acapna

ACAPNAsc. ligna (ξύλα ἄκαπνα), firewood specially prepared in order to burn without smoke. Owing to the primitive simplicity of ancient chimneys, smokeless fuel was in great request. At least three different processes are mentioned in ancient writers. 1. The wood might be simply dried and scorched over a fire, without however being converted into charcoal; these were also called ligna cocta, Dig. 32, 55, 7, and coctilia, Trebell. Claud. 14. 2. After peeling off the bark, it might be soaked in water and then well dried before being used (Theophr. Hist. Plant. 15.10). 3. It might be smeared with oil-lees (amurca), and afterwards exposed to the sun (Cato, Agr. 130; Plin. Nat.15.33). In Martial, Mart. 13.15, the lemma has ligna acapna, but the epigram itself throws no light on the mode of preparation. ACAPNON MEL, honey taken from the hive without smoking the bees, which was preferred, as usually there was a slight taste of smoke. (Colum. 6.33.2; Plin. Nat.11.45.)

sc. ligna (in Greek, ξύλα ἄκαπνα). Firewood specially prepared to burn without smoke, and in great request in antiquity, owing to the defects of the chimneys. It was prepared in three ways: (1) by scorching the wood over a fire, this being known as ligna cocta; (2) by soaking in water after removing the bark, and then drying; (3) by smearing with oil-lees (amurca), and then exposing to the sun. See Martial, xiii. 15.