The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-06-02
MYSTERY OF LIGHT
Some Luminosity So Intense the
Eyes Cannot See 1t.
THE RIDDLE OF THE FREELY.

When II Is Solved, as Il Eventually
viii &c. We Shall Have Light With.
out Heat and the Perfect Lamp.
The scientist set down a email black
box and lmpatlently pushed aside the
powerful microscope and the delicate
bolometer. at is most discouragng"
be muttered. Ito have such treasure
before ones eyes and still be unable
to grasp it."
looked in the little box, surprised
to find nothing but few brilliant ire
flies. The scientist began to explain
"In that box is the most efficient H.
luminant known to man The radiant
output from one of those insects cor
responds TO nearly fifty watts IA can
die. while our very best artificial illu
minant, the flaming arc lamp, gives
only two or three watts TO the candle
The light from those insects, as re-
corded by the bolometer. radlates little
If any heat, while the very best mean.
descent lamps waste more than 80 per
cent Of the electrical energy In useless
heat. If | could read this secret of
the insect world and make a lamp aft
er its pattern | could produce 1884 can
die power from the same current that
gives sixteen candle power today. Some
day the secret will be read"
The source of all light Except the
light from dreflies and their kim is a
euhcto noa ro fcad ~ a fampa ro tttra cuf.
flcient to set up waves In the sur
rounding ether. which. when falling
upon the eye. produce the sensation
we know as light Light waves vary
In length between one thirty-three-
sand-four-hundredth and one six
ty-fve-thousandth Of an inch, the first
being extreme red and the second ex.
IRENE violet. Rays Of white light
have a length of one forty-6ve-thou.
sandth OF an inch. The sun is n great
mass of white hot matter. 1t is the at
mosphere that enables US to see light,
and outside Of our atmosphere IL Is abb
solute darkness. rs dark as the interior
of Mammoth cave. In an arc lamp II
is the white hot particles Of carbon
floating between the two electrodes
that produce light. In the incaDdes
cent lamp II Is the hairpin flament in
side the glass globe that, when heated
by electricity. gives Off light waves
In gas and oil lamps light is produced
by the heated particles Of carbon in the
flames above the wick or mantle
The eye can stand without firing
brilliance Of about five candle power
to the square inch of surface. The or.
binary candle flame gives only two or
three candle power TO the square inch.
while the sun at zenith gives 100000.
The arc light ranks next to sunlight,
with 10000 candle power an inch. and
the best tungsten filament incandes
cents give 1000 candle power. This
means that If the sun could be chang
ed into a ball of tungsten II would
throw of only 1000 candle power Of
light from every square inch Of its
surface, when the world would be
practically dark and we should freeze
to denth in week.
The prism shows that white light is
composed Of happy blend OF all col
ors of the spectrum. The sun gives
the only pure white light. with the arc
lamps a close second and the metal
filament incandescents taking third
place. Sky light, such as comes from
the north on clear day. is blush
wr~h
light, open fame yellow light and kero-
sene orange light.
By the laws OF evolution the human
eye has become accustomed TO sun
light, or sky light. coming obliquely
from above. and our eyes resent light
coming from any other source. Snow
| blindness. distress from white sand or
water. is the result Of violating this
rule. The upper eyelid is adapted to
shade the eye from a strong light
from above. The lower lid cannot per.
form this office, so when n strong light
is reflected up into the eyes it blinds
us.
The Y ray has proved beyond doubt
luul lHtle are liEul IdyS NulSu llONt
too fast for human eyes to register.
This light penetrates books. wood, pa
per and even human flesh With the
Horoscope TO assist our eyes we can
see the bones in our arm without both
ering to remove coat or shirt. But
man with X ray eyes would be sadly
handicapped in this world, Tor he
could see nothing but solids, such as
earths and metals. and would be I'M
able to see a board fence at all. Be
yond doubt there is light so bright
that the eyes cannot see IT, and to US
all is darkness beyond what our eyes
will register
Light rays themselves are invisible.
When they move through the ether
alone our eyes cannot see them, conse-
quently all is total darkness. But
when they meet with the resistance of
our atmosphere, producing heat, they
register on the retina and-behold, we
can seel AS the atmosphere thins
rapidly as we 60 upward, so in pro-
portion the air resistance diminishes,
and consequently the heat Of the sun
seems TO grow less. This explains
why the tops Of high mountains are
always covered with snow.
Many wonderful discoveries have