Solar Energies Help Our Ascent

By LILLIAN CARQUE

It has been estimated that the smoke-pall in great cities may rob the city dweller of fully three quarters of the ultra-violet light he might enjoy, and that down in the depths of the city street canyons, the diminution is particular marked. Years ago the Chicago Commissioner of Health, after making due observations, found that only half of the sunlight, with its curative ultra-violet rays, resting on the tops of buildings reached the surface of the streets. This the Commissioner explained by the fact that much of the smoke and foreign particles lie between the tops of buildings and the street effectively screening out the light. Similar observations have been made at various times by the health departments of other large cities the intensity of the ultra-violet light having been found to be fifty per cent greater in the country where there was little dust and smoke than in the center of the city where there was much.

A total exclusion of sunlight induces the severer forms of anemic diseases, originating from an impoverished and disordered state of blood. It is a well -established fact that, as a result of an insufficiency of light, the fibrine and red blood corpuscles become diminished in quantity, while the serum or watery portion of the blood is increased, inducing leukemia, a sickness characterized by a great increase in the number of white blood corpuscles.

The lack of sunshine and air in mines tells seriously upon the health of miners. During the war it was practically impossible to find the proper number of recruits to the army from this industry. So many men were ineligible for service because of bodily deformity or arrested physical development.

Paralysis has been known to be cured, and is often benefited, by sunshine and ultra-violet light. Very intimate relations exist between the sun and digestion. Digestion and assimilation become weak and imperfect if man and animal alike are not daily exposed to the direct rays of the sun. Fatigue, irritability and depression are more easily overcome when the body is invigorated by the sun.

Nature's most wholesome natural foods need hardly any artificial preparation, for in the ripening of the fruit and nut of the tree the sun has taken the place of the cook -and produced morsels of exquisite flavor and wholesomeness, most agreeable to the unperverted taste and meeting every demand of the bodies of the spiritually progressed. The alluring palatability of her luscious fruits, her tasty nuts and refreshingly invigorating green leafy vegetables defies the efforts of the most expert cook to improve on her incomparable handiwork.

Experiments have shown that the quantity of light passing through a piece of cloth depends upon the looseness or the closeness of the weave. The Bureau of Standards interested themselves in the problem, and ascertained that open-weave fabrics such as voile or georgette crepe will transmit from 55 to 65 per cent of the ultra-violet light received, and that 40 to 55 per cent of the light passes through the openings of the cloth. On the other hand, a closely woven fabric such as duck or cotton broadcloth, will transmit an average of about 10 to 20 per cent of light, of which only 1 to 4 per cent passes through the spaces of the weave, for light passes chiefly through the openings, only a small part passes through the fibers themselves.

Important factors in the transmission of light are the color of the fiber and the weight and thickness of the cloth. So slight a color as the yellow tinge of old silk or the yellowish tan of unbleached cotton or linen, will cut down the transmission of light materially; dyeing will reduce it to a negligible degree. The progressively deeper shades in which fibers are dyed correspondingly reduce the amount of light transmitted by the fiber. The heavier the yarn and the thicker the cloth, the less light is transmitted.

While the differences are slight, cotton, linen and artificial silk appear to transmit a greater proportion of ultra-violet light than do silk or wool. Recommendation is therefore made that loosely woven fabrics made of cotton, linen or artificial silk should be worn to obtain the maximum ultra-violet light transmission through clothing. In the temperate zones, especially in the winter time, ordinary apparel permits very little ultra-violet light to penetrate the skin. Modern women's dress is much more satisfactory in this regard, but men's closely woven and lined clothing does not allow any light whatever to penetrate.

Weak and anemic people should not wear dark clothes, as black absorbs the sun's rays and does not allow them to penetrate the skin. People who have just recovered from sunstroke, fever, or are subject to excessive bodily heat should use blue for wearing apparel, especially beneath the hat brim, as it has a cooling effect.

An unlimited reservoir of Cosmic Energy is ever available in the Universe. These electrically charged life pulsations emanating from the sun are the Will of Divine Intelligence in Action. These pulsations may be thought of as a force radiating from Universal Life-a fathomless, Deific solar celestial motor energy with which we are divinely endowed. May it always ignite us with its fire.