ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA — WATKINS 395 



of light was the expected thing, and a greater concentration was often 

 regarded with disfavor under normal circumstances. As early as 

 1804 the Domestic Encyclopedia had commented on the "superior 

 utility of lamps," but "as the light emitted from them is frequently 

 too vivid for weak or irritable eyes, we would recommend the use of 

 a small screen" (Mease, 1804, vol. 3, p. 432) . Presumably the Argand 

 lamp, with its unprecedented candlepower, was the basis for this 

 caution. Count Rumford had stated in 1811 that "no decayed beauty 

 ought ever to expose her face to the direct rays of an Argand lamp." 

 By 1847 this hostility to unusual brilliance was still expressed. The 

 Franklin Institute Journal in that year (ser. 3, vol. 14, p. 410) re- 

 marked that "the unpleasant, and to many sights, painful effects of 

 the naked flame of a candle, lamp or gas-burner, have long been known 

 and felt." At almost the same date (August 21, 1847), the Scientific 

 American observed some extraordinary precautions taken against 

 glare: "The introduction of gas lights into private houses has been 

 taken advantage of by the ladies, who under protest against the glare 

 and uncomfortableness of such bright lights, deliberately spread para- 

 sols in evening soiree ... A pink parasol judiciously held between 

 a lady's face and a gas burner throw^s a tender, roseate hue over 

 the complexion." 



In commonplace surroundings, particularly outdoors, the light af- 

 forded on ordinary occasions w^as seldom sufficient to damage one's 

 eyesight, all fears to the contrary notwithstanding. Alexander Mac- 

 kay (1849, pp. 129, 162), looking across the Delaware River, found 

 the lights of Philadelphia "as few and far between as are those of 

 London and the Thames." On the "cold moist platform" of the Wash- 

 ington railroad station "we stood shivering by the light of one 

 wretched lamp," while in front of his hotel there "the solitary lamp 

 which burned over the door only made darkness visible." Dickens 

 remarked upon the "feeble lights" of Harrisburg, which "reflected dis- 

 mally from the wet ground" (1842, p. 170). 



For those who traveled at night, illumination in public conveyances 

 must have been even more dismal. John S. Kendall in "The Con- 

 necticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad" (1932), states: "Sperm 

 candles were used at first for lighting the cars, giving way to oil 

 lamps later. They gave just about light enough to keep passengers 

 with good eyesight from falling over the seats." Mackay (1849, p. 

 36), traveling from Worcester to Norwich, stated, "A solitary lamp 

 burned at one end of the car." Wlien the Western Railroad was com- 

 pleted between Worcester and Springfield, Mass., in 1839, the new 

 passenger car was equipped with a glass-encased boxlike frame 

 beside each seat. Passengers placed their own candles in these frames 

 at first, but because one's candles did not always fit the socket, the 

 railroad later furnished them (Ayers, 1944). 



