The Chemical History of a Candle
Michael Faraday
Public domain text from Project Gutenberg.
THE CHEMICAL
HISTORY OF A CANDLE
A COURSE OF LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE A JUVENILE
AUDIENCE AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION
BY
MICHAEL FARADAY, D.C.L., F.R.S.
EDITED BY
WILLIAM CROOKES, F.C.S.
A NEW IMPRESSION, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1908
PREFACE
From the primitive pine-torch to the paraffin candle, how wide an
interval! between them how vast a contrast! The means adopted by man to
illuminate his home at night, stamp at once his position in the scale of
civilisation. The fluid bitumen of the far East, blazing in rude vessels
of baked earth; the Etruscan lamp, exquisite in form, yet ill adapted to
its office; the whale, seal, or bear fat, filling the hut of the Esquimaux
or Lap with odour rather than light; the huge wax candle on the glittering
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altar, the range of gas lamps in our streets, all have their stories to
tell. All, if they could speak (and, after their own manner, they can),
might warm our hearts in telling, how they have ministered to man s
comfort, love of home, toil, and devotion.
Surely, among the millions of fire-worshippers and fire-users who have
passed away in earlier ages, _some_ have pondered over the mystery of
fire; perhaps some clear minds have guessed shrewdly near the truth. Think
of the time man has lived in hopeless ignorance: think that only during a
period which might be spanned by the life of one man, has the truth been…