PREFACE Xm 



surround the subjects are insurmountable so far as setting forth 

 authoritative conclusions are concerned. It has always been a free 

 field for speculation, however, attracting philosophic minds of all 

 times. 



One fact stands clearly forth, namely, that no remains of man's 

 arts show him without fire as an all}^; therefore, whatever the antiq- 

 uity of such finds, we have no other data as to the antiquity of the 

 use of fire. Back of these finds we may assume logically that there 

 was a period when man was without fire, and that in the subdivi- 

 sions of this period he first saw fire in its natural manifestations. Sec- 

 ond, he made use of fire derived from some source in nature, and 

 third, invented some method of making it at will. 



There are several sources which have been suggested as applying 

 to primitive conditions. These are fire from volcanoes or igneous 

 action, from chemical reactions producing fire in coal seams, from 

 earthquakes producing landslides igniting trees by friction, from wind 

 incited friction of tree branches and bamboo jungles, and from Hght- 

 ning. These are natural occurrences within the observation of early 

 man, but it forces the scientific imagination too much to conclude that 

 such material suggestions by themselves were consciously taken up by 

 anyone. Early man was not an Edison to appraise the salient points 

 of nature. It is nearer to earth to imagine that man got his knowl- 

 edge of wood-friction heat by a series of more or less conscious 

 observations during a long period of working in wood and vegetable 

 fibers. This is conceived to have been a long process devoid of 

 brilliant analogical deductions, but advancing at times quite rapidly 

 toward the goal. It is reasonably stated that man was acquainted 

 with fire and used fire derived from nature long before he invented a 

 process for making fire artificially. Granted that in some of his work 

 with wood he observed a heat, a vapor with odor, or smoke, even a 

 coal of fire from rubbing, cutting, or boring by primitive methods, the 

 further steps look easy. That further progress is not easy is shown 

 by the following requirements: 1, Not many kinds of wood are suit- 

 able for the simple drill or fire saw; 2, suitable tindery material in 

 which to increase the spark must be found; 3, the trap for the 

 fire is a slot or channel cut in the horizontal piece of wood and is 

 itself a great discovery; 4, a coal of fire can be nursed to a blaze only 

 with great skill and knowledge. These are merely the chief diflBculties 

 of an invention which as it stands would seem miraculous did we not 

 know that it is a growth and the culmination of a long research by 

 primitive scientists. 



