CHEMICAL HISTORY OP A CANDLB 95 



formed by this beautifully regular ascending current of air 

 playing upon all sides, which keeps the exterior of the candle 

 cool. No fuel would serve for a candle which has not the 

 property of giving this cup, except such fuel as the Irish 

 bog-wood, where the material itself is like a sponge and 

 holds its own fuel. You see now why you would have had 

 such a bad result if you were to burn these beautiful candles 

 that I have shown you, which are irregular > intermittent in 

 their shape, and can not, therefore, have that nicely-formed 

 edge to the cup which is the great beauty in a candle. I hope 

 you will now see that the perfection of a process that is, its 

 utility is the better point of beauty about it. It is not the 

 best looking thing, but the best acting thing, which is the 

 most advantageous to us. This good-looking candle is a bad- 

 burning one. There will be a guttering round about it be- 

 cause of the irregularity of the stream of air and the badness 

 of the cup which is formed thereby. You may see some 

 pretty examples (and I trust you will notice these instances) 

 of the action of the ascending current when you have a little 

 gutter run down the side of a candle, making it thicker there 

 than it is elsewhere. As the candle goes on burning, that 

 keeps its place and forms a little pillar sticking up by the 

 side, because, as it rises higher above the rest of the wax or 

 fuel, the air gets better round it, and it is more cooled and 

 better able to resist the action of the heat at a little distance. 

 Now the greatest mistakes and faults with regard to candles, 

 as in many other things, often bring with them instruction 

 which we should not receive if they had not occurred. We 

 come here to be philosophers, and I hope you will always 

 remember that whenever a result happens, especially if it 

 be new, you should say, "What is the cause? Why does it 

 occur?" and you will, in the course of time, find out the 

 reason. 



Then there is another point about these candles which will 

 answer a question that is, as to the way in which this fluid 

 gets out of the cup, up the wick, and into the place of com- 

 bustion. You know that the flames on these burning wicks 

 in candles made of bees'-wax, stearin, or spermaceti, do not 

 run down to the wax or other matter, and melt it all away, but 

 keep to their own right place. They are fenced off from the 



