184 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



chillies, and charcoal, and puts them into a pot of water colored with 

 lime and turmeric. This is waved three times over the child and 

 then spilled on the ground, or the ingredients are cast dry into the 

 fire with some of the child's hair."^^ 



The value of fire in exorcism is believed by the East Africans: 

 "On the other hand, a living man pursued by the 'bad people' was 

 able, to make good his escape by interposing a fire betwixt himself 

 and the ghostly pack.^" 



This is like the story of the woman who drove the pig to market, 

 and the obstacles were not overcome till "fire burn stick" supplied 

 the impetus of power. 



The Mohave Indians of Arizona have a dream superstition: "One 

 may dream of being bitten by a rattlesnake, or one may dream that 

 fire falls on his finger; in either case an actual rattlesnake will be the 

 result. "31 



ILLUMINATION 



Three great events have profoundly influenced the advancement 

 of man. These are fire domestication, language, and agriculture. 

 Without discussing the relative importance of these steps to civiliza- 

 tion, it may be said that language is preponderantly a psychical de- 

 velopment not entering the technological stage of writing until late, 

 while fire and agriculture are technical from their inception. The 

 phase of fire relating to light also came into importance long after 

 fire had been employed in ceramics, metallurgy, and other key uses. 



Fire adopted in the past became at once a source of light, which 

 was artificial in the sense that it could be obtained at will at other 

 times than when the fire was replenished. Light in the aspect of 

 temorary expedients no doubt had had myriads of instances. The 

 custom of the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia of throwing a 

 dash of oil on the fire to produce a bright light is a case in point.) 

 The brand taken from the fire suggests the torch, which is regarded 

 as the beginning of illuminating devices. The classification of light- 

 ing devices is as follows: 



Torch. — Vegetable, animal, and mineral. Torch holders. 



Candle. — Vegetable, animal, and mineral. Candleholders. 



Lamp. — Simple lamps to Argand and to modern lamps. Forms 

 and improvements of lamp. 



Gas. — History and development. 



Electric. — History and development. 



Modern inventions. — Magnesium, oxyhydrogen, acetylene, calcium, 

 etc. 



"Amer. Anthrop., vol. 2, new ser., 1900, p. 193. 



M W. Scoresby Routledge and Katherine Routledge. With a Prehistoric People: The Aikuyu of 

 British East Africa, London, 1910, pp. 74-77. 

 "A. L. Kroeber. The Mohave Indians, Amer. Anthrop., (new ser.), vol. 4, 1902, p. 280. 



