578 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



lithic times. The old English steel, or " Flourish," (fig. 48) is the char- 

 acteristic shape, and has been carried by English commerce into many 

 places. A picture of a strike-a-light used by the Lenguas of Brazil, 

 seen lately, shows the unmistakable old " flourish.^' 



Fig. 48. 

 . English Tinder-box (with flint, "flourish," and bundle of spunks. 



(Cat. No, 75516, U. S. N. M. England. Collected by Louii* and Maurice Farmer.) 



The tinder-boxes had also a damper to extinguish the tinder of burnt 

 linen and to keep it dry. The lids were furnished often with a candle 

 socket. This feature, says Mr. Lovett, has led to their preservation as 

 candle-sticks long after they were superseded by matches. 



Many devices were invented in order to improve on the crude way of 

 holding the flint and steel in the hands to strike tbe spark into the 

 tinder-box. One of these was the wheel tinder-box (fig. 49). The com- 



Fig 49. 

 Wheel Tindee-box. 



(Cat. No. 130431, U. S. N. M. Broadalbin, .N. Y. Pre 



mted by F. S. Hawley. ) 



partmeut near the wheel held the tinder. The flint was placed in a 

 socket on the sliding lid, and the wheel was turned by unwinding a 

 string from off its axle with a sharp pull as in spinning a top. The 



