166 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and attended, but formed a nucleus around which the human group 

 gathered. This stage is called the tribal or communal fire, and 

 from the tribal fire is supposed to have descended the family fire, 

 which has survived in the customs surrounding the perpetuation 

 of this fire. 



Most of the studies of this subject in dealing with the primitive 

 period are compelled to make use of the scientific imagination, an 

 important aid if judiciously applied. In general the theory of the 

 effect of fire on the development of social features is acceptable as 

 reflecting the present state of thought on the subject. This theory 

 is based on a later stage, when social forms have crystallized and a 

 considerable survival of customs offer what seems to be good grounds 

 for deductions. Criticism is offered that there is a tendency to 

 attribute too much to fire and to omit other developmental germs 

 which antedate fire. 



BORROWING 



There were good reasons for using the w^ord borrowing in respect 

 to fire. Fire was property of a particular class, and could not be 

 sequestrated by gift but could be loaned. It was a violation of prim- 

 itive morals both to ask for the gift of a portion or to give a portion. 

 Speech has preserved the idea, though the meaning is lost when one 

 man asks another, "May I borrow a light V The Hopi Indian under- 

 stands it, however, when he asks for "some of your fire," There is 

 much data to show that this custom harks back to the time when the 

 house fire was regarded as sacred and the life and well-being of the 

 family were involved in its care and worship. At some early period 

 superstition regarding the house fire was intense. The formality of 

 borrowing fire was a cautious negotiation and the theft of fire pun- 

 ishable with death, probably in primitive law extending to the offend- 

 ing family. A superstition of such weight could not fail to survive 

 into periods when ancient beliefs had been softened into outworn 

 customs; nevertheless the sacredness of the house fire is maintained 

 in many parts of the world, even as islands amongst the high civili- 

 zations of to-day, 



Montaigne makes an apt illustration from the custom of borrowing 

 fire. "Wee may verie well be compared unto him, who having need 

 of fire, should goe fetch some at liis neighbor's chimney, where finding 

 a goof fire should there stay to warme himselfe, forgetting to carrie 

 some home." ^° 



In Pennsylvania when one comes in a great hurry it is customary 

 to ask, "Did you come for fire?" This is a survival from an early 

 period when "fire borrowing" was common. 



In the United States National Museum is a small pair of bronze 

 tongs with basket head. These were brought from Denmark in 1792, 



'0 Essays of Montaigne, Chap. 24, p. 278. London, 1889, 



