Schivelbusch Disenchanted Night

Wolfgang Schivelbusch’s Disenchanted Night delineates the history of the industrialisation of light from the candle through the incandescent light bulb, demonstrating the relationship between the development of artificial light and the social, political, and economic milieu from which it emerged. This process was dependent on two social contexts which were integral to the pace and direction of the development of lighting technology, the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. The Industrial Revolution necessitated the rapid industrialisation of light, as the emergence of factory production demanded light that was more powerful and cost effective in order to illuminate the factories and facilitate production that went beyond that permitted
by daylight. The concurrent scientific revolution that underpinned the Enlightenment provided the technological advancements that made the industrial application of light possible. Two significant consequences followed the industrialisation of light. Firstly, the dissolution of the ‘total household’, which followed the advent of gas lighting and entailed the centralisation and remote control of amenities that were formerly self-contained in the home. Secondly, the industrialisation of light shaped perception in terms of the notion of ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’ light, which was linked to the growing modern distinction between ‘public’ and ‘private’ space, and also in terms of how theatre performances are viewed.
Schivelbusch argues that the intellectual climate of the Enlightenment, with its celebration of scientific experimentation and rationalisation of nature, was integral to the development of industrial lighting (3-4).
Central to this was the gradual development of a flame used exclusively for lighting. Initially, fire simultaneously provided heat, lighting, and enabled cooking (Schivelbusch, 4). As fire was rationalised and scientifically refined, these functions were gradually isolated, beginning with light (Schivelbusch, 4). Schivelbusch points to the connection between the Enlightenment and what he refers to as Lavoisier’s ‘chemical enlightenment’, which was the discovery
that flames were not fed by a substance called phlogiston, as had previously been thought, but by the oxygen in the air, opens the more recent history of artificial lighting. Once the true chemical nature of the flame had been recognised, it could be manipulated in a completely new way and no longer had to be accepted as it had existed since time immemorial. With the help of an appropriate chemical apparatus, a flame could now be changed and made to perform at a higher level of efficiency [...] (4).
Thus, the rationalisation of the flame that paved the way for the industrialisation of light was enabled by science, which was one of the core tenets of the Enlightenment’s intellectual revolution.
The discovery that flames were fed by oxygen spurred a paradigm shift in chemistry, which entailed a parallel shift in lighting technology (Schivelbusch, 9). For the first time, consideration was given to the relationship between the a flame’s quality and its air supply, and this became integral to the further development of lighting technology (Schivelbusch, 9). Furthermore, the flame was newly conceived as manipulable by scientific rationality rather than a ‘natural’, unalterable thing. This discovery preceded a long period refinement of the flame via the use of different wicks and methods for enclosing the flame to channel and intensify its oxygen supply (Schivelbusch,
9-14).
The industrialisation of light truly began with the advent of gaslight (Schivelbusch, 41). The controlled combustion of oil-burning lamp provided a blueprint for the development of gaslight. The gas lamp essentially took the basic premise of the oil lamp, added coal and distance, and stirred. Schivelbusch cites British civil engineer Samuel Clegg to highlight this:
[...] the whole difference between the greater process of the gas-light operation and the miniature operation of a candle or a lamp, consists in having the distillatory apparatus at the gaslight manufactory, at a distance, instead of being in the wick of the candle or lamp — in having the crude inflammable matter decomposed, previous to the elastic fluid being wanted, and stored up for use, instead of being prepared and consumed as fast as it proceeds from the decomposed oil, wax, or tallow; and lastly, in transmitting the gas to any required distance, and igniting it at the burner or lamp of the conducting tube, instead of burning it at the apex of the wick (15).
Once again scientific experimentation and the impetus to improve and refine technology inherent in the technologically optimistic ethos that characterised this period played a central role. The first experiments with distilling coal into gas were motivated by a playful scientific curiosity, as it initially had no industrial application (Schivelbusch, 16). However, in 1800 it was quickly discovered that it could be used to effectively illuminate the rapidly proliferating factories that cropped up all over England (Schivelbusch, 16).
The Industrial Revolution was also of central importance to the industrialisation of light, and provided the socio-economic impetus for its rapid scientific refinement. It is inextricably linked to the industrialisation of light due to the demand for more powerful, cost effective lighting for the factories cropping up around England. Furthermore, there is a connection between the availability of coal in England, which was itself central to the Industrial Revolution, and the distillation of gas for lighting (Schivelbusch, 16-17). Schivelbusch notes that modern gas lighting got its start as industrial lighting, and compares the ‘coal-based’ culture of industrial England with the ‘wood-based’ culture of pre-industrial Europe, and links the development of gas lighting to both the availability of coal and the need to light factories (17-18). As Schivelbusch points out, this meant that