of the price which the same quantity, if furnished by can¬ 
dles, would cost, I next endeavored to discover the defects 
of lamps, together with the means of removing these, and 
afterwards sought to render them, by the elegance of their 
forms and richness of their ornaments, a proper substitute 
for the most elegant chandeliers in our halls. The result 
of these researches was a hanging lamp with a circular 
reservoir, which I had the honor to present to the class five 
years since. 
This lamp, which at present may be found in many of the 
most elegant mansions in Paris, is composed of a collection 
of sockets, or wick pipes, (fiorte-mechi) from three to six in 
number, with a double current of air. These are united in 
the centre of a twelve sided screen, each of whose sides is 
from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter. This screen is 
covered with gauze or white crape, encircled horizontally 
with a band of gilded copper, of an inch in breadth, and sus¬ 
pended by means of six chains, attached to six arrows of 
gilded copper. The latter are fastened horizontally to the 
band by a screw. 
The screen, enclosing the lamp, so as to hide it complete¬ 
ly from the view, is capable of being variously ornamented. 
M. Parquet, an ingenious manufacturer of tin lamps, resid¬ 
ing in Paris*, who first made this lamp, (and who has sold a 
large number) conceived the idea of adorning it in a very 
rich and elegant manner. He enveloped its twelve sides, 
which are of brass wire and covered with white silk, with 
small Bohemian crystals, and formed the chains, by which 
it is suspended, of links of large oblong crystals, cut in fa¬ 
cets and enchased alternately on the links of gilded copper. 
When finished in this manner, the lamp becomes a brilliant 
as well as elegant ornament to an apartment. Those who 
desire more richness and magnificence, may place the 
screen, thus adorned, in the centre of a large lustre of Bohe¬ 
mian glass, they may indeed cover the whole screen with 
* Rue St. ’Honore, opposite that of the Lyceum. 
