DEAD ANIMAL MATTER, 107 
vividness of the light, it did not yield the least 
degree of heat appreciable either to the touch or 
by the thermometer. 
Boyle was often disappointed in his experiments 
made with a view of obtaining shining flesh at 
will. ‘The luminous neck of veal was observed on 
the 15th of February, 1672, by one of his servants. 
Suspecting that the state of the atmosphere had 
something to do with it, he carefully noticed that 
the wind was south-west and blustering, the air 
hot for the season, the moon past its last quarter, 
and the mercury in the barometer at 295%, inches. 
The first distinct account that I meet with of 
light proceeding from putrescent flesh is that 
which is given by Fabricio d’ Acquapendente, who 
says that when three Roman youths residing at 
Padua had bought a lamb and had eaten part of 
it on Haster-day, 1592, several pieces of the re- 
mainder which they kept till the day following 
shone hke so many candles when viewed in the 
dark. Part of this luminous flesh was sent to Fa- 
bricio d’Acquapendente, who was then Professor 
of Anatomy in Padua. He observed that both the 
lean and the fat shone with a white kind of lght, 
and that some pieces of kid’s flesh which had lain 
in contact with it were luminous, as well as the 
fingers of the persons who touched it. Those 
parts shone most which were soft to the touch, 
and which appeared more or less translucid when 
held before a lighted candle. 
