When Were Candles Introduced?
Historical records indicate the prevalent use of candles in the earliest days of Rome, but these candles were of the simplest sort—mere string or rope which had been smeared with pitch or wax. In the early Christian centuries it was the custom to dip rushes in pitch and coat them with wax, a method of candle-making that was long continued, for it was not until the fourteenth century that dipped tallow candles were introduced. In the Middle Ages wax candles provided the usual means of illumination, and these were made, not by common craftsmen, but by monks, or by the servants of the rich. Until the fifteenth century their use was confined to churches, monasteries and the houses of nobles, but the demand for them had become so great that the chandlers of London obtained an act of incorporation. As late as the eighteenth century the candles were made by dipping the wicks into melted wax or tallow, but about this time an ingenious Frenchman conceived the idea of casting them in metal moulds.
A part of the “Amende Honorable” of Jacques Coeur before Charles VII of France.
A pagan votive lamp of bronze, now in the museum at Naples.
It is only within a modern period that the state or city has assumed responsibility in the matter of public lighting, which for the most part had been left to the good will and public spirit of citizens. But in England a proclamation was issued to the effect that every individual should place a candle in each of the lower windows of his house, and keep it burning from nightfall until midnight.
THE FIRST OIL LANTERN
The first “Réverbère”—oil lantern—with a metal reflector, used to light the streets of Paris. It was invented by Bourgeois de Châteaublanc in 1765, and used until the introduction of gas.
Paris was the first city to improve upon this method of street lighting, and in 1658 huge, vase-like contrivances, filled with resin and pitch, were set up in the principal thoroughfares. The improvement proving, as may readily be seen, both dangerous and expensive, the falct, so-called, were replaced by the lantern. This was at first simply a rude frame, covered with horn or leather, within which a candle burned. For more than one hundred years this was the extent of the illumination which the authorities could provide. But of course it was understood that no honest man would venture abroad without his torch or flambeau, and as London, Berlin, Vienna, and all leading cities of Europe, were in like case, the darkness of Paris could be borne.
Argand got his first suggestion for his burner—invented in 1780—from this style of alcohol lamp, then in general use throughout France.
But progress had been made, and early in the eighteenth century the Corporation of London entered into contract with a certain individual to set up public lights, giving him permission to exact a sum of six shillings from every householder whose actual rent exceeded ten pounds. In the middle of the same century the Lord Mayor and Common Council applied to Parliament for power to light the streets of London better. From the granting of this permission dates improvement in public lighting.