APPLICATIONS OF THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 289 



Public Trials of the Electric Light* According to 

 a claim advanced by Deleuil in the journal Lcs Mondes 

 of the 26th November, 1863, it was his father who made 

 the first experiment on the large scale with the electric light, 

 and that in 1841 at the Qiiai Conti, No. 7. For this purpose 

 he used a Bunsen battery of 100 cells, and produced the light 

 between two carbons in an exhausted globe. Among the 

 scientific men who were present at this experiment was 

 Cagnard de la Tour, who was able to read a label in the 

 crown of his hat at the base of the statue of Henri IV. 

 Another experiment was made in 1842 by Deleuil pere, on 

 the Place de la Concorde. Nevertheless, it was Archereau 

 who in the first instance most contributed to popularize the 

 electric light, and I shall ever bear in mind that the expe- 

 riments made by him every evening, either in the Rue Rouge- 

 mont or in the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, determined my 

 taste towards electrical science. This excellent pioneer of 

 science I have, therefore, to thank for starting me in the 

 career I have ever since pursued. 



Since these first public experiments many interesting trials 

 of the electric light have been made, as at Rio Janeiro on 

 the occasion of the anniversary of the independence of Brazil, 

 frequently at London, and for two months the Avenue de 

 I 1 Imperatrice was lighted by means of two Lacassagne and 

 Thiers lamps put up on the Arc de Triomphe de rEtoile. 

 Wonderful experiments were also made at Boston, in 1863, 

 to celebrate the victories of the Federal armies (see the full 

 account of these fetes in Les Mondes, tome II., page 165) ; at 

 the ball given at Paris in honour of the Emperor of Russia, 

 equally brilliant experiments were made under the direction 

 of Serrin ; they have also long been carried on at Le Car- 

 rousel, at the Bois de Boulogne, at the Lac des Patineitrs, and 

 in a multitude of other cases where people went to see the 

 electric light as they would go to see fireworks. At the pre- 

 sent time the novelty of all these effects has worn oft", and 

 we are getting so tired of them that they attract only a 



