1864. ] Guapstone on Lighthouse Illuminations. 75 
engine might be employed in playing sonorous instruments, which would 
carry sound to a much greater distance than the bells to which we have 
recourse at present.” 
Against the advantages attending the use of this Electric light must 
be set the greater complexity of the instrument, and the consequent 
greater chance of derangement, or rather the necessity of providing 
lighthouse keepers of a superior order, and an engineer to inspect the 
machinery and keep it in repair. This demand for superior workmen 
is a difficulty we generally have to encounter in perfecting our engines 
either of peace or war. 
The relative expense of the Magneto-electric light and the Fresnel 
lamp is a consideration that must not be overlooked, though it should 
not be allowed too much weight when we are dealing with the safety 
of valuable cargoes and priceless human lives. The original outlay 
in machinery for the Electric light is very large, but there must be set 
against this a considerable diminution in the cost of the apparatus used 
for directing the rays where they are wanted. The working expense 
consists of the coals burnt, the charcoal points used up, and the wear 
of the machinery, all of which perhaps scarcely exceeds the cost of oil 
under the old system. The magnets are said rather to increase in 
strength than to diminish by use. The salary of an engineer is a more 
serious item, but the expense may be greatly reduced by appointing 
one engineer to several lighthouses, if the electric system become com- 
mon. Mr. Holmes estimates the working expenses of the electric ap- 
paratus as compared with the oil lamp, at about 400 against 290. The 
French estimate is, “ Abstracting the expenses of the first establish- 
ment, it will be found that while the expenses of the annual mainten- 
ance of a lighthouse of the first order fed with colza oil rise to 9,421 
francs 75 centimes, those of the same lighthouse illuminated by elec- 
tricity would be 12,240 francs.” Again, ‘ The annual expense will be 
increased 29 per cent. in lighthouses of the first order, but it will have 
the effect of rendering the luminous intensity at least fivefold greater.” 
It has been objected that the light is too bright, dazzling the mariner 
and misleading him as to its distance, but experience will soon remove 
this source of error, and it is hard to understand how the light can pro- 
duce any dazzling effect, unless exhibited at the head of a pier close 
alongside of which the mariner must steer his way. But for harbour 
lights it is not required. Its proper place is on the prominent points of 
the coast which are used as landfalls by vessels, and unless objections 
present themselves in the future which are as yet unknown, we may 
confidently anticipate that each of these headlands will in time be 
marked by its brilliant Electric light. 
