BELFAST 



NATURAL HISTORY 

 AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



SESSION 1912-13. 



i^th November, igi2. 

 Professor Lindsay, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., President, in the Chair. 



EVOLUTION OF DOMESTIC LIGHTING." 

 By Mr. A. M'l. Cleland. 



The first meeting of this the ninety-second session was held 

 on the 13th November in the Museum, College Square North, 

 There was a good attendance. 



The Chairman, who was received with applause, said the 

 subject was one of great interest, and it would be dealt with by a 

 gentleman eminently qualified to do it justice. 



Mr. Cl(4and, who was cordially welcomed, said domestic 

 lighting began with domestic heating. They might be quite sure 

 that the first domestic light was derived indirectly from the ordin- 

 ary watch fires. So late as the sixteenth century in Scotland pine 

 candles were always used in the common kitchens of the roadside 

 inns. The lecturer traced the evolution of lighting from the pine 

 candle to the torch, the flambeau, the ordinary lamp, the rushlight, 

 and the candle. I'he candle was made in Belfast in precisely the 

 same way as in the year 1 a.d. Little was done in regard to pub- 

 lic lighting until comparatively recent times, and at the beginning 

 of the eighteenth century lamps were used in certain streets of the 

 large cities. In 1800 they came to the era of coal gas. It was 



