FROM THE ELECTRIC LAMP

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 81, 5 April 1930, Page 20

FROM THE ELECTRIC LAMP

"Synthetic sunlight," by means of which any interior, including dark cellars, can be transformed into as'healthful a place, even in winter, as a country 4iillside, is .promised by. Dr. M. Luckeish, writes tho London "Daily Telegraph's" New. York special correspondent. In fact it veritable new world era, ho thinks, is to grow out of a comparatively small electric, light bulb now being perfected by the General Electric Company. ■ Speaking before tho American Institute ,of Electrical Engineers, Dr. Luckeish, who is a well-known director of lighting research, explained a device of brass, glass, copper, tungsten and mercury, 6i inches long, and identified now as the "Sunlight Lamp," which lie declared will finally . replace ineande_scent lights, and. possess such hygienic attributes that "colds, and tho more serious ailments will diminish, nervous trouble will decrease, and, the life of man will be extended by many years."

Habits of play and work will, be changed, ho predicted, social customs will be different,- and fewer clothes may bo worn in order to take advantage of the health-giving rays that will surround us at work and leisure.

Dr. Luckeish did not undertake to say when tho " Sunlight Lamp" would bo perfected. But ho seemed very confident of success, and indicated to the engineers ■present that we arc at the

A "SYNTHETIC SUN"

dawn of an era of illumination not less remarkable than the radio ago now developing.1 Synthetic sunlight, dependent largely Upon tho tungsten and mercury elements, will be very* like tho genuine rays, but will possess greater health-giving properties. Tho engineers listened spellbound to what ono speaker described as the "man's declaration of independence from- Nature."

. "From the burning of crude materials, representing the first great now era in artificial, lighting,-wo havo progrossed," said Dr. Luekcish, "to the second great era, which began with the practical production of artificial light by means of electricity—the arc and filament lamps. Wo now. pass to the threshold of another era, which suggests a potentiality as great as the two major ones which preceded it." Ho denounced the recent craze for ultra-violet rays,as a cure-all by charlatans, but admitted that sunlight docs cure and prevent .rickets, and he said that statistics indicated that the death rate is lower in periods of plentiful sunshine than in its absence. Furthermore, sunlight is closely related to one or two vitamins, possibly to all.

To secure tho full benefits of the new illumination, walls and ceilings must be covered with substances which conserve tho ultra-violet radiation, such as translucent quartz.