HARDWICKE'S SCIE.NCE-GOSSIF. 



121 



LUMINOUS PLANTS. 



" 'Tis said in Summer's evening hour, 

 Flashes the golden-coloured flower, 

 A fair electric flame." 



Coleridge. 



'HERE are some of 

 the phenomena of 

 life which are so 

 startling in their 

 character that they 

 cannot fail to at- 

 tract attention, 

 even amongst the 

 unlearned. Of such 

 is the emission of 

 insects and plants ; 

 ly in countries where 

 light are held to be 

 more or less divine, and the 

 object of adoration, we may 

 anticipate that such pheno- 

 mena are regarded with pecu- 

 Wj&0%Q 4ft nar interest. It is so in India, 

 where the idea that some 

 plants, under favourable con- 

 ditions, evolve light, has firm 

 possession of the minds of the 

 inhabitants. That something 

 of the kind has been observed, 

 only the most sceptical would 

 doubt, but it is equally probable that exaggeration 

 has lent something to the reports. The prevalence 

 of this idea in India long since was noticed by 

 Major Madden in one of the Indian horticultural 

 journals, when he stated that "vague ideas of the 

 existence of luminous plants in India and the neigh- 

 bouring' countries, still float about, as in the days of 

 the old Hindoos and Greeks." The major gave in- 

 stances, of which some probably had their foundation 

 in fact. It is not that we place implicit reliance on 

 all that we read on this subject, that we are induced 

 to allude to some recorded instances, but rather 

 with the view of collecting together some of the 

 gossip on the subject. 

 No. 78. 



If we refer to No. 153 of the "Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal," we find it there re- 

 corded that in Affghanistan, " to the north of 

 Nahoo, is a mountain called Sufed Koh, in which 

 the natives believe gold and silver to exist, and in 

 which they say, in the spring, is a bush which at 

 night, from a distance appears on fire, but on ap- 

 proaching it the delusion vanishes." It is very pro- 

 bable in this instance that the belief is based on 

 vague report. 



Baron Hugel's name is well known in connection 

 with Kashmere, and, as a naturalist, his evidence, if 

 positive, would be accepted with respect. But again 

 only report is cited, for the Baron says that he was 

 told that the Auk River, when swollen with rain, 

 brings down from Thibet pieces of timber which 

 "shine in the dark as long as they continue moist." 

 The phosphorescence of decaying wood is nothing 

 new, and it is probable that this is attributable to the 

 same cause. Schoolboys did believe in the phos- 

 phorescence of " touchwood " many years ago, and 

 probably do so now. In those days we have recol- 

 lections of carrying such treasures in our pocket for 

 practical illustration in the dormitory at night. 



Of a somewhat different character was the sub- 

 stance exhibited in April, 1S45, at a meeting of the 

 Royal Asiatic Society. It was the rootstock of a 

 plant from the Ooraghum jungles, at the foot of 

 the Madura Hills, near Tuchoor, and was supposed 

 to belong to some species of Orchis or Ilarica. It 

 was said of it that it possessed the peculiar property 

 of regaining its phosphorescent appearance when a 

 dried fragment of it was subjected to moisture, 

 "gleaming in the dark with all the vividness of the 

 Glow-worm, or the electric Scolopendra, after having 

 been moistened with a wet cloth applied to its sur- 

 face for an hour or two ; and it did not seem to lose 

 the property by use, becoming lustreless when dry, 

 and lighting up again whenever moistened." The 



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