THE BANISHMENT OF NIGHT 



TALLOW CANDLE AND PERFECTED OIL LAMP 



Stated in scientific terms, the problem of the ideal 

 lamp-wick resolves itself into a question of how to 

 supply oxygen to every portion of the flame in sufficient 

 quantities to bring all the carbon particles to a tempera- 

 ture at which they are luminous. It occurred to Argand 

 that this could be done by giving the wick a circular form 

 like a cylindrical tube, giving the air free access to the 

 centre of the tube as well as to its outer surface. In his 

 lamp the reservoir of oil was placed at a little distance 

 from, and slightly above, the tube holding the burner, 

 connected with it by a small tube much as the tank of 

 the modern "student lamp" connects with the burner. 

 In this manner a fairly good lamp was produced, a 

 decided improvement over any made heretofore, 

 and when, in 1765, Quinquet added a glass chimney to 

 this lamp a new epoch of artificial lighting was inaugu- 

 rated. "This date is of as much importance in artificial 

 lighting as is 1789 in politics," says one writer. "Be- 

 tween the ancient lamps and the lamps of Quinquet 

 there is as much difference as between the chimney-place 

 of our parlors and the fireplaces of our original Aryan 

 ancestors, formed by a hole dug in the ground in the 

 centre of their cabins." 



A little later Carcel still further improved the Quin- 

 quet lamp by adapting a clock movement that forced 

 the oil to rise to the wick, so that it was no longer neces- 

 sary to have the burner and the reservoir separated by a 

 tube. This was still further improved upon by substi- 

 tuting a spring for the clockwork, the result being a lamp 



[205] 



