Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-05-05
FORKS.
An .Assyrian Discovery.

A bronze fork with two prongs, dis
covered by Mr.. George Smith in the
mound of Konyuniik, supplies food
for some reflection. IF it really is
bona fde fork, it is one of the most
singular and remarkable relics of an
tlquity. That Fingers were made
before forks is proverb the truth of
which no one, we presume, is inclined
to dispute. But people are apt to
forget how very long the people of the
West, at any rate, were destitute of
forks, and if Mr.. George Smiths fork
is fork, as he supposes it to be,
another and very important addition
will have been made bv the claims Of
ASIA to early superiority over Europe.
Neither the Greeks nor the Romans
knew anything Of forks for eating,
although they had pitchforks from
time immemorial, and did not take
hint from them, speaks very little for
their onalogical ingenuity.
And Notwithstanding that forks were
known as rare and exceptional instru-
ments in the middle ages, they were
not used either by carvers or eaters of
meat even SO late as the early part of
the sixteenth century among the most
advanced of European nations. The
Greeks had knives for carving. But
when they fed themselves with solid
food they did it with their fingers.
which they afterward wiped on pieces of
bread called a1oO77aoyd02da6. When
they took their soup they used either a
spoon Or piece Of bread followed on
indiferently termed naustize, nsasstross.
oe naustros So likewise the Roman
fed themselves with their fingers when
they ate solid food, and liquid food
they took with spoon (cochlear.) But
they had no forks, although they cult
waited carving as an art with considera-
BILE assiduity. The carptor, scissor, or
structor was a person guided by rules,
who performed his task to the sound of
music, and with appropriate gesticula
ton.
In Wynkyn de Worde's Boke of
Keruynge, too, published in 1913, the
author tells the carver he must ssSet
never on fyshe, beest ne fowle more
than two fingers and thombe," clear
~ showing that forks were not in use:
and adds, "Your knvfe must be
fayre, and your handles music be cleane,
and pass not two fingers and thumbe
upon your knyfe.'' Yet the fork was
employed for certain purposes among
our ancestors at least two centuries
before this was written. One fork is
mentioned in tn g wardrobe accounts of
Edward [ for the year 1897, and Edward
IFS favorite, Piers Gavaston, had
(F@dera, year 1879 'sTrois furchesces
d'argent pur mangier poires." LIE
Grand d'Aussay (Historie de la Vie
Prives DIES Francois, vol, III. page
179), says that forks are enumerated in
an inventory Of jewels of Charles V. of
France for 1879, and this is the only
instance no mentions during the middle
ages. He also remarks, writing in 1882,
that then the knife was commonly en-
ployed to convey food to the mouth.
Gas it still is in England when for that
purpose the blades of tho knives are
made broad and round at the end.
Newly Discovered Races in Africa.
In recent lecture delivered at
Cologne by DR.. Gerhard Rohlfs, the
African explorer, most interesting &C.
count was given of the last part of a
Journey from Tripoli to the coast of
Guinea. He visited the Empire of
Bornu, situated to the south Of Lake
Tchad, and found the negro tribes
dwelling there to be the most civilized
of the North African natives. From
Kouka, the capital of Bornu, DIR,
Rohlfs struck south to Mandara, and
entering the districts of the Pullo or
Fullo tribes, found the inhabitants sto
be of light yellow, almost white com
plexion and surprising even Europeans
with regard to beauty OF form and
growth" The civilization of Bornu
and it's neighboring districts was treat
ed IN detail by the lecturer, and was
shown to present features of great i'm
portance to the students of Anthropol
ogy.