in the water leaving the sterilizer showed that these organisms had been reduced to 5 per cent. and finally to a smaller percentage of their original value, and that all those of intestinal origin had been destroyed.  In fact, the water which was returned to the pool was better than that which most persons drink.  Radiant energy possesses advantages which are unequaled by other bactericidal agents, in that it does not contaminate or change the properties of the water in any way.  It does its work of destroying bacteria and leaves the water otherwise unchanged.

These glimpses of the use of the radiant energy as a means of regaining and retaining good health suggest greater possibilities when the facts become thoroughly established and correlated.  The sun is of primary importance to mankind, but it serves in so many ways that it is naturally a compromise.  It cannot supply just the desired radiant energy for one purpose and at the same time serve for another purpose in the best manner.  It is obscured on cloudy days and disappears nightly.  These absences are beneficial to some processes, but man in the highly organized activity of present civilization desires radiant energy of various qualities available at any time.  In this respect artificial light is superior to the sun and is being improved continually.

XXI

MODIFYING ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

In a single century science has converted the dimly lighted nights with their feeble flickering flames into artificial daytime.  In this brief span of years the production of light has advanced far from the primitive flames in use at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but, as has been noted in another chapter, great improvements in light-production are still possible.  Nevertheless, the wonderful developments in the last four decades, which created the arc-lamps, the gas-mantle, the mercury-vapor lamps, and the series of electric incandescent-filament lamps, have contributed much to the efficiency, safety, health, and happiness of mankind.

A hundred years ago civilization was more easily satisfied and an improvement which furnished more light at the same cost was all that could be desired.  To-day light alone is not sufficient.  Certain kinds of radiant energy are required for photography and other photochemical processes and a vast array of colored light is demanded for displays and for effects upon the stage.  Man now desires lights of various colors for their expressive effects.  He is no longer satisfied with mere light in adequate quantities; he desires certain qualities.  Furthermore, he no longer finds it sufficient to be independent of daylight merely in quantity of light.  In fact, he has demanded artificial daylight.