if I hold a lighted taper two or three inches from the wick, you will
observe a train of fire going through the air till it reaches the candle.
I am obliged to be quick and ready, because, if I allow the vapour time to
cool, it becomes condensed into a liquid or solid, or the stream of
combustible matter gets disturbed.
Now, as to the shape or form of the flame. It concerns us much to know
about the condition which the matter of the candle finally assumes at the
top of the wick where you have such beauty and brightness as nothing but
combustion or flame can produce.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
You have the glittering beauty of gold and silver, and the still higher
lustre of jewels, like the ruby and diamond; but none of these rival the
brilliancy and beauty of flame. What diamond can shine like flame? It owes
its lustre at night-time to the very flame shining upon it. The flame
shines in darkness, but the light which the diamond has is as nothing
until the flame shine upon it, when it is brilliant again. The candle
alone shines by itself, and for itself, or for those who have arranged the
materials. Now, let us look a little at the form of the flame as you see
it under the glass shade. It is steady and equal; and its general form is
that which is represented in the diagram, varying with atmospheric
disturbances, and also varying according to the size of the candle. It is
a bright oblong brighter at the top than towards the bottom with the
wick in the middle, and besides the wick in the middle, certain darker
parts towards the bottom, where the ignition is not so perfect as in the
part above.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
I have a drawing here, sketched many years ago by Hooke, when he made his
investigations. It is the drawing of the flame of a lamp, but it will
apply to the flame of a candle. The cup of the candle is the vessel or
lamp, the melted spermaceti is the oil, and the wick is common to both.
Upon that he sets this little flame, and then he represents what is
true a certain quantity of matter rising about it which you do not see,
and which, if you have not been here before, or are not familiar with the
subject, you will not know of. He has here represented the parts of the
surrounding atmosphere that are very essential to the flame, and that are
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