Artificial Light: Its Influence upon CivilizationLuckiesh, Matthew
History
Artificial Light: Its Influence upon Civilization
Luckiesh, Matthew
Electric lighting; Lighting -- History
Many other instances could be cited in which artificial light is very
closely associated with the cost of living. Overseas shipment of fruit
from the Canadian Northwest is responsible for a decided innovation in
fruit-picking. In searching for a cause of rotting during shipment it
was finally concluded that the temperature at the time of picking was
the controlling factor. As a consequence, daytime was considered
undesirable for picking and an electric company supplied electric
lighting for the orchards in order that the picking might be done during
the cool of night. This change is said to have remedied the situation.
Cases of threshing and other agricultural operations being carried on at
night are becoming more numerous. These are just the beginnings of
artificial light in a new field or in a new relation to civilization.
Its economic value has been demonstrated in the ordinary fields of
lighting and these new applications are merely the initial skirmishes
which precede the conquest of new territory. The modern illuminants have
been developed so recently that the new possibilities have not yet been
established. However, artificial light is already a factor on the side
of the people in the struggle against the increasing cost of living, and
its future in this direction is still more promising.
XIX
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND CHEMISTRY
Some one in an early century was the first to notice that the sun's rays
tanned the skin, and this unknown individual made the initial discovery
in what is now an extensive branch of science known as photo-chemistry.
The fading of dyes, the bleaching of textiles, the darkening of silver
salts, the synthesis and decomposition of compounds are common examples
of chemical reactions induced by light. There are thousands of other
examples of the chemical effects of light some of which have been
utilized by mankind. Others await the development of more efficient
light-sources emitting greater quantities of active rays, and many still
remain interesting scientific facts without any apparent practical
applications at the present time. Visible and ultra-violet rays are the
radiations almost entirely responsible for photochemical reactions, but
the most active of these are the blue, violet, and ultra-violet rays.
These are often designated chemical or actinic rays in order to
distinguish the group as a whole from other groups such as ultra-violet,
visible, and infra-red. Light is a unique agent in chemical reactions
because it is not a material substance. It neither contaminates nor
leaves a residue. Although much information pertaining to photochemistry
has been available for years, the absence of powerful light-sources
emitting so-called chemical rays in large quantities inhibited the
practical development of the science of photochemistry. Even to-day,
with vast applications of light in this manner, mankind is only
beginning to utilize its chemical powers.
[Illustration: In a moving-picture studio
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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