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tained in a circular reservoir, which has a very fine effect 
as a table lamp. It is placed on a supporter of from eighteen 
to twenty inches in height, and when covered with its half¬ 
screen of crape, it diffuses a mild light sufficient for a cir¬ 
cular dining table of eight or ten covers. So also for a 
work table or reading desk, it burns agreeably and for eight 
hours without requiring to be touched. This lamp, which 
is before the class, is of an elegant form and perfect pro¬ 
portion, and may be attended with but little trouble.* 
For a long time, I was of the opinion that we should nev¬ 
er be able to find a lamp which would advantageously sup¬ 
ply the place of candles, in the interior of an apartment, but 
since I possess this, I have given up the use of candles, and 
several individuals of good taste, and too much at their ease, 
as it respects fortune, to permit the difference of price to in¬ 
fluence them', have, like me, preferred this lamp to candles, 
for common use. 
This lamp, together with the hanging ones, have been 
for sale for a short period only, but as all artists have a right 
to make and vend them, I hope they may be generally dif¬ 
fused. They have been minutely described in a memoir 
read at the sitting of the first class of the institute on the 
24th of March, 1806, and published with those of the class 
for the first half year of 1807. 
Since that period, all the leisure which I have been ena¬ 
bled to devote to these researches, has been employed to 
invent and perfect a portable lamp^ intended to supply the 
place not only of wax candles in antichambers, but of can¬ 
dles every where ; and after a series of attempts and experi¬ 
ments, which have conducted me step by step to my object, 
I have succeeded in constructing one which has answered 
my views, and which I have the honor this day to place be¬ 
fore the class. 
* rhis lamp with two half-screens of gauze or crape of different 
thickness, and a shade, well varnished and richly gilded, costs 55 
francs. It is for sale at M. Parquet’s. 
