Candles Part 1 - Technology

In 1860 the sources of illumination were solid, liquid and gaseous.

The solid source of illumination was candles composed of tallow, stearin, spermaceti or wax. The 1860 census data does not provide sufficient information to determine how much of each was produced. Moreover, the census data lumped the majority of candle production with soap production without indicating how much to attribute to illumination and how much to cleansing. Tallow was made by melting (rendering) the fat of animals, p...