174, -ARTIFICIAL ILLUMINATION, 
many times greater than that from an electric light close 1o you. I have 
found that even when the sun is only 20° above the horizon, and on a February 
day, the amount of illumination by direct sunlight is something like 2700 candles 
at the distance of a foot. The light from a brightly lit sky obviously causes a 
large volume of light to enter the eye but, being distributed over the whole retina, 
it does not hurt your eyes; whereas, if you look at an electric light, as you say, 
the image of the filament or of the carbon points in your eyes is very small, and 
the whole of the light is concentrated in that small image, and therefore local 
damage is done. With the ‘‘ Welsbach ” incandescent burner, the mantle being 
so many times larger than the slender filament of the electric lamp, the image is 
much larger too, and for this reason you would not expect so tiring-an effect on 
the eye as you would from the electric light. 
With regard to your other question about the ‘‘ Meteor’? Company (I think that 
is the name), I may say that when the advertisement to which you allude came out 
I, like everybody else, was anxious to know whether our present incandescent 
burners were to be thrown away and we were all to take these new ones. I tried 
to get all the information possible concerning the merits of this new ‘‘ Meteor” 
but with little or no success. I do not believe that the mantles could be made to 
sell at the price stated, 6d., I think. 
I notice, however, that the exceedingly attractive advertisement is no longer 
appearing in the newspapers. Whatever they may mean I do not know, but it is 
a fact. 
(COLONEL Wark1n.—They say they are going to supply the mantle in tendays. 
T have been trying to get one. 
__ Proressor Lamprrt.—Yes, they were full of promises. But there is one 
thing I would observe in connection with the name. What isameteor? Is it not 
something that flashes suddenly across the firmament creating a great fuss, and 
then is gone for ever (laughter) ? I do not know whether this is prophetic. 
THE CHAIRMAN.—It only remains for me, ladies and gentlemen, to thank 
Professor Lambert for the delightful lecture he has given us, which I am sure we 
have all enjoyed very much indeed (loud applause). 
