civilization are to be found, from the primitive savages to the most
highly cultivated peoples. Although it is possible that there are tribes
of lowly beings on earth to-day unfamiliar with fire or ignorant of its
uses, savages are generally able to make fire. Thus the use of fire may
serve the purpose of distinguishing human beings from the lower animals.
Surely the savage of to-day who is unable to kindle fire or who
possesses a mind as yet insufficiently developed to realize its
possibilities, is quite at the mercy of nature's whims. He lives merely
by animal prowess and differs little in deeds and needs from the beasts
of the jungle. In this imaginary journey to the remote regions beyond
the outskirts of civilization it soon becomes evident that the
development of artificial light may be a fair measure of civilization.

In viewing the development of artificial light it is seen that preceding
the modern electrical age, man depended universally upon burning
material. Obviously, the course of civilization has been highly complex
and cannot be symbolized adequately by the branching tree. From its
obscure beginning far in the impenetrable fog of prehistoric times, it
has branched here and there. These various branches have been subjected
to many different influences, with the result that some flourished and
endured, some retrogressed, some died, some went to seed and fell to
take root and to begin again the upward climb. The ultimate result is
the varied civilization of the present time, a study of which aids in
penetrating the veil that obscures the ages of unrecorded writing.
Likewise, material relics of bygone ages supply some threads of the
story of human progress and mythology aids in spanning the misty gap
between the earliest ages of man and the period when historic writings
were begun. Throughout these various stages it becomes manifest that the
development of artificial light is associated with the progress of
mankind.