Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-16
"Adequate Lighting" Is
A Menace to the Eyes
To the Editor Of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
May I have a little space in your es-
teemed paper to discuss a subject
which, though of Importance to every
one, has apparently received little at
tention? I refer to the present fad
called adequate lighting"
For years engineers have known that
the efficiency of the tncandescent lamp
could only be increased by raising the
filament temperature and have devoted
extensive research to that end. OF late
they seem to be in q fair way to sue
coed, but unless some sense and mod
Grafton are used the result will be more
of curse than blessing!
Prior to the jubilee of the electric
light and the invention Of the catch
phrase adequate lighting" the writer
of this letter never experienced any in
convenience from electric light, but now
he frequently comes home from the city
and lies awake from a headache caused
by the glare Of nitrogen and other
high-powered bulbs in cars, store win
dows, filling stations, etc, etc.
Many store windows are such blind
ing glare of light they have to be
passed up" by all but those with the
strongest eyes. In some cases the colors
Of the merchandise can scarcely be dis
tinguished Some filling stations are
surrounded by rows of unshaded nitro
gen bulbs, which add unnecessary IA
tigue to the often tired eyes Of the
motorist and dazzle him as he drives
past. Enough is said about glaring
headlights. How about glazing lights
along the street?
Please permit me to say right here
that there are a few filling stations in
town that are really artistic-no glaring
lights-and really tend to beauty the
street.
The present unmitigated outburst of
electric light seems to rest upon the
idea that the best artificial light is one
which as nearly as possible approaches
that of daylight, but think 1t can be
shown that this is not true.
At night conditions are entirely diff
ferent. For instance, there is the mat
ter of contrast. BY day everything is
evenly Illuminated. but at night GER
ness of the retina automatically in
creaSes in an effort to see objects In
the darker places, and with the In
crease in sensitiveneSs bright, concen-
trated points OF light become painful,
which would not be noticed in the
daytime.
Also, after the glare and fatigue of
the day, the eye expects a rest after
sunset.
WDeu OI1C ODJeCJS 10 SACcSSlVC 1lBIlV~
ing he Is confronted with such dEivel
as Man evolved in the daylight" Well,
as far as that goes, when man was
evolving the sun did not shine at night.
OF that we can be certain. The eyes of
long line Of ancestors had q rest at
night.
Where eye discomfort results from
electric light it will usually be found
high filament temperature causes the
trouble, as certain types Of eyes are
sensitive to the short wave lengths. I
submit that the nitrogen-filled bulb Is
wholly unfit for indoor lighting and
cite the following instance to show that
the effects are not entirely due to any
unique susceptibility on the part Of the
writer: I recently attended o church,
accompanied by two friends who are
noted for having the best Of eyes, We
sat facing three lanterns, directly In
front and about 80 feet away. Eye dis
comfort was noticeable. Fortunately I
had an eyeshade with me and expert
enced no Ill effect, but both friends
were laid up with headaches next day.
The lanterns In question had ground
glass, but were very bright and pre-
surnably fitted with high-powered nitro
gen bulbs. The ground glass afforded
no protection a. IL did not altar the