The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1865-04-20
prscRtrrioS or rr1resursa.
The New Iipht.


The New Light.
1t is almost sixty years since
lSir Humphrey Davy produced
|''magncsium," "a bright white met.
'al, brittle. light, then accounted
'curious only as being first cous
in" in chemistry to Ruch sub. tan
|ccs as Epson salts, steatte, tale
iand chrysolite. 1t 10 closely relat
'ed to all the magnetism limestones;
Ithe nccrschauin pipe i: a ell cate
!of its oxide, and asbestos. which
won't burn, belongs to the same
stock. "Nobody expected" Davyt
discovery could over literally en-
1 ilighten the world, aud snuff the
sun out, so mr rs Photography
goes! But MIR. Sonstadt, who
looked up the forgotten metal
found methods to produce itin any
quantity and Of n perfectly pur,
Equality, A wire thus manufactur
led was shown to give in Ame {
Hight which was not only sunik,
n its brilliancy, but actually riva
led the solar beam in c0nteinir.
chemical or actinic rays. 20 rici
is the magnesium lamp in those
rays indeed, that the full power OF
the orb docs not greatly exceed it
AT the zenith di,tance Of 81 de
grces the chemical brig h.ness ofar
junclounded sun is not worth NOR,
than five TIME that ofa magnesium
;ilame of the same apparent dimen.
sion. a thin wire is equivalent
in power to soventy-iour sterin,
scandles; and to keep up that splen
Sdor for ten hours only two and
ahalf ounces of magnesium need b.
consumed. True, one ounce ofth,
metal is five times costlicr thar
the same weight of SILVER; but Oh,
|price is rapidly descending, rs pro
]ccsess arc effected and demand
increases. And the recently dis
covered material gives Off nothing
unpleasant or vaporous in burnin 3
mo smell or evil gasses, no incon
'venient heat.
The Americans have hoarl OF
,opr new commodity, and send over
Ior Goals ot sunshine. The idea is
that magnesium may serve them
in the blockade. and it would be
stango indeed to read that Davy'e
metal, suddenly flooding the sea:
with white brilliancy, had turned
might into day for ships as we'll as
for Photographic studies. Other
governments are also bnsy with
imagnesium, by means of officia
isavans, experimentalizing upon ite
possible use in lighthouse lamps,
land for signals Mt sea. For the
last purpose ii seems admirably
Z qualified; it is but to take a few
inches Of the wire and q match, and
in q moment a light may be
shown over vessels side, which
THUS naked, has been made out 2S
miles of. "A light Of the magnes
ium in power gives to the "bou
7quet" Of rockets, or similar fire
works, n fearful and piercing bril-
lance; and sensational drarnatist,
land managers may henc,lorward
illuminate ''situations" with q
|splendOur unparalleled.
BY the magnesium lamp, blues
land greens. whites and yellows,
might be made up at night. Hore
/ is n combination Of qualities and
promises which quite prepares us,
showing that the wholcs, 10 manu-.
|tact1re OF the light has now been
taken up by excellent bands. No
doubt further benefits will spring
from it, for nobody knows what
uses the possession Of cheap nc
|tinic force may not ultimately pro.
|duce. And ifsuch qualities were
lurking in some out-of tho way cur. !.
|osity Of the laboratory, what may
not await us in other metals scarce-
ly necied at present cGsium, tita
mum, iridium, osnium, rebidium,
and the rest! The great object is
to make the new light cheap. 1t
burns too fast to be available for
ordinary purposes. Any one who
can succeed in bringing down its
cost, through at a sacrifice of it's
intense brilliancy, will be likely 70
shut up the gas companies and
make a fortune.
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