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> > r t * A r â- r T 4 •I*" t t â- n T •- r '% t t Nature Was The First Inventor When you take a look into. a box of carpenter's or gardener's ^^Is and observe the incredil>le varie^- of the instruments it contains, do you ever pause to wonder how tliey all came to be thought of and de- signed? One thing is certain. None of those precision instruments "just happened. " Who were the inventors and how did they get their ideas? When we look at the world of Nature around us, we cannot help wondering if men really orginated those tools. An observant eye will soon see that Nature was "first in the field"; that Nature, in short, sup- plied the "blue-prints" for mankind to build on. Evidence is everywhere. Let us dip into the gardener's tool chest and pick the commonest tool of the lotâ€" the spade. Did men invent that instrument? asks Craven Hill, F.Z.S., writing in "TitBits." Picture to yourself- a caveman of long ago looking at tlie ground outside his cave and wondering how he can best make a hole big enough to hide the carcase of a wild animal he had just Icilfed. Their Feet are Shovels What he wants ,of cpurse, is the instrument we call a spade. "But since no on* (at -the time of which I am speaking) had yet been clever 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 him the. way. All he needs 'now is a little constructive ability to fashion for himself a ser- viceable tool for Ihe job. Whether or not that is a true picture of how the first spade came into being I do "ot pretend to know. But if it is not literall; accurate, it cannot be very far from the fact. Iron Age Models Let us 'look into the carpenter's chest for that' almost equally com- mon tool, the saw. It cannot have taken an Iron Age man long :o de- velop this useful instrument, for his "models" lay all around him â€" 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. in a way. But he had Mother Nature to guide him. 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 you will see them. And they don't wear out. In fact, the more use they get. the sharper tliey become. One fruitful scource of inspira- tion to our forefathers undoubtedly lay in the beaks of birds. Not un- naturally, perhaps, for the bills of all the birds arc little less than tools, specially designed by Nature [or the work they have to perform. The long, slender, delicate bills of the snipe and woodcock arc per- fect natural forceps, enabhug 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 very serviceable scooping instruments, while the beak of the crow provides an ex- cellent "blueprint." surely, for a pickaxe. Heron's Beak â€" a Spear Specially useful to the primitive fisherman must have been the var- ious waterfowl and iish-cating birds. What better model could he have had for a spe^r than the long, straight beak of the heron; I'or a hook he had only to" study the crook- ed beak of the merganser, that now rather rare duck sometimes seen on o\u- coasts, whose long hill has at -lis- tip a perfectly murderous hooU '~US4U1 by the bird for hookin^TtrioH- "•,U3«8 and Crustacea from their un- derwater hiding-places, or for pick- ing up even tht most wriggly eel. .\gain, suppose you ^vanted to make a paddle for a canoe you had built. The idea would have come to you instantly, on watching how gulls and ducks use their webbed feet. I think the man who originally "designed" that useful article of footwear for humans, snowshoes, had probabi;.- been watcHlfig the wading birds as they ran hither and thither over the mud-flats. Plenty of in.spiration there'. Examination of fishes must also* have played its part in the develop- . nient of the modem tool-che»t, no" less than in the growth of weapons. Who first thought of the bow and arrow is anyone's guess, but it seems qtrfte feasible that whoever it was borrowed some useful ideas from the archer-fish of Malaya, the East Indies -and elsewhere. ,)jfc This little underwater marksman feeds mainly on insects, for which it hunts diligently along the banks of Streams.- Having seen an insect, the fish capt.ires it by shooting out a drop of water from 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 .^gesâ€" some resourceful "knight in armour" â€" 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 .Vges. If you doubt that, observe the lobster or the crab! Or â€" if you do not feel like dipping into the briny â€" take a look at the admadillo. that strange-look- ing South American mammal whose fat, squat body is entirely encased in a hard, hornlike covering â€" a ver- itable "suit of mail." If we chose to examine the matter more closely, we could find scores of other examples showing how mankind has found in Nature "ideas" tor implements of all kinds. The claws of the lobster; the prin- cers at the business-end of the ear- wig; the long, whiplike tentacles of the octopus (first-rate "lassos," those!) ; even the sting of the wasp â€" ' have all. probably, formed the orig- inal models from which Modern Man has evolved his tools and wea- pons. Think it over â€" it's worth a thought or two! "Good Old Days" Weren't So Hot The National Industrial Confer- ence Board. Inc., docs an outstand- hig 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 in their studies in labour statistics. While the infor- mation contained therein is based on •Vmerican figures, the pattern which has been uncovered is equally ap- plicable to Canada. This study dem- ontrates that the average manufac- turing worker in 1914 worked ?1.5 hours a week, receiving 25 cents an hour or $1.'.72 a week, required $16.00 a week to support his family and. therefore, showed a deficit of !?.i.i8 a week, requiring some 14 hours of work by other members of his family to make ends meet. In 1948, the average manufacturing worker worked 39.7 hours a week, received $1.47 an hour or $58.52 a week, required $49.52 a week to support his family and, as a result, showed a surplus of $9.00 ,1 week Couple Attacked â€" hi Lot. Angeles. Robert Mueller, 22, consoles his girl friend, Carol .\nn Cope, also 22. after they were rescued by police, riioy bad been attacked by a thug, who pistol- wliipped Mueller into iuiconsciousiie.->s and robbed him, then criiiiinally assaulted Miss Cope. Mueller crawled to an all-night radio station and told bis story to a disc jockey, who called polivO. Modern Homebuilders and What They're Building Today 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 homebuilders, also the various types of houses they most favor. All these data are taken from a recent coast-to-coast survey of 2000 new homebuilders conducted by the magazine Better Homes and Gardens; and although the survey was mostly made soutit of the border, it gives a very fair idea of Canadian trends and preferences as well. Cape (sod is still the preferred architectural style, but moving up fast in popularhy are the "ranch-type" houses and contem- porary designs. Cape Cod is strongest in the East and West North Central regions. Ranch and contemporary styles are very strong in the West and Southwest ; but even in the East, one-fifth of new homes are ranch or contemporary. ii s»t Aki Al ^iL^A S10,000-S14 999 31^r Ju ^ Al.^^i.Ai. SI 5,000-519,999 180; JI^^^ALJki.J!A.JI>L.. S7500-S9999 17%. Most Popular Price Ranges for New Homes CONTEMPORARY . /. ClosMhird SIO.OOO to 715,000 i.-s most popular price range. Who Builds New Homes Age 45 ond over 37% Most houses are buiU by families in tb.e "over 30" group. / "^^HPefeNew Homes Are Built Trend is away from big cities, to the suburbs and smaller cities. Preferred Size of Homes Fouror More Bedrooms 12% How New Homes Are Built :By Owner Himsetf 22% These features are gaining in po|>ularii\ I fall ;i]i.- two-hcdri ooni. Comiaciurs Kniii to be saved or used for improving the living standard of his family. AVe arc all familiar with the stories of the "good old days" when eggs were sold for IS 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 based on the buying power of the dollar. The dollar, however, is of no value whatever as a norm or standard because it varies con- tinuously, rhe Conference Board recognizes this fact by using, in- stead of tlie 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 did his predecessor of 1914 and his standard of living and the convenience he now enjoys are superior to anything available 34 years ago. Some of the details of the study arc of more than pass- ing interest I'or example, 12 hours of work would purcliase the week's food for the typical wage-earner's family in 1948. In lOU, it took 30 hours of work. Tbe big item for a Sunday dinner, a roasting chicken, required more than four hours' work in 1914. The 1948 wage-earner required only a little more than two hours' work to buy the same fowl. Clothing himself and his family cost the factory worker one half the number of hours of work in 19-18 than it did in 1*)14. Despite the fact that housing conditions have considerably improved over the standards prevailing in 1914. the manufacturing worker in 1948 had to spend only a little more than 18 hours a month to house his family as compared with the 1914 average of more than 35 hours. The 1948 model low-price car sold for only 954 hours of work despite the fact that the price had more than doubled over the 34 years. T'his meant that the 1948 wage-earner could buy a new car for a little more than one- third the number of hours that one cost in 1914. The intangible gains, such as the technical improvements, the time and physical energy saved in the, home through the use of labour- saving Icuces, the convenience of modern refrigeration and the com- fort of inner-spring mattresses and insulated homes cannot be evaluated in terms of hours of work. .Ml these things rate consideration, however, when we look at the benefits which we can Iiopc lo obtain if we 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 old days". : Keeping Tab On The Buterflies One day in the spriiiy lifty- scveu-year-old Carl A. Anderson, oJ Texas, will release more than 700 orange and brown Monarch butter- flies which he is now breeding iu his backyard. But first he will brand each butterfly on the wine with a serial number. Later in the year .Anderson will begin to i-cceivc every week scores o: postcards from nature-lovers who have traced the Monarch in various parts of North .â- \mcrica. In this way he lioiies to learn more about the migratory habits of the Monarchs. whose movements in .'Vmerica are still largely a mystery. .Vndersoii has already discovered that Monarchs fly up to 25 miles an hour and move in a direct liae as though on a radar beam. Many- winter iu the southern parts of America. When the weather gets warmer they fly northâ€" ?omet!me« as far as Canada. .\ndcrson is so keen on his self- appointed task that last year he went by rail to his native Minne- sota and there traced and brought home some of the tiny refugees he had released months before. MOST PEOPLE would rather look backwarii than iorv ;.rd, for a very simple reason â€" it's easier to remember where you've been than where you're going FIND A FELLOW who t.tver ac- cepted any respotisihility. never did anything constructive, never originated or built soniethinc worth while, and we might be able to point out the perfect example of a carping critic who thinks b« knows precisely what's wrong with all the other folks.