XI 



THE BANISHMENT OF NIGHT 



ONE great fundamental advantage that man has 

 won over the other animals is that although by 

 nature a diurnal animal he has made night al- 

 most equally subject to his dominion through the use of 

 artificial light. He thus establishes an average day of 

 sixteen or eighteen hours in place of the twelve-hour day 

 within which his activities would otherwise be restricted. 

 Of course this conquest of the night began at an early 

 stage of the human development, since a certain familiar- 

 ity with the uses of fire was attained long before man 

 came out of the ages of savagery. But when the transi- 

 tion had been made from the primitive torch to the 

 simplest type of lamp, there was for many centuries a 

 cessation of progress in this direction, and it remained 

 for comparatively recent generations to provide more 

 efficient methods of lighting. Indeed, the culminating 

 achievements are matters which make the most recent 

 history. It is the purpose of the ensuing pages to nar- 

 rate the story of the successive practical achievements 

 through which man has been enabled virtually to turn 

 night into day. 



[201] 



