CLOTHING 535 



knowledge that fire may be kept going by throwing wood 

 on it from time to time seems not to involve an ex- 

 ceptionally high order of mentality. It is within the 

 scope of quite young children; yet no case has ever 

 been credibly recorded of any lower animal learning 

 how to keep up a fire. It is quite true that in a wild 

 state animals are afraid of fire, and this fear may readily 

 act as a deterrent influence against their learning to make 

 use of fire. Yet dogs, which are among the most intel- 

 hgent of animals, have no fear of fire; in fact, they 

 derive great enjoyment from basking in its warmth ; but 

 a dog whose intelligence seems to be almost human will 

 allow a fire to go out and itself to lose the enjoyment of 

 its warmth without any effort toward maintaining it. 



The significance of fire in human progress is so obvious 

 as to require only a word regarding it. It is one of the 

 factors which enable men to live outside the tropics. The 

 historical fact that civilization thrives and has thriven 

 from the beginning in climates too cold for human 

 habitation without artificial protection, emphasizes the 

 significance of fire. In view of the further fact that 

 metallurgy and the most important applications of power 

 depend upon fire, the significance of this particular 

 ability of mankind becomes clearly manifest. 



Clothing. — Related to the appreciation of fire is 

 the appreciation of clothing. It is a common thing for 

 animals to seek protection against the inclemencies of 

 climate by crawling into sheltered nooks, but only man 

 has discovered how to carry his shelter around with him 

 in the form of clothing. Just as fire extends his range 

 by allowing him to live in cold as well as in warm cli- 

 mates, so clothing increases his effective life by allowing 

 him to be active when the weather is so inclement that 

 without it he could remain alive only by curling himself 

 up in some sheltered spot and waiting for conditions to 

 moderate. 



The Cultivation or the Soil involved in its begin- 



