"City of Light"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>You are confusing two different types of electric light.
>
>The carbon-arc light was invented by Sir Humphry Davy (178-1829) but did not
>become practical until the invention of steam-driven electrical generators in
>the 1860's.  The carbon-arc light is far too bright for indoor use but was
>used for outdoor illumination starting in the 1860's.  I believe the nickname
>"The Great White Way" for New York's Broadway refers to carbon-arc lighting.
>
>The fist incandescant light was invented by a German=American watchmaker and
>optician anmed Goebel about 1850.  Goebel's light was not good enough for
>practical use and were used only for advertising novelties.  A number of
>later inventors tackled the problem of the incandescant light.  Edison made
>the first practical one---in combination with his development of a practical
>electrical generation and distribution system---in 1880.
>
>Hence it is certainly possible that the term "City of Light" referred to an
>urban area lit by carbon-arc lights as early as the 1860's---and the "Second
>Empire" lasted until 1870, so the timing fits.

In a quick browse at the library, I've been unable to find any support for
electric street lights much before 1880. A couple of sources claim the
first public street lighting by electricity (with carbon-arc lamps, to be
sure) was in Cleveland in April 1879. I see claims for electric store
lighting in 1878 (Philadelphia), electric home lighting around 1881
(Morgans, Vanderbilts, et al.) (also an early experiment with
battery-powered electric lights at home by a Massachusetts professor in
1859). Some Web sources claim 1878 for the first electric street lights in
London. I suppose there could have been a few outdoor carbon-arc lamps
around 1870 or earlier, maybe at the railroad stations or something like
that, but I couldn't find any mention of such. Just a few of these might
have been enough to amaze the visitors ... but then, a lot of bright gas
lamps might have had the same or greater impact, and these were apparently
present in Paris in the 1860's (BTW, I find one mention of lighting by
piped natural gas around 400 BC [Beijing]!).

An opinion from a Paris-area Frenchman:

<<The origin of "Ville Lumière" is indeed a hotly debated subject. I have
never really been convinced by the "Siècle des Lumières" version (the
"Enlightenment", as it is called in English ...) .... From what I read in
the past, this soubriquet probably originated in the second half of the
19th century, when Baron Haussmann tore down whole districts of Paris to
create those magnificent large avenues (and new buildings). At the same
time, he introduced gas for street-lighting. The sight of those avenues in
a resplendent light seems to have impressed all visitors (not the Parisians
themselves, of course, it takes much more to impress THEM!).>>

-- Doug Wilson