The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-23

| LOW were COHSluGreu d luNury. | One inch of candle was the allotted portion allowed guests at hotels. If more was needed, an extra charge was made.
 l The first railway coach was lighted with one candle, but notwithstanding the cost, Alexander the Great, lighted the streets of the capital of Persia with them, much to the amazement of | the people.
 | Time was told with candles, three inches to the hour and weights were placed so as to fall into metal pan. Goods were sold to the highest bid- der at a certain mark on the candle. | The City of New Haven was illumin- ated in fine style with candles when | General Lafayette visited here. ! The candle though despised has done good service with the light it has 1 shed. Some of the most eminent men have been educated by it's light. And by it's failing to burn the charter of the State of Connecticut was saved | from traitors hands. | Candles were first made by pouring the hot grease into holes made in the ground, then by dipping. Hence the expresslon-tallow dip-then by moulds. We will take up gas next. The Chinese claim to have first used l it piped in bamboo cane. But as they claim everything from gun-powder to fan-tan, it is not accredited to them.
 From 1858 to 1739 small experiments l were made with it, but 1t was not manufactured on any scale until 1792. | Lebon made a proposition to the of | ficials of Paris to illumine their streets. The cabinet of ministers gravely told him that it was impossi- ble to have a light without a wick, l that he was imposter and requested him to move out from the city at once.
 Tn 1907, the central part of London had gas street lamps. New Haven came into line in 1S4S. Great progress has been made since then, and the con- trast from the old cock-spur burner, | down to the incandescent mantle, Is great.
 When Peck's book store first put in gas as an illuinator, people came | from the surrounding country to see the wonder, and exchange eggs for books.
 l We will have to retrace our steps back to the dark ages for a short time in order to make the chain of events complete. So we will consider all. The ancients cultivated the olive and com | pressed the fruit to obtain oil for their lamps which in some cases were very elaborate in workmanship.
 We are all familiar with the old story which we read about in the good old books of the Bridesmaids, that did not fill their lamps with oil, and the l to | see what kind of dress the bride had | on.
 Then came grease thinned with vari- ous substances. Whale oil was used for many years, and when this be- came scarce the people thought that soon they would have to spend their evenings in darkness and gloom.
 Fluid then made it's appearance, but on account of it's great danger soon went out of use.
 Kerosene had been used to some ex- tent, the cost, however, brought it be- yond the reach of most people. | Connecticut brains and capital solv ed the question in the form of driven 1 oil wells, and the people were provided | for again. Lanterns using both can- | dies and oil, can be traced back to A. l D. s.
 l King Alfred was troubled with the light in the lanterns going out, so he used for a lantern, horns scraped thin.
 Lanterns made of mica, tin and cloth were used, now the varities are almost without number.
 Men used to be employed to take care of the streets lights in some cities, keeping the candles snuffed and burn l ing, and acting as watchmen, at the same time announcing the hour of night.
 Here is one of their notices:
 It is o'clock, midnight is past | Sleep on good friends the time thou
 hast,
 For rise you must at early dawn, lis 1 o'clock and Tuesday morn.
 At this time flint and steel were in use, for matches had not then been in- vented.
 Last but not least, came electricity as factor in illumination.
 Wonderful, powerful, yet invisible and yet in it's infancy Franklin discov- cred it June 18th, 1753.
 Note the progress made by Davy, Thomson, Edison, Moore, Tesla and others. First used to any extent in 1858, and now used the world over.
 What the next ten years will bring forth in this branch can not be imagin- ed; even now it is possible to carry a pocket electric light, and the x-rays have startled the entire scientific world with their wonderful results
 Compare the candle 70 1ncandescent gas lights, the pine torch used by the ancient soldiers, to the electric search light of to-day, and you span the space l from dusk to dawn.