Luminous Wall-Paper.

Manufacturer and Builder 3, 1878

A late German notion is wall-paper coated with oxalate of copper, so that it will adapt itself to the degree of illumination in the room, becoming darker as the room grows lighter, and vice versa. What the country needs, however, is not so much a paper that will grow darker in a light room, as one that will give light enough in dark room to supersede the use of the costly and fickle gas and the fragrant kerosene. A contemporary remarks that any notion, Yankee or German, that will light our houses by their wallpaper will be received with becoming respect.

And we add that it is not entirely impossible. The sulphids of barium and strontium become self-luminous for some time by exposure to a strong electric light, which may be produced by a magneto-electric machine driven by steam-power. A room papered with material covered with these ingredients or their equivalent, or whitewashed with the same — ceiling and walls — then closed up and exposed for a few minutes to a flood of such light, would soon produce self-luminous walls alter the electric light is extinguished and the doors opened, the soft glow of the phosphorescent walls would produce a magical effect beyond the power of imagination, especially if the wallpaper were covered with figures of different materials, to produce a variety of colors in their phosphorescent glow, which may be made to last several hours, and only slowly fades away, and at last, towards the end of the entertainment, would gradnally end in darkness. A single minute's exposure to the glare of the electric light, however, would soon restore it; only the occupants should leave the room during this exposure, as this light is so exceedingly intense as to blind the eyes to such a degree as to make the succeeding beautiful glow to appear as comparative darkness.