Matthew MacConnell at Ars Technica:Before cars became the modern mode of transportation, horse-drawn carriages used oil lanterns to light the way, as roads were largely unlit outside of towns and cities. These lanterns weren’t particularly bright, though, meaning that after-dark collisions and near-misses were common. The late 1880s brought the motorcar, which used railway-style oil lamps. Acetylene lamps arrived in the early 1900s. Like oil lanterns, they were dangerous, primarily because they relied on an open flame and produced highly flammable acetylene gas.