those beautiful
fluted candles, which are irregular, intermittent in their shape, and
cannot therefore have that nicely-formed edge to the cup which is the
great beauty in a candle. I hope you will now see that the perfection of
a process--that is, its utility--is the better point of beauty about it.
It is not the best-looking thing, but the best-acting thing which is the
most advantageous to us. This good-looking candle is a bad burning one.
There will be a guttering round about it because of the irregularity of
the stream of air and the badness of the cup which is formed thereby.

You may see some pretty examples of the action of the ascending current
when you have a little gutter run down the side of a candle, making it
thicker there than it is elsewhere. As the candle goes on burning, that
keeps its place and forms a little pillar sticking up by the side,
because, as it rises higher above the rest of the wax or fuel, the air
gets better round it, and it is more cooled and better able to resist
the action of the heat at a little distance. Now, the greatest mistakes
and faults with regard to candles, as in many other things, often bring
with them instruction which we should not receive if they had not
occurred. You will always remember that whenever a result happens,
especially if it be new, you should say: "What is the cause? Why does it
occur?" And you will in the course of time find out the reason.

Then there is another point about these candles which will answer a
question--that is, as to the way in which this fluid gets out of the
cup, up to the wick, and into the place of combustion. You know that the
flames on these burning wicks in candles made of beeswax, stearine, or
spermaceti, do not run down to the wax or other matter, and melt it all
away, but keep to their own right place. They are fenced off from the
fluid below, and do not encroach on the cup at the sides.

I cannot imagine a more beautiful example than the condition of
adjustment under which a candle makes one part subserve to the other to
the very end of its action. A combustible thing like that, burning away
gradually, never being intruded upon by the flame, is a very beautiful
sight; especially when you come to learn what a vigorous thing flame is,
what power it has of destroying the wax itself when it gets hold of it,
and of disturbing its proper form if it come only too near.

But how does the flame get hold of the fuel? There is a beautiful