[31] Hammer ῥαιστήρ.—Il., xviii, 477: anvil ἄκμων.—Il., xviii, 476: tongs πυράγρα.—Il., xviii, 477.
[32] Bellows φῦσα.—Il., xviii, 372, 468: furnace, the boshes χόανος.—Il., xviii, 470.
[33] Horse ἵππος.—Il., xi, 680: distinguished into breeds: Thracian.—Il., x, 588; Trojan, v, 265: Erechthomus owned three thousand mares τρισχίλιαι ἵπποι.—Il., xx, 221: collars, bridles and reins.—Il., xix, 339: ass ὄνος.—Il., xi, 558: mule ἡμίονος.—Il., x, 352; vii, 333: ox βοῦς.—Il., xi, 678; viii, 333: bull ταῦρος; cow βοῦς.—Od., xx, 251: goat αἴξ.—Il., xi, 679: dog κύων.—v, 476; viii, 338; xxii, 509: sheep ὄïς.—Il., xi, 678: boar or sow σῦς.—Il., xi, 679; viii, 338: milk γλάγος.—Il., xvi, 643: pails full of milk περιγλαγέας πέλλας.—Il., xvi, 642.
[34] Homer mentions the native metals; but they were known long before his time, and before iron. The use of charcoal and the crucible in melting them prepared the way for smelting iron ore. Gold χρυσός.—Iliad, ii, 229: silver ἄργυρος.—Il., xviii, 475: copper, called brass χαλκός.—Il., iii, 229; xviii, 460: tin, possibly pewter, κασσίτερος.—Il., xi, 25; xx, 271; xxi, 292: lead μόλιβος.—Il., ii, 237: iron σίδηρος.—Il., vii, 473: iron axle-tree.—Il., v, 723: iron club.—Il., vii, 141: iron wagon-tire.—Il., xxiii, 505.
[35] The researches of Beckmann have left a doubt upon the existence of a true bronze earlier than a knowledge of iron among the Greeks and Latins. He thinks electrum, mentioned in the Iliad, was a mixture of gold and silver (History of Inventions, Bohn’s ed., ii, 212); and that the stannum of the Romans, which consisted of silver and lead, was the same as the kassiteron of Homer (Ib., ii, 217). This word has usually been interpreted as tin. In commenting upon the composition called bronze, he remarks: “In my opinion the greater part of these things were made of stannum, properly so called, which by the admixture of the noble metals, and some difficulty of fusion, was rendered fitter for use than pure copper.” (Ib., ii, 213). These observations were limited to the nations of the Mediterranean, within whose areas tin was not produced. Axes, knives, razors, swords, daggers, and personal ornaments discovered in Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and other parts of Northern Europe, have been found, on analysis, composed of copper and tin, and therefore fall under the strict definition of bronze. They were also found in relations indicating priority to iron.
[36] The origin of language has been investigated far enough to find the grave difficulties in the way of any solution of the problem. It seems to have been abandoned, by common consent, as an unprofitable subject. It is more a question of the laws of human development and of the necessary operations of the mental principle, than of the materials of language. Lucretius remarks that with sounds and with gesture, mankind in the primitive period intimated their thoughts stammeringly to each other (Vocibus, et gestu, cum balbe significarent.—v, 1021). He assumes that thought preceded speech, and that gesture language preceded articulate language. Gesture or sign language seems to have been primitive, the elder sister of articulate speech. It is still the universal language of barbarians, if not of savages, in their mutual intercourse when their dialects are not the same. The American aborigines have developed such a language, thus showing that one may be formed adequate for general intercourse. As used by them it is both graceful and expressive, and affords pleasure in its use. It is a language of natural symbols, and therefore possesses the elements of a universal language. A sign language is easier to invent than one of sounds; and, since it is mastered with greater facility, a presumption arises that it preceded articulate speech. The sounds of the voice would first come in, on this hypothesis, in aid of gesture; and as they gradually assumed a conventional signification, they would supersede, to that extent, the language of signs, or become incorporated in it. It would also tend to develop the capacity of the vocal organs. No proposition can be plainer than that gesture has attended articulate language from its birth. It is still inseparable from it; and may embody the remains, by survival, of an ancient mental habit. If language were perfect, a gesture to lengthen out or emphasize its meaning would be a fault. As we descend through the gradations of language into its ruder forms, the gesture element increases in the quantity and variety of its forms until we find language so dependent upon gestures that without them they would be substantially unintelligible. Growing up and flourishing side by side through savagery, and far into the period of barbarism, they remain, in modified forms, indissolubly united. Those who are curious to solve the problem of the origin of language would do well to look to the possible suggestions from gesture language.
[37] The Egyptians are supposed to affiliate remotely with the Semitic family.
[38] Whitney’s Oriental and Linguistic Studies, p. 341.
[39] M. Quiquerez, a Swiss engineer, discovered in the canton of Berne the remains of a number of side-hill furnaces for smelting iron ore; together with tools, fragments of iron and charcoal. To construct one, an excavation was made in the side of a hill in which a bosh was formed of clay, with a chimney in the form of a dome above it to create a draft. No evidence was found of the use of the bellows. The boshes seem to have been charged with alternate layers of pulverized ore and charcoal, combustion being sustained by fanning the flames. The result was a spongy mass of partly fused ore which was afterwards welded into a compact mass by hammering. A deposit of charcoal was found beneath a bed of peat twenty feet in thickness. It is not probable that these furnaces were coeval with the knowledge of smelting iron ore; but they were, not unlikely, close copies of the original furnace.—Vide Figuier’s Primitive Man, Putnam’s ed., p. 301.
[40] Palace of Priam.—Il., vi, 242.