Article January 8, 1910 Issue

THE SPIRITUAL LIGHTHOUSE

CARRIE F. LYMAN.

The spiritual analogies suggested by a lighthouse have appealed to many minds—its rock foundation, the great strength needed in its construction, the means used that the light shall be always of the best obtainable strength and quality, the reliability of character necessary for a lighthouse keeper,—these, and other facts, are of more than ordinary interest from a mental standpoint.

The following extract from an article in the Technical World illustrates what may be to many readers a new phase of this subject. The writer says,—

"On a sunken reef three hundred and fifty feet distant from Stornaway lighthouse, off the Scottish coast, is a remarkable beacon that warns mariners with the help of a light which is only apparent. The beacon is a cone of cast-iron plates, surmounted with a lantern containing a glass prism. The prism derives its light from refracting the rays emitted from the lighthouse, and the optical illusion is marvelous. Mariners naturally suppose that there is a lighted lamp on the beacon itself, and many of them refuse to believe otherwise. But the object of the beacon is attained when the navigator sees the reflected light, which indicates the perilous rock below. This beacon has been in use more than half a century, and since it was fixed in position others have been placed in other neighborhoods to make clear points of danger."

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