LECTURE II.
A CANDLE: BRIGHTNESS OF THE FLAME--AIR NECESSARY FOR
COMBUSTION--PRODUCTION OF WATER.
We were occupied the last time we met in considering the general character
and arrangement as regards the fluid portion of a candle, and the way in
which that fluid got into the place of combustion. You see, when we have a
candle burning fairly in a regular, steady atmosphere, it will have a
shape something like the one shewn in the diagram, and will look pretty
uniform, although very curious in its character. And now, I have to ask
your attention to the means by which we are enabled to ascertain what
happens in any particular part of the flame--why it happens, what it does
in happening, and where, after all, the whole candle goes to: because, as
you know very well, a candle being brought before us and burned,
disappears, if burned properly, without the least trace of dirt in the
candlestick--and this is a very curious circumstance. In order, then, to
examine this candle carefully, I have arranged certain apparatus, the use
of which you will see as I go on. Here is a candle: I am about to put the
end of this glass tube into the middle of the flame--into that part which
old Hooker has represented in the diagram as being rather dark, and which
you can see at any time, if you will look at a candle carefully, without
blowing it about.
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