the wares are of such delicacy that it
seems they must be copies of originals made in hammered metal. Even the 'rivets' are indicated
sometimes. They also reveal that the metal prototypes were sometimes formed by a process akin
to deep drawing as we technically understand it now. Some of the pottery from the earliest levels
at Tell Halaf and Susa is astonishing in its complete freedom of form and unbelievable delicacy.
We shall refer to this subsequently.

Conclusion

The ingenuity and inventiveness of the primitive is impressive, not only in its simplicity and
effectiveness, but also in its variety and diversity and can be seen even today where such
societies have remained untouched by outside contacts.

Perhaps these abilities are limited and apply only to small societies? In the next chapter we shall
examine how this same ingenuity and inventiveness is basic to the civilizations of the past.

References:

21. Linton Ralph, The Tree of Culture, New York, NY, Knopf, 1956, 83.

22. Cotton, Clare M., "Animals: Old Hands at Angling," Science News Letter, March 6, 1954,
155.

23. Raglan, Lord, How Came Civilization? London, UK, Methuen, 1939, 130.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 32

24. Gudger, E. W., "Fishing with the Cormorant in Japan," Scientific Monthly, 29, July, 1929, 5
ff.

25. Murdock, G. P., op. cit., (ref. # 21), 51.

26. Coon, Carleton S., A Reader in General Anthropology, New York, NY, Henry Holt, 1948,
220.

27. Heizer, Robert F., "Aboriginal Fish Poisons," Paper No. 38, in Anthropological Papers,
Bulletin 151, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1953, 225, 283. Several hundred poisons are
listed.

28. Coon, C. S., op. cit., (ref. #27), 220.

29. Darwin, Charles, Journal of Researches, New York, NY, Ward, Lock, & Co., preface dated
1845, 206ff.

30. Lubbock, Sir John, Prehistoric Times, New York, NY, New Science Library, J.A. Hill, 6th.
ed., revised, 1904, 201.

31. Bolas: see Robert Braidwood, Prehistoric Men, Chicago, IL, Field Museum of Natural
History, in Popular Series: Anthropology, No. 7, 1948, 56.

32. Boomerangs: these have also been reported from Egypt at Badari by Vere Gordon Childe,
(New Light on the Most Ancient East, London, UK, Kegan Paul, 1935, 65) and in Europe, by
Herbert Wendt, (I Looked for Adam, London, UK, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1955, 356).

33. Farwell, George, "The First Known Guided Missile," reprinted in the Globe & Mail, Toronto,
ON, Saturday, August 29, 1953, 17, as a feature article, from the Australian Government
Publication, South West Pacific.

34. Sarton, George, A History of Science, Cambridge, MA, Harvard, University Press, 1952, 5.

35. Tschopik Jr., H., "The Aymara," in the Handbook of South American Indians, published by
the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1946, Vol. 2, Bulletin 143, 501-573.

36. Elkin, Adolphus P., Aboriginal Men of High Degree, Queensland University John Murtagh
Macrossan Memorial Lectures of 1944, published by Australasian Publications, 1946.

37. Read, Grantly Dick, No Time for Fear, reviewed by W. A. Deacon in the Saturday Review of
Books, Globe & Mail, Toronto, ON, August 11, 1956.

38. Huxley, Aldous, "History of Tension," Scientific Monthly, 87, July, 1957, 4, 5.

39. Truth serum: referred to by Robert Lowie, Social Organization, New York, NY, Rinehart,
1948, 168, 169.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 33

40. Levi-Strauss, C., op. cit., (ref. #1), 27.

41. Linton, Ralph, The Study of Man, New York, N.Y, Appleton Century, Student's Edition,
1936, 90.

42. Popham, Robert, "Trepanation as a Rational Procedure in Primitive Surgery," University of

Toronto Medical Journal, 31(5), February, 1954, 204, 211.

43. Lowie, Robert, An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, New York, NY, Farrar &
Rinehart, 2nd ed., 1940, 336.

44. Heizer, Robert, "The Use of the Enema by the Aboriginal American Indians," Ciba
Symposia, 5, February, 1944, 1686.

45. Nordenskiold, Erik, "The American Indian as an Inventor," Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute, 59, 1929, 273, ff.

46. Ants used for suturing: see E. A. Underwood, (Nature, 175, February 19, 1955, 318)
reviewing Lewis Cotlow, Amazon Head Hunters (London, UK, Robert Gale, 1954).

47. Ackernecht, Erwin, in Ciba Symposia, 10, July-August, 1948, 924, in a note under the title
"An Ingenious Device for Stitching Wounds." The same author has a paper entitled "Primitive
Surgery," American Anthropologist, New Series 49, January-March, 1947, in which he gives a
bibliography on the subject of 204 references.

48. Rubber enemas: this is the opinion of E. Nordenskiold, op. cit., (ref. #46), 298.

49. Anonymous article in Rubber Age, November, 1956, 365..

50. Charles Goodyear: see on this, H. Stafford Hatfield, The Inventor and His World,
Harmondsworth, UK, Penguin Books, 1948, 41-44.

51. Murdock, G. P., op. cit. (ref. #21), 428, 429.

52. White, C. Langdon, "Storm Clouds over the Andes," Scientific Monthly, May, 1950, 308.

53. Crawford, M.D.C., op cit., (ref. #17), 184, 185.

54. Felt: see Mabel C. Cole and Fay Cole, The Story of Man, Chicago, IL, Cuneo Press, 1940,
374.

55. Whistling kettles: on this see, T. Athol Joyce, "Marvels of the Potter's Art: In South
America" in Wonders of the Past, edited by Sir John Hammerton, London, UK, Putnam's, 1924,
Vol. 2, 464, 465.

Corrections, May 13, 1997.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 34

The Technology of Hamitic People: Chapter 3

Achievements of Ancient High Civilizations

FOR ALL THEIR ingenuity and inventiveness, modern primitive societies do not seem to
advance, but stagnate and deteriorate, or are completely destroyed by contact with Western
cultures. Yet, these same people did achieve high civilizations in the past, displaying the
characteristic effectiveness and simplicity of their solutions. The well-known civilization of
Central America is a case in point.

Central America

The fame of the Central American Indians in the matter of road building has been well reported.
Cement pavements and other types of surfaced roads, suspension bridges spanning up to 450
feet, anchored at each end by massive stone pillars and capable of carrying cattle and pack
animals, were built in some of the most rugged country in the world. These bridges were often
six to eight feet wide. The ropes by which they supported these slender structures are known to
have been up to twelve inches in diameter. (57) One of the most famous builders was the Inca,
Mayta Capac, who is generally dated from 1195 to 1230 A.D. Although they used wheels on
toys, for some reason they did not employ wheeled vehicles. At least there are no remains of
them, nor pictures, nor references in their traditions or literature. Yet they did use road-rollers
weighing up to five tons! (58) Moreover, they had extensive postal systems along these
highways, and an excellent quality of paper for writing letters and keeping records.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 35

Top: Plumbing at the palace in Knossos, Crete, dated Middle Minoan I, about 2000 BC. (A) The
sections made of baked clay had handles for convenience of installation. (B) Packing was used
for smooth joints, ensuring free flow and little turbulence. (C) Serrated couplings retained filter
material securely. Center: A native loom whose design is common to many parts of the world. It
is used only for those materials available in the locality. Bottom: Chinese rocket launchers, with
a capacity of forty to one hundred rocket arrows, may have been used as early as AD 1232.
These rockest are said to have had a range of four hundred feet.

Archaeologists have discovered that the Maya were making true paper approximately 3000 years
ago. (59) Before these artisans disappeared, the Aztecs had learned the secret. This same process
was handed down from generation to generation and today is used by the Otomi Indians in
Mexico. The inner bark of the fig tree is soaked in running water until the sap jells and can be
scraped off. The fibrous residue is then boiled in lime, washed once more, and laid on a flat
wooden surface like a bread board, where it is pounded to a pulp. The pulp is left on the board
and sun dried. The ancient Aztecs went one step beyond the 20th century Otomis. Their process
was identical up to this point, but after the paper was dry they sized it, then calendered it with hot
stones to produce surfaces readily adaptable for printing. They then printed on it with a crude
kind of moveable type!

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 36

Although many of these original developments have long since been lost sight of, there still
remains sufficient on record to suggest that in Central America a stage of technical excellence
had been achieved. Gilbert Lewis says: (60)

Probably the most remarkable achievements of the American Indians, were in the
fields of arithmetic, astronomy, and the calendar. Two of the greatest inventions
of arithmetic, the zero and the sign of numerical position, were regularly
employed in America long before they are known to have occurred elsewhere....

It may be noted that few apparently unrelated items which I have discovered in the literature
may, when put together, suggest the possible use of astronomical instruments in early America.
Both in Mexico and in Peru concave mirrors were found, articles that had not been seen in
Europe at the time of the Conquest. In Peru, these concave mirrors were employed in a solar rite.
Periodically all old fire was extinguished and a new fire was started by the priests who, with
these mirrors focused the rays of the setting sun on a wisp of cotton. Among the Aztecs new fire
was produced at night by the fire drill. However, that they had recollections of a practice akin to
the Peruvian is suggested by the name of one of their chief gods "Smoking Mirror."

Speaking of Peruvian surgery, J. Alden Mason, quoting the well known paleopathologist R. L.
Moodie, says: (61)

I believe it to be correct to state that no primitive or ancient race of people

anywhere in the world had developed such a field of surgical knowledge as had
the pre-Columbian Peruvians. Their surgical attempts are truly amazing and
include amputations, excisions, trephining, bandaging, bone transplants,
cauterizing and other less evident procedures.

He then speaks of the use of anaesthetics and possibly hypnosis, and remarks that some skulls
show the result of operations on the frontal sinus. Prior to being used their 'operating rooms' were
purified by the sprinkling and burning of maize corn-flour, first black and finally white.

Mason considers that it is literally impossible to exaggerate the technical achievements of these
Peruvian highlanders in the field of textiles. He holds that it is not the view merely of
enthusiastic archaeologists, but of textile manufacturers themselves. Their skill he terms
'incredible.' They even had invisible mending in place of patching. The Aymara still do! In
metallurgy they were not far behind.

Among their textiles, according to Mason, have been found "twining, plain cloth, repp, twill,
gingham, warp-faced and weft-faced or bobbin pattern weave, brocade, tapestry, embroidery,
tubular weave, pile knot, double cloth, gauze, lace, needle-knitting, painted and resist-dye
decoration and several other special processes peculiar to Peru and probably impossible to
produce by mechanical means." It is even possible that they may have watered some crops with
coloured liquids to produce naturally dyed fabrics that were indeed sun-worthy!

Nor is this inventiveness limited to Central America, although for climatic reasons this may have
been the best environment to encourage high civilizations. The Iroquois had invented 'rifled'

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 37

arrowhead long before they found themselves face to face with or in possession of rifled fire
arms. (62) It does not seem likely that the spiralling is sufficient to rotate the arrow rapidly
enough that the need for feathers is eliminated. This at least has not proved to be the case with
my own sample. Evidently such was not the objective. What is clearly achieved is a far more
serious wound. Like the outlawed dum-dum bullets of World War I, the form of the head is such
that the arrow does not pass right through (where it could easily be withdrawn) but buries itself
in the flesh and stops there. The energy of the arrow is absorbed as the head 'corkscrews' into the
body.

The Aymara of Peru build sailing boats and use them on lakes two and a half miles above sea
level - yet there is scarcely a tree to be found at this elevation. These vessels are made entirely of
local bulrushes, and even the sails are mats woven from the same materials. The masts are built
up of small pieces of wood spliced together. Provided these vessels are permitted to dry out
every little while, they will carry a considerable load. (63)

The pre-Inca Indians were master architects, building great monuments and immense
fortifications of stones set in to each other by being laid and lapped together right on the spot.
How they were erected is still a mystery, for many of the stones are huge. But this certainly is the
only genuinely earthquake-proof architecture in Middle America!

One of the most surprising things about the great Ball Court of Chichen Itza is its acoustical
properties. Recently the editor of an American magazine visited this court and reported on this
unexpected feature. He wrote: (64)

We climbed to the vantage point of one of the stands for the thrones of the priests
at the southern end, while our guide went to the other. We were five hundred feet
apart. We talked in low tones no louder than a couple would use sitting in the
living room of an average home. We could hear each other perfectly. We reduced
our voices to a mere murmur: we could still hear each other perfectly....

The General Electric Company, we were told, brought a large group of engineers to Chichen Itza
to carry on acoustical experiments in the big ball court. They attempted to duplicate the court
elsewhere but did not get the same acoustical effect because they had not built with limestone.

The tools of the pre-Columbian builders were no less remarkable than their buildings. It is
believed now that they may have used glass cutting edges for saws, etc., in place of steel - the
glass being a natural volcanic residue. Recent experiments demonstrate that such tools can be
most effective. The idea is suggested by the form of certain fighting weapons. (65)

They had even developed a specialized form of dental repair, using a kind of Portland Cement
filling which has remained firm and intact in tooth cavities for 1500 years! Of this discovery
Sigvad Linne remarks: (66)

The findings [of archaeologists] have revealed to us some of the inventiveness

and technical skill possessed by the Indians. The practical aids of these unknown
technicians may have been primitive yet it could scarcely have been "primitive

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 38

peoples of nature" that with such simple means achieved results before which
their later born Swedish colleagues sometimes stand in dumb amazement.

One might mention that a recent report from Washington states that there is now evidence of the
habitual use of some kind of cleaning agents on the teeth of prehistoric skulls. (67) Since the
Chinese had by at least 1500 A.D. developed a tooth brush that looks remarkably like its modern
counterpart, there is surely nothing new under the sun! (68) For a picture of this toothbrush, see
illustration in the last chapter.

Nordenskiold adds to the credit of the America Indians the invention of the hammock (New
Guinea), (69) children's go-carts (North-western Brazil), (70) cigar holders, the chain, (71) and
an ingenious self-acting water-pump (Columbia) which the Spaniards adopted and converted into
a bilge pump. (72)

This could become just an endless catalogue if we were to go on listing isolated instances of
native ingenuity, such as the use of the skin of the ray-fish by the Polynesians as a 'sand paper,'
(74) the use of giant fireflies (75) called Cucuyo tied to the feet by the natives in the West Indies
to light their way along jungle paths at night, and so forth.

Technology, but no Science

So much importance is attached to inventors and their inventions that they were held in great
veneration and quite often were ultimately deified. The only encyclopedias the Chinese had
originally dealt with the heroic figures who were famous because they had invented something.
(76) Indeed in some cultures, this kind of talent is so generally expected of the males that the
would-be son-in-law must win his bride by performing some almost impossible task set by the
family, which calls forth nothing short of inventive genius! (77) Perhaps this is not such a
remarkable circumstance in a way, since we are tending to move in the same direction and
devote more and more space in encyclopedias to inventions. Yet scholars and generals, poets and
artists, politicians and sportsmen, still share the pages of our history books with equal
recognition.

At any rate, we can see that such an aptitude for invention, and the ability to exploit the natural
resources of the environment, was encouraged only so far as the overall economy allowed. There
was no leisure, often little security, not much accumulation of wealth, and frequently insufficient
'sophistication' to suggest to such people that they might go further. To a man who can hardly
keep food in the larder for his family, idle curiosity is not likely to find much encouragement.
These people searched, and found the immediate solution. They did not have the energy, the
need, the time, or the will to research and extend the answers they had found once they proved
effective enough.

Surely, such limitations did not apply to the higher cultures of China, India, Sumeria, Egypt, the
Indus Valley or Anatolia! All of them achieved an extraordinarily high degree of technical skill
and 'know-how' and enjoyed a very sophisticated urban life. Yet, these civilizations all halted,
apparently on the very threshold of a scientific revolution. The climate was right, records were

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 39

extensive, natural resources abundant - yet, for some reason, they too stopped short of advancing
into Science.

Cradle of Civilization

There is little doubt that the basic civilizations in Sumeria, Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt, and
the Indus Valley, in Northern Syria and in Crete, were all non-Indo-European in origin. The
Indo-Europeans were not, in fact, the creators of the cultures they subsequently became so
indebted to, but rather - as Vere Gordon Childe put it - the destroyers. Certainly this was true in
the Indus Valley.

The early civilization of Mesopotamia was essentially Sumerian: later it was dominated by the
Babylonians and Assyrians, both of whom were Semitic in origin. It is pretty well agreed that the
Sumerians were not Semites, being clean shaven and comparatively hairless like the Egyptians.
And from their language it is quite clear that they were not Indo-European either. Their
civilization developed very rapidly and achieved a remarkable level of technical competence. In
the earliest stages of their history, they seem to have shared many features with the Indus Valley
people (who were later overwhelmed by the Aryans) (78) and with the first settlers in Northern
Syria, and even with the earliest Egyptians. As further development took place in each of these
areas, cultural similarities became obscured.

All these civilizations seem to have sprung into being, already remarkably well organized, with
skills in weaving and pottery making, with some use of metals, and in the erection of defensive
structures and temple buildings - from the very beginning. It is assumed that the Sumerians were
organized into city-states before the Egyptians were, although it was once held that the oldest
centre of civilization was along the Valley of the Nile. While there is, as yet, no evidence of the
Sumerians without the basic elements of civilization it is believed that they came from the North
and East, and it is expected that the origins of these people (and of the Egyptians and Indus
Valley people also) will in due time be discovered in the general direction of Jarmo, Sialk, etc.
What is now fairly clearly established is that civilization - the arts and trades and organized city
life, with the division of labour, social stratification, a leisure class, written records, and so forth
- began, in so far as the Middle East is concerned, with the Sumerians.

Sumeria

This is not a study of archaeology, strictly speaking, and one cannot therefore digress into
elaborate descriptions of the results of excavation in the Middle East. Vere Gordon Childe put it
this way:

On the Nile and in Mesopotamia the clear light of written history illuminates our
path for fully 50 centuries; and looking down that vista we already descry at its
farther end ordered government, urban life, writing and conscious art. The
greatest moments - that revolution whereby man ceased to be purely parasitic and,
with the adoption of agriculture and stock raising, became a creator emancipated
from the whims of his environment, and then the discovery of metals and the
realization of their properties, have indeed been passed before the curtain rises.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 40

And T. J. Meek comes to the same conclusion:

The Sumerian Culture springs into view ready made, and there is as yet no
knowledge of the Sumerians as savages; when we find them in the 4th millennium
B.C., they are already civilized highly. They are already using metals, and living
in great and prosperous cities.

It can however be safely stated - and easily defended - that the most surprising aspect of the
whole venture has been the discovery that technical skill seems to have been remarkably high
from the very beginning and to have been applied in the fields of metallurgy, building, weaving,
agriculture, medicine, art, pottery and ceramics, and transport (both on land and water) from the
earliest times. In fact, succeeding ages often did not reach the same high standards. The problems
of design, basic materials, methods of production in 'quantity,' control of quality, marketing and
cost accounting - all these aspects were successfully dealt with in ways that have been very little
improved upon since.

A quotation from Abbott Payson Usher seems appropriate here:

In this connection it may be well to emphasize the fact that there is no direct
connection between the character of the tools and mechanisms used and the
quality of the craftsmanship. The highest quality of work has been done with the
simplest appliances. Ancient gem cutting was, on the whole, superior to the
modern work. So, too, periods of technologic advance are not necessarily periods
of improvement, in the style or finish of the work. Many of the misconceptions of
the technique of antiquity are due to the naive assumption that good work implies
elaborate tools and mechanisms...

More frequently, technologic advances merely reduce costs and open up possibilities of a larger
volume of production.

The Sumerians knew what percentages of metals to use to achieve the best alloys, casting a
bronze with 9 to 10% of tin exactly as we find best today; their pottery was often paper-thin,
tastefully shaped and decorated, and with a ring like true china, evidently having been fired in
controlled-atmosphere ovens at quite high temperatures. Their methods of production led very
early to a measure of automation including powered agricultural equipment that was, in the
strictest sense, 'mechanical,' Fig.12 (page 53). The control of quality production was early
established by systems of inspection, their factories were highly organized, and price and wage
controls were established by law. They developed loan and banking companies where interest
rates were outlandish, yet still legally controlled; their record keeping and postal systems were
highly efficient, mail being carried in envelopes!

In addition, the upper classes lived quite sumptuously, well supplied in many cases with home
comforts and 'all modern conveniences' - including running water in some cases, tiled baths,
proper disposal of sewage, extensive medical care, and so forth. Even libraries existed, as did
well-organized schools. By comparison, their descendants did not sustain this inheritance, but
came to live in that filthy squalor, precarious poverty, and constant threat of disease, which

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 41

misled earlier generations of Europeans to suppose mistakenly that they themselves were the
creators of the superior civilization they were enjoying.

The greatness of Egypt is 'monumental.' Sumerians did not build with stone, for they did not
have it in sufficient quantity. They left another kind of monument - imperishable written records.
Once these began to be deciphered something of their achievement became apparent. It is by
such means that we know, for example, of their mathematics. Dr. T. J. Meek tells us that: (79)

Like the Egyptians the early Sumerian used the additive method to multiply and
divide, but before 2000 B.C. they had evolved multiplication tables and tables of
reciprocals and of squares and cubes, and other powers, and of square and cube
roots and the like. They had attained a complete mastery of fractional quantities
and had developed a very exact terminology in mathematics. The correct value of
Pi, and the correct geometrical formula for calculating the area of rectangles was
known before 3000 B.C., and in the years that followed came the knowledge of
how to find the area of triangles and circles, and irregular quadrangles, polygons,
and truncated pyramids; also cones and the like. By 2000 B.C. the theorem
attributed to Pythagoras was familiar and they could solve problems involving
equations with 2, 3, and 4 unknowns.

According to one of the best authorities in this area, they even had developed an equivalent to
our logarithm tables! (80)

George Sarton, (81) writing some 20 years later than Meek, could add to this accomplishment
their knowledge that the angle in a semi-circle is a right-angle, that they could measure the
volume of a rectangular parallelepiped, of a circular cylinder, of the frustum of a cone, and of a
square pyramid. He sums up the achievement thus:

The Sumerians and their Babylonian successors left three legacies, the importance
of which cannot be exaggerated: 1) The position concept in numeration. This was
imperfect because of the absence of zero: 2) the extension of the numerical scale
to sub-multiples of the unit as well as to the multiples. This was lost and was not
revived until 1585 A.D. with reference to decimal numbers: and, 3) the use of the
same base for numbers and metrology. This too was lost, and not revived till the
foundations of metric system in 1795.

Later, he writes of what we borrowed indirectly from this source:

Many other traces can be detected in other cultures, even that of our own today -
sexagesimal fractions, sexagesimal divisions of the hours, degrees, and minutes,
division of the whole day into equal hours, metrical system, position concept in
writing of numbers, astronomic tables. We owe to them the beginnings of algebra,
of cartography, and of chemistry.

But perhaps the greatest surprise of all is to find that the Greeks did not do so very well
transmitting this heritage usefully! Thus Sarton concludes:

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 42

The Greeks inherited the sexagesimal system from the Sumerians but mixed it up
with the decimal system, using the former only for sub-multiples of the unit, and
the latter for multiples, and thus they spoiled both systems and started a
disgraceful confusion of which we are still the victims. They abandoned the
principle of position, which had to be reintroduced from India a thousand years
later. In short, their understanding of Babylonian arithmetic must have been very
poor, since they managed to keep the worst features of it, and to overlook the best
...

The Greeks used their intelligence in a different way and did not see simple [i.e., practical -
ACC] things that were as clear as day to their distant Sumerian and Babylonian predecessors.

It might be thought that if the Sumerians were really practical people they would have adopted a
decimal system from the first, and quickly abandoned the sexagesimal system. But there is much
to be said for the use of 12 instead of 10 as a base number. Ten has only two factors, 2, and 5.
But 12 has 2, 3, 4, and 6, or twice as many: and in the higher multiples such as 60, the number of
factors is of course greater than the corresponding 20 of the decimal system. Learning to think in
terms of such a system would be difficult for us now that we are so accustomed to the decimal
system, but there are some highly competent mathematicians who hold that the change could be
made and would be advantageous. This is a matter of opinion, of course, but since we have 10
fingers the choice of 10 as a base seems more obvious - but one suspects therefore that these
practical people saw a real advantage in using 12 instead.

Yet, it was purely a practical matter and not a theoretical one. The Greeks were more interested
in theory than practice. The contrast between the Sumerian and the Greek attitude is seen in their
treatment of problems of Astronomy. In this connection, O. Neugebauer says: (82)

A careful analysis of the assumptions, which must be made in order to compute

our texts, shows nowhere the need for specific mechanical concepts such as are
familiar to us from the Greek theory of eccentrics or epicycles, or from the
corresponding planetary models of Tycho Brahe or Kepler... At no point can we
detect the introduction of an hypothesis of a general character.

Samuel Kramer makes frequent reference to the fact that the Sumerians were an entirely practical
people, with no urge to search for truth for its own sake, among whom there was not the slightest
tendency either to theorize or generalize, who sought for no underlying principles, and undertook
no experiments for verification. (83)

Sarton gives some illustrations to show how their mathematics arose out of a practical need, i.e.,
business records and transactions. In the same way, geometry reached the Greeks after being
developed to satisfy entirely practical needs of the Egyptians. This is why Thales termed it
Geometry, for it was required originally to measure the land in order to re-establish property
boundaries obscured each year by the flooding of the Nile. (84)

Among the Sumerians and Babylonians, banking houses sprang up and became the forerunners
of world economics as represented by our international institutions. Two such banks are known

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 43

from cuneiform records by the names of Engibi and Sons, established about 1000 B.C. and
lasting some 500 years, and Murasha Sons, founded about 1464 B.C. and dissolved finally in 405
B.C. The latter established a system of mortgaging! (85)

Glass was known to the Sumerians by 2700 B.C., and both they and the Egyptians were experts
in the working of it. (86) For drilling such hard substances they used diamond drills, or some soft
material coated with emery or corundum. (87)

A tablet found a few years ago is inscribed by a certain Dr. Lugal-Edina, dated about 2300 B.C.,
and in it we are told how surgeons of the day had already learned to set broken bones, make
minor and major incisions and even attempt operations on the eyes. Sicknesses were given
names, and symptoms carefully noted. Waldo H. Dubberstein of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago, in reporting on this says: (88)

One hundred years of exploration and research in the field of ancient Near Eastern
history have yielded such astounding results that today it is unwise to speculate on
the further capacities and resources of these early people along any line of human
endeavour.

Medicine was a carefully regulated profession with legally established fees for various
operations and very stiff penalties for failure or carelessness - evidently intended to protect the
customer and prevent charlatanism. This certainly suggests that the profession was not simply a
'School of Magicians.'

Although their buildings have largely disappeared, they were noteworthy examples of the use of
local materials, i.e., mud-dried brick and reeds. The former are easily visualized as promising
materials; the latter are not. But, as a matter of fact, "reed huts" (mentioned in some of the very
earliest tablets) are capable of a surprising beauty and spaciousness as the accompanying
illustration indicates. These are modern examples, of course, but there is every reason to believe
that the designs have not greatly changed through the centuries that intervene. Floor plans as
revealed by excavation indicate similar structures.

By the time the Sumerians arrived in Mesopotamia, they had domesticated as many animals as
were ever domesticated in that area, with the exception of the horse which was tamed by the
Hittites - although they did have a draft animal, a mountain ass. And the same may be said of
grains. N. I. Vavilov (89) always considered that the Highland Zone to the north and east whence
they had come, was the most likely home of all such domesticated plants and animal species as
are commonly in use today. He called it the "Source of Species."

Written records appear at the very earliest levels, and even at Sialk there seems to have been no
period when they were without the use of metals. (90)

The same story is found to be true of Egypt. Here again there is no true beginning. The
Egyptians, like the Sumerians and the founders of Tell Halaf in Northern Syria, appear to have
been culturally creative from the very beginning, and to have developed their technology
exceedingly rapidly. Pastoral societies are slower to develop, and the Semites, who were largely

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 44

pastoral, contributed little and borrowed much. Indo-Europeans, meanwhile, did not even have a
word of their own for City; the organization of urban community life with all that this entails in
terms of civilization did not originate with them. It has been shown that all their words for City,
Town, etc., are loan words. (91)

Egypt

The speed with which Egyptian civilization developed was astonishing. P. J. Wiseman, who has
spent a lifetime in the area, studying its past history and closely in touch with the work of
archaeologists, says in this regard: (93)

No more surprising fact has been discovered by recent excavation than the
suddenness with which civilization appeared.... Instead of the infinitely slow
development anticipated, it has become obvious that art, and we may say
"science" suddenly burst upon the world. For instance, H. G. Wells acknowledges
that the oldest stone building known is the Sakkara Pyramid. Yet as Dr. Breasted
points out, "from the Pyramid at Sakkara to the construction of the Great Pyramid
less than a century and a half elapsed."

Writing of the latter, Sir Flinders Petrie stated that, "the accuracy of construction is evidence of
high purpose and great capability and training. In the earliest pyramid, the precision of the whole
mass is such that the error would be exceeded by that of a metal measure on a mild or a cold day;
the error of levelling is less than can be seen with the naked eye."

The same famous Egyptologist stated that the stone work at the Great Pyramid is equal to
optician's work of the present day. (94) The joints of the masonry are so fine as to be scarcely
visible where they are not weathered, and it is difficult to insert even a knife edge between them.

Vere Gordon Childe, speaking of their earliest earthenware, remarks: (95)

The pottery vessels, especially those designed for funerary use exhibit a
perfection of technique never excelled in the Nile Valley. The finer ware is
extremely thin, and is decorated all over by burnishing before firing, perhaps with
a blunt toothed comb, to produce an exquisite rippled effect that must be seen to
be appreciated.

J. Eliot Howard states that the hieroglyphics of the earliest periods indicate that pottery,
metallurgy, rope making, and other arts and techniques were well developed, (96) and W. J.
Perry, quoting De Morgan, says: (97)

What appears at a very early date in Egypt is perfection of technique. The

Egyptian appears from the time of the earliest Pharaohs as a patient, careful
workman, his mind like his hand possessing an incomparable precision... a
mastery that has never been surpassed in any country.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 45

A carved (or ground?) diorite head from Egypt was sold in London some years ago for the sum
of $50,000, and it was considered by the experts at the time "never to have been surpassed in the
entire history of sculpture." (98)

It is hard to decide which of these two civilizations produced the most remarkable metal wares.
The jewelled weapons of their noble dead are simply beautiful and have to be seen to be
appreciated. There are no essential metallurgical techniques which they had not mastered very
early in their history. These include filigree, mold and hollow casting, intaglio, wire-drawing,
beading, granulation (in water?), welding, inlaying of one metal with another, sheeting
hammered so thin as to be almost translucent, repoussé, gilding on wood and other materials,
possibly spinning of metal, and later - even electroplating using a form of galvanic cell catalyzed
with fruit juices and housed in a small earthenware jar. (99) One of these is show in the
accompanying illustration

Both medicine and mathematics are areas of human endeavour in which these ancient people
achieved much, yet were clearly prevented from achieving more by reason of a certain attitude of
mind which seems to have been responsible for their failure to develop the scientific method.

This failure had a fatal consequence. The high technical competence in so many fields which
they developed rapidly and exploited to our continuing wonderment, halted at a certain point,
maintained itself for a few centuries unchanged, began to decay rather suddenly, and finally
passed out of memory altogether until it was recovered from the dust of the centuries by the
labours of archaeologists during the past century or so.

Crete

Sir Arthur Evans' researches in Crete have revealed the same pattern of history. (100) The
magnificent Palace of Minos with its system of hot and cold running water, its rooms often
decorated with a kind of wallpaper effect done (as is done today) with a sponge, (101) its
extraordinary architecture, its beautiful pottery - in many cases patterned upon metal prototypes,
its highly organized court life, and its evidence of extensive trade and commerce overseas - all
these achievements demonstrate clearly that the craftsmen of the ancient Minoan Empire were in
no way behind the Egyptian and Sumerian in technical competence. Two sections of their water
piping are show in the illustration in this chapter. Like the drainage and sewage systems of the
Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo Daru and Changu Daru, they are equal in effectiveness to
anything we can install today. The underground sewage disposal system from Northern Syria is
clear evidence of a highly organized city life that presupposes the same kind of technical
achievement and awareness of community responsibility. Indeed, according to T. J. Meek, the
people of Tell Halaf in Syria were never without metals, and their finely fired pottery "no thicker
than two playing cards" and beautifully designed, is equal to the best that the Sumerians
produced. (102) It is closely paralleled by some of the earliest pottery found at Susa by De
Morgan, (103) a city which was closely tied in with the Sumero-Egyptian-Indus-Valley "archaic
civilization," as W. J. Perry aptly called it.

Roots of Western Civilization

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 46

Here, in these areas, lie the roots of all Western Civilization in its earlier stages of development.
From these centres, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly (as via the Etruscans), Europe
derived the inspiration of its culture.

The indebtedness of the Greeks to the Minoans is now fully appreciated. (104) The Minoans had
in turn derived much of their culture from the Egyptians. Some influences reached Greece
directly from Asia Minor. Among these three sources can be divided almost everything in Greek
culture that has a technical connotation: mathematics, architecture, metallurgy, medicine, games,
and even the inspiration of much of their art - all was borrowed from such non-Indo-European
sources. Even their script, so necessary for literacy, was borrowed. The fact is, one very
influential literary figure, Socrates, far from contributing anything to the technology of writing,
actually strongly opposed it as a threat to the powers of memory.

The same is true of Rome. The part played by the Etruscans in the foundation of Roman
Civilization is immense. Sir Gavin De Beer, in a recent broadcast in England, said: (105)

It may seem remote to us [to ask who the Etruscans were] and yet it affects us
closely for the following reason. We regard the Romans as our civilizers, and we
look up to them as the inventors of all sorts of things they taught us. But it is now
clear that, in their turn, the Romans learned many of these from the Etruscans.

De Beer holds that whatever else might be said about these interesting people, their language at
least was non-Indo-European, and they were not related either to the Romans or the Greeks.
With this, agrees M. Pallottino, an authority on the Etruscans. (106) George Rawlinson, the great
Orientalist and classical scholar says in this respect: (107)

The Romans themselves notwithstanding their intense national vanity

acknowledged this debt to some extent and admitted that they derived from the
Etruscans their augury, their religious ritual, their robes and other insignia of
office, their games and shows, their earliest architecture, their calendar, their
weights and measures, their land surveying systems, and various other elements
of their civilization. But there is reason to believe that their acknowledgement fell
short of their actual obligations and that Etruria was really the source of their
whole early civilization.

To this list D. Randall MacIver adds their martial organization - and even the name of the city
itself in all probability! (108)

Africa

Out of Africa has come to us far more than just the Egyptian contribution, although this alone is
quite substantial. One does not think of Africa as particularly inventive. As a matter of fact,
however, so many new things came from that great continent during Roman times that they had a
proverb, "Ex Africa semper aliquid," which freely translated means, "There is always something
new coming out of Africa." (109) Among other things there came out of Africa "Animal Tales" -

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 47

the Fables - from Ethiopia. In this connection, Edwin W. Smith and Andrew M. Dale point out:
(110)

It might indeed be claimed that Africa was the home of animal tales. Was not the
greatest "literary inventor" of all, an African, the famous Lokman, whom the
Greeks not knowing his real name called Aethiops (i.e., Aesop)?

Even in medicine, Africans have some remarkable achievements to their credit. To mention but
two: the Pygmies of the Ituri Forest had invented an enema quite independently of their South
American Indian counterpart, (111) and it is known that Caesarean operations were successfully
undertaken in childbirth emergencies before the White Man had succeeded in doing it. (112)

Out of Ethiopia came coffee, (113) and African art has been the 'inspiration' of new forms of art.
Very recently, a kind of rocking stool, inspired by an ingenious African prototype, has come into
popularity.

Their engineering skill is often revealed in very simple things. A carrying chair is so designed
that the rider receives the absolute minimum of jolts and rockings due to the unevenness of the
ground. It is a kind of super-whiffle-tree sling that equalizes the load and guarantees smooth
passage. Simple and effective, it is designed on entirely sound engineering principles of which
the makers were probably hardly aware.

As a further witness to the same kind of genius for simplified construction, an African loom is
shown in the illustration in this chapter. It makes the most efficient use possible of locally
available raw materials, and uses their actual form to the best advantage.

Almost every African community of any size has its own smelting furnace and smithy. No part
of this iron working art has been borrowed from Europe. The whole process (and the refinements
found in some cases) is a native invention. The bellows used to increase the oxygen supply and
thereby the heat at the hearth, are of native design and manufacture and are vary greatly in form.
The pipes which convey the air into the furnace are also home-made. Suitable clay is plastered
around pieces of wood of the proper size and shape (whether curved, straight, or even forked),
and then the whole is burned in a fairly hot fire. This reduces the wooden insert to ashes and
leaves the desired pipe form, shaped and baked all ready for use. When the ore has been reduced
and the metal is removed from the dismantled furnace, it is worked by hand. The metal may be
hammered into sheet, drawn into wire, or forged into other forms such as vessels, blades, etc., as
desired. R. J. Forbes says that although today African smiths often obtain their raw materials
from European sources, the Negro smiths "are very ingenious craftsmen in inventing and using
new tools and types of bellows." (114)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 48

More Ingenuity and Intelligence

Samuel N. Kramer has recently published a volume resulting from a lifetime of cuneiform
studies which he titles From the Tablets of Sumer, and his subtitle takes the following form:
"Twenty-five Firsts of Man's Recorded History." It is an impressive collection of "firsts," yet one
will feel at times that he has introduced a few cases which are only rightly termed so, by a kind
of special pleading. But, on the whole, his collection shows that their inventiveness was by no
means limited to mechanical things, but applied equally well to certain forms of literature - and
indeed to the very idea of collecting libraries, writing histories, and cataloguing books for
reference.

Among the literary achievements of the Egyptians are to be listed what was surely the first
'moving-picture' sequence, (115) and the first Walt Disney Cartoon. (116) Gloves and camp
stools are found first in Crete, (117) soap in Egypt, (118) virtually all carpenter's tools (saws,

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 49

squares, bucksaws, brace and bit, etc.) from the Etruscans (119)- with a novel brace and bit,
(120) and the 'level' from Egypt. (121) The Etruscans invented lathes. (122) The Egyptians
apparently built a pipe-organ using water to obtain a uniform air pressure. (123) Folding
umbrellas and sun-shades were first designed in China (124) and were not introduced into
England until centuries later. The Sumerians used drinking straws, (125) and bequeathed to their
successors chariot wheels which were made of plywood, using exactly the same manufacturing
technique we employ today. (126) Africans were using vaccines long before the White Man
adopted the measure. (127) There is even a record of the invention of a malleable glass, the
secret of which was destroyed - along with its originator! - by the ruling monarch, for fear of
upsetting the economy. (128) Every form of building technique now commonly used (including
concrete) is found among non-Indo-Europeans, and in many cases long antedating the Romans.
This is especially true of the arch, barrel vault, dome and cantilever principle of construction.
The barrel vault was achieved in Babylon, without the need for a supporting scaffold under it, by
starting against an upright wall which was later removed. The cantilever principle was used by
the Egyptians (among others) in strengthening their larger seagoing vessels, to prevent them
from 'breaking their backs,' as marine engineers would say.

Speaking of boats, James Hornell, an authority on water craft as developed by primitive and
ancient people, opens a paper on the subject with these words: (129)

There can be no doubt that to Asiatic ingenuity we owe the beginnings of the
world's principle types of Water Transport. Early man in Asia invented means of
extraordinary diversity to enable him to cross rivers, etc....

The vessels illustrated or referred to include every type of small craft, from mere floats to
coracles and large outrigger sailing vessels, etc. If we bear in mind that China gave us the stern-
post rudder, and watertight compartment construction, as well as canal locks for inland
waterways, (130) and that the Koreans built the first true battleship, with iron cladding -
notwithstanding the claims made for 'Old Ironsides' in Boston Harbour - it will be seen that we
have not contributed a great deal basically to marine engineering. Isabella L. Bishop says of this
Korean warship, that it was named Tortoise Boat, and was "invented by Yi Soon Sin in the 16th
century, enabling the Koreans to conquer the great Japanese General Hideyoshi in Chinhai Bay."
(131)

Naphtha gas was first used by the Sumerians, eye salves in multiple tubes probably by the same
people, (132) and spray-painting by palaeolithic man! (133) Cigarettes were known to the North
American Indians long before Europeans had even heard of tobacco; (134) spectacles are
probably a Chinese invention; (135) and safety pins came from the Etruscans. (137) The Chinese
did many things with glass. (138) According to Bruno Schweig, (139) there is evidence of glass
mirrors as early as 2000 B.C.

Although the abacus seems a very slow and primitive way of making calculations, recent
experiments undertaken by experts in both the ancient instrument and the modern electrically
operated comptometer, have shown that in the hands of a skilled operator it can hold its own
against all mechanical devices (excluding computers), except in one particular type of
calculation. (140)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 50

Comte Du Nouy, after a backward look at the 'rostrum of ingenuity' which meets the eye from
antiquity, expresses the conviction that: (141)

Intelligence does not seem to have increased radically in depth during the last
10,000 years. As much intelligence was needed to invent the bow and arrow,
when starting from nothing, as to invent the machine gun, with the help of all
anterior inventions.

The point is well taken, and one demonstration of the wisdom of this observation is that the
experts find it quite impossible to determine, how the first bow ever came to be invented! Their
reconstructions are as varied as can be. This tends to show that such a weapon would certainty
not, as it were, occur easily to its inventor if we cannot even imagine how it originated with one
right in front of us.

Ancient China

Finally, we come to the great contribution made by China. (142) If we should ask today what
three things above all have contributed to or are contributing to our present conquest of the earth,
we might possibly agree that printed matter, a convenient medium of exchange of some kind
(i.e., paper currency), and powered propulsion are fundamental. All of these - and of course
hundreds besides - we have derived from China, though often indirectly via the Arab world.

For our wheeled vehicles we initially used draft animals domesticated in the Middle East. These
draft animals could not pull nearly as much as they now do, thanks to the development in China
of far more effective systems of harness. But we have, of course, long since passed out of the
draft-horse age into the jet propulsion era. The motive power for such high-speed engines was
likewise inspired by the Chinese. In virtually every form of airborne vehicle or device, including
rockets, kites, gliders, balloons, parachutes, weather forecasting, and even the helicopter
principle (in the form of toys), China and the Far East preceded us.

Why No Science?

Because of the extraordinary developments of Chinese technologists, it is not uncommon to see

references to their "science." Even though some of the greatest authorities do it, this is perhaps
an error, as we shall try to show. In reviewing Needham's magnum opus on the Science and
Civilization of China, the Editor of Discovery says:

We are forced to realize that the old question as to why Science failed to develop
in China must be replaced by the much more cautious one, "Since the Chinese
people have shown ability to observe and invent surpassing that of the West until
comparatively recent times, what factors in environment and thought carried them
so far and yet prevented the development of the full scientific method?"

With all due respect to both Needham and the Editor of Discovery, I think there is a serious
danger here of supposing that Science is merely an extension of Technology, a kind of natural
"adult stage." I would rather take the view held by James Conant that Science is not merely an

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 51

extension of Technology, any more than infinity is merely a very very large number; it is in a
different category. One should not speak of a 'full scientific method,' any more than one should
strictly speak, conversely, of something only being 'half-alive.'

But of their engineering achievements and mechanical and technical skill there is not the
slightest doubt. It is all the more remarkable that they did not step over the boundary into the
kind of Industrial Revolution which resulted from the development of Science in Europe.
Certainly there is no evidence that either they, or any of the other highly developed civilizations
we have been discussing, were ever on the verge of doing so. As Herbert Butterfield put it in his
Origins of Modern Science:

There does not seem to be any sign that the ancient world before its heritage had
been dispersed was moving towards anything like a scientific revolution.

The question of why China stopped short where she did, is explored at great length by Needham:
his knowledge of Chinese culture should surely entitle him to speak of their having achieved a
measure of scientific knowledge, if he feels it is justified to do so. And this he does. To challenge
such an authority must appear as little more than impudence on the part of anyone whose
knowledge is so completely derived from secondary sources. Yet even Needham himself makes
admissions now and then which are tantamount to saying that he is using the word Science to
mean merely a highly developed Technology, and nothing more. The Chinese, as he makes quite
clear, were never impractical dreamers or people likely to waste time asking questions whose
answers did not seem to be of immediate practical value. Yet this is an essential attitude for the
scientific mind.

In reviewing Needham's work, Robert Multhauf indicates that the conclusion to be drawn from
the two volumes published thus far, is that Chinese Technology participated little in and
probably contributed little immediately to the development of scientific thought. In fact,
Needham himself asserts that the Chinese worldview depended on a totally different kind of
thought pattern from that in the West. What he could have mentioned, perhaps, is that it is not
only unlike that of Western Man, but it is exceedingly like that developed by almost all other
cultures which are non-Indo-European. This is of fundamental importance and to my mind
accounts for the absence of Science, not only in China, but in non-Indo-European cultures. It is
interesting to find that a Chinese man writing a few years ago on this very point, titled his Paper,
"Why China has no Science." In this, the author, Tu-Lan Fung, makes it clear that a feeling for
the essential personalness of Nature plus a conviction that what is 'righteous' equals what is
'useful' in the immediate sense - leads to considerable distrust of activities of a purely intellectual
or abstract character, and a feeling of positive distaste for experimenting with Nature. Scientific
research, in the proper sense, was an impure waste of time that almost amounted to sacrilege! As
he put it, "to speak of things in abstract and general terms is always dangerous."

But, meanwhile, in this chapter, we shall review briefly their Technology. That we obtained from
China silk, porcelain, explosives, paper, printing with moveable type, paper money, the magnetic
compass, and mechanical water clocks is so well known that the facts need little or no
elaboration. That they anticipated us in the use of gas for cooking and heating, cast iron, flame
weapons in warfare, and, as has been stated above, the initial conquest of the air is possibly less

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 52

well known. In addition to this, they initiated the use of fingerprinting for identification
purposes, chain pumps, the crossbow and a repeating bow with twelve shots per loading, gimbal
suspension systems, the draw loom, the rotary fan and a winnowing machine, piston bellows,
wheelbarrows, stirrups, a greatly improved harness for draft animals that enabled them to pull
almost twice as heavy a load, deep drilling methods, and much more is even less commonly
known.

Marco Polo (140) gives us an extensive account of the use of paper money. He says it was issued
in various denominations, stamped authoritatively by the Governor of the mint, and circulated as
the only form of valid currency over a very wide geographical area. The bills, he says, were quite
remarkably strong and did not tear easily: any which had been torn, however, or had suffered
defacement, were recalled to the mint and replaced. Strikingly reflecting our own bills of a few
years ago, they contained a promise that they would be redeemed for certain fixed quantities of
either precious stones or precious metals upon request! Foreign merchants could not sell their
jewels or precious metals on the open market, but were required to turn them in at the mint,
where they received a good recompense in paper money.

Consider how great such an innovation really was. As Marco Polo says, a man who wished to
move could turn in hundreds of pounds (by weight) of valuable goods in personal property, and
walk away with a pocketful of money so light as to be hardly noticeable with which in some
other part of the Empire, he could recover his hundreds of pounds of goods. Everywhere else in
the world men were loaded down with the weight of their possessions, which often took such a
form as to be virtually worthless once the owner left his own locality. What such a scheme did
for trade and commerce is incalculable. Even today, paper money, whether in notes or cheques,
virtually keeps our civilization running. Maybe, we would have come to it anyway in time.
Certainly, we did not initiate the idea. It originated in the 13th century with the Great Khan.

It was, as Needham points out, often many centuries before such inventions reached the West
from China. And he also notes that China received from the West very little in return: actually,
only four items are listed - the screw principle, a force pump for liquids, the crankshaft, and
clockwork powered by a spring. Of these in turn, only the screw principle and an alternative
form of it (the windmill) seem actually to be to the credit of Indo-Europeans, possibly the Greeks
for the screw and the Persians for the windmill. There is evidence that even the screw was
obtained from Egypt. Needham points out that the art of drilling deep wells or bore-holes, as
used today in exploiting oil reserves, is specifically of Chinese origin. He also mentions that the
use of graticules on maps to simplify the specifying and location of places, is probably of
Chinese origin, although Ptolemy also employed this method.

For almost all Needham's illustrations, one thing can be said, to use his own words: "Firm
evidence for their use in China antedates and sometimes long antedates, the best evidence for
their appearance in any other part of the world...." He then quotes Arthur Toynbee as having
said:

However far it may or may not be possible to trace back our Western mechanical
trend towards the origins of our Western history, there is no doubt that a

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 53

mechanical penchant is as characteristic of the Western civilization as an aesthetic

penchant was of the Hellenic...

Of this observation, Needham says, "It is to be feared that all such valuations... are built on
insecure foundations." The fact is, we simply do not have any such penchant if we judge our
'racial' character by looking at our achievements prior to the time we began to borrow from non-
Indo-Europeans. Since that time, racial mixture has taken place on such a scale, and with it of
course 'cultural' mixture also, that it is difficult to say for certain who is and who is not Indo-
European in many cases. About all we can do is to attempt to gain a certain measure of
objectivity in this regard, by looking more carefully at the actual achievement involved in many
borrowed elements of our civilization which we now think simple and obvious, merely because
we have become so used to them.

Take, as an example, the preparation of silk. Sarton says of this: (148)

Consider what the invention implied - the domestication of an insect, the

'education' of silkworms, the cultivation of the white mulberry, the whole of
sericulture!

But - more than anything else - it involved the recognition of the possibilities of the material in
the first place. Spider web is one of the strongest known natural filaments, but it does not seem
that anyone ever thought of cultivating spider web for this purpose. The idea of such a possibility
is not enough. It requires considerable energy to turn it into a working industry, and although it
seems highly improbable that it was done in a single step, somebody must have been alive to the
practical advantages of making the effort - and have demonstrated that it could be done. But then
it seems, having developed the 'industry' until it was producing results, there it was left... with
virtually no effort to extend it or improve the technique or seek for substitute insects or even
attempt to make a synthetic material using the same kind of substance produced by other means.
This is the kind of thing we do well, but we always seem to need the initial stimulation from
somewhere else.

Needham also draws attention to the fact that the Chinese have excelled in the art of war,
inventing new weapons and new methods of attack or defence. The repeating or 'magazine'
crossbow, of which an example of the mechanism is to be found in the Royal Ontario Museum,
is surely the world's first machine gun. To their credit (?) must also be given the invention of
flame weapons and smoke bombs. Although the former appeared in the Mediterranean area first
from North Africa, being used there against the Romans, there is no doubt that the Arabs derived
them from the Chinese, for they called them "Darts of China." In a classified document on
Chemical Warfare published some years ago in the United States, Harold Lamb had this to say:
(150)

A search through Oriental annals reveals other ancestors of present European

weapons. But it is a little surprising to find the modern hand grenade, flame-
thrower, and cannon in use in Asia centuries ago.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 54

In Roman days vases filled with a fire compound were employed by the Persians
at the Siege of Petra. This compound was sulphur, asphalt, and naphtha; and the
vases were cast by mangonels (a kind of giant catapult). The flames which sprang
up when the vessel broke could not be extinguished. This was the origin of the
much talked about Greek fire, which they, having borrowed it from the Arabs ...
were surprised to find would continue to burn on water, a fact which mystified the
early Crusaders.

Haram al-Raschid used a sulphur-naphtha compound at the siege of Heraclea....

At the siege of Acre, a Damascus engineer destroyed the wooden towers of the
Crusaders by casting against them light clay vessels of the fluid until everything
was well saturated. Then a flaming ball was thrown out and, as we read in one old
Chronicle, "all was destroyed by flame, man, weapons, and all."

During the 13th century, flame weapons were highly developed by the Arabs.
They had hand grenades - small glass or clay jars that ignited when they broke;
and a curious fire-mace, that was to be broken over the head of a foe, its owner
keeping well to windward!

Flame throwers appeared in the form of portable tubes that could burn a man to
ash at 30 feet [We still cannot do much better - or worse - with modern weapons!
ACC]. Some of the names of these flame weapons, such as "The Chinese Flower"
and so on, only indicate that they had their origin in that country. In fact we find
the Chinese of the 13th century very familiar with destructive fire. They had the
pao that belched flaming power, and the fie-ho-tsing, the "spear of fire that flies."

It seems then that the Arabs borrowed much from the Far East: paint brushes (but with the
original pig bristles replaced by camel hair for religious reasons), paper manufacture, block
printing, silk, alchemy, and of course such weapons of war as the above, in addition to
explosives. They were great carriers, but apparently somewhat uninventive.

Another document prepared by the Office of the Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service
(Washington, 1939) opens with these words: (151)

Ghengis Khan, famous ruler of the Mongols and of China, used chemicals in the
form of huge balls of pitch and sulphur shot over the walls of besieged towns to
produce a combination of screening smoke, choking sulphur fumes, and
incendiary effects as a standard routine of attack.

Even 'irritating' gases were used by the Arabs against the Roman Legions in North Africa as
early as 220 A.D. According to Captain A. Maude, the secret of this weapon was finally learned
by the Romans with the capture of a Prince of Mauritania named Juba II, subsequently married
to Selene, the daughter of Cleopatra. (152)

The Chinese, curiously enough, did not make much use of their explosives in warfare by
developing cannons until the idea was suggested to them by Europeans! But they did make

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 55

rocket arrows, and their launching devices were certainly the sires of modern multiple rocket
launchers. One illustrations of this, from a Chinese manuscript, is given in the accompanying
illustration. They also developed 'psychological' weapons, using large arrows with whistling or
'screaming' heads on them that were guaranteed to stampede horses. Some of their bows were so
beautifully designed that, as Klopsteg has shown, they could actually shoot up to half a mile with
them. (153)

Their gunpowder burned rather slowly and unevenly. Hence it was not too effective in cannons.
But this did not deter them. They made use of the fact. Practically speaking, they arranged the
cannon's barrel so that it was free to move and then fastened the charge in it so that it stayed with
the weapon, thus they had a jet propelled rocket. They then made the tube out of tightly wound
paper to save weight, and put a point on it for better flight. However, they soon found that the
uneven burning of the propellant caused the rocket's flight to be somewhat erratic. This they
overcame by putting a trailing stick on it to steady it. At first this stick had feathers, but they
found that the feathers were simply burned off. It made no difference, for these feathers proved
unnecessary. What they did discover was that, regardless of the size of the rocket, it had the best
balanced flight when the stock was seven times as long as the rocket head. This is still found to
be so. (154)

Willey Ley says that the Arabs learned of these weapons from the Chinese and thus called them
"Alsichem alkhatai" or Chinese Arrows. (155) The French Sinologist, Stanislas Julien, has found
references to these rockets in China as early as 1232 A.D.

In metallurgy (and in alchemy), the Chinese were far ahead of the West very early in their
history. R. J. Forbes, a foremost authority on metallurgy in antiquity, tells us that they were
making cast iron stoves by 150 B.C. at least. (156) A picture of one such stove is given for
interest's sake, though the original source of the illustration cannot be vouched for. It was used
by the Borg-Warner Corporation in an advertisement in a Technical paper.

Another metallurgical journal gives a picture of a huge single cast iron statue which is believed
to have been set up in 953 A.D. This is held to be one of the largest single iron castings ever
made.

As a matter of interest, it is sometimes pointed out that the Hittites (possibly a non-Indo-
European people with an Indo-European aristocracy), who disappeared from History so
completely that their very existence was once doubted, are referred to in cuneiform documents as
the Khittai, and sometimes as the Khattai. C. R. Conder suggested that they disappeared because,
when their Kingdom came to an end, the people packed up and travelled East where they left
their name associated with China and the Far East in the form 'Cathay.' (157) The Arabs term
Chinese Arrows as Alkhatai, as we have seen. Forbes holds that the Hittites discovered cast iron
even before the Chinese did. If this is true, it would suggest that this is possibly where the latter
obtained their knowledge of it.

In the conquest of the air, China played a very prior part. Francis R. Miller states that: (158)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 56

China enters first claim to the invention of the balloon - centuries before Europe
knew it. The Chinese further claim to have had a system of signals by which
different toned trumpets sounded from the top of high hills and gave notice of
impending changes of wind and weather, for use by navigators of dirigible
balloons.

Miller gives an illustration from an official Chinese document of a large dirigible said to have
been used at the coronation of the Emperor Fo-Kien, in 1306. It was large enough to carry 9
individual gondolas which were lowered to the ground with pulley systems.

In another place Miller reports that: (159)

A contemporary of Confucius (c. 550 B.C.) named Lu Pan, who was known as
"the mechanician of Lu," is said to have made a glider in the form of a magpie
from wood and bamboo which he caused to fly.

Miller also states that kites, as precursors of airplanes, first appeared in Chinese annals at a very
early date. Chinese scholars who kept records frequently refer to them. The earliest kites were
used for military signalling first recorded in warfare in the time of Han Sin, who died in 198
B.C., one of the Three Heroes who assisted in founding the Han Dynasty. General Han Sin,
plotting to tunnel into Wei-yang palace, flew a kite to measure the distance to it. (160)

According to Needham: (161)

La Loubere saw the parachute used by acrobats in Siam around 1688, and his
description was read a century later by Lenormand, who then made some
successful experiments and introduced the device to Montgolfier. This is not to
deny that the idea of the parachute had been proposed in Europe at the time of the
Renaissance, but there are Asian references to it much earlier still.

The first suspension bridges with iron chains were constructed in China at least ten centuries or
more before they were known and built in Europe. (162)

The story of printing and of paper manufacture is so well known as to need little consideration
here. It first came to Europe as a finished product with the old camel silk trains - its secret of
manufacture jealously guarded. Not until an Arab armed victory over the Chinese armies near
Samarkand in 751 A.D. did paper settle in the West as an industry, set up by captured Chinese
paper makers. Its use soon spread all over Europe.

The development of printing depended upon the manufacture of suitable ink. Carbon black was
first made by the Chinese, who prepared it by burning oil and allowing the flame to impinge on a
small porcelain cone, from which the deposited carbon was removed at frequent intervals with a
feather. The famous stick ink resulted from the compounding of this with a strong glue solution.
(163)

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 57

R. H. Clapperton has shown that the recent researches of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin prove
beyond doubt that the Chinese were not only the inventors of rag paper, raw fibre (mulberry bark
and bamboo paper) and paper made of a combination of raw fibre and rags, but also the inventors
of loading and coating paper! (164) We formerly used a china-coated paper with a fine screen to
obtain the best reproduction of photographs, though this has now been replaced with less
expensive and possibly more durable plastic coatings. But the idea originated with the Chinese.

A recent Chinese author, Li Ch'iao-p'ing points out that Chinese inventions opened up new fields
of chemical manufacture in early times, but then remained stationary for centuries. One of their
earlier contributions to medicine was the extraction of ephedrine from the herb Ephedra, a
process credited to a very famous Emperor Shen Nung, who is supposed to have lived
somewhere between 3000 and 2200 B.C. (166)

A two thousand year old rig for drilling salt wells was recently cited as a good model still for the
modern cable rig of today's oil fields.

Even in the design of clothing, they seemed to have a genius for hitting upon the best end-results,
quite apart from the actual materials they developed. Thus it has been recently shown that the so-
called 'Chinese sleeve' which permits each forearm to be inserted into the opposite sleeve, is
more effective for keeping the hands warm in cold weather than either Arctic mittens, or a muff!
Europeans adopted muffs and mittens, but, having investigated the Chinese pattern thoroughly, it
now appears to be equally - if not more - effective. (167)

Although the 'clockwork' motor principle was taken to the Chinese from the West, their water
clocks long antedated the European systems of keeping accurate time, and were certainly more
dependable, especially when mercury was used in place of water. The complexity of these water-
clocks has only recently been recognized, as a result of the finding of some ancient documents
sufficiently explicit and detailed to enable Needham and some associates to draw plans and
diagrams of their operation. This was reported recently in the British Journal Nature.

These devices were highly ingenious, involving gear trains of several kinds, the speed being very
exactly regulated by a most dependable and clever use of water or mercury. Knowledge of these
seems to have come into Europe, possibly during the Crusades.

The clocks were connected with astronomical observations, in an endeavour to predict seasons,
etc., more exactly. The interest was purely of a practical nature.

As we have already mentioned briefly, the Chinese had already discovered the uniqueness of
fingerprints, and quickly perceived how useful this could be for identification purposes. They
were used during the T'ang dynasty as early as 618 A.D. (168)

According to a special report on the uses of natural gas, it is said that the Chinese were the first
to use it. (170) Probably the Sumerians can dispute this claim. But the story goes that some
villagers near Peiping were trying to put out a local brush fire, when they found one flame that
could not be extinguished with water. "The practical villagers then built a bamboo pipeline, from
the outlet to the village, and used the gas for heating brine to make salt." This is said to have

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 58

taken place somewhere about 450 B.C. Whether they can be said to have 'invented' the use of
natural gas or not is a questionable point - but certainly they were very quick to see its practical
possibilities. This is in exact contrast to the Romans who produced cast iron in considerable
quantities but threw it all away because they did not recognize it as a potentially useful product.
(171) As we have already remarked, the basic technology of all metallurgy is entirely non-Indo-
European, even heat-treatment and case-hardening being known before we 'discovered' it. (172)

Indeed, in some instances, we not only have never improved upon the products of our instructors,
but actually have not even been able to improve upon their methods of manufacture - where we
usually shine. Cire perdu casting is still employed for small bronze statues of racing horses and
such items, and even the use of cow manure for the mold has been retained from the most
ancient times, to give the best results. This system is extraordinarily effective for casting hollow
articles of intricate form, where the use of ordinary cores is quite impossible. Yet it is found in
every primitive society that has any knowledge of metals, in every archaeological site bearing
the remains of cultures who had developed metal casting skills, and virtually every high
civilization (with the exception of Indo-Europeans) seems to have had knowledge of the art...
almost exactly as it is done in Europe today. We, therefore, use the same basic methods as non-
Indo-Europeans for casting hollow objects in metal, just as we have adopted exactly the same
method of moulding hollow objects in rubber (cored or slush-moulded) as the natives of Central
and South America did.

Conclusion

It is difficult to extract oneself from a familiar cultural background sufficiently to view the
achievements of other cultures objectively. It comes as something of a shock to discover how
little we, of Western tradition, have contributed to the world's technology.

A recognition of this fact is salutary in so far as it can influence our thinking about other cultures
by making us far more respectful of them.

EPILOGUE

Although it will be possible to quote authorities who do not hesitate to say that we Indo-
Europeans have invented virtually nothing, such sweeping generalizations need qualification. In
the first place, racial mixture has proceeded so extensively in Europe and America that it is no
longer possible, in many cases, to say, for certain, which individuals do or do not carry some
non-Indo-European genes. In other words, it is no longer always clear who is truly Indo-
European and who is not. But it is true to say that whatever inventiveness we have shown in the
past three or four centuries has almost always resulted from stimulation from non-Indo-
Europeans. Our chief glory has been the ability to improve upon and perfect the inventions of
others, often to such an extent that they appear to be original developments in their own right.
We can also make some claim to have greatly advanced mass production methods. But it would
surely be a great mistake to credit the improver with greater inventive ability than the originator.
Moreover, the individual who tells the truth 99% of the time, but now and then tells lies, would

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 59

hardly be termed a liar. By the same token, it does not seem proper to call a people 'inventive'
who once in a while do invent something, but who 99% of the time merely adapt the inventions
of others to new ends.

Paul Herrmann has written an interpretative survey of man's conquest of the earth's surface from
Palaeolithic times to the present day. It is the work of one man, no small undertaking, and has,
therefore, not the comprehensiveness one might desire, but it has the advantage of being a
unified treatment. In his foreword he has this to say: (173)

A further aim in writing this book was to weaken the very widespread conviction
that our progress in the technological aspects of civilization represents, in any real
sense, a greater achievement than that of our forebears. The liberation of atomic
energy probably means no less than did the invention of the firedrill or the wheel
in their day. Both discoveries were of immense importance to early man.

Needham says that the only Persian invention of first rank was the windmill, and apart from the
rotary quern (whose history is not quite certain), the only European contribution of value,
mechanically speaking, is the pot-chain pump. (174) This gives us two claims to originality.
Compared with the originality of other cultures prior to the 15th century A.D., we certainly did
not shine in this area. Yet we have advanced technology so far ahead of all previous civilizations
that there must be some fundamental reason - a reason elaborated on in another Paper.

Meanwhile, in the conquest of land and sea and air, in agriculture and animal husbandry, in
economics, trade, and commerce, in the creation of all that lies behind literature, the keeping of
records, and the ordering of knowledge, in arts and crafts, cities and the development of means
of cummunication over long distances, in the invention of tools and the exploitation of power
sources - in all these areas the foundations were laid by Hamitic people.

What we have since been able to do in elaborating this basic heritage is another story. It is
necessary here only to establish something of the measure of our indebtedness. This catalogue by
no means exhausts the list. In fact, even in the use of electricity and internal combustion engines
of the diesel type, the initial inspiration seems likewise to have come from the Hamites. A
consideration (alluded to above) of Hamitic precedence in these two specialized areas of
technology illustrates how God apportioned to the three sons of Noah a characteristic genius, a
genius which is in some way peculiarly related to their way of looking at things which seems to
be reflected (perhaps even determined) by the grammatical structure of their respective language
groups.

This Paper has dealt with the contribution of the descendants of Ham. The contribution of Shem
was a very special kind, essentially in the realm of the spirit. The contribution of Japheth has
been in the realm of the intellect. Japheth took the Technology of Ham and created Science. But
Science unredeemed by a true spiritual perception is far from beneficial for man in the long run.
Thus each has been called to play a unique and vital part, Shem Ham, and Japheth. When any
one of them has failed to contribute, or when one has dominated the other two, civilization
(though seeming to gain at first) has always suffered a decline. But when each has contributed in

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 60

the proper measure, enormous strides forward are made and the development of civilization has
been almost explosive.

One final observation: In the light of the evidence given here, how remarkable is Noah's
pronouncements about the relationships of his sons! In contrast to the curse pronounced upon
Adam and Eve and Cain at the beginning of human history which ended so disastrously, this
curse pronounced upon the three sons of Noah at a new beginning of human history is more in
the nature of a safeguard. In fact it is not so much a curse as it is a promise that human history
will culminate in the safe expression of the full potential of humanity - to the glory of God and of
His creatures. Such are the implications of the simple statements of Gen. 9:24-27:

Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Blessed be the LORD God of Shem,
And Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth,
And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem,
And Canaan shall be his servant.

Bibliography on Aegean Pre -history:

Blegen, Carl W., Zygouries: A Prehistoric Settlement in the Valley of Cleonae, Cambridge, MA,
Harvard University Press, 1928. Bosanquet, R. C., Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos,
Macmillan, 1904.

Dinsmoor, W.B., The Architecture of ancient Greece, London UK, Batsford, 1950.

Evans, Sir Arthur, The Palace of Minos, London, UK, Macmillan, 4 Vols., 1921-1935.

Heurtley, W. A., Prehistoric Macedonia, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press,

1939.Holmberg, Erik J., The Swedish Excavations at Asea in Arcadia, Lünd, Sweden, Gleerup,
1944. Mylonas, George, Prehistoric Macedonia: Studies in Honour of F. W. Shipley, Washington
University Series, Language and Literature, No. 14, 1942, 55ff.

Pendlebury, John D. S., The Archaeology of Crete, London, UK, Methuen,1939.

Seager, Richard B., "Explorations in the Island of Mochlos," American School of Classical
Studies at Athens, published in Boston, 1912.

Valmin, M. Natan, The Swedish Messenia Expedition, Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press,
1938.

Wace, Alan J. B., Prehistoric Thessaly, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1912.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 61

Weinberg, Saul, "Neolithic Figurines and Aegean Interrelations," in the American Journal of
Archaeology, April, 1951, 121ff.

Xanthoudides, Stephanos, The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, Liverpool University Press, and
London, UK, Hodder & Stoughton, 1924.

And, of course, numerous articles on the Linear Scripts, which have now been deciphered and
which originated in Crete, having been adopted by the Greeks subsequently.

References:

57. Road rollers: see Marshall H. Saville, "The Ancient Maya Causeways of Yucatan," Antiquity,
9, March, 1935, 73.

58. Paper in South America: see Victor W. von Hagen, "The First American Papermakers," The
Paper Industry & Paper World, December 1944, 1133.

59. Lewis, Gilbert, "The Beginnings of Civilization in America," American Anthropologist, New
Series 49, January-March, 1947, 8 and footnote.

60. Moodie R.L., quoted by Mason, J. Alden, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru, Harmondsworth,
UK, Penguin, 1957, 222, 223.

61. Rifled arrowheads: I have one of these in my possession. There are several references to
them in the literature and some examples in Museums in Canada and the United States. There
may have been a family, a kind of Iroquois Krupps, which supplied friend and foe alike - at a
price! Edward B. Tylor refers to them (Anthropology, New York, NY, Hill, 1904, 155), and even
earlier, Sir William Dawson, Fossil Men and Their Modern Representatives, London, UK,
Hodder & Stoughton, 1883, 124. There seems to be no doubt about their intentional design.

62. Aymara boats: see Stewart E. McMillin, "The Heart of Aymara Land," National Geographic
Magazine, February, 1927, 213-256.

63. Barnhouse, Donald G., "The Editor Visits Mexico's Mayan Ruins," Eternity Magazine, May,
1956, 35.

64. Glass saws: as reported in Science News Letter, July 13, 1957, under the title "Glass-toothed
Saw Cuts Wood: An Ingenious Hand-made Tool May Provide a Solution for an Ancient
Scientific Puzzle." (Anonymous).

65. Tooth filling: see Sigvad Linne, "Technical Secrets of American Indians," Journal of the
Royal Anthropological Institute, 87, Part II, July-December, 1957, 152, 153, and 163.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 62

66. Toothpaste: Science News Letter, December 23, 1956, 390, in a series of brief notes written
anonymously under the heading "Anthropology Archaeology."

67. Toothbrush: see Curt Proskauer, "Oral Hygiene in the Medieval Occident," Ciba Symposia,
8, November, 1946, 468. The illustration is from a woodcut in the Lei Shu Ts'ai Hiu, a Chinese
Encyclopedia.

68. Nordenskiold, E., op. cit., (ref. #46), 281.

69. Nordenskiold, E., op. cit., (ref. #46), 302, from North Western Brazil.

70. Nordenskiold, E., op. cit., (ref. #46), 302.

71. Nordenskiold,E., op. cit., (ref. #46), 302, used by a small tribe, the Hurari, in Matto Grasso,
and found nowhere else in South America.

72. Nordenskiold, E., op. cit., (ref. #46), 300.

73. Sandpaper: see Leonard Adam, Primitive Art, Harmondsworth, UK, Penguin, 1949, 162.

74. Fireflies: see Donald C. Peattie, "The Miracle of the Firefly," The Reader's Digest, October
1949, 102.

75. Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University
Press, 1954, Vol., 1, 54.

76. Prof. T. F. McIlwraith, Head of the Department of Anthropology in the University of

Toronto, gave a lecture on the various means adopted by different people to test aspiring
husbands. The Arawak of Central Africa adopt this method, as do other widely scattered tribes.
An early chapter of Genesis (4: 17-21) gives prominence to the first city-builder, the first
agriculturalist, the first tent dweller, the first musician, and the first metal worker. The latter is
referred to as Tubal-Cain, which some authorities feel may be the original form of the word
Vulcan, who was (like many Chinese inventors) subsequently 'deified.'

77. Childe, Vere Gordon, "India and the West Before Darius," Antiquity, 13(49), March, 1939,
15.

78. Childe, Vere Gordon, New Light on the Most Ancient East, New York, NY, Kegan Paul,
1935, 2.

79. Meek, T. J., in a lecture given in the Orientals Department, University of Toronto, ON, Fall,
1936.

80. Usher, Abbott Payson, A History of Mechanical Inventions, Cambridge, MA, Harvard
University Press, 1954, p. 154.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 63

81. Meek, T. J., "Magic Spades in Mesopotamia," University of Toronto Quarterly, 7, 1938, 243,
244.

82. Neugebauer, Otto, and A. Sachs, Mathematical Cuneiform Texts, New Haven, CT, Yale
University Press, (for the American Oriental Society, and the American School of Oriental
Research), 1946, 35.

83. Sarton, George, op. cit., (ref. #35), 73, 74, 99, and 118.

84. Neugebauer, Otto, "Ancient Mathematics and Astronomy," in A History of Technology, ed.
by Charles Singer, et al., Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, 1954, Vol. 1, 799.

85. Kramer, Samuel N., From the Tablets Of Sumer, Indian Hills, CO, Falcon's Wing Press,
1956, xviii, 6, 32, 58, 59.

86. Jourdain, Philip E. B., "The Nature of Mathematics," in The World of Mathematics, ed. by
James R. Newman, New York, NY, Simon & Schuster, 1956, Vol. 1, 10-13.

87. Reavely, S. D., "The Story of Accounting," Office Management, April, 1938, 8ff.

88. Wiseman, P. J., New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis, London, UK, Marshall,
Morgan & Scott, 2nd edition, revised, (undated), 30.

89. Boscawen, St. Chad, in discussing a paper by Sir William Dawson, "On Useful and
Ornamental Stones of Ancient Egypt," Transactions of the Victorian Institute, 26, 1892, 284.

90. Dubberstein, Waldo H., "Babylonians Merit Honour as Original Fathers of Science," Science
News Letter, September 4, 1937, 148, 149.

91. Vavilov, N. I., "Asia the Source of Species," Asia, 37(2), February, 1937, 113.

92. Childe, V. G., What Happened in History, Harmondsworth, UK, Penguin, 1942, 64.

93. Eisler, Robert, "Loan Words in Semitic Languages Meaning 'Town'," Antiquity, 13(52),
December, 1939, 449ff.

94. Wiseman, P. J., op. cit., (ref. #89), 28, 31, and 33.

95. Petrie, Sir Flinders, The Wisdom of the Egyptians, British School of Archaeology,
Publication No. 63, 1940, 89.

96. Childe, V. G., op. cit., (ref. #78), 67, note 85.

97. Howard, J. Eliot, "Egypt and the Bible," Transactions of the Victorian Institute, 10, 1876,
345.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 64

98. Perry, W. J., The Growth of Civilization, Harmondsworth, UK, Penguin, 1937, 54.

99. Magoffin, Ralph N., "Archaeology Today," The Mentor, April, 1924, 6.

100. Reported under the title, "Batteries B.C.," The Laboratory, 25 (4), 1956, published
randomly by Fisher Scientific Company, Pittsburgh, quoting Willard F. M. Gray of the General
Electric Company's High Voltage Laboratory, in Pittsburgh. Gray reconstructed these batteries
on the basis of archaeological materials.

101. Evans, Sir Arthur, The Palace of Minos, London, UK, Macmillan, in 5 Vols. (plus and
Index Volume), beginning publication in 1921.

102. See Bulletin of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, 11, March, 1932, 7.

103. Meek, T. J., "The Present State of Mesopotamian Studies," Haverford Symposium of
Archaeology and the Bible, published by the American Schools of Oriental Research, New
Haven, CT, 1938, 161.

104. De Morgan: quoted by H.G. Spearing, "Susa, the Eternal City of the East," in Wonders of
the Past, edited by Sir J. Hammerton, London, UK, Putnam's, 1924, Vol. 3, 582.

105. For Bibliography on Aegean Pre-history, see page 84.

106. de Beer, Sir Gavin, "Who Were the Etruscans?" The Listener, BBC, December 8, 1955,
989.

107. Pallottino, Massimo, The Etruscans, Harmondsworth, UK, Penguin, 1955, 46-73.

108. Rawlinson, G., The Origins of the Nations, New York, NY, Scribner, 1878, 111.

109. MacIver, D. Randall, "The Etruscans," Antiquity, 1, June, 1927, 171.

110. Holmyard, E.J., "The Language of Science" (editorial), Endeavour, 4(14), April, 1945, 41.

111. Smith, Edwin W., and Andrew M. Dale, The Ila Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia,
London, UK, Macmillan, 1920, Vol. 2, 342.

112. Coon, C. S., op. cit., (ref. #27), 340.

113. Ackernecht, Erwin. "Primitive Surgery," op. cit., (ref. #48), 32.

114. Anonymous, "The Story of Coffee," in The Plibrica Firebox, 22, July August, 1948, 4,5.
(Published by Plibrico Firebrick, Toronto, ON.)

115. Forbes, R. J., Metallurgy in Antiquity, Leiden, NL, Brill, 1950, 64.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 65

116. Kramer, Samuel N., op. cit., (ref. #86).

117. "A Cinematograph Touch in Ancient Egyptian Art: Wall-paintings that Suggest Moving
Pictures," reproduced by P.E. Newberry's Beni Hasan, in the Illustrated London News, January
12, 1929, 50, 51.

118. Hambly, Wilfrid D., "A Walt Disney in Ancient Egypt," in a Letter to the Editor of
'animated animal figures' behaving like people! (Scientific Monthly, October, 1954, 267, 268,
with illustrations).

119. Gloves and camp stools: See Axel Persson, The Religion of Greece in Prehistoric Times,
Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1942, 77.

120. Soap: see a paper on this by Rendel Harris, "Soap," in the Sunset Papers, published
privately in England, 1931.

121. Tools: see George M. A. Hanfmann, "Daidalos in Etruria" American Journal of

Archaeology, 39, April-June, 1935, 192ff.

122. Brace and bit: an illustration of this is given in The Illustrated London News, (April 12,
1930, p. 623), in a series of articles by G. H. Davis and S.R.K.Glanville entitled "Life in Ancient
Egypt: Astonishing Skill in Arts and Crafts."

123. Levels: see George Sarton, op., cit., (see ref. #35), 124, footnote 94.

124. Lathes: see Charles Singer, et al., A History of Technology, Oxford, UK, Oxford University
Press, 1954, Vol. 1, 192 and 518

125. Apel, Willi, "Early History of the Organ," Speculum, 23, 1948, 191-216.

126. A number of bronze castings used in the construction of these large umbrellas are to be seen
in the Royal Ontario Museum Toronto.

127. Well known from the monuments and from seals. The line drawing (Fig. 20) is probably
from a seal.

128. Linton, Ralph, op. cit., (ref. #22), 114.

129. Vaccines: see Melville Herskovits, op. cit., (ref. #19), 246.

130. Malleable glass: the details of this are given by Stanko Miholic, "Art Chemistry," Scientific
Monthly, 63, December, 1946, 460.

131. Hornell, James, "Primitive Types of Water Transport in Asia: Distribution and Origins,"
Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1946, Parts 3 and 4, 124-141.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 66

132. Needham, J. op. cit. (ref. #76), Vol. 1, 240-243.

133. Article by Isabella L. Bishop, "Koreans," in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed., 1937,
Vol. 13, 489, with illustration.

134. Naphtha: as we have already mentioned, the Chinese piped this gas as early as 450 B.C. But
it was also used by the Babylonians for divination purposes according to R. J. Forbes,
"Chemical, Culinary, and Cosmetic Arts," A History of Technology, ed. by Charles Singer, et al,
Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, Vol. 1, 1954, 251. By the same author, it is said to have
been used by the Sumerians probably, in furnaces for heating metals, Metallurgy in Antiquity,
Leiden, NL, Brill, 1950, 111.

135. Forbes, R. J., in "A History of Technology," Vol. 1, 193. (see ref. #135).

136. Leakey, L.S.B., in A History of Technology, (see ref. #135), Vol. 1, 149. This is possibly
begging the point a little! It is assumed from the nature of certain paintings that they were done
by blowing (or splattering) the paint from the mouth (!) using baffles to limit it as required.
Certainly it does seem to have been sprayed, somehow.

137. Cigarettes: see note, under the title "The Sacred Cigarette" reporting that thousands have
been found in cave-shrines as native offerings in Arizona (in section "Far and Near," Discovery,
19(6), June, 1958, 262). We have already mentioned cigar-holders: and of course, the Indians
were the originators of the pipe for smoking tobacco.

138. Spectacles: see Ethel J. Alpenfels, anthropologist with the Bureau for Intercultural
Education, in an article entitled "Our Racial Superiority," abstracted in The Reader's Digest,
September, 1946, p. 81, from Catholic World, July, 1946, 328ff.

139. Safety pins: illustrated in Antiquity, 1, June, 1927, 170 in an article by D. Randall MacIver,
"The Etruscans."

140. Schweig, Bruno, "Mirrors," Antiquity, 15(59), September, 1941, 259.

141. Abacus: these experiments were reported as a note, in His, (Downer's Grove, IL, IVF
publication, Oct., 1957, no page numbering), under the title "Misplaced Conceit."

142. du Noüy, LeComte, Human Destiny, New York, NY, Longmans Green, 1947, 139.

143. See section : "The Progress of Science," Discovery, 18(11), Nov., 1957, 458.

144. Butterfield, Herbert, The Origins of Modern Science, London, UK, Bell, 1949, 163.

145. Multhauf, Robert, Book Review in Science, 124, October 5, 1956, 631.

146.This is elaborated on in Doorway Paper #29, A Framework of History.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 67

147. Fung, Tu-Lan, "Why China has no Science," International Journal of Ethics, 32, 1922, 237-
263.

148. Polo, Marco, The Travels of Marco Polo, New York, NY, Library Publications, (undated),
Chapter 24, 137-140.

150. Needham, J., op. cit., (ref. #76), Vol. 1, 241. But there is some question about the Screw
Principle. Archimedes may have 'borrowed' it from Egypt.

151. Needham, J., op. cit., (ref. #76), Vol. 1, 244.

152. Needham, J., op. cit., (ref. #76), Vol. 1, 245.

153. Sarton, George, op. cit., (ref. #35), 5, footnote #4.

154. Repeating bow: this is described in the Bulletin of the Royal Ontario Museum of
Archaeology, No. 10, May, 1931, 11, under the title "Crossbow."

155. Lamb, Harold, "Flame Weapons," Chemical Warfare Magazine, Edgewood, (U.S.),
December, 1921, 237.

156. "The Story of Chemical Warfare," (no author stated), January, 1939, 1.

157. Maude, A., "Ancient Chemical Warfare," Journal of Royal Army Medical Corps, 62, 1934,
141.

158. Klopsteg, Paul E., Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow, published privately in Toronto,
ON, 2nd ed., 1947.

160. Coggins, Jack, and Fletcher Pratt, Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Space Ships, New
York, NY, Random House, 1951, 4, with foreword by Willey Ley.

161. Ley, Willey, "Rockets," Scientific American, 180(5), Mar., 1949, 31.

162. Forbes, R. J., op. cit., (ref. #116), 442.

163. Conder, C. R., "The Canaanites," Transactions of the Victorian Institute, 24, 1890, 51.

164. Miller, Francis T., The World in the Air, New York, NY, Putnam's, 1930, Vol. 1, 99.

165. Miller, Frances. T., ibid., 73.

166. Needham, J., op. cit., (ref. #76), Vol., 1, 231.

167. Needham, J., op. cit., (ref. #76), Vol., 1, 231.

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THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE 68

168. Stern, H. J., Rubber: Natural and Synthetic, London, UK, Maclaren, 1954, 118

169. Clapperton, R. H., and William Henderson, Modern Paper-Making, Oxford, UK,
Blackwells, 2nd edtion revised 1941, 376 pages.

170. Bender, George A., "Pharmacy in Ancient China," in the series, A History of Pharmacy in
Lectures, Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Co., 1957.

171. See Edward Farber, reviewing Li Ch'iao-p'ing, The Chemical Arts of Old China, The
Scientific Monthly, 68, June, 1949, 430.

172. This is reported in an Annual Project Report issued by the U.S. Quartermaster Stores, 1,
Jan.-Dec., 1956, 1, 401.

173. Needham, Joseph, Wang Ling, and Derek J. Price, "Chinese Astronomical Clockwork,"
Nature, 177, March 31, 1956, 600, 601.

174. Haddon, Alfred C., The History of Anthropology, London, UK, Watts, 1934, 33.

175. Reported in The Telegram, Toronto, April 4, 1955, in a special section devoted to the use of
Natural Gas; under the title "Gas and Pipeline too: way back in 450 B.C."

176. Forbes, R. J., op. cit., (ref. #116), 407.

177. Hermann, Paul, Conquest by Man, New York, NY, Harper, 1954, xxi, xxii.

178. Needham, Joseph, op. cit., (ref. #76), 240.

Corrections, May 13, 1997.

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