Tools (Hastings' Dictionary)

In Syria, since its conquest bj' the Arabs in tlie 7th cent., little or no progress has been made in the mechanical arts : workmen still use much the same kinds of tools and methods of working as their ancestors did ten centuries ago. It is only within the last 40 or 50 j'ears that European implements have come into use.

It would occupy too much space to give an account of the tools used in the difierent handicrafts of Syria; it may be sutticient to mention a few employed in masonry, carpentry, and smith work. Masonry. — In Syria, in very early times, stones were hewn from the rock by a pointed hammer called the bik (see Hammer), and the larger the stone the less, of course, was the labour of cutting.

This seems to have been the reason for the great size of the stones in the oldest part of the temple of Baalbek. When the wedge came into use for splitting rocks, smaller stones were quarried, and consequently buildings were more quickly con- structed. The masons of Lebanon, who are still acknowledged to be the most skilful builders in Syria, use no means, such as cranes, for lifting a stone to its position on the wall they are building.

If a stone is too large to be carried, an inclined plane is made of trunks of trees, or of stones and earth, and the stone is rolled to its place. Chisels are used only for giving a fine edge to a stone, or for carving. For otiier tools see HAMMER. Carpentry. — The tools of the Lebanon carpenters are the very same as those used by the ancient Egyptian workmen ; only, instead of being of flint or bronze, they are of steel.

Of all his tools, the kadiim or adze is the most useful to the Syrian carpenter ; it is hammer, chisel, and plane in one. In the early part of this century planes were not used by tlie carpenters in the higher villages of Lebanon ; planks of wood were smoothed by the adze. The ancient Egyptian adze appears to have been, at first, a sharp llint fastened by thongs to a handle, and replaced by a blade of bronze when metals came into use. The axe jiassed through similar changes.

The liow and drill are still in use for boring lioles in wood ; the awl is a shoe- maker's tool. These tools with tlie saw are tlie ordinary implements of a Syrian carpenter, and are carried about by }iim when seeking work. European tools are, however, becoming common. Smith. — The hammers and tongs are very much the same in form as those used in Europe, but very roughly made. Anvils are simply cubical masses of iron having the upper surface faced with ToPARCnY TOPHET, TOPIIETH 797 steel.

The original bellows was a tube through wliich the workman blew into the fire ; then goat- skin bags were employed ; and the form of beflows used bj- the coppersmiths of Syria at the present time is almost the same as that depicted on the tombs of ancient Egypt. Tlie modern worker in iron reijuires a more powerful instrument, and two large circular bellows are placed so that lie may take advantage of the weiglit of his body in work- ing them.

See, further, the separate articles on various tools. W. Carslaw.