Naked Flame Research Articles

Wireless Sensor Network Based Early Fire Detection System

Every year millions of hectares of forest are devastated by fire. Forest fires may occur due to Natural causes or Man-made causes. Natural causes include lightning which set trees on fire, High atmospheric temperatures and dryness (low humidity). Man-made causes include naked flame, cigarette or bidi, electric spark or any source of ignition that comes into contact with inflammable material. Reason could be any, but important is forest fire causes huge damage to forest and nature. Infact, fires on large scales cause air pollution, mar quality of stream water, threaten biodiversity and spoil the aesthetics of an area. Forest fire causes imbalances in nature and endangers biodiversity by reducing faunal and floral wealth. Therefore, there is a need to develop methods for timely detection of forest fire so that damage is minimum. Existed methods for forest monitoring and fire detection are traditional and based on human observation, satellite imaging, use of digital cameras. There are several drawbacks associated with them such as inefficiency, power consumption, latency, accuracy and implementation costs. Therefore, to address these problems the deployment of automatic fire detection system is necessary to allow early and fast fire extinction. In this paper we present an early fire detection system based on Wireless Sensor Network.

Illuminating palaeolithic art using virtual reality: A new method for integrating dynamic firelight into interpretations of art production and use

Approaches to Palaeolithic art have increasingly shifted beyond the traditional focus on engraved or depicted forms in isolation, to appreciating the sensorial experience of art making as integral to shaping the form of depictions and the meaning imbued within them. This kind of research appreciates an array of factors pertinent to how the art may have been understood or experienced by people during the Palaeolithic, including placement, lighting, accessibility, sound, and tactility. This paper contributes to this “sensory turn” in Palaeolithic art research, arguing that the roving light cast by the naked flame of fires, torches or lamps is an important dimension in understanding artistic experiences. However, capturing these effects, whether during analysis, as part of interpretation, or presentation, can be challenging. A new method is presented in virtual reality (VR) modelling – applied to Palaeolithic art contexts for the first time - as a safe and non-destructive means of simulating dynamic light sources to facilitate analysis, interpretation, and presentation of Palaeolithic art under actualistic lighting conditions. VR was applied to two Magdalenian case studies: parietal art from Las Monedas (Spain) and portable stone plaquettes from Montastruc (France). VR models were produced using Unity software and digital models of the art captured via whitelight (Montastruc) and photogrammetric (Las Monedas) scans. The results demonstrate that this novel application of VR facilitates the testing of hypotheses related to the sensorial and experiential dimensions of Palaeolithic art, allowing discussions of these elements to be elevated beyond theoretical ideas.

Flame‐Retardant Host–Guest Films for Efficient Thermal Management of Cryogenic Devices

AbstractPhase change materials hold tremendous potential for thermal energy storage and temperature management due to their high latent heat and chemical stability. However, the manufacture of flame‐retardant, form‐stable phase change films working under a cryogenic environment remains difficult. Herein, an organic polydopamine‐aramid nanofiber (PANF) aerogel film with a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 32 is applied as a host to confine a unique phase change guest material (i.e., deep eutectic solvent, DES) to fabricate PANF‐DES host–guest flame‐retardant cryogenic phase change films. The PANF aerogel film is prepared through the in situ polymerization of dopamine within the aramid nanofiber hydrogel film, exhibiting a high specific surface area of 289 m2 g−1. The cryogenic phase change material is a ternary DES composed of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl), ethylene glycol (Eg), and deionized water (H2O). The as‐prepared PANF‐DES host–guest films with the phase transition temperature of −21 °C and melting enthalpy of 225 J g−1 can withstand fire for 60 s without naked flame, and the peak of heat release rate (pkHRR) is only 26.0 MJ kg−1. This study opens the way for developing ultra‐low flammable phase change composite films, as well as shows great potential applications for thermal management in cryogenic devices.

Study of low load performance on a two-stroke direct injection spark ignition aero-piston engine fuelled with diesel

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate power performance, economy and hydrocarbons (HC)/carbon monoxide (CO) emissions of diesel fuel on a two-stoke direct injection (DI) spark ignition (SI) engine. Design/methodology/approach Experimental study was carried out on a two-stroke SI diesel-fuelled engine with air-assisted direct injection, whose power performance and HC/CO emissions characteristics under low-load conditions were analysed according to the effects of ignition energy, ignition advance angle (IAA), injection timing angle and excess-air-ratio. Findings The results indicate that, for the throttle position of 10%, a large IAA with adequate ignition energy effectively increases the power and decrease the HC emission. The optimal injection timing angle for power and fuel consumption is 60° crank angle (CA) before top dead centre (BTDC). Lean mixture improves the power performance with the HC/CO emissions greatly reduced. At the throttle position of 20%, the optimal IAA is 30°CA BTDC. The adequate ignition energy slightly improves the power output and greatly decreases HC/CO emissions. Advancing the injection timing improves the power and fuel consumption but should not exceed the exhaust port closing timing in case of scavenging losses. Burning stoichiometric mixture achieves maximum power, whereas burning lean mixture obviously reduces the fuel consumption and the HC/CO emissions. Practical implications Gasoline has a low flash point, a high-saturated vapour pressure and relatively high volatility, and it is a potential hazard near a naked flame at room temperature, which can create significant security risks for its storage, transport and use. The authors adopt a low volatility diesel fuel for all vehicles and equipment to minimise the number of different devices using various fuels and improve the potential military application safety. Originality/value Under low-load conditions, the two stroke port-injected SI engine performance of burning heavy fuels including diesel or kerosene was shown to be worse than those of gasoline. The authors have tried to use the DI method to improve the performance of the diesel-fuelled engine in starting and low-load conditions.

Knock combustion investigation on a two-stroke spark ignition UAV engine burning RP-3 kerosene fuel

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the knock combustion characteristics, including the combustion pressure, heat release rate (HRR) and knock intensity of aviation kerosene fuel, that is, Rocket Propellant 3 (RP-3), on a port-injected two-stoke spark ignition (SI) engine. Design/methodology/approach Experimental investigation using a bench test and the statistical analysis of data to reflect the knock combustion characteristics of the two-stroke SI unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engine on RP-3 kerosene fuel. Findings Under the full load condition of 4,000 rpm, at the ignition timing of 25 degree of crank angle (°CA) before top dead centre (BTDC), the knock combustion is sensitive to the thinner mixture; therefore, the knock begins to occur when the excess air ratio is larger than 1.0. When the excess air ratio is set as 1.2, the knock obviously appears with the highest knock intensity. At the excess air ratio of 1.2, better engine performance is obtained at the ignition timing range of 20-30 °CA BTDC. However, the ignition timing at 30° CA BTDC significantly increases the peak combustion pressure and knock intensity with the advancing heat release process. Practical implications Gasoline has a low flash point, a high-saturated vapour pressure and relatively high volatility, and it is a potential hazard near a naked flame at room temperature, which can create significant security risks for its storage, transport and use. The authors adopt a low-volatility single RP-3 kerosene fuel for all vehicles and equipment to minimise the number of different devices using various fuels and improve the military application safety. Originality/value Most two-stroke SI UAV engines for military applications burn gasoline. A kerosene-based fuel for stable engine operation can be achieved because the knock combustion can be effectively suppressed through the combined adjustment of the fuel amount and spark timing.

Flame-retardant properties of in situ sol-gel synthesized inorganic borosilicate/silicate polymer scaffold matrix comprising ionic liquid

This paper focuses on the superiority of organic-inorganic hybrid ion-gel electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) over commercial electrolytes, such as 1 M LiPF6 in 1:1 ethylene carbonate (EC): dimethyl carbonate (DMC) {1 M LiPF6-EC: DMC}, in terms of their flame susceptibility. These ion-gel electrolytes possess ionic liquid monomers, which are confined within the borosilicate or silicate matrices that are ideal for nonflammability. Naked flame tests confirm that the organic-inorganic hybrid electrolytes are less susceptible to flames, and these electrolytes do not suffer from a major loss in terms of weight. In addition, the hybrids are self-extinguishable. Therefore, these hybrids are only oxidized when subjected to a flame unlike other commercial electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries. Supplementary analyses using differential scanning calorimetric studies reveal that the hybrids are glassy until the temperature reaches more than 100°C. The current results are consistent with previously published data on the organic-inorganic hybrids.

Combustion characteristics of a two-stroke spark ignition UAV engine fuelled with gasoline and kerosene (RP-3)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the combustion characteristics, including the combustion pressure, heat release rate (HRR), coefficient of variation (COV) of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), flame development period and combustion duration, of aviation kerosene fuel, namely, rocket propellant 3 (RP-3), and gasoline on a two-stoke spark ignition engine. Design/methodology/approach This paper is an experimental investigation using a bench test to reflect the combustion performance of two-stroke spark ignition unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engine on gasoline and RP-3 fuel. Findings Under low load conditions, the combustion performance and HRR of burning RP-3 fuel were shown to be worse than those of gasoline. Under high load conditions, the average IMEP and the COV of IMEP of burning RP-3 fuel were close to those of gasoline. The difference in the flame development period between gasoline and RP-3 fuel was similar. Practical implications Gasoline fuel has a low flash point, high-saturated vapour pressure and relatively high volatility and is a potential hazard near a naked flame at room temperature, which can create significant security risks for its storage, transport and use. Adopting a low volatility single RP-3 fuel of covering all vehicles and equipment to minimize the number of different devices with the use of a various fuels and improve the application safeties. Originality/value Most two-stroke spark ignition UAV engines continue to combust gasoline. A kerosene-based fuel operation can be applied to achieve a single-fuel policy.

Barbecue: A HistoryTimMiller. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

Barbecue: A History Tim Miller. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.Barbecue: A History by Tim Miller is an interesting addition to Rowman & Littlefield's excellent The Meals Series, which is edited by Ken Albala and discusses various aspects of breakfast, lunch, and dinner -three daily rituals that most of us take for granted- in the context of everyday life and culture. As it turns out, the history of barbecuing is almost as messy as eating a plate of barbecued spare ribs.There are two traditional methods of barbecuing, which Miller defines - firstly, by cooking the meat in a pit at temperatures for many hours and, secondly, by grilling the meat over a naked flame for perhaps only a few minutes. Furthermore, many people categorize anything that has been smothered in barbecue sauce also as barbecue. As far as the history of barbecuing in the USA is concerned, the low and slow method of barbecuing is most popular in the South where it originated during the time of slavery, while flame grilling is most popular in the North and is linked to nineteenth-century cowboy culture. Traditionally, barbecues were highly sociable occasions that were usually held outdoors and often involved very large groups of people.Tim Miller discusses the most popular types of meat to barbecue-pork, beef, chicken, and mutton-as well as some regional delicacies, such as armadillo (yuck!). One advantage of barbecuing the low and slow way is that even the cheapest and toughest cuts of meat can taste good if they are cooked correctly. He also talks about barbecue sauces (pointing out that some purists will not serve them because they don't think they are necessary) and the most popular side dishes to eat with barbecued meat, including potato salad and corn on the cob. In my opinion, this section of the book should read more like a traditional recipe book than it does. However, because recipes published after 1928 are still protected by copyright in the USA, Miller was unable to transcribe them verbatim and had to describe them instead. This makes taste testing some of the more interesting-sounding dishes and sauces for oneself virtually impossible. While admittedly it is a history book and not a cookbook, giving the reader this extra opportunity might have been a lot of fun.The author traces the evolution of barbecue restaurants in North America from one-of-a-kind primitive shacks where the customers would eat their barbecued meat by the side of the road, to national chains of identical restaurants such as Famous Dave's, which has 188 restaurants in thirty-four American states and one Canadian province. …

Sir Humphry Davy and the coal miners of the world: a commentary on Davy (1816) 'An account of an invention for giving light in explosive mixtures of fire-damp in coal mines'.

In the period between 1815 and 1818, Sir Humphry Davy read four papers to the Royal Society and published a monograph dealing with a safety lamp for coal miners, all of which record in detail the experimental work that he carried out, with his assistant Michael Faraday, so as to determine how to prevent catastrophic accidents in coal mines by the explosion of fire-damp (methane) in the presence of a naked flame. This article describes the key experiments that he performed at the Royal Institution and some of the subsequent trials made in the coal mines of the north of England. It begins, however, with an account of Davy's prior achievements in science before he was approached for help by the clergymen and doctors in the Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne areas. There is little doubt that the Davy lamp, from the 1820s onwards, transformed the coal industry worldwide. It also profoundly influenced the science of combustion, and in the words of a pioneer in that field, W. A. Bone, FRS, ‘There is no better model of logical experimental procedure, accurate reasoning, philosophical outlook and fine literary expression.’ It is a remarkable fact that it took Davy essentially only two weeks from the time he was given samples of fire-damp to solve the problem and to devise his renowned miner's safety lamp. A brief account is also given of the contemporaneous invention of a safety lamp by George Stephenson, and of some of Davy's subsequent accomplishments. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Rapid production of a bulk of porous mesh reduced graphene oxide films using a naked flame

A simple, rapid, and non-polluting method to produce porous mesh reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films using a naked flame.

CFD simulation of naked flame manikin tests of fire proof garments

The overall performance of the thermal protective clothing can only be evaluated using an assessment based on an instrumented manikin under defined, close to real-life conditions in a laboratory. However, the manikin tests can only give a few of pointwise information. This paper presents a three-dimensional transient CFD simulation of heat and mass transfer in the flame manikin test of thermal protective clothing. The used grid model, simulated from Donghua Flame Manikin, have real dimensions and accurate shape of a typical Chinese man. The solver and physical models are defined in FLUENT system and the CFD simulation of a naked flame manikin test is accomplished. By means of CFD simulation, temperature and velocity fields on the manikin surface and of the whole chamber during the process of 4-second flash fire combustion are obtained, which give well predictions to the heat flux distribution in an average sense. The cumulative curve of heat fluxes in the CFD simulation is close to the curve measured by 135 sensors in the real manikin experiment. The study could be a foundation for further study on modeling heat and mass transfer in the clothed manikin experiment and predicting skin damage accurately.

Application of Simple Risk Level Estimator to Assess the Fire Risk in Trade Zone of Nyarugenge

A fire risk assessment helps in determining the chances of a fire to occur and the dangers resulted from fire outbreak. Analysing the activities undertaken within the premises; the potential harm of the fire it could cause to the people in, and around the premises is an important issue. The aim of this study was to assess the risk and consequences of a fire outbreak in the trade zone of Nyarugenge. A cross sectional and quantitative methods were used in this study. Fire hazards resulting from readily combustible or highly flammable materials, sources of heat, and people at risk were studied. The likelihood that a fire will occur and the consequences of such a fire on the people in trade zone of Nyarugenge were analysed using a Simple Risk level Estimator. Based on the analysis, 92.71% of the premises had no firefighting equipments in the trade zone 83.33 % of the premises had non-inspected electrical installation and none of them had smoke alarm or heat detectors. Smokers’ materials ranked the highest source of ignition 26% followed by lighting equipments 19%, Cooking Equipment Ranked the third13% followed by Naked flame and misused electrical equipment 12%. The results of the study indicated that the likelihood of a fire in the trade zone of Nyarugenge was high and has significant potential for serious injury or death to occupants.

English

In ENT OPD indirect laryngoscopy is a routine procedure to examine larynx and hypopharynx. To prevent the fogging of the mirror authors used hydrogen peroxide 0.75% w/v solution which is safe and cost effective when compared to other methods to prevent fogging. KEYWORDS: Hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2), Indirect laryngoscopy (IDL), Defogging INTRODUCTION: Indirect laryngoscopy which was invented by Manuel Garcia, in 1854 and further devoiced by Dr. Johann Czermak in1857 is a routine ENT OPD procedure to visualize larynx and pharynx which is relatively simple. (1-2). When compared to fiber optic system (Rigid telescopes) the resolution of the IDL is superior to that of endoscopic examination. Apart from naked flame and hot water and using savlon this is preferred method which eventually may lead to burning of oral mucous membrane and bad taste sensation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Dilute hydrogen peroxide solution (0.75%w/v) is used as a defogging agent on sterilized indirect laryngeal mirrors in all cases, where indirect laryngoscopic examination is required. The same solution is also used in different other occasions like few dental procedures and as a mouth wash in post tonsillectomy patients (1.5% w/v). The solution is dropped over the mirror surface and an excess is wiped off by using a Goss piece. This way a thin film of solution is formed over the surface of the mirror the patient is examined with this mirror and no fogging occurred during the procedure. The mirror is tested by emersion into the hydrogen peroxide solution 3% w/v for 24hrs and there is no deterioration in the quality of the mirror. RESULTS: For the last two years this method of defogging the indirect laryngoscopy mirror has shown no untoward incidence in our ENT OPD. Warming the mirror with spirit lamp has caused some burning incidences previously and patients become uncooperative. So this method is bypassed. Using savlon, patients complained of bad taste in the mouth. Hydrogen peroxide solution as such acts as antiseptic and is patient friendly and safe. DISCUSSION: Since the body temperature is higher than that of the mirror, when IDL mirror is introduced in the oral cavity, as soon as the patient expires there will be condensation of water vapor over the mirror. This leads to formation of fogging of the mirror. This leads to blurring of the image, so prevention of fogging becomes necessary. To do so, many centers use spirit lamp flame to warm the mirror surface. But the fact is the spirit lamp caused untoward incidences in over 100 ENT cases in UK over the years, such as injuries by the patients and staff being burnt by naked flame(3) and injuries by overheating of the mirrors. When the mirror is heated by the flame of spirit lamp,patients get worried and apprehensive. They think that it may burn oral cavity and throat. Usage of hot water is not suitable as the risk of scalding is much greater and repeated usage of same water causes cross infections. (Few centers in UK use baby bottle warmers to keep the

Creating a Common Safety Culture

Guest editorial Most people who work in the oil and gas industry know what a “permit to work” is. A blue permit indicates that it covers “cold” work—work with no potential to create a naked flame, hot surface, spark, or explosion. Having a permit ensures that the job site is safe for the team to do its work, that the team understands the potential risks of the work it is planning to do, and that it agrees to put suitable controls in place. I spoke recently at the Piper 25 Conference, a 3-day event held in Aberdeen to mark the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster that killed 167 people on board the oil platform in the North Sea. On display at the conference was a copy of Cold Work Permit 23434. The tattered paper was found in the accommodation module that was recovered from the seabed. The permit was for the replacement of a relief valve on the B condensate pump. It was this work that was at the heart of the initial release and explosion when the operators tried to start the pump even though it was not ready. The rest, tragically, is history. It begs an obvious question and a supplementary one: Could something similar happen again and, if so, can we do anything to reduce the chances of it happening? The oil and gas industry has made huge advances in safety management over the past 25 years. The goal-setting regime, safety cases, and verification schemes have been hugely beneficial. We have greater collaboration and everyone now talks about safety as being important and most people genuinely believe it. However, the industry is still experiencing too many serious events which, if we are unlucky, could easily result in another tragedy. We are a global industry in which good practices are shared across our operations. The loss of life in any country has to be as unacceptable as a tragedy on our own doorstep. Over the past 25 years since Piper Alpha, there have been more than 25 multi-fatality accidents in our industry. In June, two people died in an accident on a gas platform in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. Last year, three died in an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and 11 died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the GOM in 2010.

Experimental Study of Induction Cooker Fire Hazard

Abstract Induction cookers are popular in the modern family in Hong Kong. Since these cookers do not use naked flame, some people believed that these induction cookers will not create any fire hazard and can be considered as a fire safety feature. Therefore, with induction cookers installed in the kitchen, it is possible to relax some fire safety measures in buildings such as kitchen walls. However, there is still a lack of understanding of induction cooker fire hazards. Thus experimental study of induction cooker fire hazard is necessary. The present study focused on time to ignition, cooking oil surface temperature at ignition, smoke layer height and flame height by an induction cooker fire.

Heat Therapy —Simple Treatment for Acute Insects Stings

The comprehensive article (1) does not make any mention of a very simple and risk-free acute treatment option for insect stings, which can be administered by the patients themselves or those around them: heat therapy. In my 25 years as a general practitioner I have always found this to be an instant route to success. Most insect venoms are thermolabile even at temperatures around 50°C at the actual puncture site. Heat treatment is incredibly simple to administer: hold a coin between thumb and index finger into a naked flame (such as a cigarette lighter) for as long as this is tolerable and then press the coin on the site of the bite for about 10 seconds. Repeat. Any symptoms will disappear after 2–3 minutes. For sensitive patients and especially for children, a battery-driven heat pen is commercially available, which can be used to selectively and reproducibly heat the site of the sting to a temperature of 50°C. In theory, this treatment should be administered as immediately as possible after the sting, but I have seen the full successful result after hornet stings even after a 20 minute delay.

Attempted ignition of petrol vapour by lit cigarettes and lit cannabis resin joints

A recent murder enquiry prompted experimentation to confirm and visually demonstrate that lit cigarettes are not a viable source of ignition of petrol vapour. In addition, tests comprising the attempted ignition of petrol vapour using hot and smouldering cannabis resin were also undertaken. A series of experiments was also designed to recreate circumstances specific to the crime under investigation by undertaking cigarette/joint ignition tests involving a mannequin clothed in a cotton garment onto which petrol was applied. The ultimate aim of the experiments was to produce a visual aid for use during court proceedings. Thirty nine (39) ignition attempts that involved exposing lit commercial cigarettes, hand-rolled cigarettes and cannabis resin joints to petrol vapour were undertaken; ignition was not achieved in any of the scenarios. In addition, a single attempt to ignite petrol vapour emanating from a pool of liquid fuel was effected with a smouldering piece of cannabis resin; no ignition occurred. In all cases the petrol was clearly present within the limits of flammability since ignition was subsequently effected using a naked flame.

The state of fire safety in industrial buildings in Ghana: a case study of Tema metropolis

This research ascertains the state of fire safety measures in industrial buildings in the Tema metropolis of Ghana. In all 12 industries were sampled. The study looked at the design...

Island of Shattered Dreams (review)

Reviewed by: Island of Shattered Dreams Paul Sharrad Island of Shattered Dreams, by Chantal T Spitz. Translated by Jean Anderson. Wellington, NZ: Huia Press, 2007. Distributed by University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu. ISBN 978-1-86969-299-5. 163 pages. Paper, US$19.00. How difficult it is to assess a pioneering literary work. It is ahead of its time when it appears, marks an awakening occasioned by things already past, and yet is so much of its time that later readers can have trouble appreciating its significance as a contribution that cleared the way for the works and cultural conditions with which audiences today are more familiar. Chantal T Spitz is a pioneer of indigenous fiction from Tahiti, and the French version of this book, L'île des rêves écrasés (1991), created a scandal in Papeete for blowing apart the myth of happy egalitarianism under French assimilation; for openly criticizing the complicity of local elites in the destruction of Mä'ohi culture and self-respect; and for attacking France's nuclear testing in the Pacific. A text conflicted in its own workings and centrally engaged in the social conflict of the times, the novel charts the path to a younger generation of politically aware Islanders equipped with the skills and confidence to write about their troubled worlds. Island of Shattered Dreams tracks the love affairs and family generations of Tahitian and mixed-race people within a colonial color hierarchy, showing the struggle to maintain cultural continuity and a sense of belonging in the face of growing alienation of soul and separation from land. It moves in a present-tense flow interspersed with poetic outpourings at moments of emotional stress (births, separations, realizing new loves) and takes as its historical beginning the departure of the son, Tematua, to fight for France in World War Two. This and the subsequent movements of Tematua's children are framed by competing epigraphs: the Polynesian and Biblical creation stories, and a historical prophecy about the "fatal impact" of colonial contact. The importance of names is highlighted by the narrator, making clear the impulse to employ allegory, both in the sense of the central couple representing Tahiti as a whole, and individual characters (eg, Tematua as strength) acting parts in what amounts to a morality play. This is consistent with Pacific theatrical conventions and helps novice readers faced with a groundbreaking text to see the significance of the plot. In retrospect, and from the outside, it can also make the book seem a bit contrived. This is not helped by the narrator "loading the dice" with regular commentary: "The descendants of the former royal family are proud to donate a few hectares of their ancestral lands to the Central Administration, a first sign of the bankruptcy of a people that loses its soul when it sells its land" (60; reviewer's italics). Hostile responses to the original work (in part because characters were recognizable from real life) may well have been aggravated by this insistent, strident style, though it was possibly necessary at the time to shock readers into action. There are echoes of the rhetorical violence of John Kasaipwalova's protest poem from Papua New Guinea, "Naked Flame" (including the hot-cold imagery of [End Page 190] native passion versus Western leaching of pride) in conformity with the early protest phase of literary production in a decolonizing country's cultural politics. This imagery of explosively hot feeling serves as a link to the nuclear testing in the second half of the novel, and while its positive Tahitian aspect is at odds with the disastrous French intervention, the human associations of the former make the latter seem an unnatural travesty of civilized values. Robert Nicole has noted that Spitz names one character, Terii, after the lead figure in Victor Segalen's Les Immémoriaux, an outsider's 1907 novel of the tragic impact of European culture (and print media) on Tahitian oral and priestly culture (Nicole, The Word, the Pen, and the Pistol: Literature and Power in Tahiti [2001, 196]). One of the points here is to highlight the fact that, contrary to Segalen's nostalgic clearing away of the romantic past...

"Elves (and Hobbits) always refer to the Sun as She": Some Notes on a Note in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

“Elves (and Hobbits) always refer to the Sun as She”:Some Notes on a Note in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Yvette L. Kisor (bio) In Chapter Nine of the first book of The Fellowship of the Ring, "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony," Frodo sings a song recounting the Man of the Moon's adventures at an inn, what T. A. Shippey might refer to as an asterisk-song,1 a reconstructed original of which the English nursery rhyme The Cat and the Fiddle2 is a surviving fragment.3 In the last stanza of Frodo's song the Sun is referred to as female, and Tolkien provides a note of explanation: "Elves (and Hobbits) always refer to the Sun as She" (FR, I, ix, 172).4 This note tells us something about Elvish (and Hobbitish) practice, but it also reveals much more, functioning as a key to Tolkien's creative process, his sources, and the way philology informs his myth-making. The note is necessary, of course, because the reference to the sun as female is surprising, at least to the modern reader. In the western world the sun is usually conceived of as masculine—it is the moon that is more commonly seen as feminine, and this association goes back a long way. The Romans associated Apollo with the sun and his sister Diana (Artemis in the Greek pantheon) with the moon, and in the classical tradition the other deities associated with sun and moon similarly fall along gender lines: the male gods Helios and Sol with the sun; the female goddesses Luna and Selene with the moon. The association of sun with male and moon with female is a strong one in the western tradition. Tolkien was well aware of this tradition and his subversion of it, hinted at in FR, is given a larger explanation in The Silmarillion. Chapter Eleven of the Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor," explains how the sun and moon were created after the destruction of the Two Trees. In response to Yavanna's singing, Telperion bore one final flower of silver and Laurelin one last fruit of gold before they died, and for these Aulë fashioned vessels to be guided by two Maiar: a maiden Arien for the Sun and the youth Tilion for the Moon. Arien, a spirit of fire, had tended the gardens of golden flowers and Tilion had been a hunter with a silver bow (S 98-102). The switch of gender in these guardians of the sun and moon is all the more noticeable because otherwise Tolkien keeps to familiar [End Page 212] tradition—Tilion is a hunter associated with the bow just as is Diana/Artemis, and the supremacy of the sun is clear. While Arien is chosen by the Valar, Tilion must beg for the task of guiding the moon, and "Arien the maiden was mightier than he" (100); Morgoth assails Tilion but dares not attack Arien (101). Tilion is not only weaker but has other qualities normally associated with the "feminine" moon, particularly changeableness; further he is drawn towards Arien: "But Tilion was wayward and uncertain in speed, and held not to his appointed path; and he sought to come near to Arien, being drawn by her splendour . . . Tilion went with uncertain pace, as yet he goes, and was still drawn towards Arien, as he shall ever be" (100, 101). Thus Tolkien maintains the essential qualities familiar from classical western tradition: the guardian of the moon is a hunter, lesser and more wayward than the guardian of the sun, being drawn towards the sun; the guardian of the sun is fiery and strong: "she was as a naked flame, terrible in the fullness of her splendour" (100). The main associations of sun and moon, largely a function of the innate characteristics of the astronomical bodies themselves (the brightness of the sun, the phases of the moon, etc.), remain intact but the traditional gender binary opposition is reversed.5 But Tolkien is working not only with a mythological tradition, he is working with a philological one, and as is so often the case with Tolkien...