Artificial Light | Page 8

advanced, leading intellects began to inquire into the
mysteries of nature and the periods of pure philosophy gave way to an
era of methodical research. Alchemy and superstition began to retire
before the attacks of those pioneers who had the temerity to believe that
the scheme of creation involved a vast network of invariable laws. In
this manner the powerful sciences of physics and chemistry were born a
few centuries ago. Among other things the production of fire and light
received attention and the "dark ages" were doomed to end. The crude,
uncertain, and inconvenient methods of making fire were replaced by
steadily improving scientific devices.
Matches were at first cumbersome, dangerous, and expensive, but these
gradually evolved into the safety matches of the present time. Although
they were primarily intended for lighting fires and various kinds of
lamps, billions of them are now used yearly as convenient light-sources.

Smoldering hemp or other material treated with niter and other
substances was an early form of match used especially for discharging
firearms. The modern wax-taper is an evolutionary form of this type of
light-source.
Phosphorus has long played a dominant rôle in the preparation of
matches. The first attempt at making them in their modern form
appears to have occurred about 1680. Small pieces of phosphorus were
used in connection with small splints of wood dipped in sulphur. This
type of match did not come into general use until after the beginning of
the nineteenth century, owing to its danger and expense. White or
yellow phosphorus is a deadly poison; therefore the progress of the
phosphorus match was inhibited until the discovery of the relatively
harmless form known as red phosphorus. The first commercial
application of this form was made in about 1850.
An early ingenious device consisted of a piece of phosphorus contained
in a tube. A piston fitted snugly into the tube, by means of which the air
could be compressed and the phosphorus ignited. Sulphur matches
were ignited from the burning tinder, the latter being fired by flint and
steel. In 1828 another form of match consisted of a glass tube
containing sulphuric acid and surrounded by a mixture of chlorate of
potash and sugar. A pair of nippers was supplied with each box of these
"matches," by means of which the tip of the glass tube could be broken
off. This liberated the acid, which upon mixing with the other
ingredients set fire to them. To this contrivance a roll of paper was
attached which was ignited by the burning chemicals.
The lucifer or friction matches appeared in about 1827, but successful
phosphorus matches were first made in about 1833. The so-called
safety match of the present time was invented in the year 1855. To-day,
the total daily output of matches reaches millions and perhaps billions.
Automatic machinery is employed in preparing the splints of wood and
in dipping them into molten paraffin wax and finally into the igniting
composition.
During recent years the principle of the tinder-box has been revived in
a device in which sparks are produced by rubbing the mineral cerite (a

hydrous silicate of cerium and allied metals) against steel. These sparks
ignite a gas-jet or a wick soaked in a highly inflammable liquid such as
gasolene or alcohol. This device is a tinder-box of the modern scientific
age.
Naturally with the advent of electricity, electrical sparks came into use
for lighting gas-jets and mantles and in isolated instances they have
served as light-sources. Doubtless, every one is familiar with the parlor
stunt of igniting a gas-jet from the discharge from the finger-tips of
static electricity accumulated by shuffling the feet across the floor-rug.
Although many of these methods and devices have been used primarily
for making fire, they have served as emergency or momentary
light-sources. In the outskirts of civilization some of them are
employed at the present time and various modern light-sources require
a method of ignition.

III
PRIMITIVE LIGHT-SOURCES
Many are familiar with the light of the firefly or of its larvæ, the
glow-worm, but few persons realize that a vast number of insects and
lower organisms are endowed with the superhuman ability of
producing light by physiological processes. Apparently the chief
function of these lighting-plants within the living bodies is not to
provide light in the sense that the human being uses it predominantly.
That is, these wonderful light-sources seem to be utilized more for
signaling, for luring prey, and for protection than for strictly
illuminating-purposes. Much study has been given to the production of
light by animals, because the secrets will be extremely valuable to
mankind. As one floats over tide-water on a balmy evening after dark
and watches the pulsating spots of phosphorescent light emitted by the
lowly jellyfishes, his imaginative mood formulates the question, "Why
are these