Baffling Bizarre INVENTIONS JIM MURPHY SKY PONY PRESS NEW YORK
Contents Introduction 5 Chapter 1 The Animal Kingdom 9 Chapter 2 What You Wear 17 Chapter 3 Getting Around 29 Chapter 4 Fun and Games 45 Chapter 5 Personal Hygiene 61 Chapter 6 Odds and Ends 73 Chapter 7 A Handful of Stories 83 An Afterword 93
Introduction The earliest settlements in America were surrounded by a vast seemingly impenetrable forest that covered the east coast from Florida to Canada and went inland for hundreds and hundreds of miles Few people lived here then roads were wretched when they existed and communications were virtually nonexistent When William Bradford described the New World in his 1630 history Of Plymoth Plantation he called it a hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men How did men and women cope with these strange harsh surroundings Many didn’t Some died the result of disease an occasional hostile Indian or simple stupidity Others waited for the next ship and fled back to their homelands in civilized Europe Most however chose to stay and face obstacles with stubborn determination They confronted their problems head on for a very good reason either they solved them or they went hungry Logical ingenuity often helped ensure survival and the development of the Kentucky long rifle is a perfect example of this Before the Kentucky long rifle the gun the colonists used was the primitive matchlock a weapon requiring over fifteen steps to set off and so heavy it had to be mounted on a stand When the rifle fired something not at all guaranteed in rain or snow it made a great noise and flash Unfortunately it was so inaccurate that hitting any target especially one that moved was more a matter of incredible luck than skill But Americans needed a more reliable weapon in order to survive a fact that might seem strange to many people today Just remember that there were no supermarkets or shopping malls back then and no standing army or police either Settlers living apart from a village had to have a way to defend themselves game was often their only source of meat while animal furs and skins had to be used for shoes and clothing JIM MURPHY 5
