"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." Smith decided not to say what he intended to say.
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