Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — The Storage of Light [ARTICLE]

The Storage of Light

An interesting possibility is opened up by a recent communication of M. Charles Henry to the Paris Aeademle des Sciences, thus summarized in Cosmos, and translated for the Literary Digest: “It is well known that heat hastens the emission of the light stored up by phosphorescent bodies; this fact, which it is easy to observe on a phosphorescent surface in places where it is affected by the heat of the hand, may also be registered on a photo plate, M. Henry thought that reciprocally intense cold should prevent the emission of this light. Experiment confirms this prevision. It hns proved that the employment of intense cold is one of the most powerful means for preserving light in a latent condition in phosphorescent bodies. Unfortunately this process is hardly practicable at present, except in regions where cold costa nothing; but in any cast* it is the first step toward a great industrial triumph, the utilization of sunlight for illumination in the night time. Who doubts that frigoriflc processes, which have been employed with so much success in the preservation of food materials, may also serve for the preservation of light?”