Editing War with the Newts (section)

===Book One – Andrias Scheuchzeri===
The first section recounts Captain van Toch's discovery of the Newts on [[Tanahmasa]], a small island near [[Sumatra]], their initial exploitation in the service of [[pearl farming]], the beginning of their spread around the oceans of the world, and the development of their speech and absorption of human culture. The section closes with the founding of The Salamander Syndicate, an ambitious plan developed by Mr Bondy to redirect Newt resources away from the declining pearl industry and into larger hydroengineering projects. Though this is the close of the narrative development of this section, after it there is a further appendix entitled 'The Sex Life of the Newts'. This examines the Newts' [[Sex in Science Fiction|sexuality]] and reproductive processes in a [[pastiche]] of academese.

[[Image:Andrias scheuchzeri 1.JPG|thumb|200px|Fossil of the extinct [[giant salamander]] ''[[Andrias scheuchzeri]]'', the basis for Čapek's newts]]
The tone of the first section is generally light-hearted satire, in contrast to the darker tone of later parts of the story. Čapek targets a range of human foibles, from the superficiality of Hollywood starlets, to the arrogance of prevalent European attitudes towards non-white races. He also skewers the self-assuredness of science; scientists are repeatedly seen underestimating the capabilities of the Newts and falsely assessing other related issues, always in full confidence of the validity of their claims.