1864. | Guapstone on Lighthouse Illumination. 71 
tion of the machines entirely, from the very frame-work upwards, so 
as to produce the current that I saw necessary for the Electric Light.” 
During this time, it appears that Mr. Holmes, not liking the treatment 
he received from the French Company, left Paris, and left his imper- 
fect machine there, and it was this very machine which was subse- 
quently used by the French Government in their experiments, and these 
experiments were carried on by a man who had worked under Mr. 
Holmes. The inventor next appears in Belgium, continuing his 
improvements with a new machine, and visited by Admiral (then Cap- 
tain) Fitzroy, who was commissioned by the Admiralty to go to 
Brussels, see the Light, and report on it. In February, 1857, Professor 
Holmes applied to the Trinity Board, and in the following month the 
Electric Light was exhibited, for several nights, at the experimental lan- 
tern* at Blackwall, before the Light Committee and Professor Faraday. 
In May, an agreement was made for a trial at the South Foreland ; but it 
was not till the 8th December that this experiment at an actual light- 
house was commenced. The Elder Brethren made arrangements for 
getting observations by the crews of pilot-cutters, masters of light- 
vessels, and the keepers of neighbouring lighthouses, both on the 
British and French coasts. Some unforeseen difficulties seem to have 
arisen, due partly, no doubt, to the novelty of the whole arrangement, 
but partly also to the complicated optical apparatus in the Lighthouse 
being suited to a large flame instead of a brilliant point of light, and 
being ill-adjusted to throw that light to the horizon. All this caused 
some interruptions in the experiment. .M. Reynaud, the Director- 
General of the French Lighthouses, inspected the Light on April 26, 
1859 ; it was visited by most of the Members of the Royal Commission 
of Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, including myself, three days afterwards, 
and on the same day Professor Faraday wrote a Report to the Trinity 
House. The opinions expressed were so far favourable, that the Elder 
Brethren desired a further trial of six months, during which time the 
Light was to be entirely under their own control, Mr. Holmes not 
being allowed to interfere in any way. The Light was again kindled 
on August 22, and the experiment happened soon to be exposed to a 
severe test, as one of the Light-keepers, who had been accustomed to 
the arrangement of the lamps in the lantern, was suddenly removed, 
and another took his place without any previous instruction. This 
man thought the light quite strong enough if he allowed the carbon 
points to touch, as the lamp then required no attendance whatever, and 
he could leave it in that way for hours together. On being remon- 
strated with, he said, “It is quite good enough.” Notwithstanding 
such difficulties as these, the experiment was considered satisfactory, 
but it was discontinued at the South Foreland, for the cliffs there are 
marked by a double light, and the electric spark was so much brighter 
than the oil flames in the other house, that there was no small danger 
of its being seen alone in thick weather, and thus fatally misleading 
some unfortunate vessel. 
Then occurred a period of two years, consumed partly in coming 
* The room with glass sides, from which the light is exhibited at the top of a 
lighthouse, is called a “ lantern.”’ 
