INTRODUCTORY AS TO HEAT 127 



little curl of smoke arising. This was interesting, but 

 not perhaps alarming. Anyhow, he kept on rubbing to see 

 what would happen. Suddenly there came a spark, and 

 then a burst of flame. The dry wood caught and blazed. 

 When this happened, the discoverer of fire probably 

 howled in terror and ran for his life. We can almost see 

 him jabbering in his excitement to his family, telling of the 

 new devil he had discovered. Perhaps the next day they 

 visited the place, and, since no harm came of that, they 

 may have repeated the experiment. But in the nature of 

 things it must have been a good while before they found 

 out how to use this new discovery for their own. comfort 

 and convenience. 



Bonfires probably warmed them on cool days long be- 

 fore they discovered the art of cooking. However, it 

 is easy to see that the discovery of fire ultimately made a 

 great difference in the ancient world. For fire is the 

 means by which the wonderful energy of heat is placed 

 at man's service. Sometimes it escapes his control and 

 works with destructive violence. Men doubtless saw fire 

 coming from volcanoes before they learned how to pro- 

 duce it for themselves; doubtless they thought of it as 

 some terrible thing which, if liberated from earth's interior, 

 would destroy them all. Perhaps the first discoverer of 

 fire thought he had liberated it. In any case, it is not 

 difficult to understand why there were fire-worshippers 

 in those days. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What is meant by "cold"? 



2. Why do we "strike" matches? 



3. How did men obtain fire before matches were invented? 



4. What is a "hot box"? 



