Evening star., 1895-02-13
STORY OF THE TORCH.
History of Illumination Illustrated at
the National Museum.

History of Illumination Illustrated at
the National Museum.
The history of illumination is the story OF
human progress. At the National Museum
this story is told by a new exhibit that has
been put together by Mr.. Walter Hough.
OF course. the lighted brand snatched
from fire must have been the first thing
used for the purpose Of illumination. At
the beginning it was nothing more than an
ordinary dry piece of wood ignited, but
later on 1t was discovered that certain
resinous woods burned better and longer
than others, and that birch bark and cocoa
nut bark were good also, and people learn
ed that these served best when done UP in
bundles.
In putting together the material of his
exhibit, Mr.. Hough has found it not als
ways easy to arrange the objects in the
correct order of evolution. 1t cannot be DEF
termined with certainty at just what point
the candle fish should come in, for exam
pie. That is a species Of herring common
in Alaskan waters. which Is so fat that
the natives of that region put a wick
through 1t and burn it for q light. The
same remark applies to the stormy petrol,
utilized in precisely the same fashion by
certain islanders off the coast of Scotland.
AS for making bundles Of bark, ETC., for
torches. that is still done by people in vari-
Gus parts Of the world.
Objects illustrating all kinds Of contriv-
anceS are shown by Mr.. Hough. There ts
miniature canoe padded by two Indians.
with torch of birch bark In the bow.
This was one way that the North American
ahorigine had Of spearing fish. Most inter-
esting is the series showing the evolution
Of the candle from the torch. To begin
with. there is the branch of wood which Is
dipped into fat by the natives of Thibet.
In the same way the common rush in Eu-
rope was fatted. After a while the rush,
instead of being merely dipped, was COW
cred wit. fat. This was In truth a candle.
1t came about naturally enough that some-
thing more suitable should be utilized for
wick, and eventually cotton was adopted.
Among the authorities in this line is q
sycamore ball floating in q saucer OF
grease. This was device frequently seen
in the south before the war, and presum-
ably is not wholly forgotten now. The ball
was lighted and burned with a brilliant and
beautiful flame. The contrivance was, in
fact, primitive lamp.
The Indians of North America at the time
Of the discovery Of this continent by Coz
lumbus had no candle nor lamp Of any de-
scription, but only the torch. Thus they
may be considered to have been in the very
illumination. There is little wooden lam
tern pierced with holes, from Cuba 1t Is
in such a continuance that the natives OF
that island shut. up firefies, which give
way about at night. An old-feshioned horn
lantern is provided with thin strips of horn
in place of glass. Horn was used as SUBJ
stitute for glass in most ancient times. by
the way.
The most primitive lamps shown are OF
stone and shell. In every Eskimo house one
finds a lamp Of soapstone followed out, tho
cavity being filled with Oil and furnished
with wick. This, in fact is a stove as
we'll lamp, serving a double purpose.
From the Orkney Islands comes q conch
shell, which is hung up by q string and
filled with fish oil. the wick being passed
through the narrow end OF the lip Of the
shell.
No other people in the world make such
beautiful apparatus for lighting as the
japanese, and so II is very odd to find that
the methods of illumination which they
employ are most primitive. While their
candlesticks and lanterns are SO exquisite
and elaborately wrought, they are content
with nothing better for lamp than a
saucer filed with Oil.
The evolution Of the lamp has been con-
trolled to great extent by the materials
for lighting. The primitive fish Oil was
burned in vessels equally primitive. I'm
provements in the construction of lamps
followed the Introduction of lard oil. About
the year 1888 camphene was invented. It
was made from turpentine, and was fear
fully explosive, blowing up a great many
people. Finally came petroleum, followed
by gas. Now we have electricity, and It
remains to be seen what, If anything, is
destined to take the place Of the latter as
the illuminant Of the future.