HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1950-05-11, Page 3Nature Was The
First Inventor
When you take a loot: into a boa
of cat'pcuter's or eardeuer, tools
and observe the incredible variety of
the instruments it contains, do you
ever pause to wonder how they telt
cause. to- he thought of and de-
signed? One thing is certain. None
of those precision instilment!: "just
happened,"
Who were the inventors aud to
did they get their liens;
When we hook at the world of
Nature around us, we cannot help
wondering if men really orginatcd
those toots, An observant eye will
Soon see that Nature was "first in
the field"; than Nature, in short, sup-.
plied the "blue -prints" for mankind
to build on, Evideice is everywhere.
Let us dip. into the gardener's
tool chest anti pick the commonest
toot of the lot—the spade, I)id sten
invent that instrument.? asks Craven
Hill, F,Z,S„ writing in 'Maas,"
Picture to yourself a caveman
of long ago looking at the ground
outside his cave and tvandcritig
how he can best make a hole big
enough to hide the carcase of a
wild animal he had just killed.
Their Feet are Shovels
What he wants ,of course, is the
instrument we call a spade. But
since no one (at the time of whiolr.
I am speaking) had yet been elevet
enough to invent such a thing, he
has to do some hard thinking over
his problem. His attention is drawn
to mole burrowing its way into
the soil, and there, in the mole's
shovel -like forefeet, is the solution,
There is his idea for a spade! Nature
has shown hint the way. All he
needs no'v is a little constructive
ability to fashion for himself a ser-
viceable tool for the job.
Whether or not that is a true
picture of how the first spade came
into being I do not pretend to know,
But if it is 1101 literal!:• accurate,
it cannot be very far from the fact,
Iron Age Models
Let us look into the carpenters
chest for that almost equally com-
1000 tool, the saw. It cannot have
taken an Iron Age man long to de-
velop this useful instrument, for his
"models" lay all around him—saw-
fishes in the sea; crocodiles, alliga-
tors, and a host of other creatures
on land,
- Again, take the carpenter's chisel.
No doubt Someone, at some period
of history, laid claim to the "in-
vention" of it, Maybe he did, its a
way, But he had Mother Nature to
guide hint, for there were some ex-
cellent chisels in existence long be-
fore Man Came on the scene. Take
a glance inside the mouth of any
rodent, and yott will see then. And
they don't wear out, In fact, the
more use they get, the sharper they
become.
One fruitful scourge of inspira-
tion to our forefathers undoubtedly
lay in the beaks of birds, Not un-
naturally, perhaps, for the bilis of
all the birds are little less than tools,
specially designed by Nature for
the work they have to perform.
The long, slender, delicate bills
of the snipe and woodcock arc per-
fect natural forceps, enabling' their
possessors to extract all manner of
tiny objects from the soft soil in
which these species feed. Similarly,
the broad bills of the ducks and
spoonbills make eery serviceable
scooping instruments, while the
beak of the crow provides an ex-
cellent "blueprint" surely, for a
pickaxe.
Heron's Beak—a Spear
Specially useful to the primitive
fisherman must have beeit the var-
ious waterfowl and fish -eating birds.
What better model could he have
had for a spear than the long,
straight beak of the heron? For a
hook he had only to study the crook-
ed beak of the merganser, that now
rather rare duck sometimes scan on
our roasts, whose long bili leas at
its tip a perfectly murderous hook
used by the hied for ltoakhtg moll-
uscs atxl t:rustttcca from their un-
derwater hiding -places, or for pick -
Mg up even the most wriggly eel,
Again, ,suppose you wanted to
make a paddle for a canoe you had
built. The idea would have come to
yon instantly, on watching how gulls
and ducks use their webbed feet.
I think the inau who originally
"designed" that useful article of
footwear for humans, snowshoes,
had probably been watching the
wading birds as they ran hither and
thither over the mud -flats. Plenty
of inspiration there!
Examination of fishes trust also
have played its part its the develop-
ment of the modern tool -chest, no
less than its the growth of weapons.
Who first thought of the bow and
arrow is anyone's guess, hut it seetns
quite feasible that whoever it was
borrowed some useful ideas front
the archer -fish of Malaya, the East
Indies and elsewhere.
'Phis little underwater marksman
feeds mainly on insects, for which it
hunts diligently along the banks of
streams, Having seen an insect, the
fish captures it by shooting out a
drop of water front its mouth, and
aims with such unerring accuracy
that it can hit its quarry even at
distances of twelve to fifteen feet,
I often wonder whether one of
those gallant gentlemen of the Mid-
dle Ages—some resourceful "knight
in armour"— claimed to have in-
vented and perfected that shining
suit of mail. Quite likely he did;
but the credit for the idea really
ought to go to Mother Nature, who
originated the suit of mail long be-
fore the Middle Ages. If you doubt
that, observe the lobster or the
crab! Or—if yott do not feel like
dipping into the briny—take a look
at the adnadilio, that strange -look-
ing, South American mammal whose
fat, squat body is entirely encased
in a hard, hornlike covering—a ver-
itable "suit of mail."
If we chose to examine the natter
more closely, we could find scores
of other examples showing how
mankind has found is Nature
"ideas" for implements of all kinds.
The claws of the Lobster; the prin-
ters at the business -end of the ear-
wig; the long, whiplike tentacles
of the octopus (first-rate "lassos,"
thoscl); even the sting of the wasp—
have all, probably, formed the orig-
inal models from which Modern
Mau has evolved his tools and wea-
pons. Think it over—it's worth a
thought or twol
"Good Old ,Days"
Weren't So Hot
The National Industrial Confer-
ence Board, Inc., does an outstand-
ing job of presenting statistics on
a wide variety of subjects, Their
studies on personnel policy and
studies on labour statistics have re-
ceived and merited widespread com-
mendation. Recently, the Board
published a booklet entitled, "What
An Hour's Work Would Buy, 1914-
1918", the third its their studies in
labour statistics. While the infor-
mation contained therein is based on
American figures, the pattern which
has been uncovered is equally ap-
plicable to Canada. This study desn-
otttrates that the aVerage manufac-
turing worker in 1914 worked 51.5
hours a week, receiving 25 cents alt
hour or $12.72 a week, required
$16,00 a week to support his family
and, therefore, showed a deficit of
$3.28 a week, requiring some 14
hours of work by other members
of his fancily to ncalee ends meet.
lu 1948, the average manufacturing
worker worked 39,7 hours a week,
received $1.47 an !tour or $58,52 a
week, required $49.52 a week to
support his fancily and, as a result,
showed a surplus of $9.00 a week
Couple Attacked -1st l.,o:, Angeles, Robert Mueller, 22, consoles
Itis girl .friend, Carol Ann Cope, also 22, after they were rescued
by pollee. -They had been -attacked by a thug, who pislol-
whipped Mueller into unconsciousness and robbed him, theft
criminally assaulted! Miss •Cope. Mueller crawled to an all-night
radio station- and told his story to a disc jockey, who called
poi ice,
•
Modern Hamebrullders and What They're Bonding
'.Godot Canada and the United States are in the midst of the greatest home-building boom in all history. Herewith, in chart
and picture form, we publish a revealing• look at the different ages and types of these ltoutebuilders, also the various types
of houses they most favor. All these data are taken from a recent coast-to-coast survey of 2000 new ltomehuilders conducted
by tete magazine Better Homes and Gardens; and although the survey was mostly made south of the border, it gives a very
fair idea of Canadian treads and preferences as well,
Cape Cod is still the preferred architectural style, but moving
tap fast in popularity are the "ranch -type" houses attd contem-
porary designs. Cape Cod is strongest in the East and West
North Central regions. Ranch attd contemporary styles are
very strong in the West and Southwest; but even in the East,
one-liftlt of new homes are ranch or contemporary.
&.G
Its
a,r
Wit= utarmf1.1
Most Popular
Price Ranges
for New Homes
810,000 to 715,000 is most popular price range.
Who Builds New Homes -
.•....;ani
Age 45and over 37%
Age 35-44 306"71---4- , '" ge
Most houses are built by families in the "over 30" group.
Where New Hordes Are Built .. .
Medium city„0
?Suburb of large city 24% IOO,i900.50,000 18%
Trend is away front big cities, to the suburbs and smaller cities.
Attached Garage
Picture Window
Combination Living -Dining Roost
These features are gaining in popularity.
Preferred Size of Homes
How New Homes Ave Built
Two Bedrooms 49%,
By 515915 Contractor 44%
Three Bedrooms 3691
Four or More Bedrooms 12%
Half are taco -bedroom,
_By Owner Himself 22%
1'o11.t.ractor.s teat!,
to be sated or used for improving
the living standard of his family,
We are ail familiar with the
stories of the, "good old days" when
eggs were sold for 15 cents a dozen
and a man felt that he could sup-
port a wife when his pay reached
the amount of $12.00 a week. The
reason for the nostalgic regard for
the past is that comparisons are
always basal on the buying power
of the dollar. The dollar, however,
is of no valise whatever as a norm
or standard because it varies con-
tinuously. The Conference Board
recognizes this fact by ttsiug, in-
stead of the dollar, the buying power
of one hour's work to compare the
factory workers' situation over the
past four decades. The results are
startling and informative. The study
;was based on the average pay for
25 manufacturing industries. A
consideration to be borne in mind
is that the wage-earner today has
a much wider range of goods to
choose from than cid his predecessor
of 1914 and lois standard of living
and the convenience he now enjoys
are superior to anything available
34 years ago. Some of the details
of the study are of more than pass-
ing interest. Fot' example, 12 hours
of work would purchase the reek's
food for the typical wage-earner's
family in 1948, In 1914, it took 30
hours of work. The big item for a
Sunday dinner, a roasting chicken,
required more than four hours'
world is 1914, The 1948 wage-earner
required only a little more titan two
hours' work to buy the same fowl.
Clothing himself and his fancily
cost the factory worker one half
the number of hours of work in
1948 than it did in 1914. Despite the
fact that housing conditions have
considerably improver! over the
standards prevailing in 1014, the
manufacturing worker in 1948 had
10 spend only a Pale more than 18
hours a month to house his fantilw
as compared with the 1914 average
of more than 35 hours, The 1948
model low -price car sold for only
954 hour's of work despite the fact
that the price had more titan doubled
over the 34 years. This meant that
the 1948 wage-earner could bny a
new car for a little more than one-
third the number of hours that one
cost in 1914.
The intangibly gain., .urh as the
technical improvements, the time
and physical energy saved in the
Monte through the use of !alum•
saving !ghees. the convenience of
modern refrigeration and the com-
fort of inner -spring mattresses and
insulated houses cannot be evaluated
in terms of hours of work. All these
things rate- consideration, however,
when we look at the benefits which
we can hope to obtain if the recog-
nize and appreciate the basic reas-
ons for our material progress and
do not waste our time yearning for
the largely fictitious• advantages of
"the good o1ddays".
Keeping Tab On
The Buterflies
one dad in the sprint. fifty-
seven -year-old Carl A, Anderson, of
Texas, will release more than 700
orange and brown Monarch butter-
flies which he is now breeding in
his backyard. But first lie will brand
each butterfly mi the wine with a
serial number.
Later in the year Anderson will
begin to receive every week scores
of postcards .from rantre-lovers
who have traced the Monarch in
various part, of North America. In
this way lie hopes to learn more
about the migratory habits of the
Monarchs, whose movetneats in
America are still largely a mystery,
Anderson has already discovered
that Monarchs fly tap to 25 utiles
an hour and move in a direct litre
as though on a radar beans, many
winter in the southern parts of
America. When the weather gets
warmer they fly north—sometimes
as far as Canada.
Anderson is 50 keen on his self-
appointed task that last year he
went byrail to Itis native Minne-
sota and there traced and brought
home some of the tiny refugees rte
had released months before.
MOST PEOPLE. would rather
look backw-:trti then fur•,et,rd, Iot-
a
ora very simple reason --it's easier
to remember where you'de tecta
than where you're going.
FIND A FELLOW who utter ac-
cepted any responsibility, never
did attytiting constructive, never
originated or built sott'ething
worth while. and we might be able
to point out the perfect eaatnple
of a carping erotic who thinks he
knows precisely what's wrong stilt+
alt the other folks,