When it was too warm to have a roaring fire upon the hearth, man devised other means for obtaining light without undue warmth.  He placed glowing embers upon ledges in the walls, upon stone slabs, or even upon suspended devices of non-inflammable material.  Later he split long splinters of wood from pieces selected for their straightness of grain.  These burning splinters emitting a smoking, feeble light were crude but they were refinements of considerable merit.  A testimonial of their satisfactoriness is their use throughout many centuries.  Until very recent times the burning splinter has been in use in Scotland and in other countries, and it is probable that at present in remote districts of highly civilized countries this crude device serves the meager needs of those whose requirements have been undisturbed by the progress of civilization.  Scott, in “The Legend of Montrose,” describes a table scene during a feast.  Behind each seat a giant Highlander stood, holding a blazing torch of bog-pine.  This was also the method of lighting in the Homeric age.

Crude clay relics representing a human head, from the mouth of which the wood-splinters projected, appear to corroborate the report that the flaming splinter was sometimes held in the mouth in order that both hands of a workman would be free.  Splinter-holders of many types have survived, but most of them are of the form of a crude pedestal with a notch or spring clip at its upper end.  The splinter was held in this clip and burned for a time depending upon its length and the character of the wood.  It was the business of certain individuals to prepare bundles of splinters, which in the later stages of civilization were sold at the market-place or from house to house.  Those who have observed the frontiersman even among civilized races will be quite certain that the wood for splinters was selected and split with skill, and that the splinters were burned under conditions which would yield the most satisfactory light.  It is a characteristic of those who live close to nature, and are thus limited in facilities, to acquire a surprising efficiency in their primitive activities.

An obvious step in the use of burning wood as a light-source was to place such a fire on a shelf or in a cavity in the wall.  Later when metal was available, gratings or baskets were suspended from the ceiling or from brackets and glowing embers or flaming chips were placed upon them.  Some of these were equipped with crude chimneys to carry away the smoke, and perhaps to increase the draft.  In more recent centuries the first attempt at lighting outdoor public places was by means of metal baskets in which flaming wood emitted light.  It was the duty of the watchman to keep these baskets supplied with pine knots.  In early centuries street-lighting was not attempted, and no serious efforts worthy of consideration as adequate lighting were made earlier than about a century ago.  As a consequence the “link-boy” came into existence.  With flaming torch he would escort pedestrians to their homes on dark nights.  This practice was in vogue so recently that the “link-boy” is remembered by persons still living.  In England the profession appears to have existed until about 1840.