Show LIGHTING HISTORY TRACED BY EXPERT shows development from days of torch washington the history of light ing from such crude beginnings as when the shetland islanders made a torch lamp by sticking a wick in the throat of the very fat stormy petrel forms the subject of an interesting manuscript just completed as the fruit of years of research by a dentist the author Is dr walter hough head curator of anthropology in the national museum which Is ad ministered by the doctor houghs account reveals that animals have played a surprisingly large part in furnishing light to man A very tat little elsh called the candle elgh Is burned like the stormy petrel by the indians of the northwest coast of america in the tropics of america the natives used to build cages to hold the great light bearing beetle or firefly for illuminating purposes largest contributors but whales and seals have made the largest contribution of course in supplying lamp fuel up to the discovery of petroleum in quantities in 1859 they provided the major portion of the world s lamp oil with the result as doctor hough puts it that the lamp was rather a device for in creasing christian fortitude than a dependable producer of light doctor hough has devoted years to the collecting and study of artificial lighting objects until the collection now in the national museum Is probably without a peer henry ford has made a hobby of the collecting of such objects and he now has a very excellent series of specimens the revolutionizing facto in alln doctor hough finds to be the solution of the problem of draft for lamps by a swiss engineer named argand in the year 1782 george washington had some of the argand lamps at mount vernon these are now in the national museum historical collections the torch the torch says doctor hough Is associated with war destruction pomp and barbaric the candle symbolizes peace domesticity and contemplation of religious things the lamp in turn stands for wisdom furnishing feeble light to aid the keen eyes of philosophers and poets in modern times the torch becomes a pictograph of the of science into new fields of research the lamp stands for education while the candle 13 sidetracked to the service of luxury and ritualism doctor hough Is also an authority on heating and on the broader subject of fire he has prepared a monograph on fire with a fascinating body of folk lore and mythology which now awaits a publisher in a paper on heating he gives first credit to ben jaman franklin tor the adaptation of the stove to coal franklin he says saw that the problem was to provide an efficient draft and proceed ed to work it out on scientific lines in 1742 for wood burning stoves and 40 years later for coal stoves |