Fire kindler, firelight/er

An inflammable composition for quickly starting fires. Fire-making, n. ( Anthrop.) The art of producing fire. The connection between the use of fire and human culture, civilization, and progre , would be interesting to trace. There is no well authenticated instance on record of the existence of a tribe absolutely ignorant of the use of fire; yet it is believed by some that there was a time when man was without fire. In Greek mythology, Pro me the us is represented as bringing fire from the sun, teaching man the use of it and the arts depending or its use, thus becoming the benefactor of the human race. By some philologists the name Pro me the us is derived from a word meaning "fire-stick." If this be correct, it may signify the method of producing fire by means of a stick and groove-the oldest method known and still, or until recently, in use in the South Sea Islands a blunt-pointed stick being run along a groove of its own making in a piece of wood lying on the ground. A modification of this is the fire-drill ( q. v.). These methods of getting fire by friction were followed by the method of concu ion, which may have been suggested in the proce of making implements of stone; as in the chipping of the stone, sparks would be elicited. The ancients used a piece of pyrites-firestones -striking it with a flint or with a piece of steel. The Greeks, in the time of Aris toph anes, knew how to concentrate the sun's rays with a burning gla ; and the Romans in the age of the Pliny (A.D. 23-79), effected the same results by means of concave mirrors. The tinder-box, with flint and steel, has been used within the memory of the present generation, till superseded by the friction match, now universally employed. See MATCH.