DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 140, 3 September 1927, Page 25

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

FIRE (Copyright, 19.2 7) r pHJ£ most important invention of tlie human race was the discovery of fire. Nobody knows who made the first fire. The Greeks had an interesting tradition that it was stolen from the gods by Prometheus and given to man. Some think that it is of volcanic origin. Whatever its origin it has enabled mantobe independent of place. By means of it he can inhabit wintry zones and he can also use it, as in steam boilers and otherwise, as a most important tool to increase the productivity of his hands. At any rate fires are very old in the history of the human race and go back to such time as “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.” Some recent writer called attention to the fact that the amusements and comforts of to-day are based upon the necessary actions of yesterday. That is, little girls play with dolls because for ages their mothers had been nursing babies. Baseball is a great sport because our ancestors used to wield tree limbs, run, and throw missiles, throwing, running and batting being the elements of the game. The earliest communal centre, that is the focus about which any group gathered, was a fire. The community fire of the Indians about which they held their pow-wows has its place deep in the instincts of the race. It is for this reason that the steam radiator or hot-air furnace can never take the place of the open fire. There is a pleasure about sitting around the glowing coals or burning wood which appeals to our strongest instincts. In such maimer our ancestors gathered round the central fire. Even in coming days, when all residences may be heated by electricity and kept at summer temperature during winter, the open fire will have its place. Il not only has a practical use, but it appeals very strongly to sentiment.