Having made himself weapons, man did not employ them in fights with animals only; he also used them on his fellow-men, and at the same time arose the necessity for protective coverings--that is, the need for a means of neutralising the effect of weapons on the body. Thus followed the invention of the shield as a portable shelter, of the coat of mail and of the helmet, and of armour in general in all its different forms and varieties. Together with weapons, utensils are characteristic of material culture. Utensils are implements used in the arts of peace, domestic and industrial; they are instruments which enable us to increase power over Nature. Some utensils have undergone the same transformations as have weapons; others have their own independent history. Just as the edges of shells served as patterns for knife-blades, so did hollow stones, the shells of crustaceans or of tortoises, become models for dishes and basins. From the discovery of the imperviousness of dried earth, the potter’s art developed; it became possible to mould clay into desired shapes while moist, and then, when dry, to employ it in its new form as a vessel for holding liquids; for that which has always been of the greatest importance in the making of utensils has been the taking advantage of two opposite characteristics displayed by a material during the different stages of its manufacture--plasticity, which admits of its first being moulded into various forms, and another quality, which causes it afterward to stiffen into solidity and strength. [Illustration: Mansell THE MAN WITH THE HOE From the painting by Millet ] [Illustration: Underwood & Underwood THE WONDERFUL ADVANCE IN AGRICULTURE These pictures present a striking contrast: the sullen clod with his primitive hoe, and the great Canadian reaper drawn by thirty horses, both in use to-day. ] [Sidenote: Growth of the Textile Arts]