The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-12
BEFORE MATCHES
 CAME INTO VOGUE Many Peculiar Methods of
 Striking a Light RUBBING STICKS MADE ONE Flint and Steel Were Also Used-Be- fore Steel Came Into Use a Flint and Pyrites Were Struck
 Together.
RUBBING STICKS MADE ONE

Looking around upon the civilized races Of mankind today, ones imagination is sorely taxed to picture a time when the ready means of striking a light was not available. Yet 1t is certain that such a time must have been-far back in the dim ages when man roamed the wilds and dwelt in holes and caves of the earth, scarcely more advanced in his domestic arrangements than the beasts of the field. In what manner the value of fire as servant first dawned upon the mind of man must ever remain mysterious, but at all times there must have been fires and great conhagrations kindled by nat ural means and entirely without the aid of man. Thus the effect of the lightning stroke, of fiction. caused by falling rocks or the chafing of limbs and stems in the dense forests or the volcanic over flow of the smoldering furnaces within the globe would from time to time dis play the properties Of fire before the wondering eyes of primitive mankind.
 Man First Feared Fire.
 Probably man first feared fire then began to worship it as a god terrible and omnipotent to destroy. Then, his fear de- parting from him, he began to employ fire to benefit himself and his tribe, using it for cooking and warmth. Notice that he did not at first make fire. He took it from natures hand, so to speak, just as he gathered fruit from the forest boughs. There is direct evidence of this in the traditional history of many races. For example, the T'lisngit family of h. dians in southeastern Alaska say that the raven gave them fire and have an elaborate folklore descriptive of the bird and it's flight through inky darkness bearing the divine spark in a box. The fire was religiously preserved and fed, and members of the tribe took of it for their domestic hearths. These and similar fables of the preservation of fire in a box and it's being borne are remi- nscent of the unquestionable fact that man knew and employed fire long be- fore he had discovered the means of making it for himself.
 Probably the first essays of man as a fire maker were confined to the friction of sticks. There are just three ways in which one peice of wood may be rubbed upon another-namey, by moving with it the grain, or blowing" by moving across the grain. or saving" and by twirling a pointed stick within a wooden socket, or drilling" All these methods have been used by early man. Neither the first nor the second method, how ever, was brought to a high state of per fection-or, to be more precise, they both reached perfection in rudimentary form.
 The Fire Flow.
 The fire blow, which was widely used among the Indo-Pacifie races and sporad- ically in America, consists of two parts: first, a stout piece of thoroughly dried wood, perhaps three feet long and two inches in diameter, which forms the hearth or stationary part; second, a smaller stick of the same kind of wood about a foot long, cut wedge-shape at its lower end, the edge forming a very obtuse angle. This constitutes the work ing part, or blow. It was rubbed vio- 1ently backward and forward on the stationary piece, cutting a. groove run ming with the grain for a distance of some four inches. Minute shavings were thus detached in the hands of skillful manipulation these were soon heated above the point of ignition.
 Fire making l 7 saving was a Malay device. and has never perhaps been suc- cessfully employed save in countries whree the bamboo flourishes, the reason being that bamboo is the only really suitable wood. Two pieces are taken, one with sharp edge, the other with a notch in it nearly but not quite severing the substances. After saving for time the floor of the notch is completely pierced and the heated particles fall be- low and ignite.
 The most important method of prim- itive fire making is that of drilling. In its most simple form a stick of dry wood is twirled vertically between the hands upon a very dry and partially decaped lower platform. It is extremely difficult to obtain fire in this way, as modern ex- perimenters may prove for themselves. Yet there is certain knack about the operation, and this once being mastered smoldering wood dust may be created with comparatively little labor.
 The Fire Drill.
 It is clear, however, that the fire drill was the application of the bowstring- simply to the drilling appliances used by the jeweler. The socketed rest for the vertical shaft was then held by one hand while the throng was alternately pulled and slackeneld with the other. Thus a saving of labor was attained.
 The forerunners of the comparatively modern flint and steel as a means of striking a light were flint and pyrites These were struck together and the sparks thus generated were caught among dry moss. The Eskmos from Smith Sound to Behring Strait use this method. A very complete strilSe-a-light set, including flint, pyrites, finder in dainty little bags, and a leather pad to guard the fingers, comes from Cape Bathrust. Evans points also to Fuegia and the European sociological sites for the antiquity of this method, says the Scientific American.
 Modern forms aof the flint and steel are well known to most people from examples preserved in museums Photographs of several of the more interesting varieties are here reproduced. There is the very old type of wooden box perhaps the earliest strike-a-light set made by civil lized mankind. With this are certain small angular pieces of stout paper the tips of which are dipped in sulphur These are the most primitive kind of match known. They are used for gen. eratlng a flame. by application to the smoldering finder. Genuine specimens of f these matches are now extremely rare though ''faked' ones are often offered for sale by dishonest dealers in curios.
 Another Type of Finder Box.
 Another and more compact type of finder box is of metal In the bottom is seen the old dry rag, used as finder, and upon this the flint and steel reposed when the box was not i'll use Still more Interesting is the ingenious strike-a-lght made in the form of a pistol. The flint is worked by the trigger and strikes upon an upright plate of steel, throwing the sparks through an opening upon the tim der contained in a narrow box, which takes the place of what would be the barrel in the case Cf q pistou. This con- trivance is relic of the old stage-coach days By means of 1t light could be struck in a high wind. The matches which were then used were stripes of thin pine wood, the end being dipped in sulphur. one other finder box may be mentioned, namely, the "chamax'-still fin use among the Himalyan tribes. It is a little leathern pouch containing flint and finder, while the steel Is a strip of metal riveted along one side of the pouch. nt< fab1 b1a to I,a -t,I