ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA — WATKINS 397 



superior to candles and whale-oil lamps, Frederika Bremer in 1819 

 described the evenings she spent in New York City in the well-fur- 

 nished home of her American friends, Mr. and Mrs. Downing. Among 

 her happiest hours, she said, were "those passed in the evening with 

 my host and hostess, sitting in the little darkened parlor with book- 

 cases and busts around us, and the fire glimmering in the large fire- 

 place. There by the evening lamp, Downing and his wife read to me 

 by turns from their most esteemed American poets" (Benson, 1924, 

 p. 11). Here is a vivid picture from the home of cultured persons, 

 where the light of one lamp was sufficient for one individual to read 

 by, but still so dim as to leave the room "darkened." The lamps thus 

 used for parlor tables were commonly "astral" lamps, fitted with 

 ground-glass shades resting on ring-shaped, or "annular," reservoirs. 

 Designed to minimize the amount of shadow cast by the reservoir, 

 these were modifications of the Argand lamp. They were made of 

 brass or bronze, as a rule, though sometimes their bases were of pressed 

 glass. Like the "common" lamps that were used in the less important 

 parts of the house, astral lamps burned sperm oil. 



Miss Leslie in 1840 defined in great detail the types of lamps used 

 in a well-to-do home, with instructions concerning their use and care. 

 She pointed out that "lamp shades painted in bright colors are now 

 considered in very bad taste" and also advised that a separate oil can 

 should be used for the parlor lamps. 



Besides the astral lamps, there were other types that gained favor 

 for parlor use as inventive activity increased. One was the Carcel, or 

 "Mechanical," lamp, invented in France in 1800 but not until con- 

 siderably later adopted here. The Carcel lamp embodied an elaborate 

 clockwork which activated a pump that in turn flooded its Argand 

 burner with oil. It was surely very costly in comparison with other 

 lamps, but it was by far the most efficient lamp that had yet been 

 devised for burning viscous fuels. The Franklin Institute conducted 

 various tests with the Carcel lamp, and the findings must have been in- 

 fluential in stimulating its use. Among other things, it was found 

 that the Carcel lamp using fall-strained sperm oils burned with an 

 intensity of more than twice that of a gas burner, and at only slightly 

 higher cost. The Journal (1843, ser, 3, vol, 5, p, 105 IT.) observed : "The 

 Carcel lamps, although from their construction, expensive, give an 

 exceedingly steady long enduring, and bright light, and are char- 

 acterized by beauty of form, and total absence of shadow." 



Although the breaking of conventional shackles on illumination was 

 not always recognizable in terms of increased light, it was manifested 

 by a growing spate of inventions, which served progress by the trial- 

 and-error method. Bred in the new atmosphere of mechanical and 

 scientific advancement, approximately 500 patented inventions were 



