68 
LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION BY MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY. 
positions,” he says, in his evidence before the Royal Commission on Lights, Buoys, and 
Beacons, “ were entirely ridiculed, and the consequence was, that instead of saying that 
I thought I could do it, I promised to do it by a certain day. On that day, with one of 
Duboscq’s regulators or lamps, I produced the Magneto-electric Light for the first time ; 
hut as the machines were ill-constructed for the purpose, and as I had considerable diffi¬ 
culty to make even a temporary adjustment to produce a fitting current, the light could 
only he exhibited for a few minutes at a time—say ten or twenty minutes—when the 
adjustments were entirely displaced by the friction: the rubbing surfaces were worn 
away. From this time I directed my attention more particularly to the reconstruction of 
the machines entirely, from the very framework 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 subsequently 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 Captain) 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 lantern* 
at Blackwall, before the Light Committee and Professor Faraday. In May, an agree¬ 
ment w r as made for a trial at the South Foreland ; but it was not till the 8th of Decem¬ 
ber that this experiment at an actual lighthouse 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, in¬ 
spected 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 after¬ 
wards, 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 instruc¬ 
tion. 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 remonstrated with, he said, “ It is quite good 
enough.” Notwithstanding such difficulties as these, the experiment was considered satis¬ 
factory, 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 to the decision that 
the Magno-electric Light was to be exhibited at Dungeness, and partly in fitting up the 
lighthouse there (which, by the way, had been cracked by lightning) for the reception of 
its new occupant. 
It was not deemed desirable to trust the illumination of that headland entirely to the 
Electric Light, hence the old apparatus was retained, and the oil-lamp has always been 
kept ready for use in case of necessity. A supplementary lantern was therefore con¬ 
structed on the top of the ordinary one, and in this the electric lamp was fixed, and sur¬ 
rounded by a small combination of lenses and prisms made expressly for it by Messrs. 
Chance, of Birmingham. In the meantime Mr. Holmes had considerably improved his 
lamp by borrowing an idea from an arrangement devised by a M. Serrin. At length, in 
* The room with glass sides, from which the light is exhibited at the top of a lighthouse, 
is called a “ lantern/’ 
