2 .tFi? f [EttOTCTIGN AND USE OF LIGHT 



2. The Primitive Lamp. Perhaps a pine knot snatched 

 from the fire constituted the first portable light. How 

 recently pine knots have been in common use is shown by 

 the fact that Abraham Lincoln learned to read by the light 

 of them. Perhaps by collecting the grease obtained from cook- 

 ing and placing it in a rude vessel with a bit of bark or a thread 



of twisted moss for a wick, man 

 made the first lamp. We would 

 consider the light produced by 

 such a lamp a poor one indeed, 

 but the Eskimos still use such 

 primitive lamps. The bowl is 

 hollowed out from soapstone; the 

 fat comes from the animals they 

 slay. The Eskimo lamp serves 

 also as a stove. By its heat all 

 their cooking is done and their 

 snow huts are warmed. 



3. Greek and Roman Lamps.- 

 The lamps of Greece and Rome 

 were no better than the Eskimo 

 lamps of today, but the lamp 

 bowls were often very costly and 

 elaborately ornamented (Fig. 2). 

 The rich used lamps of bronze or silver; the middle classes, 

 lamps made of terra-cotta; the poor, cheap iron lamps. 



4. The Early Candle. The earliest lamps could not con- 

 veniently be moved about. The oil or fat, especially when 

 warm, spilled out of the bowl. It was noticed, probably, 

 that when some fats were cold they became quite stiff and solid. 

 Tallow is much more solid than lard. Someone concluded, 

 therefore, that it would not be necessary to use a lamp bowl at 

 all if tallow were used and a small wick imbedded in it. The 

 tallow prepares its own bowl during the process of burning. 

 Like lamps, candles have been used from prehistoric times. 

 6. Modern Candles. While the candles our grandfathers 



FIG. 2. A Roman lamp. 

 From Stories of Useful Inven- 

 tions. (By courtesy of The 

 Century Company.) 



