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Writ Large, but Little Noted
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11743 |
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NATURAL SCIENCE
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2 / 1994 |
2,611 Words |
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Leonard C. Bruno
Leonard C. Bruno has written on the history of science (The Tradition of Science, 1987), transportation (On the Move, 1992), and technology (The Tradition of Technology, 1994). |
Few pieces of contemporary technology are more taken for granted and less seriously thought about than the pencil. We use it daily in an almost unconscious manner. We throw it away or snap it in half without any qualms. We are generally ignorant of its history and often use the word itself to connote something disparaging or inconsequential. "Penciled in" is a common euphemism for something make-do or temporary, and no one wants to be called a "pencil pusher."
Yet when properly considered and appreciated, the pencil is anything but inconsequential. A trusty, uncomplaining companion, it seeks only to serve. With it we can capture our most elusive thoughts, add the largest sums, render a likeness, or simply keep our hands busy with a doodle. It is cheap, portable; and disposable, and its eraser makes it a most forgiving tool.
Slim and light--almost invisible--a pencil fits perfectly in any hand, becoming an easy extension of our fingers. Its use requires only that the tip of the index finger subtly push down above the tapered end, providing the desired amount of pressure, movement, and control. Even those whose grip resembles a clenched fist can dexterously manipulate a pencil to their own ends, evidencing another of its virtues--adaptability. All told, a pencil could be described as one of the most nearly perfect tools ever devised.
Its impact
The pencil probably had its most dramatic and immediate impact when it first came into common usage in schools between 1812 and 1830. This occurred initially in the United States, whose emphasis on practical public education for young children resulted in American students' being taught to write at an earlier age than those in England. It is difficult today for us to imagine the near-revolutionary consequences the simple pencil had in nineteenth-century American schools, but some appreciation is gained if we examine the writing technology that was displaced with the introduction of the pencil.
Before the Revolutionary War, writing in schools was done with quill pens using homemade ink. Like generations of Europeans before them, these early Americans used quills or feathers that they had literally plucked from their domestic geese. The goose quill dipped in ink was originally introduced by scribes in the seventh century and was the only writing tool used by the civilized world for the next thousand years.
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