recognized illuminant from which a good
artificial light could be obtained, it was not until the eighteenth
century that any marked attempt was made to substitute oil for candles
in this country. For really beautiful lamps we have to go back to the
bronze lamps of ancient Greece and Rome, and the terra-cotta lamps of
the early Christians, many of which were exceedingly interesting.
Householders in England, and in America, too, preferred the beautiful
silver candlesticks and those charming and artistic scrolls which once
decorated the walls of the houses of the well-to-do. There came a time,
however, when oil lamps were reinstated, and although candles still held
sway and were difficult to displace, inventors and makers of oil lamps
began to compete for the lighting industry. The three old lamps now in
the Cardiff Museum, shown in Fig. 15, must be classed among the commoner
types of early lamps, once plentiful in farmhouses and cottages.

The lamp used on the table in Victorian days was the moderator lamp, the
principle of which was a spring forcing the oil up through the
burner--but such lamps have no claim upon the curio hunter either for
beauty of form or rarity of material. These lamps, which burned colza or
seed oil, were superseded in time by paraffin and petroleum lamps. Now
and then some wonderful invention flashed across the scene, but although
various modern improved burners have come and gone, the lamp, excepting
for purposes of ornament and decorative effect, has given way to coal
gas and, in more modern times, to electric lighting. There are few
household curios of any value associated with oil lighting, and as yet
gas is too new!

Lanterns.

The portable lantern made of iron and tin and glazed with horn was long
an indispensable feature in every household. Horn lanterns were carried
about everywhere in the days before street lighting was general, and to
some extent they are needed in country districts to-day. There is a
remarkable similarity between the modern glass lanterns of circular type
and the old watchman's lanterns of a couple of centuries ago. The same
design seems to have served the purpose through many generations, and to
have been duplicated again and again. Among the ancient lanterns are
some in which candles have been burned, and others where the candle
socket has been utilized for the insertion of a socket oil lamp. In more
modern times the horn has given place to glass. The carriage lam