User:Lava, Henri

Henri Lava
Henri Lava, born 11th October 1862 is most know for his accidental invention of what would become known as the 'Lava Lamp'. After emigrating from Lyon, France to Woodbury, Minnesota he settled with his wife and two sons. Henri suffered from an incurable condition known as Lablum Inpositoria, the abscense of lips. For this reason Henri was unable to exhale air though his mouth in the normal way.

A situation arose, according to his extensive diaries, on Sunday 2nd February 1891 when Henri needed to extinguish a candle which had been left lit and unattended in a jar by his youngest son. Fearing for the safety of his home and family, Henri found that the only way to put out the flame was to relieve himself in the jar. This was successful, but Henri was so outraged by his sons disregard for safety he placed the jar on top of the fireplace to show the son on his return. After an hour Henri noticed that the heat of the fireplace had melted the remaining wax within the jar, causing it to rise and fall within the liquid in a hypnotic fashion.

Seven hours later when his family returned they found him transfixed and woke him, at which point he realised the soothing visual effects of the object. He stored it away and whenever his two sons became unmanagable he would retrieve the jar and sit them infront of it to calm down. Henri noted however, that the solution originally used in the jar began to smell after being constantly reheated, but was too late to prevent its poisonous effects taking his life on 29th July 1892.

A large working replica of the jar, complete with yellow liquid and wax can now be found on the site where Henri's house once stood on the outskirts of Woodbury. The original log cabin built by Henri himself was burnt down on 14th November 1892 by a candle left unattended by his youngest son.