Anthropology; an introduction to the study of man and civilization . ry;the long stick, which hangs from a branch above, has its endin a hole in the upper stone, and a cloth is spread on theground to catch the meal. The quern is still used in northScotland and the islands. If the reader will notice theconstruction of a modern flour-mill, it will be seen that theneatly faced and grooved millstones are now of great weight,and the upper one balanced on the pivot which gives it rapidrotation from below by means of water or steam-power,but notwithstanding these mechanical improvements, theessential
Anthropology; an introduction to the study of man and civilization . ry;the long stick, which hangs from a branch above, has its endin a hole in the upper stone, and a cloth is spread on theground to catch the meal. The quern is still used in northScotland and the islands. If the reader will notice theconstruction of a modern flour-mill, it will be seen that theneatly faced and grooved millstones are now of great weight,and the upper one balanced on the pivot which gives it rapidrotation from below by means of water or steam-power,but notwithstanding these mechanical improvements, theessential principle of the primitive hand-mill is still there. 203 ANTHROPOLOGY. [chap. Another group of revolving tools and machines beginswith the drill. The simplest mode of twirling the boring-stick between the hands is to be seen in fire-making (). In this clumsy way rude tribes know how to boreholes through hard stone by patiently twirling a reed orstick with sharp sand and water. This primitive tool wasimproved both for making fire and boring holes, by winding. Fig. 63.—Hebrides women grinding with the quern or hand-mill (after Pennant). round the stick a thong or cord, which by being pulledbackward and forward worked the drill, as the ancient ship-wrights boring their timbers are described in the Odyssey(ix. 384). The ingenious plan of using a bow with its stringto drive the drill, so that one man can manage it, was alreadyknown in the old Egyptian workshops, but the still moreperfect Archimedean drill is modern. The turning-lathe VIII,] ARTS OF LIFE. 203 seems to have bad its origin in the drill. To those who haveonly seen the lathe in its improved modern forms this maynot be clear, but it is seen by lookitjg at the old-fashionedpole-lathe with which the turner used to shape his woodenbowls and chair-legs, which were made to revolve by a cordpulled up and down, on somewhat the same principle as theHomeric drill. The foot-lathe, with its crank and con-tinuous revolution,
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