“SYNTHETIC SUN”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17231, 10 April 1930, Page 14

“SYNTHETIC SUN”

FROM ELECTRIC LAMP SCIENTIST’S CLAIM ALL OUR HABITS TO BE CHANGED? NEW YORK, Jan. 29. “Synthetic sunlight,’’ by means of which any interior, including dark cellars, can be transformed into as healthful a place, even in winter, as a count rv hillside, is promised bv Dr. M. Luekeish. In fact, a veritable new world era, he thinks, is to grow out of a comparatively small electric light bulb now being perfected by the General Electric Co. Speaking before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Dr. Luekeish, who is a well-known director of lighting research, explained a device of brass, glass, copper tungsten, and mercury, Glim long) and identified now as the “Sunlight Lamp,” which he declared will finally replace incandescent lights and pos-' sesses such hygienic attributes that “colds and the 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, he predicted, socihl customs will be .'different,'; and. fewer; clothes may be worn in .-order ;tbrTake advantage of the health-giving r*iys .that will surround us at work and leisure. Dr. Luekeish d’d not undertake to say when the “Sunlight Lamp” would be perfected. But he seemed very confident of success, and indicated .to the engineers present that wo are at the dawn of an era of illumination not less remarkable than the radio age now developing. Synthetic sunlight, dependent largely upon the tungsten and mercury elements, will be very like the genuine rays, but will possess greater health-giving properties. NEW ERA “IMMINENT” The engineers listened spellbound to what one speaker described as the “man’s declaration of independence from Nature.” “From the burning of crude materials, representing .the first great new era in artificial lighting, we have possessed,” said Dr. Luekeish, “to the second great era, which began with the practical production of artificial light by means of electricity—the arc and filament lamps. We now pass to the threshold oh another era, which suggests a potentiality as great as the two major ones which preceded it.” He denounced the recent craze for ultra-violet rays as a cure-all by charlatans, but admitted that sunlight does 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 i$ closely related to one or two vitamins, possibly to all. To secure the full benefits of the new illumination, walls and ceilings must be covered with substances which conserve the ultra-violet radiation, such as translucent quartz.