ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1921, Page 3

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.

Next to food and drink, the primal need of man is fire, and in mythology its acquisition ranks almost with the eating of the forbidden fruit in the history of his development. According to the Greek legend, fire was contained in heaven. Prometheus, with immense courage and daring, stoic some lire, and concealing ii in a reed brought it to earth. The gods inflicted upon him a terrible punishment for his presumption, but humanity had receiver this inestimable boon, and this eveiil. according to the Greeks, marks the beginning of civilisation. Fire supplies man with heat and aids him in his innumerable enterprises. It also supplies him with light, and with tLi aspect- of it Mr M. Uuckiesh is concerned in “Artificial Light.” Mr l.uckeisli depicts primitive man huddling in his cave after nightfall, a prey to infinite alarms. Then accidentally he discovered fire, perhaps through the chafing of two wind-tossed houghs, perhaps as he idly rubbed two pieces of wood together. But now all was changed. Night was robbed of its terrors. Man had a protection against wild beasts; he tasted the delight s'of rooked lend; with a (darkened si irk or Ihe smoke from a blazing faggot he made hilirst crude essays in art on the walls of bis rave. ■ The fire at tho entrance of his abode became the symbol of home; the hearth acquired domestic associations which it has never lost. With the advent of lire man so, out on his long journey forward.

It is a far erv from primitive man's clumsy torch to the latest achievement in electric illumination, and Mr l.iukiesh traces the development of artilieial lighting down through flic ages ii a very interesting fashion. I’rugrcss was slow. For long the only illuminants were the torch, the candle, am lamp, which burned animal or vegetable oil. Within comparatively recent times torches were in general use ii tin* Highlands of Scotland, and candles were onlv tor the well-to-do. How often do those who (piote the saving. “The game is not worth the caudle think of its origin and its actual significance. A notable advance was 11.• invention wl eon! gas, which, incidentally, was the cause of Colonel Newcome's ruin. Rut greatest of all was the exploitation of the possibilities ol electricity, which arc not exhausted. Mr l.uckiesh gives the history ol the expedients by which artificial light iproduced, and describes sonic of the manifold uses, scientific and industiial, to which it is pot. It touches our lilc at countless jabots; w ithout it civilisation is inconceivable. Moreover Mr l.uckiesh suggests that artificial light may have a definite aesthetic function of its own. Why should not lighting become a line art bearing to painting a relatioiisliij) somewhat analogous to that which architecture hears to painting. • Light has the essential quah.V oations of painting with the advantages of a greater range of brightness, purity of colours, and t: great |>otentialitv of mobility. • • With the introduction of mobility it will borrow something from the arts o succession and jiarticularly Iron, music.’’ There will he melodies and svmphimies of light. 3he appeal "d • of course, lie quite different Rom tlmt of aiiv other art. and Mr l.uckiesh admits ‘that it will require the cultivation of a faculty of appreciation, as in the case with other art s. I lie untrained eve e:i nnot see the g<>»o points of a picture, nor ran the untrained car enjoy a modern orchestral symphony. The question is a novel one, and Mr l.uckiesh’s speculations are interesting- -