than heretofore . . .

     The scientific knowledge needed for the use of gunpowder 
and the boring of cannon appeared to Donne as “the light of 
reason.” He failed to notice another advance in the same 
technology that hastened and extended the scope of human 
slaughter. It is referred to by John U. Nef in War and Human  
Progress :

          The gradual abandonment of armor as a part of the 
     equipment of soldiers during the seventeenth century 
     freed some metal supplies for the manufacture of 
     firearms and missiles.

     It is easy to discover in this a seamless web of interwoven 
events when we turn to look at the psychic and social