ABSTRACT
THE story of Robinson Crusoe is very well told, and part of its evergreen interest is that it takes us back to man’s making of things for himself, instead of getting them as ready-made gifts or purchases, as usually happens nowadays. But while Robinson Crusoe had in actual fact to begin afresh almost at the beginning, his head was full of lessons which he had learned at home. He was not like our earliest ancestors who had no memories of made things, but had to invent everything for themselves. It may not have been a comfortable time, but it cannot have been tedious—when genuine men began to think out inventions.
