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From: Bob Rierdan

                       From THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE
                                 by JOHN PHIN
                                Copyright 1906

PERPETUAL OR EVER-BURNING LAMPS

Part of the sepulchral rites of the ancients consisted in placing lighted
lamps in the tombs or vaults in which the dead were laid, and, in many cases,
these lamps were carefully tended and kept continually burning.  Some authors
have claimed, however, that these men of old were able to construct lamps
which burned perpetually and required no attention.

In number 379 of the SPECTATOR there is an anecdote of some one having opened
the sepulcher of the famous Rosicrucius.  There he discovered a lamp burning
which a statue of clock-work struck into pieces.  Hence, says the writer, the
disciples of this visionary claimed that they had made use of this method to
show that he had re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients.  And
Fortunio Leceti wrote a book in which he collected a large number of stories
about lamps, said to have been found burning in tombs or vaults.  Ozanam fills
eight closely printed pages with a discussion of the subject.

Attempts have been made to explain many of the facts upon which is based the
claim that the ancients were able to construct perpetual lamps by the
suggestion that the light sometimes seen on the opening of ancient tombs may
have been due to the phosphorescence which is well known to arise during the
decomposition of animal and vegetable matter. Decaying wood and dead fish are
familiar objects which give out a light that is sufficient to render dimly
visible the outlines of surrounding objects, and such a light, seen in the
vicinity of an old lamp, might give rise to the impression that the lamp had
been actually burning and that it had been blown out by sudden exposure to a
draft of air.

Another supposition was that the flame, which was supposed to have been seen,
may have been caused by the ignition of gases arising from the decomposition
of dead bodies, and set on fire by the flambeaux of candles of the
investigators, and it is quite possible that the occurrence of each of these
phenomena may have given a certain degree of confirmation to preconceived
ideas.

After the discovery of phosphorus in 1669, by Brandt and Kunckel, it was
employed in the construction of luminous phials which could be carried in the
pocket, and which gave out sufficient light to enable the user to see the
hands of a watch on a dark night.  Directions for making these luminous phials
are very simple, and may be found in most of the books of experiments
published prior to the introduction of the modern lucifer match.  They were
also used for obtaining a light by means of the old matches, which were tipped
merely with a little sulphur, and which could not be ignited by friction.

Such a match, after being dipped into one of these phosphorus bottles, would
readily take fire by slight friction, and some persons preferred this
contrivance to the old flint and steel, partly, no doubt, because it was a
novelty.  But these bottles were not in any sense perpetual, the light being
due to the slow oxidation of the phosphorus so that, in a comparatively short
time, the luminosity of the materials ceased.  Nevertheless, it has been
suggested that some form of these old luminous phials may have been the
original perpetual lamp.

After the discovery of the phosphorescent qualities of barium sulphate of
Bolognian phosphorus, as it was called, it was thought that this might be a
re-discovery of the long-lost art of making perpetual lamps.  But it is well
known that this substance losses its phosphorescent power after being kept in
the dark for some time, and that occasional exposure to bright sun-light is
one of the conditions absolutely essential to its giving out any light at all.
This condition does not exist in a dark tomb.

A few years ago phosphorescent salts of barium and calcium were employed in
the manufacture of what was known as luminous paint.  These materials shine in
the dark with brilliance sufficient to enable the observer to read words and
numbers traced with them, but regular exposure to the rays of the sun or some
other bright light is absolutely necessary to enable them to maintain their
efficiency.

More recently it has been suggested that the ancients may have been acquainted
with some form of radio-active matter like radium, and that this was the
secret of the lamps in question.  It is far more likely, however, that the
reports of their perpetual lamps were based upon mere errors of observation.

The perpetual lamp is, in chemistry, the counterpart of perpetual motion in
mechanics - both violate the fundamental principle of the conservation of
energy.  And just as suggestions of impossible movements have been numerous in
the case of perpetual motion, so impossible devices and construction have been
suggested in regard to perpetual lamps.  Prior to the development, or even the
suggestion of the law of the conservation of energy, it was believed that it
might be possible to find a liquid which would burn without being consumed,
and a wick which feed the liquid to the flame without being itself destroyed.

Dr. Plott suggested naphtha for the fluid and asbestos for the wick, but since
kerosene oil, naphtha, gasolene, and other liquids of the kind have become
common, every housewife knows that as her lamp burns, the oil, of whatever
kind it may be, disappears.

Under present conditions the construction of a perpetual lamp is not a
severely felt want; for constancy and brilliancy or present means of
illumination are sufficient for almost all our requirements.  Whether or not
it would be possible to gather up those natural currents of electricity, which
are suspected to flow through and over the earth, and utilize them for purpose
of illumination, however feeble, it might be difficult to decide.

But such means of perpetual electric lighting would be similar to a perpetual
motion derived from a mountain stream.  Such natural means of illumination
already exist, and have existed for ages in the fire-giving wells of naphtha
which are found on the shores of the Caspian sea, and in other parts of the
east, and which have long been objects of adoration to the fire-worshippers.

As for the outcome of present researchers into the properties of radium,
polonium, and similar substances, and their possible applications, it is too
early to form even a surmise.
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