"Quiet had fallen; before streetlights, most people were indoors by dark." (p. 60)
Presumably they were. At least that is a sound inference.
"Mental map or no, it wasn't easy finding your way with neither lamps nor signs. Everard lost his a couple of times, and cursed." (p. 63)
We banish darkness with electric light. How much difference has this made to human consciousness by ending superstition and fear of the unknown?
"'...the ghosts of night-bound peoples evaporate from their mythologies as soon as they're able to produce light even at midnight simply by tripping a switch.'"
-James Blish, The Triumph Of Time IN Blish, Cities In Flight (London, 1981), pp. 467-506 AT CHAPTER THREE, p. 507.
I had to trek upstairs to find that Blish quote but it was worth the effort.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I disagree, night-time street lighting has not banished all superstition. Far too many still believe in nonsense like astrology, the enneagram, crystals, or "spiritualism."
Ad astra! Sean
Paul: Before electric lighting there was gaslight... which made a considerable difference itself.
More generally, a city after dark before streetlighting was -black-.
The buildings blocked out starlight and moonlight, which are faint. You often couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Carrying a torch was the minimum necessary so that you didn't repeatedly fall flat on your face.
And if you were alone, carrying a torch made you a target for thugs. Street-crime was rampant in most urban areas, simply because it paid so well before police forces came in during the 19th century.
It wasn't safe to go out after dark; you'd trip, probably injure yourself, and be a target for crime.
Of course artificial light has not ended all superstition but surely it has made a big difference to how people perceive nighttime and darkness.
Paul: not necessarily. Our eyesight is keyed to sunlight; we're not good at seeing in the dark. So we feel apprehensive about darkness -- it cam be overcome by training, but it shows up in children.
As always, we are children of our evolutionary history, which makes us what we are.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with Stirling about the practical reasons for why it was so dangerous for law abiding citizens to leave their homes after sunset before the invention of street lighting and the creation of police forces. I also agree with what he said about us being prone to instinctually fear the dark.
No street lighting and police means we would all have to hurry home before it got dark and leave our homes only in armed bands with torches at night.
Ad astra! Sean
Stirling: "The buildings blocked out starlight and moonlight, which are faint."
Though the moon is much brighter than starlight. Also as you say the buildings make a large difference. Snow makes a big difference too.
I recall XC-skiing under full moon in Banff Park, well away from any artificial light. Sky conditions went from thick cloud to high thin cloud to completely clear and back again several times. Under cloud I needed my head lamp. Under clear sky the moonlight was bright enough that I could perceive a bright red object as red rather than a shade of grey, and didn't need the headlamp to follow the trail.
Kaor, Jim!
But at best the Moon would provide fitful, inadequate illumination in urbanized areas, before the invention of street lighting.
Ad astra!! Sean
Post a Comment