Stages in the Development of Control Over Fire

An analysis of the concept of control over fire implies that man must be able to do the following: (1) conserve fire while it is burning so that it does not go out, (2) confine it to a particular locale so that it does not spread and destroy either the surrounding property or himself; (3) extinguish it when he is through with its use; and (4) start it once more at will. Only when all these conditions have been fulfilled, can it be truly said that man has control over fire.

In his paper on 'The Acquisition of Power over Fire', (1) Freud elaborated the thesis which he had expressed earlier in a footnote in Civilization and its Discontents(2) that, 'in order to possess himself of fire, it was necessary for man to renounce the homosexually tinged desire to extinguish it with a stream of urine'.

Using Freud's paper as a point of departure for further investigation into the problems involved in the acquisition of the control over fire, a number of questions arise: (1) What force or forces were responsible for the renunciation of the urge to urinate on the fire? (2) Are there any pregenital or preurethral controls which were associated with the development of the control over fire, suggested by our general knowledge of the stages of libidinal development? (3) What psychical factors were responsible for man's learning the secret of starting a fire?

To find a solution to these problems is extremely difficult because of the nature of the material with which we have to deal. Our conclusions, moreover, at best can only be constructions based upon primitive mythology and some observations from the case material of the analysis of adult neurotic patients. From the myths we learn that in order to possess himself of fire it was necessary for man to obtain it by trick, or aggressive action of some kind from another person (often represented as an animal or bird with human attributes). Freud, in his analysis of similar material, particularly that found in the myth of Prometheus,