FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 199 



in the Western Hemisphere were in the torch stage. The Old 

 World, except in the areas where great advance in civihzation is 

 seen, is also in the torch stage. 



There is presented here a series illustrating and suggesting the 

 development of the torch and candle. In this series the torch 

 mei^ges into the candle in accordance with the relationship which 

 exists between these forms of illumination. It is understood that 

 the series only gives the stages of advance in invention and does 

 not give genetic relationships (pi. 33). 



1. Tropical fireflies in a perforated vessel, for giving light. West 

 Indies. 



2. Stormy petrel, burned in the Orkney Islands for light. 



3. Candlefish in a split stick, burned for light. Alaska. 



4. Torch made of birch bark. Iroquois Indians. 



5. Torch made of split fat-pine knots. Virginia. 



6. Torch made of cut strips of coconut bark tied into a bundle. 

 Malays. 



7. Bundle of resin enclosed in palm leaf (outside wick). Malays 

 •and Congo tribes. 



8. Torch made by soaking rope in resin. Europe in the Middle 

 Ages. 



9. Torch composed of cords soaked in fat or wax. Europe, six- 

 teenth century. 



10. Cord soaked in fat or wax, coiled for lighting. England. 



11. Rush soaked in grease, forming a primitive candle. England. 



12. Stick smeared with grease for Ughting. Mongolia. 



13. Mass of fat formed upon a stick, around which is wound a 

 wick of fiber. Kashmir, India. 



14. Candles formed of wax; wick of fiber. Japan and North 

 Africa. 



15. Dipped candles; wick of cotton. United States. 



16. Molded candles. Patent candles of stearine, paraffin and wax, 

 and decorated candles. Nineteenth century. 



ANCIENT 



The most ancient torch known is from the old Stone Age in France, 

 about 100,000 years ago. M. de Mortillet says: "The excavations 

 of Vareze have produced inflammable branches bearing traces of char- 

 ring near the end which has taken fire. These are the most ancient 

 torches known." *^ 



In ancient Greece the torch, dais, was a piece of resinous wood.** 

 An archaic votive tablet from Argos, Greece, represents Artemis with 

 a torch in the right hand and a bow in the left.'*^ 



«i Bull Soc. de Anth. de Paris, vol. 25, 1870, p. 143. 

 <' Henry Schliemann. Troja, New York, 1884, p. 146. 

 " Cast in U. S. National Museum. 



