ndles
could be made which would not require snuffing.

Mrs. ******** thought of cutting the wick into several pieces before
it was put into the candle, that so, when it burned down to the
divisions, the wick might fall off. M---- thought that the wick might
be tied tight round at intervals, before it was put into the candle;
that when it burned down to the places where it was tied, it would
snap off: but Mr. ---- objected, that the candle would most likely go
out when it had burned down to her knots. It was then proposed to send
a stream of oxygene through the candle, instead of a wick. M---- asked
if some substance might not be used for wicks which should burn into
powder, and fly off or sublime. Mr. ---- smiled at this, and said,
"_Some substance_; some _kind of air_; some _chemical mixture_! A
person ignorant of chemistry always talks of, as an ignorant person in
mechanics always says, "Oh, you can do it somehow with _a spring_."

As the company could not immediately discover any way of making
candles which should not require to be snuffed, they proceeded to
invent ways of putting out a candle at a certain time without hands.
The younger part of the company had hopes of solving this problem, and
every eye was attentively fixed upon the candle.

"How would you put it out, S----?" said Mr. ----. S---- said, that if
a weight, a very little lighter than the extinguisher, were tied to a
string, and if the string were put over a pulley, and if _the_
extinguisher were tied to the other end of the string, and the candle
put exactly under the extinguisher; the extinguisher would move very,
very gently down, and at last put out the candle.

Mr. ---- observed, that whilst it was putting out the candle, there
would be a disagreeable smell, because the extinguisher would be a
considerable time moving _very, very gently down_, over the candle
after the candle had begun to go out.

C---- (a girl of twelve years old) spoke next. "I would tie an
extinguisher to one end of a thread. I would put this string through a
pulley fastened to the ceiling; the other end of this string should be
fastened to the middle of another thread, which should be strained
between two posts set upright on each side of the candle, so as that
the latter string might lean against the candle at any distance you
want below the flame. When the candle burns down to this string, it
will burn it in two, and the extinguisher will drop upon the candle."

This