Statistics are cold facts and are usually uninteresting in a volume of this character, but they tell a story in a concise manner. The development of the modern incandescent lamp has increased the intensity of light available with a great decrease in cost, and this progressive development is shown easily by tables. For example, since the advent of the tungsten lamp the average candle-power and luminous efficiency of all the lamps sold in this country has steadily increased, while the average wattages of the lamps have remained virtually stationary. AVERAGE CANDLE-POWER, WATTS, AND EFFICIENCY OF ALL THE LAMPS SOLD IN THIS COUNTRY Lumens Year Candle-power Watts per watt 1907 18.0 53 3.33 1908 19.0 53 3.52 1909 21.0 52 3.96 1910 23.0 51 4.42 1911 25.0 51 4.82 1912 26.0 49 5.20 1913 29.4 47 6.13 1914 38.2 48 7.80 1915 42.2 47 8.74 1916 45.8 49 9.60 1917 48.7 51 10.56 It will be noted that the luminous intensity of incandescent filament lamps has steadily increased since the carbon lamp was superseded, and that in a period of ten years of organized research behind the tungsten lamp the luminous efficiency (lumens per watt) has trebled. In other words, everything else remaining unchanged, the cost of light in ten years was reduced to one third. But the reduction in cost has been more than this, as will be shown later. During the same span of years the percentage of carbon filament lamps of the total filament lamps sold decreased from 100 per cent. in 1907 to 13 per cent. in 1917. At the same time the percentage of tungsten (Mazda) lamps increased from virtually zero in 1907 to about 87 per cent. in 1917. The tantalum lamp had no opportunity to become established, because the tungsten lamp followed its appearance very closely. In 1910 the sales of the former reached their highest mark, which was only 3.5 per cent. of all the lamps sold in the United States. From a lowly beginning the number of incandescent filament lamps sold for use in this country has grown rapidly, reaching nearly two hundred million in 1919. XI THE LIGHT OF THE FUTURE