‘DEAD ANIMAL MATTER, 103 
remarked that the quantity of ight produced in 
phosphorescent putrefactions diminishes as the 
process of putrefaction itself advances. 
Cold prevents the phenomenon of phosphores- 
cence in dead fish, but only temporarily, for the 
light bursts forth again with its usual intensity as 
soon as the temperature becomes milder. It has 
been also seen that this phosphorescence 1s ac- 
companied by no production of heat in the parts 
which shine. We have already noticed this fact 
in the mineral and in the vegetable world, and we 
shall notice it again when speaking of luminous 
animals. Boiling water and high temperatures 
destroy the phosphorescence which occupies us 
here. 
I have myself proved the exactness of most of 
the above facts whilst studying the body of a dead 
stockfish (ftaya) in a luminous condition. In a 
short note published in the ‘ Comptes-Rendus’ of 
the Paris Academy of Sciences for 1860, I have 
shown by direct chemical experiment that no phos- 
phorus can be found in the luminous grease which 
shines upon fish. I was at first inclined to attri- 
bute their phosphorescence to the presence of 
some microscopic fungi, but at present I am more 
inclined to believe it is owing to some peculiar 
organic matter which possesses the property of 
shining in the dark like phosphorus itself. 
The bodies of other marine animals shine after 
