Nebraska advertiser., 1879-03-06

said the professor, "that candles were
in general use, though greatly I'M
proved in quality for the next inven-
tion-the argand burner. or astrai
lamp-could only be afforded by we'll
to-do people. The flame was fed oy |
the oil made from the blubber OF the
sperm whale, which was rather ex-
pensive; but the lamp made great
Improvement In artificial light. Many
of us can remember the astral lamp,
which gave a soft, pleasant. steady
light under its glass shade, quite suf-
| fieient to render room of ordinary
size cheerful and cozy. Gas had been
discovered, and utilized in places of
business long time before it was In
troduced into our better houses; and
then 1t was that petroleum or kero-
sene took the place of candles in poor
er localities, and 1t is still In univer-
sal use.
You may think that there is moth
ing better to be desired than gas; but
IL the ladies present would consider
how this light changes and Injuries
many delicate colors, and how unbe-
coming it is, they would rejoice in
that restless spirit of invention that
is ever crying Excelsior y and is now
using all its resources to bring the ex-
quisitely beautiful pure white electric
light into common use. Let me show
you the effect of light still more yell
low than gaslight on these colors
hanging up. It is a sodium light,
and sodium Is only common salt pre-
pared for burning"
Here the professor applied a match
to one of the things on the table of
which told you did not know the
r uses. A dull deep yellow flame spraDg
up. All the blue. red and green in
what we will call the banner vanished
utterly-nobody knows where-leav'
ing three ugly gray and leaden color
ed stripes, while the pale yellow Dor
f der had an attack of yellow jaundics
g Immediately, and became orange col
n or. The professor held his hand
q against the flame, and it changed to
n ghastly gray hand. and as to US, VI
= looked like dressed up ghosts.
4 "You see now" said the professo
10 show great an improvement whit
~ HgnJ ought TO De. am told that whel
n ladies purchase silk for an evening
h dress, they have 1t shown by gas light
o Some of the larger stores have littl
ar room lighted only by gas for this pur
70 pose; and it is surprising to motto
~ how a silk, beautiful in daylight, vii
10 alter and become dingy in color th
=. moment the gsslight flashes upon it.
70 And now the professor. putting ou
- the hateful sodium light, touched
q hidden spring. In an instant-lik
. the twinkling of an eye-a tiny, bu
,s most glorious, star. or, what it wa
still more like, or was really, bit O
q imprisoned lightning, flashed out @
# the end of a coiled copper wire, witt
\ thousands of luminous silver rays em
anatiDg from it.
:, "A-h, how beautiful how su
u perbw exclaimed every body.
Instantly all the colors in the ban
. ner on the wall became perfect ant
true; blue was blue, and green, greer
:, and you know these colors are Otter
y mistaken one for the other at night
n The colors of the ladies' dresses, sof
, lavender, blue, pink, and diamond
y flashed like little electric points
Why, everybody looked handsome
! than ever they had before. The fin
dark eyes of the professor were spark
- ling, and his face beenling with pleas
ure, because he saw that he had giver
o pleasure to others, which after all il
!, the best, the purest happiness. Ther
a he put a white porcelain shade owe
4 the electric light. and with the soft
ened brightness, another delighted
% exclamation passed like a wave owe
o the crowd; for you know that ligh
!, like sound travels in waves, though
= light beats sound by an infinite mum
A ber Of times in speed. l might Al
4 well tell you here that while q sounC
: would be travelling leisurely abou
M 80 '-'------ii-- i---:----, ns-Si.
~ l.