long experience and they are now made so that they bend and dip into the
molten fuel and are wholly consumed. This eliminates the necessity of
trimming.

Candles have been made in various ways, including dipping, pouring,
drawing, and molding. Wax-candles are made by pouring, because wax
cannot be molded satisfactorily. Drawing is somewhat similar to dipping,
except that the process is more or less continuous and is carried out by
machinery. Molding, as the term implies, involves the use of molds, of
the size and shape desired.

The candlestick evolved from the most primitive wooden objects to
elaborately designed and decorated works of art. The primitive
candlestick was crude and was no more than a holder of some kind for
keeping the candle upright. Later a form of cup was attached to the stem
of the holder, to catch the dripping wax or fat. The latter improvement
has persisted throughout the centuries. The modern candle is by no means
an unsatisfactory light-source. Those who have had experience with it in
the outskirts of civilization will testify that it possesses several
desirable characteristics. Supplies of candles are transported without
difficulty; the lighted candle is easily carried about; and the light in
a quiescent atmosphere is quite satisfactory, if common sense is used in
shading and placing the candle. Although in a sense a primitive
light-source, it is a blessing in many cases and, incidentally, it is
extensively used to-day in industries, in religious ceremonies, as a
decorative element at banquets, and in the outposts of civilization.

This account of the evolution of light-sources has crossed the threshold
of what may be termed modern scientific light-production in the case of
the candle and the oil-lamp. There is a period of a century or more
during which scientific progress was slow, but those years paved the way
for the extraordinary developments of the last few decades.

IV

THE CEREMONIAL USE OF LIGHT

Inasmuch as the symbolisms and ceremonial uses of light originated in
the childhood of the human race and were nourished throughout the age of
mythology, the early light-sources are associated more with this phase
of artificial light than modern ones. For this reason it appears
appropriate to present this discussion before entering into the later
stages of the development and utilization of artificial light.
Furthermore, many of the traditions of lighting at the present time are