The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-07-14


lanterns shine among the trees, and ignt
up the concert hall and restaurant: stand
ing in the place the lamps shine like great
moons, round aud clear white. The con-
cert garden sign is visible precisely as py
daylight, and all the trees stand out clear
and green against the DARK kness. ne .rees
to the left, beyond the gate, make simply
black massee, and the gas lamps among
them look like small yellow stars. Within
the garden the effect is most singular. The
trees and flowers are plainly visible 10
every detail of leaf, petal, ana tw'g. Inc
very stones of the gravel walk, the moses
on the walls, every stain and mark on the
statues, are visible as by day. Within the
concert hall the effect. 10 quite peculiar.
Tbes room is about 100 by so, and quite
lofty, and vet four candles placed on posts
about ten feet high arc sufficient to make
the room lighter than it is by day. That
is, there 10 more light than comes IN oy tue
windows in the daytime. Six lights are
used, two extra lamps being placed in the
orchestra; but in the adjoining hall
room of the same size, four are sufhcient
for all practical purposes. The orchestra
fills the stage, and q large audience occu-
pies the floor. People are reading the
finely printed program mes with ease, even
at distance of fifty feet from lamp, and
the band read their music with security.
The wide doors are open, and more e'ecfrlc
candles under the trees, where large
portion of the audience is seated at the
little coffee tables, make it almost equally
light there. Here, again, the actinic effect
of the light ia remarkable. The ladies'
dresses appear in their real colors, the
blues and greens holding their true shades
es by day. There are no gas lamps, and
the only light is from the wi,i,e globes iHat
shine 40 silently. II is not at ali nupleas
ant to watch the lights, for, though bright,
they are not painfully intense. They burn
ha
changes being an occasional lessening OF
the brilliancy and strange alteration In
the color, the globes sometimes assuming
pale shades of blue and red. This may be
in part an optical illusion, resulting from
fatigue ia the eye, but it ia certain that
unless the lamp is steadily watched, there
seems to be absolutely no change IN the
quantity or color of the light in the room
Once, while looking at the lights, four of
them went out, leaving only two in the
room. This was still sufficient to enable
any one to read in any part OF the nall,
but workman at once came in, and,
opening q wooden box at the base of each
lamp post, corrected the difficulty, and the
lights sprang up again in mysterious
silence.
On following the wires, hung from lamp
to lamp among the trees in the garden, we
can trace the light to its source-three
steam engines behind the building. These
are small portable engines, each turning
| one or more electrical machines by means
of belts. The machines are turning silent
ly and swiftly, but there is neither light
nor heat. The light only appears at the
breaks in the circuits where the candles
are placed. This is the sum of this mat
| ter steam power turned into electricity
or, in other words, drawing electricity
from tie exhaustless supplies stored in the
planet itself. This is the light of the future
the solution of the great question of light
ing cities-the transformation of poWe
into light. Go out into the Place de Ii
Concorde and look up the grand avenue tt
the Arc de Triomphe. The great arch il
lamps shine like stars along the way, but
the electric lamps before the arch outshint
them all and make it plainly visible
though it is more than mile away.
To enumerate all the places where tn
electric light 10 regularly used would b
tiresome. More than forty shops, ware
houses, yards, and railway stations ar
now lighted by the electric candles, an
within few months it is intended to ligh
all the main boulevards and streets In IN
| came manner. In the streets already light
ed it is not the custom to give up the ga
f entirely. The electric lamps are llghte
at dark and extingushed at midnight, tn
gas being then lighted to take their place
The traffic is over, and the gas is sufti Glen
for the watchmen and late jewellers.
Regarding the cost of electric lighting
the various makers here seem to ditfe
f greatly, but it may be safely stated
, about one seventh of the cost of gas pc
candle power per hour. This much is Gel
, tain 1t ia being rapidly introduced int
the streets of Paris, and for part of tn
! night at least it will replace gas
In regard to the use of electric light /
| dwellings and small halls this much ma
| be said The electric candle, as now mad
, is too powerful except for grand ball
railway stations, and wide streets. Ths
it will be modified, or that low-powe
} lamp will be invented, lie reasonably ceI
tain, for the best inventors of two cont
+ nents are at work on the problem.
A DOUBLE CITY IN Two STATES: tol /
, perhaps the only city in the world that ht
!, | fvn Mavora and two oitY governments, polio