ABSTRACT
Of all human inventions the discovery of the method of kindling fire has probably been the most momentous and far-reaching. It must date from an extreme antiquity, since there appears to be no well-attested case of a savage tribe ignorant of the use of fire and of the mode of producing it. 1 True, there are many savage tribes and some civilized peoples who tell stories of a time when their ancestors were without fire, and who profess to relate how their forefathers first became acquainted with the use of fire and with the mode of eliciting it from wood or stones. But it is very unlikely that these narratives embody any real recollection of the events which they profess to record; more probably they are mere guesses invented by men in the infancy of thought to solve a problem which would naturally obtrude itself on their attention as soon as they began to reflect on the origin of human life and society. In short, most if not all such tales are apparently myths. Yet even as myths they deserve to be studied; for, while myths never explain the facts which they attempt to elucidate, they incidentally throw light on the mental condition of the men who invented or believed them; and, after all, the mind of man is not less worthy of investigation than the phenomena of nature, from which, indeed, it cannot be ultimately discriminated.
