Alphabe Thursday C is for Candle

When I decide the word I will use each week I simply close and open my eyes ; and write about the first item I see with the the appropriate initial … this is  on the shelf above my desk.  I know nothing about candles.  Except once I read that poor children in Dickensian times  would gnaw on them to relieve hunger!! And that they were of course a vital commodity in the long dark winters of the Europe.  

Candles have been used for more than 5000 years; but little is known about their origin.  Ancient Egyptians used a form of a candle rather like a torch made of reeds soaked in animal fat.  Without a wick it was not a true candle. In 3000 bc they were using a wicked candle but it was the Ancient Romans who were credited with their development  The papyrus was dipped repeatedly into melted tallow or beeswax and used to light their homes,to  aid travellers at night and for religious ceremonies.
Subsequent research shows that other civilizations made wicked candles using waxes made from other plants and insects.   It is said that the Chinese made tubes from rice paper and filled them with wax made from insects and seeds. In Japan the wax was extracted from tree nuts.  Indians boiled the fruit from the cinnamon tree.
Most early western cultures relied on candles made from animal wax (tallow). With the Middle Ages came a vast improvement; when beeswax was introduced in Europe. Beeswax burned cleanly without producing a smoky flame.  It emitted a pleasant perfume rather than the foul acrid odour of tallow.
Unfortunately it was an expensive alternative; so while the church could afford to use beeswax candles, they were still not used in ordinary households.
By the 13th century in Europe the demand for wicked candles became so high so candle making  became a guild craft.  The candle-makers (chandlers) went from house to house making candles from waste animal fat saved for the purpose.
Candle making remained unchanged until the 18th century when it was discovered candles could be made from an oil present in the head cavity of sperm whales. One whale would yield one ton ton of spermaceti   Like beeswax it didn’t burn with an unpleasant smell.  Spermaceti burned with a brighter light.  It produced a candle that was firmer than those made with beeswax and tallow and less likely to soften in the summer.  It was to become the standard unit of light in photometry.
The next advancement came in the candle making industry in 1820 when the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul discovered a way in which to extract stearic acid from animal fatty acids to make stearin wax a durable, hard and clean burning product was to remain popular in Europe until now.
In 1834 the inventor Joseph Morgan created a machine that allowed continuous production of moulded candles that  became an affordable commodity for the masses.

Paraffin wax come into use in the mid 19th century although odourless, clean and economically improved it had a low melting point.   However when mixed with the harder stearin it became widely available until the lightbulb was introduced and candle making went into decline  … to be continued