I will arrange another tube
carefully in the flame, and I should not wonder if we were able, by a
little care, to get that vapour to pass through the tube to the other
extremity, where we will light it, and obtain absolutely the flame of the
candle at a place distant from it. Now, look at that. Is not that a very
pretty experiment? Talk about laying on gas--why, we can actually lay on a
candle! And you see from this that there are clearly two different kinds
of action--one the _production_ of the vapour, and the other the
_combustion_ of it--both of which take place in particular parts of the
candle.
[Illustration: Fig. 8]
I shall get no vapour from that part which is already burnt. If I raise
the tube (fig. 7) to the upper part of the flame, so soon as the vapour
has been swept out, what comes away will be no longer combustible: It is
already burned. How burned? Why, burned thus:--In the middle of the flame,
where the wick is, there is this combustible vapour; on the outside of the
flame is the air which we shall find necessary for the burning of the
candle; between the two, intense chemical action takes place, whereby the
air and the fuel act upon each other, and at the very same time that we
obtain light the vapour inside is destroyed.
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