Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-09-22
The chemical history Of /. C.ua,e.

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A brief notice of the Interesting course of
lectures recently delivered by Professor Fa-
rsday at the Royal Institution will doubtless
be acceptable TO many readers of this Journal.
Though specially addressed TO boys and girls,
our great philosophers exposition of the phe-
nomeDa Of burning candle astonisbed and
delighted children of larger growth" even
those familiar with the results of ic
research. In his frat lecture Faraday thus
defined the position which be Intended to
take throughout the course Though our
subject be so great, and our intention that of
treating 1T honestly. philosophicaliy. and se-
rlously, yet mean to pass away from all
those here who are seniors. | claim the right
at speaking TO Juveniles a juvenile myself.
| have done il on. former occasions aud if
you please | shall do it again. And though
| know that | stand here with thu knowledge
of having the words | utter given to the
world, yet that shall not deter me from
speaking in the same familiar way to those
whom L esteem to be nearest to me On this
OCCASION" We sincerely hope that the Pro-
lessor will for many years to come dcign to
play The part of juvenile, and bring before
the rising generation those grand truths of
science which he has helped 50 materially to
establish.
In our limited space we can only touch
upon the chief phenomena of burning can
die, and describe a lew of The ingenious ex-
periments which the great master of chemical
manipulation exhibited To = young friends.
We shall treat the whole course as though it
were one lecture, for the division of the sub
jet into six parts could 40. render this no
tice more interesting. though it would ne
cesssrily increase its length.
What are candles made of? To enable his
audience TO answer this question, Faraday
exhibited specimens of almost every variety
of candle, from the splinter of csndle-wood
taken out OF the Irish bog, to the semi-trans-
parent aud delicately-tinted pillar OF parafin
or stearine which Is now used az a source of
light. Some of these specimens attracted
particular attention. There was a candle
which bad been obtained from the Royal
George. and though it had been SUBJECTED to
he action Of salt water for many years, it
still retained its light-giving properties
There were the miners candles form 'rly
us'd In coll-pits, some small that sixty
went To the pound. There were modern
candles beautifully SHAPED and colored; some
of thc-c were lIt.G pillars others were orn-
nmenIed with raised howera, aud those which
depended upon color rather than form for
be ,uty were tinted with mauve, Magenta, and
all the chemical cOlors which have beeu re-
Gently introduced. Having explained the
manufacture OF candles, the lecturer lii Que
or two specimens, and called attention to the
form OF the lame, and to the beautiful cup
hlled with melted taliow beneath the fam.
He showed that this cup waS formed by a
line uniform ascending current of air upon
all sides, which kept the exterior of the Can
die cool, aud explained how the melted tai
low got out of the cup up the wick into the
place OF combustion. AS an illustration OF
the force which causes the tallow to ascend.
he PLACED a column of salt on O plate, and
poured into this plate a saturated solution OF
salt, cOlored blue, when the liquid at once
commenced TO creep up the salt, and even
tually reached the top. Another simple IL
lustration of capillary attraction was afford
ed by q bit of cane, one end OF whidh Was
dipped in camphine, and when the spirit had
passed through the pores of the cane to the
upper extremity, it was lighted there. aud a
sort of candle was formed. In examining
the fame of the candle, the lecturer made
use OF the electric lamp to project its shallow
on screen, and thus exhibit the ascending
current of hot air which drew out the flame,
supplied it with oxygen. aud cooled the sides
of the cup of melted fluid. To prove that
the fame was hollow, he introduced the ex-
tremity of bent glass tube into the middle
of it, and allowed the uncOnsumed vapor to
pass through the tube into flask. Having
satisfactorily demonstrated the combustible
nature OF the vapor by applying a lighted
taper to it, he arranged another tube in the
fame. and succeeded in lighting the vapor
which issued from the orifice of the tube, at
a considerable distance from the fame
Talk about laying on gas !" be said; why
we can actually lay on a candler' The pro-
ducts of combustion were then touched upon
by the lecturer. He showed that water was
produced by the union of the oxygen of the
air with the hydrogen of the fame, and car
homie acid gas by the oxidation OF the carbon.
The beautiful series of experiments with
which be illustrated his observations on the
composition of water and atmospheric air
were SO carefully arranged, that one seemed
naturally to lead to the other, and the
youngest philosopher who attended the
course could not miss the thread OF the de-
lightful story of the candle. The heads of
Paraday's discOurse-thec apters, so to speak,
of this wonderful story-may here be given
as they will enable the reader to form some
idea of the greatness of the subject treated
Candles, the materials of which they are com
posed and the process of manufacture. The
Flame, it's sources, structure mobility. and
brightness. Air necessary for combustion.
Production of water during combustion
Nature Of water. Hydrogen gas. Nature
of the atmosphere. Nitrogen. Carbonic
acid another product from the candle; it's Pc
culiar properties. Carbon or charcoal
Coal gas. Respiration aud its analogy to
the burning of a candle.
The Professor concluded his course with
the following kind words addressed to his
young friends ALI can say to you at the
end of these lectures is to express a wish that
you may, in your generation, be mt to COM
pare to a candle; that you may, like it, shine
as lights to those about; that, in all your &C
tions, you may justify the beauty of the ia
per by making your deeds honorable and ef-
fectual in the discharge of your duty to your
fellow en."-London Chemist and Druggist.