90 FARADAY 



And now, my boys and girls, I must first tell you of what 

 candles are made. Some are great curiosities. I have here 

 some bits of timber, branches of trees particularly famous 

 for their burning. And here you see a piece of that very 

 curious substance, taken out of some of the bogs in Ireland, 

 called candle-wood; a hard, strong, excellent wood, evidently 

 fitted for good work as a register of force, and yet, withal, 

 burning so well that where it is found they make splinters 

 of it, and torches, since it burns like a candle, and gives a 

 very good light indeed. And in this wood we have one of 

 the most beautiful illustrations of the general nature of a 

 candle that I can possibly give. The fuel provided, the 

 means of bringing that fuel to the place of chemical action, 

 the regular and gradual supply of air to that place of action 

 heat and light all produced by a little piece of wood of 

 this kind, forming, in fact, a natural candle. 



But we must speak of candles as they are in commerce. 

 Here are a couple of candles commonly called dips. They 

 are made of lengths of cotton cut off, hung up by a loop, 

 dipped into melted tallow, taken out again and cooled, then 

 redipped, until there is an accumulation of tallow round the 

 cotton. In order that you may have an idea of the various 

 characters of these candles, you see these which I hold in 

 my hand they are very small and very curious. They are, 

 or were, the candles used by the miners in coal mines. In 

 olden times the miner had to find his own candles, and it 

 was supposed that a small candle would not so soon set fire 

 to the fire-damp in the coal mines as a large one; and for 

 that reason, as well as for economy's sake, he had candles 

 made of this sort 20, 30, 40, or 60 to the pound. They have 

 been replaced since then by the steel-mill, and then by the 

 Davy lamp, and other safety lamps of various kinds. I have 

 here a candle that was taken out of the Royal George, (*) 

 it is said, by Colonel Pasley. It has been sunk in the sea 

 for many years, subject to the action of salt water. It shows 

 you how well candles may be preserved; for, though it is 



*The Royal George sunk at Spithead on the agth of August, 1782. Colonel 

 Pasley commenced operations for the removal of the wreck by the explosion 

 of gunpowder, in August, 1839. The candle which Professor Faraday ex- 

 hibited must therefore have been exposed to the action of salt water for 

 upward of fifty-seven years. 



