City 337

Artificial light in community affairs 352

Panama-Pacific Exposition 353

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

I

LIGHT AND PROGRESS

The human race was born in slavery, totally subservient to nature. The
earliest primitive beings feasted or starved according to nature's
bounty and sweltered or shivered according to the weather. When night
fell they sought shelter with animal instinct, for not only were
activities almost completely curtailed by darkness but beyond its screen
lurked many dangers. It is interesting to philosophize upon a
distinction between a human being and the animal just below him in the
scale, but it may serve the present purpose to distinguish the human
being as that animal in whom there is an unquenchable and insatiable
desire for independence. The effort to escape from the bondage of nature
is not solely a human instinct; animals burrow or build retreats through
the instinct of self-preservation. But this instinct in animals is soon
satisfied, whereas in human beings it has been leading ever onward
toward complete emancipation.

The progress of civilization is a long chain of countless achievements
each one of which has increased man's independence. Early man perhaps
did not conceive the idea of fire and then set out to produce it. His
infant mind did not operate in this manner. But when he accidentally
struck a spark, produced fire by friction, or discovered it in some
other manner, he saw its possibility. It is thrilling to picture
primitive man at his first bonfire, enjoying the warmth, or at least
interested in it. But how wonderful it must have become as twilight's
curtain was drawn across the heavens! This controllable fire emitted
_light_. It is easy to imagine primitive man pondering over this
phenomenon with his sluggish mind. Doubtless he cautiously picked up a
flaming stick and timidly explored the crowding darkness. Perhaps he
carried it into his cave and behold! night had retreated from his abode!
No longer was it necessary for him to retire to his bed of leaves when
daylight failed. The fire not only banished the chill of night but was a
power over darkness. Viewed from the standpoint of civilization, its
discovery was one of the greatest strides along the highway of human
progress. The activities of man were no longer bounded by sunrise and
sunset. The march of civilization had begun.

In the present a