FIRE AS AN AGENT IN HUMAN CULTURE 215 



at Sitka shows. The taper holder has no relationship to the candle- 

 stick. 



Of the two types of candle placements, namely, the prickets and 

 socket, the latter has survived as the common form, while the 

 pricket, if ever in general use, became obsolete in the seventeenth 

 century except as stated where continued in use in churches. 



In the gi'eat vai-iety of candlesticks as to material, art, nationality, 

 period, use, and so forth, there are a number of improvements or 

 modifications which may be classed as minor inventions. These are 

 seen in the flared rim of the socket for catching the gi'ease; extension 

 of the socket into a tube, stem and slide by which candle may be 

 raised and butt ejected; expansion of the base into a dish; raising 

 or lowering device on a stem; modification of stem and base into a 

 spike for thrusting into wall or wood or into hook for hanging on 

 a peg; attachment to a sconce plate for hanging on a wall. For 

 special uses there have also developed the brewer's candlestick, the 

 weaver's, the miner's, the pocket and folding candlestick, and the 

 numerous varieties of every material suitable for palace, church, 

 parlor, kitchen, and other divisions of the house. 



The mounting of the socket is quite as variable, as seen in canda- 

 labra, girandoles, chandeliers, brackets, sconces, and on jointed arms 

 for extension, etc. Special candlesticks of German invention in the 

 eighteenth centmy in one case have the socket sliding on the open- 

 work spiral stem, and in the other the candle clamped against a half 

 socket by a spring forming the other half. The latter device may 

 have descended from the torch-holding forms of the Iron Age (pi. 35, 

 fig. 5). An invention of about 1840 by the Englishman Palmer 

 placed a spring under the candle, forcing it up steadily as the fuel 

 was burned away at the top. This took the place of the older rod 

 which served to force the candle up. 



There have developed with the candlestick many petty inven- 

 tions, either utihtarian or refinements. Some of these are extra 

 sockets or prickets for burning candle ends, called by the French 

 hrule tout; the socket cup, allowing the candle to be hfted out of the 

 usual socket; glass or metal disk for ornamenting the top of the 

 candlestick, and others. An interesting device consists of an indi- 

 vidual socket with spreading teeth which when forced down into the 

 socket clamped the candle firml3\ 



Reflectors and shields, which were often applied to the candle, 

 came at a comparatively late period. In some cases, as in the 

 Washington candlestick, which may have been used in writing the 

 farewell address, the broad brass plate against which the candle 

 sockets are mounted was intended to guard the light from the wind 

 and was not a reflector. An adjustable shield for keeping the light 

 out of the eyes was sometimes used. Large ornamental glass globes 



