Phosphorescence of Precious Stones 69 



yiie chu) ; l this was recorded by Ts'uei Pao in the middle of the fourth 

 century. 2 The fact that this was not mere fancy, but that such whale- 

 eye pearls were a product of actual use, is illustrated by the Moho, a 

 Tungusian tribe of the Sungari, who sent these in the year 7 19 as tribute 

 to the Chinese Court. 8 The fabulous work Shu i ki says that in the 

 southern sea there is a pearl which is the pupil from the eye of a whale, 

 and in which one may behold his reflection at night, whence it is called 

 "brilliancy of the night" (ye kuang)* Varahamihira (a.d. 505-587), in 

 his Brihat-Sarhhita (Ch. 81, § 23), speaks of a pearl coming from dolphins, 

 resembling the eye of a fish, highly purifying, and of great worth. 8 



Fish-eyes seem to have been enlisted for this purpose in old Japan. 

 The Annals of the Sui Dynasty 8 attribute to Japan a wishing-jewel 

 (ju i pao chu, rendering of Sanskrit cintamani) of dark color, as big as a 

 fowl's egg, and radiating at night, said to be the pupil of a fish-eye. 7 



Of other substances of animal origin credited by the Chinese with 

 the property of nocturnal luminosity may be mentioned rhinoceros-horn, 

 discussed by the writer on a former occasion. 8 While at that time I 

 referred the earliest conception of this matter to Ko Hung of the fourth 

 century and to a work of the T'ang period, I am now in a position to 

 trace it to an author of the third century a.d., Wan Ch6n, who wrote 

 the work Nan chou i wu chi ("Account of Remarkable Objects in the 

 Southern Provinces"). 9 This writer assumes the existence of a divine 

 or spiritual rhinoceros, whose horn emits a dazzling splendor. The 

 interesting point, however, is that it is just an ordinary horn when 

 examined in the daytime, whereas in the darkness of night the single 

 veins of the horn are effulgent like a torch. 10 In regard to exhibiting 

 luminous properties at night, instances of the real pearl, which is likewise 



1 The same term as that ascribed to the Hellenistic Orient and identified above 

 with the astrion of Pliny. 



* The complete text is given by the writer in Toting Pao, 1913, p. 341. 

 1 Tang shu, Ch. 219, p. 6. 



* P'ei win yiin ju, Ch. 7A, p. 107; or Ch. 22 a, p. 76b. This attribute again is 

 identical with that conferred on the precious stone of the Hellenistic Orient. 



* H. Kern, Verspreide Geschriften, p. 100 ('s-Gravenhage, 1914). 

 8 Sui shu, Ch. 81, p. 7. 



7 In all probability this jewel was a Buddhist relic brought over to Japan from 

 India. Reference has been made above (p. 22) to the Buddhist legend, according 

 to which the cintamani originates from the fabulous fish tnakara. The Chinese 

 author Lu Tien (1042-1102), in his P'i ya, expresses the view that the cintamani is 

 the pupil of the eye of a fish (Wu li siao shi, Ch. 7, p. 13). 



•Chinese Clay Figures, pp. 138, 151. 



* Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., pt. 1, Nos. 452, 539; and Sui shu, Ch. 33, p. 10. 



10 The passage is quoted in the cyclopaedia T'ai p'ing yu Ian (published by Li Fang 

 in 983), Ch. 890, p. 3 (edition of Juan Yuan, 1812). 



