PART V. APPLICATIONS OF THE 

 ELECTRIC LIGHT. 



THE comparative cheapness of the electric light and its 

 concentrated power have long ago given rise to the idea of 

 applying it in a large number of special cases, and latterly 

 the hope has been entertained of even using it as a means 

 of public illumination. But without speaking of this appli- 

 cation, which, as we shall presently see, has not yet been 

 completely successful, there are a multitude of cases in which 

 this method of illumination can now be employed under 

 favourable conditions; as, for example, in the lighting of 

 large workshops, great retail establishments, works carried 

 on at night, goods stations of railways, drifts in mines, &c. 

 These are cases in which no* other system of lighting can 

 yield such adequate and advantageous results. Such are the 

 applications of the electric light to lighthouses, to military 

 operations, to navigation, to submarine work, to projecting 

 on a screen certain scientific experiments, to theatrical 

 effects, to public rejoicings, to maritime signals, &c. These 

 applications we are now about to discuss, and we shall begin 

 with the most general of all, namely, public lighting. 



Application to Public Illumination. Since Davy 

 discovered the wonderful illuminating power of the electric 

 discharge between two carbons, many attempts have been 

 made to apply it to public illumination. These attempts 

 have not yielded very satisfactory results, and this must 

 necessarily have been the case, for besides' the cost of this 

 mode of lighting, which was very high, the thing desired 

 was not an intense and concentrated light : such a light is, 

 in fact, insupportable to the eye when near, and it is inca- 

 pable of illuminating a sufficiently wide area to give a real 



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