Gradually the one phase amalgamates with the other. It is not seldom that hunting tribes have small tracts of land on which they raise a few edible plants. Observation of Nature teaches them that germs develop from fallen seeds, and leads of itself to the idea that it is not best to allow plants to grow up wild, and that it would be expedient to clear the surrounding ground for their better growth. And when this stage is reached, the next step--not to allow seeds to spring up by chance, but to place them in the soil one’s self--is not very far off; and thus the mere acquisition of Nature’s raw vegetable products gives place to agriculture. Often enough we observe instances of the men of a group carrying on hunting operations, while the women are not only occupied with their domestic employments, but also till the soil; thus the men are hunters and fishers, and the women are agriculturists. Domestic work led the latter to take up the cultivation of plants, even as it led them to the other light feminine handicrafts; while the repairing of weapons and of contrivances used for the capture of animals lay within the province of the men. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration: MANKIND’S PROGRESS IN HABITS OF DRESS This series of typical pictures is intended roughly to illustrate the upward progress of man from the almost nude savage to the neatly and conveniently dressed gentleman of to-day. The Elizabethan dandy is, of course, as fully dressed as man can be, and is introduced only as indicating the great change of sartorial ideas in modern times. ] The discovery of how to produce fire by artificial means, independently effected in all parts of the world--as was also the discovery of the art of navigation--was of the greatest importance for the entire future. Fire was first a result of chance.