356 



LAMP. 



houses of Pompeii ami Heivulaiieum. Repre>cnUi- 

 tio."> of these were published in 1795J, in ninety-three 

 copper-plates, exclusive of vignettes. They form 

 the ninth volume of the Antiquities of Herculaneum. 

 \Vt- fiml there represented and explained upwards of 

 two hundred lamps and candelabras of bronze and 

 terra-cotta. The ancients appear to have very early 

 acquired the practice of using lamps. The use of 

 oil was not perhaps known to the Romans in very 

 remote ages, although tiie Greeks, unquestionably, 

 were acquainted with it, as appears from several 

 passages in Herodotus. We find, indeed, the figure 

 of the lamp sculptured and engraved on many of the 

 most ancient Greek vases. It is with a lamp that 

 Mercury, as depicted on one of these, lights Jupiter, 

 who is represented scaling with a ladder the chamber 

 of Alcmena. Baked earth was the substance of 

 which the earliest lamps were composed, but subse- 

 quently we find them of various metals of bronze 

 more particularly. A few ancient lamps of iron are 

 also extant ; but these are rare, either because that 

 metal was little used for the purpose, or on account 

 of its more ready destruction in the ground. There 

 are four specimens in the museum of the king of 

 Naples, at Portici, where there is likewise one speci- 

 men of a lamp of glass. It is entirely solid, and in 

 one single piece. Pausanias mentions a golden lamp 

 in the temple of Minerva, and St Augustine speaks 

 of lamps of silver. No antique of either kind, how- 

 ever, has reached modern times. The testimony of 

 Pliny, St Augustine, and others, has led to the belief 

 that the ancients had perpetual lamps, and Liceti has 

 composed his work to establish this supposition. 

 Different authors mention instances of lamps, which, 

 in modern times, have been found burning in ancient 

 sepulchres, but were extinguished as soon as the exter- 

 nal air was admitted. The most famous instance is that 

 of the tomb of Tulliola, daughter of Cicero, discovered 

 at Rome, in 1540. None or these instances, however, 

 can be considered as proved. The idea probably 

 arose from the inflammation of the hydrogen gas con- 

 tained in these caverns, when explorers entered them 

 with torches. The lamps or candlesticks made use 

 of by the Jews, in their own houses, were generally 

 put into a very high stand on the ground. The lamps 

 supposed to have been used by the foolish virgins, 

 &c., in the gospel, were of a different kind. Accor- 

 ding to critics and antiquaries, they were a sort of 

 torches made of iron or potter's earth, wrapped about 

 with old linen, and moistened, from time to time, 

 with oil. (Matt, xxv., 1, 2.) The lamps of Gideon's 

 soldiers were of the same kind. The candlestick, 

 with seven branches, placed in the sanctuary by 

 Moses, and those which Solomon afterwards prepared 

 for the temple, are said to have been crystal lamps 

 filled with oil, and fixed upon the branches. Among 

 the Romans, also, it was customary to have the 

 lamp either depending from the ceiling, or placed on 

 a stand in the room, since the use of tables was not 

 common to them, and their attitude in studying, as 

 well as at their repasts, was a half-recumbent one, 

 holding their scroll or tablets before them on their 

 knees. These stands were often highly ornamented. 

 The most common form of them was a tripod with 

 lion's feet, from which sprang sometimes the shaft of 

 a column, according to one of the orders of architec- 

 ture, the disk placed to receive the lamp forming the 

 capital. These vessels were generally ornamented 

 with mythological or allegorical subjects, and their 

 shape varied greatly. Sometimes it was a simple 

 disk with a hole in the circumference, through which 

 to pass the wick, and another in the middle, to pour 

 the oil into. At other times they presented the appear- 

 ance of a boat. Occasionally their extremity ter- 

 minated in two or three divisions, according to the 



number of beaks; but it would be endless to attempt to 

 pursue these details. Inscriptions were likewise often 

 found placed upon them. (See Candelabra.} Public 

 illuminations on occasions of national rejoicing were 

 common to the Romans. On the birthdays of their 

 princes, on great religious solemnities, &c., they sus- 

 pended lamps at the windows. Juvenal and Persius 

 both make mention of this usage. Various motives 

 have been assigned for the ancient practice of plac- 

 ing lamps in sepulchres. One of the most ingenious, 

 and perhaps the most satisfactory, is that it was alle- 

 gorical of the cessation of mortal life of the separa- 

 tion of the soul, which the ancients regarded as an 

 emanation of fire. On some sepulchral lamps we 

 find sculptured the figure of the butterfly, in allusion, 

 no doubt, to the equally cheerful and elegant imagi- 

 nation of the escape of the spirit, in a more aerial 

 semblance, from its chrysalis state. The early Chris- 

 tians adopted, in their monuments, this pagan usage, 

 together with many others, and the lamp has been 

 found in the tombs of saints and martyrs, and of 

 distinguished men who embraced Christianity. In 

 these instances, it was, no doubt, meant still more to 

 be illustrative of that divine flame by which they were 

 inspired, and whose inward light guided them through 

 the many savage persecutions suffered by the primi- 

 tive followers of our holy faith. The shapes of an- 

 cient lamps, as well as other ancient utensils, have 

 been imitated with much success by Mr Wedgwood. 

 The principal works to be consulted on the subject 

 of lamps are those already quoted, of Liceti, of Bellori 

 and of Passed ; Antichitd d'Ercolano, volume 9 

 (Lucerne) ; a Dissertation sur une Lampe antique 

 trouvee a Munich en 1753, written by the prince de 

 St Severe on the question of inextinguishable lamps; 

 and the preliminary remarks to the description of two 

 antique lamps found at Nismes, in vol. 2d of Millin's 

 Monumens Inedits. 



We now come to speak of the construction of the 

 lamps of modern times, but before describing these, 

 it will be necessary to say a few words on the nature 

 of flame. Various substances, during combustion, 

 afford a permanent and luminous flame, the degree 

 of illumination depending upon the nature of the sub- 

 stance. It was the opinion of Sir H. Davy, that the 

 brilliancy of flame, was owing to the intensity of the 

 combustion of the gaseous matter, towards the in- 

 terior, in consequence of charcoal being produced, 

 and strongly ignited, before it is burned. Those 

 bodies that, during combustion, emit chiefly gaseous, 

 or volatile matter, give out flame of little brilliancy, 

 as hydrogen and suFphur ; those, on the other hand, 

 which emit solid substances, such as oil, yield a bril- 

 liant white flame. In a conical flame, as that of a 

 candle, combustion takes place more intensely at the 

 surface, where the inflammable matter comes into 

 contact with the air. At the bottom of the flame 

 there is a dark portion, where the volatile matter has 

 not yet been wholly set on fire; while, in the interior, 

 the flame is brightest, in consequence of the volatile 

 matter being brought to a white heat before it is 

 burned. 



In order to ensure a constant and steady flame, the 

 supply of combustible matter must be adequate and 

 uniform ; wherefore it must either be in a liquid or 

 gaseous state, so that it may approach the flame, in 

 an uninterrupted current. The combustible may be 

 made to approach the flame either by capillary action 

 through means of wicks, or by mechanical pressure. 



The requisite properties for a perfect lamp : 1st, 

 It must be supplied with carbonaceous matter, and 

 with oxygen; 2nd, It must convert the former into a 

 gaseous state ; and, 3rd, it must bring the gas, so 

 produced, in contact with oxygen, at such a temper- 

 ature, that the caibon will combine with the oxygvn 



