49(3 DEVELOPMENT OF ILLUMINATION. 



shelters of brush, skin, or cloth. In some environments the chief 

 function of the house seems to be for shelter against a burning sun, 

 and this points out a probable origin of the house in tropical countries. 



Nowhere is this regulation of daylight more thoroughly carried out 

 than in our modern houses of the temperate regions, whose develop- 

 ment has been along the praiseworthy lines of more light and air. 

 What the ancients directly accomplished by small light openings 

 requires now hangings, lace curtains, inside shutters, blinds, perhaps 

 sash curtains, outside shutters, and an awning. These may further be 

 reinforced by shade trees. With all these adjuncts one might be led 

 to believe that the dim light of the early houses is still preferred by 

 the moderns. 



As a corollary of protection from the sun' follows the observation 

 that tribes living in the shade become lighter in color than their 

 fellows living in the open country. It is also true that there is a 

 characteristic facial modification, such as wrinkling and contorting 

 about the eyes produced in those who art 1 exposed to the glaring light 

 of the deserts or the sea. 



Without doubt man is a diurnal animal; his eyes have not the con- 

 densing power of those of tin 1 Felidce and other nocturnal beasts. The 

 man apes are also day animals, and those tribes of mankind retaining 

 a degree of primitiveness regulate their rest to the setting and rising 

 of the sun. 



With the use of fire begins the history of artificial illumination. 

 The nocturnal light of nature became then of little moment in com- 

 parison with fire lights and the burning brand in the hand of man; 

 the conquest of light over darkness was signalized, and the night side 

 of man's life and his progress toward culture became a theme of sur- 

 passing interest. 



There perhaps can not be a satisfactory reconstruction of the period 

 before the knowledge of fire, and the difficulty persists in the subse- 

 quent stages of the acquisition and use of fire, and the generation of 

 fire at will — stages grasped by the philosophic mind of Paul Broca. 



One fact stands out clearly — that man unacquainted with fire is 

 unknown. With the light of the camp fire comes the torch, and from 

 this starting point, by the help of observations on less civilized peoples, 

 it may be possible to reconstruct the history of artificial illumination 

 and to check it in some degree by the aid of archaeology. 



The following table, briefly epitomizing the development of the 

 candle, is presented as the result of extended research in this direction: 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE CANDLE. 



Protoillumination in line of torch: 



Fireflies used as torches. Fat bodies of birds and fish burned for light. 

 Prototorch (adventitious and temporary): 



1. Firebrand, branches, resinous wood, bark, leaves, etc. 



