16 
volatile hydro-carbons and alcohols had been long known, but 
all attempts to satisfactorily burn them had failed until, in 1834, 
Young brought out his lamp to burn rectified turpentine, which 
he called ‘‘camphine.”’ In this lamp a central metal button, 
known as the Liverpool button, is added to the Argand burner, 
while the glass chimney is much contracted at the top and 
swelled in the middle. This invention and modifications of it 
were at first of little value, but became of immense importance 
when cheap petroleum was (since 1859) imported by millons of 
gallons, and the poorest cottage was able to rejoice in a light 
more brilliant than any palace could have boasted of but a few 
years before. Another successful lamp for street use was the 
naphtha lamp that burns a spray of spirit by means of a red hot 
iron ring. 
But to return to the candle. It is believed that in 1809 
Cambacéres, minister to Napoleon I, suggested the twisted wick, 
which bending outside the flame, is consumed and thus “ snuffs 
itself.” Before this time all candles, excepting rushlights, 
required to be frequently snuffed, and could, therefore, only be 
placed in situations easily accessible. After 1810, the best 
candles were made with self-snuffing wicks manufactured under 
various patents, in some of which one strand is shorter than the 
rest, and is strained tight when the candle is cast, in others, a 
strand was coated with bismuth (Palmer’s metallic wicks). This 
plan is now obsolete, but the method of impregnating the wick 
with a solution of boracie acid, which in burning forms a ball of 
glass that by its weight pulls the wick out of the flame, is still 
sometimes used. Formerly, however, self-snuffing candles, were 
only the occasional luxury of the rich, till in 1840, Wilson intro- 
duced cheap self-snuffing candles for the illumination in honour of 
the marriage of Queen Victoria. Before 1825, when Chevreul, 
(who only recently died aged upwards of 100 years), succeeded in 
eliminating the non-inflammable glycerine, by means of 
saponification by alkali, no artifical improvement in natural fats 
had been effected. In 1835, DeMilly accomplished the same 
result cheaply by using lime, and he established in Paris the 
famous manufacture of ‘ Bougies de l’étoile,’’ which were sold 
at 2 francs a pound. Since that time chemistry has taught us 
how to convert any kind of fat into excellent candles, till to-day 
the Scotch paraffin and the Westminster-wax candles are sold at 
43d. a pound., i.e, a half-penny cheaper than the commonest 
tallow dips which are made (but now only in small quantities) 
by repeatedly dipping the unplaited wick into melted fat. All 
other candles are cast into moulds, excepting real wax candles, 
which are still made by pressing the wax softened in warm 
water round the wick by hand. 
