THE MOST POWERFUL LIGHTHOUSE.
The lighthouse now in course of erection at Penmark Point, Department of Finisterre, France, will be, according to the Electrical Age (November 21), the most powerful in the world. It is already more than half finished, and will probably be in working order by the end of next summer. “The tower is about 200 feet high and the light at night will be visible over a radius of 80 miles, that is, cover a circle 160 miles in diameter, or an area of more than 20,000 square miles. . . . The great illuminating power of the light is provided by a similar apparatus to the first used in France in 1829, at the Heve lighthouse. The principle is based on the fact that a flash of lightning lasting no more than one-tenth of a second suffices to produce on the retina its complete effect. The new lighthouse will send flashes of concentrated light over the ocean every five seconds, each flash lasting one-tenth of a second. The St. Katharine’s light, on the Isle of Wight, has an intensity of 600 Carcel lamps. The new lighthouse at Penmark Point, which is to be named after the Marshal Prince d’Eckmuhl, will be provided with a light of 3,800,000 Carcel lamps, or 36,000,000 candle-power; and that illuminating strength will, it is said, be obtained by means of electrical apparatus having but one-third of the intensity of those used at St. Katharine’s lighthouse. The Penmark light will have cost, when completed, £24,000 ($120,000), the half of which is provided by the state, and the other half by a legacy from the Marchioness de Blocqueville, a daughter of Prince d’Eckmuhl.”—Literary Digest.