LAMOUREUX, lie:105'W, CHARLES (1834 °9). A French violinist and conductor, born in Bordeaux. He studied at the Paris Conserva tory, and. won the first prize for violin in 1854. Ile afterwards played first violin at the OpCtra, and founded a society for chamber music. In 1873 lie organized the Soci•f• do PlIarmonie Sner&', which in 1875 gave the first performance of the Messiah in Paris. In 1876 be became assistant conductor, and in 1878 first conductor at the Opt'ra. In l880 he was made a knight of the Legion of Donor. His inauguration of the Nouveaux concerts in 1881 was a continuation of the work begun by Colonne. Many new com posers, particularly Wagner. bad their first hear ing in France at these concerts. lIe produced the operas Lohengrin and Tristan and Isolde for the first time in Paris, and proved himself a good interpreter of German music. He died in Paris.
LAMP (from Lot. laminas, Gk. Namrds, torch, from Marcip, lampein, to shine). A contriv ance in which horned some substance. usually a liquid. whose flame is characterized by illumi nating power. The most primitive lamps were probably the skulls of animals. in which fat was burned, while certain sea-shells were also em ployed for this purpose.
Men pottery and metal began to be used, the principle of these natural lamps was for a long time retained, as seen in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman lamps. and in the stone cups and boxes of northern nations. Such lamps were called lyehna by the Greeks and lucerne by the Romans, and various modifications of the form are frequently found in the ruins of Greek and Roman cities; very considerable numbers have been obtained from the excavations of Tarsus and of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prin ciple in all is the same. At first these luerrnm were made of unglazed pottery. and only with one wick-hole; hut better material and more elaborate forms were introduced. and their light giving power was inereased by their being made to hold several wicks, from two to twelve. The wick used in this lamp was generally made of tlax-tow; sometimes, however, of rushes and other vegetable fibres.
Among the northern nations of antiquity lamps were in use, but the difference of climate necessitated a different kind of lamp. The limpid Oils of the present day were unknown. The solid fat of various animals was their chief illuminating material, except on the seacoast, where seal and whale nil occasionally helped them. Small open stone pots, afterwards ex changed for metal, were used, and being partly tilled with grease, a wick was thrust down through the middle. and, being lighted, eons:tuned the fat as it melted. Stone cups of this kind are occasionally dog up in Scotland and else where; in principle they are the same as the padelle, used in Italian illuminations, and the old grease-pots which once formed the foot lights of theatres. The Eskimos form square boxes of soapstone, and use them in the same way.
No great improvement took place in the con struction of lamps until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Taste had been shown in the desil.ms, but the principle remained the same —a wick absorbing oil from the reservoir of the lamp to supply itself during combustion, and without modification n• improvement, sinless it lie that effected by the invention of Argand in 1784. (See AEGAND.) In 1803 Carcel, another
Frenchman. made an improvement on the lamp by applying clockwork, which acts by raising the oil up tubes in connection with the wick, so that the latter is kept continually soaked.
The bit foduction of mineral oils—known under the various names of paraffin oil, petroleum, kerosene, naphtha. coal oil, ete.—bas superseded the use of animal oils and vegetable oils for lighting purposes. These oils, being much more volatile than animal and vegetable oils, rise freely into the wick and keep it saturated with out the use of any mechanical devices. Another advantage is their cheapness. One great diffi culty with the mineral oils at first was that, without careful preparation. they are apt to give off inflammable vapors at a low temperature, which give rise to dangerous explosions. This has been obviated by processes of reetification which get rid of the lighter and more volatile ingredi ents. Another difficulty was to make the oil burn without smoke. for. hieing very rich in carbon, an abundant supply of oxygen is neeessary. The kiln] of lamp fouls(' to effect this purpose best was introduced into Great Britain from Germany about 1856, and, with minor im provements, the form is still adhered to. The body of the lamp is a reservoir of glass or other material for the oil: into this a brass wick-bolder is screwed, the wick being raised or lowered by means of a rack and pinion. The peculiarity of the kerosene lamp is a dome-shaped cap sur rounding the wick-tube, and having a slit run ning across it, through which the flame issues.
A long glass chimney rests on a ledge or gallery around the base of the cap; and by perforations in the brass an air-ehamber is formed below. The chimney causes a strong draught through this chamber, and the cap or dome deflects the cur rent of air, and makes it impinge against the flame as it passes through the slit, thus produc ing perfect combustion and a white, brilliant light without smoke. The demand for these lamps is extremely large, and their manufacture and sale forms an extensive business. Duplex and triplex burners were subsequently invented, in which two or three wicks are arranged side by side, with two or three parallel openings in the dome of the burner. The round burner (see ARCAND) has been adapted to mineral oils, and, (.11 account of the great brilliancy of the light afforded, is very popular. The great difficulty at first experienced with round burners was to obtain a sufficient supply of oxygen for the inside of the flame. This has been obviated in the central draught burner. in which there is a circular air channel extending through the burner and the oil-reservoir itself. A modification of the cen tral-draught burner is the student lamp, in which the oil-reservoir is separated from the burner and connected with it by a tube. through which the flow of oil is so regulated that only as much reaches the wick as is needed for consumption. These lamps do not give out the heat of the ordi nary central-draught burner, and the adjustable burner can be placed as near the base as desired, without the oil-reservoir intervening. See ELEC TRIC LIGHTING: PETROLEUM.