Smith had been electrified by the idea.
"By George!" he exclaimed two or three times. "Why didn't I think of
that? It's simple as A, B, C now!"
"Why," Van Emmon exulted, "all we've got to do is put the idea of fire
into their heads, and the job is done!" He jumped around in his chair.
"Darn those bees, anyhow!"
"And yet," observed the doctor, "it's not quite as simple as we may
think. Of course it's true that once they have fire, the humans ought to
assert themselves. We'll let that stand without argument."
"Will we?" Smith didn't propose to back down that easy. "Do you mean to
say that fire, and nothing more than fire, can bring about human
ascendency?"
The doctor felt sure. "All the other animals are afraid of fire. Such
exceptions as the moth are really not exceptions at all; the moth is
simply driven so mad by the sight of flame that it commits suicide in
it. Horses sometimes do the same.
"Humans are the ONLY creatures that do not fear fire! Even a tiny baby
will show no fear at the sight of it."
"Which ought to prove," Van Emmon cut in to silence Smith, "that
superiority is due to fire, rather than fire due to superiority, for the
simple reason that a newborn child is very low in the scale of
evolution.
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