LECTURE II 



A CANDLE: BRIGHTNESS OF THE FLAME-^AIR 

 NECESSARY FOR COMBUSTION PRO- 

 DUCTION OF WATER 



WE were occupied the last time we met in con- 

 sidering the general character and arrangement as 

 regards the fluid portion of a candle, and the way 

 in which that fluid got into the place of combustion. You 

 see, when we have a candle burning fairly in a regular, 

 steady atmosphere, it will have a shape something like the 

 one shown in the diagram, and will look pretty uniform, 

 although very curious in its character. And now I have 

 to ask your attention to the means by which we are enabled 

 to ascertain what happens in any particular part of the 

 flame; why it happens; what it does in happening; and 

 where, after all, the whole candle goes to; because, as you 

 know very well, a candle being brought before us and 

 burned, disappears, if burned properly, without the least 

 trace of dirt in the candle stick; and this is a very curious 

 circumstance. In order, then, to examine this candle care- 

 fully, I have arranged certain apparatus, the use of which 

 you will see as I go on. Here is a candle; I am about to 

 put the end of this glass tube into the middle of the flame 

 into that part which old Hooker has represented in the 

 diagram as being rather dark, and which you can see at any 

 time if you will look at a candle carefully, without blowing 

 it about. We will examine this dark part first. 



Now I take this bent glass tube, and introduce one end 

 into that part of the flame, and you see at once that some- 

 thing is coming from the flame, out at the other end of the 

 tube; and if I put a flask there, and leave it for a little while, 

 you will see that something from the middle part of the 

 flame is gradually drawn out, and goes through the tube, 



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