THE LIGHT OF COMING DAYS.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1838, 23 November 1874, Page 2

THE LIGHT OF COMING DAYS.

The light of other days—practical, not poetic—was the tallow dip, and further back a bunch of moss in a dish of grease. The advance from this primitive illuminator to the gas jet covers a most important stage in the progress of domestic economy. To make the illuminating material distribute itself was a capital stroke of policy. By most people it is regarded as the final stroke in the conflict with the shades of night. But it falls very far short of it. Before we can truly say that our streets and houses are lighted scientifically, another acd more important advance must be made. We must get rid of the offensive and poisonous products, the heat and. flickering, the sharp contrasts of light and shade, the needless expense and frequent fires, and the thousand other disadvantages attending the distribution and local combustion of bur illuminating material, by distributing in? stead pure light. The problem is simple and easily solved. What we want in bur rooms is a clean, white light, like diffused daylight. The popular mistake lies tin supposing that the,light must necessarily be generated where it is used-. The remoteness of our natural illuminators ought to teach us the absurdity• of such a position. Every tyro' in optics know 3 that light is the most tractable of/material effects. It is obedient to the last degree,. You can send it where you will, to 1 any distance, through the crookedest channels, through the darkest passages, and it will emerge undimmed, ready to be absorbed or dispersed as the operator may wish. It is well known, also, that there are many ways of producing a brilliant light, much more easily and economically than bycarbon combustion in small and scattered flames. Yet, curiously, this familiar knowledge does not appear to have ever been put to practical use in producing a simple, wholesome, agreeable,- scientific illumination for public and private buildings. To pujr children, the old-fashioned candle snuffers are uuknpwn, or known only as relics of an antiquated system of domestic economy. It is possible that, to their children, gas pipes may be equally obsolete as articles of household use, light tubes furnished with reflectcrs and terminal radiators taking their place. The working of the predicted system can be sketched jn a few words. * Given, say, a ; large hotel tp fee furbished with artificial light; instead of having a network of gas

pipes leading to the different rooms and % to different burners in each room, according to the present method, the light for the entire building would be generated in one place, say in the main ventilating shaft for the utilising of (.ho surplus beat. The distribution' of the light would be effected by means of reflectors, each throwing into its, appropriate tube a bundleof rajs (madeparcillelby alens) sufficiently intense (c. flood the room to which they we re direc ted with a pure Vfiito radiance, which culd be (urned on or off or graduated by simply pressing a knob or turning a key. In ,«iz;r, the light tubes need be no greater/than ordinary 'gaspi pop. TnHcc.d, they' might' befniuch smaller, v^iiie'e all the flight; required for the largest' roofa nfijrht bd: transmitted to the refleetoras tthexfcfeniely slender: beam. The terminal lensrs would close the tube against smoke and dust, which would Sim the reflectors at the ajagles ; and by keeping I he _ enclosed.,,air pure and dry, the absorption of light would be inappreciable,' : The rtdrantagos of this mode of illumination aremany and obvious. There would be no-poisoning of the atmosphere by localeombustion, no scattered flames to occasiou fies ; no circulation of combustible material to encourage fire, it happen to break.: out; childr*and careless servants would have nothing to handle that could .possibly do damage ; there would be no misplaced; heat; no smoke or odour to sicken or annoy ; no cross lights or flickering to hurt the eyes. Besides, the lighting of a house would help to purify it's atmosphere instead of vitiating it as how, if the sources of light were placed, as we hare suggested, in the ventilating shaft; and, verj likely, the economy of the light would be .such that means"for the instanstaneous illumination of the entire houie could be maintained at all hours of th* night without costing more than our present imperfect and partial lighting does. For churches, theatres, and other places of public resort, this method of lightingis specially available and inviting. The source of light might be in an^-; absolutely fireproof vault or chamber, or in a separate building, so that the danger of accidental fires, with their attendant evils, would be reduced to the minimum. Similar advantages would attend its application to ship- . ping. For mines, especially coal mines, it is unapproachable for simplicity and safety. Smoky torches anil treacheroui ♦' safety lamps " might be entirely abolished, and the deepest piti flooded with white light, without flame or the shadow of a risk of explosion.—Exchange.