Question 19
ComprehensionJAMB 1987 Passage IV: Fire, torches and lamps
Primitive man was probably more concerned with fire as a source of warmth an as a means of cooking food than as a source of light. Before he discovered less laborious ways of making fire, he had to preserve it, and whenever he went on a journey he carried a firebrand with him. He discovery that the firebrand, from which the torch may well have developed, could be used for illumination was probably incidental to the primary purpose of preserving a flame.
Lamps, too, probably developed by accident. Early man may have had his first conception of a lamp while watching a twing or fibre burning in the molten fat dropped form roasting carcass. All he had to do was to fashion a vessel to contain fat and float a lighted reed in it. Such lamps, which were made of hollowed stones or sea-shells, have persisted in identical form up to quite recent times
Lamps, too, probably developed by accident. Early man may have had his first conception of a lamp while watching a twing or fibre burning in the molten fat dropped form roasting carcass. All he had to do was to fashion a vessel to contain fat and float a lighted reed in it. Such lamps, which were made of hollowed stones or sea-shells, have persisted in identical form up to quite recent times
One way early man made a lamp was by putting a lighted reed in a
- A.hollowed stone
- B.sea shell
- C.vessel
- D.molten fat
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D (molten fat)
Explanation
He made a vessel to hold fat and floated 'a lighted reed in it', i.e. in the fat.