When was the candle first used?

A burning stick of wood which a man snatched from a fire was his first lighting device. A hollowed stone, shell or skull filled with animal fat, fish oil as fuel, and a reed, rush, or twist of vegetable fiber as wick constituted his first lamp .

Candles are very ancient. Roman writers have mentioned beeswax candles which have been used from the earliest times. Initially, candles were made of cylinders of wax or solid fatty matter rolled around a vegetable fiber or bit of twisted cloth for a wick.

Until the middle of 19th century, candle making was considered an important duty of a housekeeper. The procedure involved heating of tallow, the fat of sheep or oxen, in a pot. A number of strands of twisted cotton yarn, hanging from a rod, were dipped several times in the molten mass. They were hung up to cool after each dip. When the suitable thickness of tallow covered the wick, candles were ready. Sometimes, they were prepared by pouring the molten tallow into a cylindrical mold in which the wick had been inserted instead of dipping the wick several times.

Modern candle factories have greatly improved the homemade candle. The wick is still made of cotton strands loosely twisted together, but paraffin, beeswax and certain other fatty substances along with tallow are now used for making candles. The fats are chemically treated so that they are light and generate the least amount of smoke. Modern candle-makers remove glycerin from the fats to avoid smoke and disagreeable oily odor.