Artificial Light: Its Influence upon Civilization Part 8

XI

THE LIGHT OF THE FUTURE

In viewing the development of artificial light and its manifold effects upon the activities of mankind, it is natural to look into the future.

Jules Verne possessed the advantage of being able to write into fiction what his riotous imagination dictated, and so much of what he pictured has come true that his success tempts one to do likewise in prophesying the future of lighting. Surely a forecast based alone upon the past achievements and the present indications will fall short of the actual realizations of the future! If the imagination is permitted to view the future without restrictions, many apparently far-fetched schemes may be devised. It may be possible to turn to nature's supply of daylight and to place some of it in storage for night use. One millionth part of daylight released as desired at night would illuminate sufficiently all of man's nocturnal activities. The fictionist need not heed the scientist's inquiry as to how this daylight would be bottled. Instead of giving time to such inquiries he would pa.s.s on to another scheme, whereby earth would be belted with optical devices so that day could never leave. When the sun was shining in China its light would be gathered on a large scale and sent eastward and westward in these great optical "pipe-lines" to the regions of darkness, thus banishing night forever. The writer of fiction need not bother with a consideration of the economic situation which would demand such efforts. This line of conjecture is interesting, for it may suggest possibilities toward which the present trend of artificial lighting does not point; however, the author is constrained to treat the future of light-production on a somewhat more conservative basis.

At the present time the light-source of chief interest in electric lighting is the incandescent filament lamp; but its luminous efficiency is limited, as has been shown in a previous chapter. When light is emitted by virtue of its temperature much invisible radiant energy accompanies the visible energy. The highest luminous efficiency attainable by pure temperature radiation will be reached when the temperature of a normal radiator reaches the vicinity of 10,000F. to 11,000F. The melting-points of metals are much lower than this. The tungsten filament in the most efficient lamps employing it is operating near its melting-point at the present time. Carbon is a most attractive element in respect to melting-point, for it melts at a temperature between 6000F. and 7000F. Even this is far below the most efficient temperature for the production of light by means of pure temperature radiation. There are possibilities of higher efficiency being obtained by operating arcs or filaments under pressure; however, it appears that highly efficient light of the future will result from a radical departure.

Scientists are becoming more and more intimate with the structure of matter. They are learning secrets every year which apparently are leading to a fundamental knowledge of the subject. When these mysteries are solved, who can say that man will not be able to create elements to suit his needs, or at least to alter the properties of the elements already available? If he could so alter the mechanism of radiation that a hot metal would radiate no invisible energy, he would have made a tremendous stride even in the production of light by virtue of high temperature. This property of selective radiation is possessed by some elements to a slight degree, but if treatment could enhance this property, luminous efficiency would be greatly increased. Certainly the principle of selectivity is a byway of possibilities.

A careful study of commonplace factors may result in a great step in light-production without the creation of new elements or compounds, just as such a procedure doubled the luminous efficiency of the tungsten filament when the gas-filled lamp appeared. There are a few elements still missing, according to the Periodic Law which has been so valuable in chemistry. When these turn up, they may be found to possess valuable properties for light-production; but this is a discouraging byway.

It is natural to inquire whether or not any mode of light-production now in use has a limiting luminous efficiency approaching the ultimate limit which is imposed by the visibility of radiation. The eye is able to convert radiant energy of different wave-lengths into certain fixed proportions of light. For example, radiant energy of such a wave-length as to excite the sensation of yellow-green is the most efficient and one watt of this energy is capable of being converted by the visual apparatus into about 625 lumens of light. Is this efficiency of conversion of the visual apparatus everlastingly fixed? For the answer it is necessary to turn to the physiologist, and doubtless he would suggest the curbing of the imagination. But is it unthinkable that the visual processes will always be beyond the control of man? However, to turn again to the physics of light-production, there are still several processes of producing light which are appealing.

Many years ago Geissler, Crookes, and other scientists studied the spectra of gases excited to incandescence by the electric discharge in so-called vacuum tubes. The gases are placed in transparent gla.s.s or quartz tubes at rather low pressures and a high voltage is impressed upon the ends of these tubes. When the pressure is sufficiently low, the gases will glow and emit light. Twenty-eight years ago, D. McFarlan Moore developed the nitrogen tube, which was actually installed in various places. But there is such a loss of energy near the cathode that short "vacuum" tubes of this character are very inefficient producers of light. Efficiency is greatly increased by lengthening the tubes, so Moore used tubes of great length and a rather high voltage. As a tube of this sort is used, the gas gradually disappears and it must be replenished. In order to replenish the gas, Moore devised a valve for feeding gas automatically. An advantage of this mode of light-production is that the color or quality of the light may be varied by varying the gas used. Nitrogen yields a pinkish light; neon an orange light; and carbon dioxide a white light. Moore's carbon-dioxide tube is an excellent subst.i.tute for daylight and has been used for the discrimination of colors where this is an important factor. However, for this purpose devices utilizing color-screens which alter the light from the tungsten lamp to a daylight quality are being used extensively.

The vacuum-tube method of producing light has an advantage in the selection of a gas among a large number of possibilities, and some of the color effects of the future may be obtained by means of it. Claude has lately worked on light-production by vacuum tubes and has combined the neon tube with the mercury-vapor tube. The spectrum of neon to a large extent compensates for the absence of red light in the mercury spectrum, with a result that the mixture produces a more satisfactory light than that of either tube. However, this mode of light-production has not proved practicable in its present state of development.

Fundamentally the limitations are those of the inherent spectral characteristics of gases. Doubtless the possibilities of the mechanisms of the tubes and of combining various gases have not been exhausted.

Furthermore, if man ever becomes capable of controlling to some extent the structure of elements and of compounds, this method of light-production is perhaps more promising than others of the present day.

There is another attractive method of producing light and it has not escaped the writer of fiction. H. G. Wells, with his rare skill and with the license so often envied by the writer of facts, has drawn upon the characteristics of fluorescence and phosph.o.r.escence. In his story "The First Men in the Moon," the inhabitants of the moon illuminate their caverns by utilizing this phenomenon. A fluorescent liquid was prepared in large quant.i.ties. It emitted a brilliant phosph.o.r.escent glow and when it splashed on the feet of the earth-men it felt cold, but it glowed for a long time. This is a possibility of the future and many have had visions of such lighting. If the ceiling of a coal-mine was lined with glowing fireflies or with phosph.o.r.escent material excited in some manner, it would be possible to see fairly well with the dark-adapted eyes.

This leads to the cla.s.s of phenomena included under the general term "luminescence." The definition of this term is not thoroughly agreed upon, but light produced in this manner does not depend upon temperature in the sense that a glowing tungsten filament emits light because it is sufficiently hot. A phosphorus match rubbed in the moist palm of the hand is seen to glow, although it is at an ordinary temperature. This may be termed "chemi-luminescence." Sidot blende, Balmain's paint, and many other compounds, when illuminated with ordinary light, and especially with ultra-violet and violet rays, will continue to glow for a long time. Despite their brightness they will be cold to the touch.

This phenomenon would be termed "photo-luminescence," although it is better known as "phosph.o.r.escence." It should be noted that the latter term was carelessly originated, for phosphorus has nothing to do with it. The glow of the Geissler tube or electrically excited gas at low pressure would be an example of "electro-luminescence." The luminosity of various salts in the Bunsen-flame is due to so-called luminescence and there are many other examples of light-production which are included in the same general cla.s.s. Inasmuch as light is emitted from comparatively cold bodies in these cases, it is popularly known as "cold" light.

There are many instances of light being emitted without being accompanied by appreciable amounts of invisible radiant energy and it is natural to hope for practical possibilities in this direction. As yet little is known regarding the efficiency of light-production by phosph.o.r.escence. The luminous efficiency of the radiant energy emitted by phosph.o.r.escent substances has been studied, but it seems strange that among the vast works on phosph.o.r.escent phenomena, scarcely any mention is made of the efficiency of producing light in this manner. For example, a.s.sume that phosph.o.r.escent zinc sulphide is excited by the light from a mercury-arc. All the energy falling upon it is not capable of exciting phosph.o.r.escence, as may be readily shown. a.s.suming that a known amount of radiant energy of a certain wave-length has been permitted to fall upon the phosph.o.r.escent material, then in the dark the latter may be seen to glow for a long time. An interesting point to investigate is the relation of the output to input; that is, the ratio of the total emitted light to the total exciting energy. This is a neglected aspect in the study of light-production by this means.

The firefly has been praised far and wide as the ideal light-source. It is an efficient radiator of light, for its light is "cold"; that is, it does not appear to be accompanied by invisible radiant energy. But little is said about its efficiency as a light-producer. Who knows how much fuel its lighting-plant consumes? The chemistry of light-production by living organisms is being unraveled and this part of the phenomenon will likely be laid bare before long. For an equal amount of energy radiated, the firefly emits a great many times more light than the most efficient lamp in use at the present time, but before the firefly is p.r.o.nounced ideal, the efficiency of its light-producing process must be known.

There are many ways of exciting phosph.o.r.escence and fluorescence, the latter being merely an unenduring phosph.o.r.escence, which ceases when the exciting energy is cut off. Ultra-violet, violet, and blue rays are generally the most effective radiant energy for excitation purposes.

X-rays and the high-frequency discharge are also powerful excitants. As already stated, virtually nothing is known of the efficiency of this mode of light-production or of the mechanism within the substance, but on the whole it is a remarkable phenomenon.

Radium is also a possibility in light-production and in fact has been practically employed for this purpose for several years. It or one of its compounds is mixed with a phosph.o.r.escent substance such as zinc sulphide and the latter glows continuously. Inasmuch as the life of some of the radium products is very long, such a method of illuminating watch-dials, scales of instruments, etc., is very practicable where they are to be read by eyes adapted to darkness and consequently highly sensitive to light. Whether or not radium will be manufactured by the ton in the future can only conjectured.

Owing to the limitations imposed by physical laws of radiation and by the physiological processes of vision the highest luminous efficiency obtainable by heating solid materials is only about 15 per cent. of the luminous efficiency of the most luminous radiant energy. At present there are no materials available which may be operated at the temperature necessary to reach even this efficiency. Great progress in the future of light-production as indicated by present knowledge appears to lie in the production of light which is unaccompanied by invisible radiant energy. At present such phenomena as fluorescence, phosph.o.r.escence, the light of the firefly, chemi-luminescence, etc., are examples of this kind of light-production. Of course, if science ever obtains control over the const.i.tution of matter, many difficulties will disappear; for then man will not be dependent upon the elements and compounds now available but will be able to modify them to suit his needs.

XII

LIGHTING THE STREETS

In this age of brilliantly lighted boulevards and "great white ways"

flooded with light from shop-windows, electric signs, and street-lamps, it is difficult to visualize the gloom which shrouded the streets a century ago. As the belated pedestrian walks along the suburban highways in comparative safety under adequate artificial lighting, he will realize the great influence of artificial light upon civilization if he recalls that not more than two centuries ago in London

it was a common practice ... that a hundred or more in a company, young and old, would make nightly invasions upon houses of the wealthy to the intent to rob them and that when night was come no man durst adventure to walk in the streets.

Inhabitants of the cities of the present time are inclined to think that crime is common on the streets at night, but what would it be without adequate artificial light? Two centuries ago in a city like London a smoking grease-lamp, a candle, or a basket of pine knots here and there afforded the only street-lighting, and these were extinguished by eleven o'clock. Lawlessness was hatched and hidden by darkness, and even the lantern or torch served more to mark the victim than to protect him. It has been said in describing the conditions of the age of dark streets that everybody signed his will and was prepared for death before he left his home. By comparison with the present, one is again encouraged to believe that the world grows better. Doubtless, artificial light projected into the crannies has had something to do with this change.

Adequate street-lighting is really a product of the twentieth century, but throughout the nineteenth century progress was steadily made from the beginning of gas-lighting in 1807. In preceding centuries crude lighting was employed here and there but not generally by the public authorities. In the earliest centuries of written history little is said of street-lighting. In those days man was not so much inclined to improve upon nature, beyond protecting himself from the elements, and he lighted the streets more as a festive outburst than as an economic proposition. Nevertheless, in the early writings occasionally there are indications that in the centers of advanced civilization some efforts were made to light the streets.

The old Syrian city of Antioch, which in the fourth century of the Christian era contained about four hundred thousand inhabitants, appears to have had lighted streets. Libanius, who lived in the early years of that century, wrote:

The light of the sun is succeeded by other lights, which are far superior to the lamps lighted by Egyptians on the festival of Minerva of Sais. The night with us differs from the day only in the appearance of the light; with regard to labor and employment, everything goes on well.

Although apparently labor was not on a strike, the soldiers caused disturbances, for in another pa.s.sage he tells of riotous soldiers who

cut with their swords the ropes from which were suspended the lamps that afforded light in the night-time, to show that the ornaments of the city ought to give way to them.

Another writer in describing a dispute between two religious adherents of opposed creeds stated that they quarreled "till the streets were lighted" and the crowd of onlookers broke up, but not until they "spat in each other's face and retired." Thus it is seen that artificial light and civilization may advance, even though some human traits remain fundamentally unchanged.

Throughout the next thousand years there was little attempt to light the streets. Iron baskets of burning wood, primitive oil-lamps, and candles were used to some extent, but during all these centuries there was no attempt on the part of the government or of individuals to light the streets in an organized manner. In 1417 the Mayor of London ordained "lanthorns with lights to bee hanged out on the winter evenings betwixt Hallowtide and Candlema.s.se." This was during the festive season, so perhaps street-lighting was not the sole aim. Early in the sixteenth century, the streets of Paris being infested with robbers, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the windows of all houses that fronted on the streets.

For about three centuries the citizens of London, and doubtless of Paris and of other cities, were reminded from time to time in official mandates "on pains and penalties to hang out their lanthorns at the appointed time." The watchman in long coat with halberd and lantern in hand supplemented these mandates as he made his rounds by,

A light here, maids, hang out your lights, And see your horns be clear and bright, That so your candle clear may shine, Continuing from six till nine; That honest men that walk along May see to pa.s.s safe without wrong.

In 1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of London, the inhabitants were ordered "for the safety and peace of the city to hang out candles duly to the accustomed hour." Apparently this method of obtaining lighting for the streets was not met by the enthusiastic support of the people, for during the next few decades the Lord Mayor was busy issuing threats and commands. In 1679 he proclaimed the "neglect of the inhabitants of this city in hanging and keeping out their lights at the accustomed hours, according to the good and ancient usage of this City and Acts of the Common Council on that behalf." The result of this neglect was "when nights darkened the streets then wandered forth the sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine."

In 1694 Hemig patented a reflector which partially surrounded the open flame of a whale-oil lamp and possessed a hole in the top which aided ventilation. He obtained the exclusive rights of lighting London for a period of years and undertook to place a light before every tenth door, between the hours of six and twelve o'clock, from Michaelmas to Lady Day. His effort was a worthy one, but he was opposed by a certain faction, which was successful in obtaining a withdrawal of his license in 1716. Again the burden of lighting the streets was thrust upon the residents and fines were imposed for negligence in this respect. But this procedure after a few more years of desultory lighting was again found to be unsatisfactory.

In 1729 certain individuals contracted to light the streets of London by taxing the residents and paid the city for this monopoly. Householders were permitted to hang out a lantern or a candle or to pay the company for doing so. But robberies increased so rapidly that in 1736 the Lord Mayor and Common Council pet.i.tioned Parliament to erect lamps for lighting the city. An act was pa.s.sed accordingly, giving them the privilege to erect lamps where they saw fit and to burn them from sunset to sunrise. A charge was made to the residents, on a sliding scale depending upon the rate of rental of the houses. As a consequence five thousand lamps were soon installed. In 1738 there were fifteen thousand street lamps in London and they were burned an average of five thousand hours annually.

In the annals of these early times street-lighting is almost invariably the result of an attempt to reduce the number of robberies and other crimes. In appealing for more street-lamps in 1744 the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London in a pet.i.tion to the king, stated

that divers confederacies of great numbers of evil-disposed persons, armed with bludgeons, pistols, cutla.s.ses, and other dangerous weapons, infest not only the private lanes and pa.s.sages, but likewise the public streets and places of public concourse, and commit most daring outrages upon the persons of your Majesty's good subjects, whose affairs oblige them to pa.s.s through the streets, by terrifying, robbing and wounding them; and these facts are frequently perpetrated at such times as were heretofore deemed hours of security.

It has already been seen that gas-lighting was introduced in the streets of London for the first time in 1807. This marks the real beginning of public-service lighting companies. In the next decade interest in street-lighting by means of gas was awakened on the Continent, and it was not long before this new phase of civilization was well under way.

Although this first gas-lighting was done by the use of open flames, it was a great improvement over all the preceding efforts. Lawlessness did not disappear entirely, of course, and perhaps it never will, but it skulked in the back streets. A controlling influence had now appeared.

But early innovations in lighting did not escape criticism and opposition. In fact, innovations to-day are not always received by unanimous consent. There were many in those early days who felt that what was good for them should be good enough for the younger generation.

The descendants of these opponents are present to-day but fortunately in diminishing numbers. It has been shown that in Philadelphia in 1833 a proposal to install a gas-plant was met with a protest signed by many prominent citizens. A few paragraphs of an article ent.i.tled "Arguments against Light" which appeared in the Cologne _Zeitung_ in 1816 indicate the character of the objections raised against street-lighting.

1 From the theological standpoint: Artificial illumination is an attempt to interfere with the divine plan of the world, which has preordained darkness during the night-time.

2 From the judicial standpoint: Those people who do not want light ought not to be compelled to pay for its use.

3 From the medical standpoint: The emanations of illuminating gas are injurious. Moreover, illuminated streets would induce people to remain later out of doors, leading to an increase in ailments caused by colds.

4 From the moral standpoint: The fear of darkness will vanish and drunkenness and depravity increase.

5 From the viewpoint of the police: The horses will get frightened and the thieves emboldened.