Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-ray – Why Americans Embraced Medical Innovation but Feared Domestic Technology in the Gilded Age

by Linda Simon

The modern world imagines that the invention of electricity was greeted with great enthusiasm. But in 1879 Americans reacted to the advent of electrification with suspicion and fear. Forty years after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent bulb, only 20 percent of American families had wired their homes. Meanwhile, electrotherapy emerged as a popular medical treatment for everything from depression to digestive problems. Why did Americans welcome electricity into their bodies even as they kept it from their homes? And what does their reaction to technological innovation then have to teach us about our reaction to it today?

In Dark Light, Linda Simon offers the first cultural history that delves into those questions, using newspapers, novels, and other primary sources. Tracing fifty years of technological transformation, from Morse's invention of the telegraph to Roentgen's discovery of X-rays, she has created a revealing portrait of an anxious age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Research, Technology, Science

368 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2004

About the author

Linda Simon is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Skidmore College in New York, where she has taught since 1997. Previously, she was Director of the Writing Center and at Harvard University. She is the author of biographies of Alice B. Toklas, Thornton Wilder, and Lady Margaret Beaufort, as well as articles in such journals as The New England Quarterly, Salmagundi, and Literature and Philosophy. She teaches literature and nonfiction creative writing and lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Reviews

[Anwen Hayward · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute riot. Brilliantly researched and full of esoteric gems about the early response to the burgeoning science of electricity - in particular, I enjoyed the satirical poetry of GH Powell in response to the arc lamps at London Paddington:

Twinkle, twinkle little arc,
Sickly blue uncertain spark,
Up above my head you swing,
Ugly, strange, expensive thing!

Cold, unlovely, blinding star,
I've no notion what you are,
How your wondrous 'system' works,
Who controls its jumps and jerks.

My sole critique is that Simon falls into the trap of crediting Thomas Edison with the invention of the incandescent bulb using a carbonised cotton thread filament, which quite simply isn't true - Joseph Swan famously held the patent for the carbon filament used by Edison, and had already demonstrated that it could successfully be used in an incandescent lamp, before Edison demonstrated the same. After infringing upon Swan's patent, Edison was forced to merge his company with Swan's in 1883, forming the Ediswan company. Simon doesn't mention this at all - poor old Joseph Swan is relegated to a single mention of his 'working assiduously' in this 300 page book, with absolutely no mention that it was his filaments that Edison was using, which seems rather unfair. Simon correctly notes that the invention of the incandescent bulb was a collaborative event, with Edison building upon the work of others who came before him, but she does rather bury the lede on just how much he also borrowed from the work of his contemporaries, often patented, in order to slap his name on the final product.

Poor old Joseph Swan has rather been written out of the (primarily American) version of 'who invented the lightbulb?', and it was a bit of a shame to see this repeated here, given how impeccably researched the vast majority of the book is. Still, personal grievances with Edison aside, this book was a truly fascinating deep dive into the subject of early electricity, with lots of pointers for further research. Simon has a real talent for making such a niche subject accessible to the layperson who doesn't necessarily understand much about the actual science of electricity. A real win, overall.

[Steve Schinke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Struggled to get through it. It was not what I expected. If you are interested in a history of the development of electricity and its use in commercial, medical, and psychic treatments, you might find it mildly enjoyable.

[Sarah Coller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the book without the end notes is only 299 pages, I read it very slowly over the several weeks and really enjoyed it. The book was well-researched, interesting, and entertaining. I also loved its massive bibliography.

When I started the book, I'd just been reading about all the worries of 5G technology... Reading that the Victorians were worried the lightbulb would make them blind, I wondered if our fears would come to nothing as well. I finished the book during the first week of America's COVID-19 crisis and felt like I could reread the whole thing with a totally different perspective.

I enjoyed learning about Frank Mesmer---from which the term "mesmerize" came. Reading about the crazy uses for magnets (which I put no faith in, by the way) reminded me of our elderly high school Spanish teacher (probably with Jesus for awhile now) who would do home demonstrations with the magnetic socks, arm bands, etc. she was selling as a side job in the 90s. So funny.

It was neat to read that these early inventors admired the teachings of 18th c. scientist Michael Faraday as my 13-year-old daughter is reading his lectures on the chemical history of a candle now.

I thought the chapters on hypnotism were the most interesting, though I don't believe in it for a minute. Ha! I don't think Dickens' wife was being "passively hypnotised". He was a cheater and she knew it and probably did whatever she could to get his attention.

Lots of funny stuff... Wacky Victorian fiction featuring creepy uses for electricity (reviving the dead, reanimating severed body parts, etc). Oh, and x-rays as entertainment! Yikes! Several interesting-sounding Victorian era books were mentioned---I'll have to see what I can find.

Overall, it was a great read and I'm happy I spent the time.

[Mark Stangroome · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were elements of this book that were fascinating and reminded me of the anxieties that greeted 5G wireless technology. However, in others areas the writing did not seem to fit with the title of the book as large sections involved discussion about spiritualism and mesmerism, which would have been useful as a juxtaposition but felt overplayed within the context of what the title promised.

The cynic that resides within me cannot help but wonder whether this was the original title or whether some editor or marketing guru tried to 'jazz it up' and make the book more saleable by allowing it to promise more than it delivered.

Overall I did enjoy this book, it is incredibly well researched and informed but do not expect a book on electrical engineering or solely the anxieties than were a product of advancing science.

[Ruby Kristan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, it was kind of interesting. Till I got to page 134 and it repeated pages 103-134 and then jumped to page 167. Now I'm just frustrated because I don't want to skip 33 pages to keep reading.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the electric chair to the x-ray, electricity has played a central role in human history, for instance in medical treatments and examinations. Electric power was viewed both with awe and suspicion. The work sparkles, at times, but this timeline of light eventually grows dull. The modern world is left completely out of the equation, and so our increasing use of electricity and technology, not to mention the growing urbanization of our world, goes ignored. The work is fine, with many “light bulb” moments, and yet it missed an opportunity.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book as research for a class I'm taking, otherwise I don't think I would have picked it up. The first half of this book was very interesting. It takes you through the introduction of electricity into modern life, emphasizing the social aspects.

The American people were very afraid to have electricity in their homes. More than 30 years after Edison's incandescent light bulb, only 10% of American homes were wired for it. From the telegraph and telephone which was an intrusion into the home, to the fear that light by electricity would cause blindness (mother nature would have her revenge from harnessing her natural force), this book takes you on a historical journey of the anxieties of this new technology.

The book is written by an English professor, so it's not technical and reads very well.

My complaints- I was exceedingly bored through the chapters on mesmerism and using electricity as a treatments for various medical problems. But that's just me. Also the book ends abruptly after discussing X-rays... I would have liked a little bit of an epilogue or SOMETHING.

[PastAllReason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truthfully, I liked the book enough to finish it, but not enough to do so at more than a light reading level. The author writes of the introduction of electricity, the uses that it was put to, and the anxieties about it. She focuses a fair amount on medical uses, and the introduction of capital punishment via electrocution. That last part was interesting in her highlighting of Edison's role in it, and Westinghouse's objections.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Glad I only paid $3 at a used bookstore for this one. It is an absolute slog. The first few chapters (about the invention of the telegraphy) was pretty good. but then it devolved into endless rambling about electricity and it's uses in quack medicine etc. Not sure what the point of this book even was. Needless to say, I'll be selling it back as quickly as possible.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, detailed, but I was hoping for more about electricity than anxiety. Many of the factors creating anxiety in that time period still exist today - the parallel is uncanny. The author wrote a book on William James, and sometimes I thought this was a sequel as he is mentioned frequently.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Simon has taken one of the most exciting periods in the history of science and technology and made it incoherent and boring. Perhaps my expectations were too high.