Technology and Culture

480 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE proportional divider useful for scaling the drawings of the various mod­ els to any selected size. Making this divider is the first proposition in the book. This is an attractive book, well designed to interest the inquiring mind of any age and to stimulate interest in model building of a serious, constructive, and educational nature entirely different from the toy model building from kits that has become so popular and signifies so little. It is a good book for all who have an inquiring mind and a desire to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of pioneer mechanical achievements in spite of the limitation of a somewhat casual presentation. Edwin A. Battison* Weapons of the American Revolution and Accoutrements. By Warren Moore. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1967. Pp. ix+225; illus­ trations. $10.00. In this book, Warren Moore broadly surveys the personal arms and equipment of the revolutionary war. In selecting from his own and other private collections as well as from those of museums, the author has created and presented photographically a hypothetical collection relevant to the period. The book is more than a catalog of this hypo­ thetical collection, however. The reader will discover among the nu­ merous illustrations “How to Load and Fire a Flintlock” and the no­ menclatures for flintlock pistols, shoulder arms, and edged weapons. Eight pages of handsome color photographs brighten the book’s other­ wise somber appearance. The author has chosen to arrange the subject matter in five sections: “Pistols,” “Shoulder Arms,” “Edged Weapons,” “Engraved Powder Horns,” and “Accoutrements.” The text, in brief introductory portions for each section, provides historical background and necessary defini­ tions, but the reader must rely heavily on the captions for specifics. The “Shoulder Arms” section is subdivided by country of origin, a scheme unfortunately not executed elsewhere in the book. Engraved powder horns, bearing scenes and sentiments, have rated a special section. The final section, “Accoutrements,” is a potpourri including pole arms, sad­ dle holsters, bayonets, military headgear, cartridge boxes, bullet molds, canteens, spurs, uniform buttons, shoe buckles, and many other miscel­ laneous items. While the book has a few minor errors—one or two cavalry helmets date from a later period, and Stephen V. Grancsay’s unfortunate state­ ment in the foreword that Ferguson rifles were used at King’s Moun­ tain—the overall quality of accuracy meets acceptable standards. The author’s choice of contents is usually excellent, with a few notable ex- * Mr. Battison is associate curator of the Division of Mechanical and Civil En­ gineering of the Smithsonian Institution. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 481 ceptions in “Accoutrements,” where the rationale seems to have been extended to include any item with military connotation which would not fit into the other four categories. The information contained within this book is valuable, but some particulars of presentation fall short. Collectors may determine the present location of some particular specimens by tracing through the photographic credits, but had each caption included a credit line, the precise location of each item considered would be easily known. The use of a uniform photographic scale, at least within each section, would have made comparisons possible. The arrangement of this hypothetical collection into the five chosen categories presents some special problems for the nonspecialist. In this scheme, the relationship of each item in the collection is to one of kind; thus the reader finds a bayonet in “Accoutrements,” but the weapon to which it fitted in “Shoulder Arms,” for example. The necessary knowl­ edge of the relationships of arms and accoutrements must be prior knowledge or found elsewhere, with the exception of “How to Load and Fire a Flintlock,” which relates barrel, priming pan, lock, powder flask, patch, and ball in an action sequence. The artifact is an important and legitimate source in the study of the history of technology. While a single object can yield information concerning the man or men who designed, fashioned, and used it, the study of history through objects often demands full understanding of the operational interrelationships among contemporary items. The subject matter of this book and of two other reference works, The History of Weapons of the American...