OR. PLAIN TEACHING. 



69 



burnt with different degrees of 

 brilliancy. It soon occurred to 

 them that when fires were not 

 needed, light might be obtained 

 by burning branches or splints of 

 the most inflammable kinds of 

 wood. These formed the first 

 flambeaus or tapers. The inha- 

 bitants of Tortuga used sandal 

 wood; those of New England 

 used splinters of a resinous pine; 

 the natives of British G-uiana 

 employed splints of an amyris ; 

 and in Otaheite a kind of torch 

 was formed by nuts stuck upon a 

 skewer. 



The oil or resin which dropped 

 from these burning substances 

 were ascertained to be the mate- 

 rials which yielded light. Some 

 porous substance was therefore 

 chosen that might absorb the 

 combustible, and, by burning it 

 in larger quantity, afford a greater 

 brilliancy. It was observed, too, 

 during the process of cooking, 

 that animal fats were inflamma- 

 ble, and produced bright flames. 

 These fats were rubbed over 

 porous substances. Some of the 

 most ancient candles, of which 

 we have any mention, were made 

 by covering the leaves of the 

 papyrus with wax or tallow. 

 Rushes were dipped into fat, 

 and made into watch candles and 

 funeral lights. The peel or rind 

 of the flax plant was similarly 

 used. Some very old books, 

 dating 700 years before the birth 

 of Christ, having been lost, were 

 found many years afterwards 

 " tied round in every way with 

 candles," from which it appears 

 that the candles were made of 

 long pieces of string, rubbed over, 



or dipped into wax, pitch, grease t 

 or other such substance. # In 

 some country houses, even at the 

 present day, candles are used 

 made of rushes merely dipped 

 once or twice into fat. They are 

 long and thin, and are*burnt in a 

 primitive kind of candle-stand, 1. 

 Lamps are of very A 

 ancient origin ; they \v, 

 are frequently men- ?t 

 tioned in the sacred 3- 

 writings. They were 

 at first made of 

 baked clay (terra- 

 cotta), and consist- 

 ed merely of an oval 

 vessel with a handle, 

 2, at one end, and a 

 lip for a wick, 3, at 

 the other. As civi- 

 lization advanced, 

 and the arts were cultivated, in- 

 genuity was displayed in the orna- 

 mentation of lamps, which may 



297. 



be seen by the forms of those 

 obtained from the ancient cities 

 of Herculaneum and Fompeii, 3a. 



The best of the ancient lamps 

 must have yielded a very feeble 

 illumination. The wicks, being 

 in a solid body, obscured the light, 

 and afforded only a dull flame. 

 If the wicks were enlarged, the 

 lamps smoked, and emitted a dis- 

 agreeable odour. Yet the same 

 simple principle of construction 



* The books were those of Nuina, successor U 

 Romulus. They were found by the scribe Tereiitios 



