The final word on this seems to be that it was not based upon a real device… yet I think this is incorrect. The device described in the original post is in fact based in real technology… maybe not in a specific device, but most certainly it exists in the combination of certain common old devices and working concepts.
See the jar in the bottom right corner of the picture:
http://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Electrical-Governor-Throttle-Hydrogen/dp/B0073TTFMA
The idea of an object which produced flame based light when an acidic water solution was broken down into its base elements and then those gasses were introduced to Platinum is in fact a solid technology of the 1800’s, as was the idea of electrolysis as a process of accomplishing the same molecular separation of water.
It is a fact that the flame of hydrogen is nearly invisible as described in the book, according to the post, and the temp of the flame is dependent upon what it is burning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwlOw7iCNrI
In the article the filament was in danger of melting because of the increasing intensity of the flame’s heat when it was introduced to the filament… again, a valid fact and significant of the combustion of Hydrogen, as is the idea of a super intense light when a proper metallic element is used for the filament. Notice the brightness in the video when the metal was tungsten.
Finally, the use of a LARGE highly polished reflector, combined with a Fresnel lens, again is ancient technology and is extremely effective in amplifying and then focusing the intensity of a light source. This combined with the dark environment, with such a naturally intense light source, and you have an object that nearly anyone could reasonably produce and use, and which matches the described item rather well.
This said, the below is in fact what I think the author was describing.
The galvanic solution and its container were a homemade battery.
The carbon rod was the switch or the “buss bar” which connected the circuit and allowed the battery electricity to flow. That electricity flowed to another acidic water solution in which the platinum plates were used since it would not corrode in the solution indefinitely. The electricity flowing through the plates causes the electrolysis process of the water into the basic elemental Hydrogen and Oxygen, which were then ejected and ignited in the above described reflector/Fresnel chamber thus directing and focusing and thus amplifying the light. By bringing a piece of metal, possibly tungsten, into close proximity to the flame it begins to glow and you have a quasi filament.
All valid technology, all realistic and in common usage to the highest degree… with the exception of using the platinum for the plates and wires in a hydrogen environment… so, I would say that it is highly possible, or even probable that the author was describing something that he had actually seen, as I can see myself building and developing one if I were back in that day when those concepts were the norm.
OK, that’s my two cents worth.
John