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70. — The Evolution of the Akt of making Fire. 



By Edward Lovett. 



(Bead October 10th, 1888.) 



Mr. Lovett, who illustrated his remarks by a large number of 

 valuable and interesting specimens, observed that wherever 

 modern tribes have been visited, or the works of prehistoric 

 races investigated, abundant proof exists of a knowledge of fire 

 either in the presence of" charred remains of bones, wood, 

 stones, or pottery ; and it is difficult to imagine the survival of 

 man in his present form if, in addition to his many other diffi- 

 culties, he was ever ignorant of the means of obtaining fire. The 

 calcined cooking-stoves of the older stone age in Britain ; the 

 great conflagrations which destroyed settlement after settlement 

 of the Swiss Lake dwellings, the numerous burnt objects in the 

 great earth mounds of North America, the charred remains of 

 objects found in the kitchen middens of Scandinavia, and the 

 shell mounds of New Zealand, all prove the universal Imowledge 

 of fire possessed by prehistoric man of every age. 



Selecting the friction method of obtaining fire first, Mr. Lovett 

 indicated the " stick and groove" as the most simple. It con- 

 sists of a flat soft piece of wood, into which a pointed stick of 

 hard wood is run up and down. This form is still in use in 

 many of the South Sea Islands. In some islands fire has been 

 produced by the rapid drawing of a piece of rough bamboo over 

 the edge of another piece ; this, however, approaches the flint 

 and steel method, the silica in the bamboo acting as the flint in 

 striking off particles of the struck cane, the heat so generated 

 being sufficient to ignite the particle. An advance on the groove 

 plan was the " fire-drill," consisting of the same kind of flat 

 soft wood, but with a hard pointed piece revolved in holes in the 

 lower piece. In its simplest form the fire-drill revolved between 

 the hands of the operator. Of course so simple a form of fire- 

 drill as this was soon improved upon by the ingenuity of primi- 

 tive man, and the next step forward was the " bow-drill " and 

 the " pump-drill," each form varying slightly in different 

 localities, but the main principle being strictly observed. In 

 the Eskimo bow-drill the twirling-stick, instead of being revolved 

 by the hands, was worked by a bow like an archer's bow, the 

 string taking a turn round the fire-stick : by working the bow 

 rapidly backwards and forwards with one hand, while the other 

 held the stick down by means of a guard, a powerful friction 

 was produced. The bow-drill was also used for fire-making by 

 the Sioux or Dacotah Indians. The pump-drill consists of the 

 usual stick and flat soft piece of wood ; upon the former is fixed 

 a wooden disc to give impetus, a cross-piece of wood carrying a 



