NATURE OF THE CANDLE-FLAME.
M. Volger has subjected this Flame to a new analysis.
He finds that the so-called flame-bud, a globular blue flaminule, is first produced at the summit of the wick: this is the result of the combustion of carbonic oxide, hydrogen, and carbon, and is surrounded by a reddish-violet halo, the veil. The increased heat now gives rise to the actual flame, which shoots forth from the expanding bud, and is then surrounded at its inferior portion only by the latter. The interior consists of a dark gaseous cone, containing the immediate products of the decomposition of the fatty acids, and surrounded by another dark hollow cone, the inner cap. Here we already meet with carbon and hydrogen, which have resulted from the process of decomposition; and we distinguish this cone from the inner one by its yielding soot. The external cap constitutes the most luminous portion of the flame, in which the hydrogen is consumed and the carbon rendered incandescent. The surrounding portion is but slightly luminous, deposits no soot, and in it the carbon and hydrogen are consumed.—Liebig’s Annual Report.