Far Eastern and Classical Antiquity 23 



to Plato (428-347 b, c.) , the fragments of literature and quotation 

 which have survived contain no certain reference to luminous things. 

 Homer (date uncertain, ca. 1000 b. c.) cited a few invertebrates in 

 the Iliad and the Odyssey but not luminous ones.*® The story of a 

 luminous plant described by Democritus {ca. 475-ca. 375 b. c.) has 

 been retold by Pliny (see that section) and it should be noted that 

 Theophrastus (ca. 374-ca. 286 b. c.) in his treatise on stones spe- 

 cifically stated that the semiprecious carbuncle, literally a little coal, 

 received its name from the fact that it shines when seen against 

 the light, rather than from self-luminosity, as held by many later 

 writers. Knowledge of luminous gems in classic times will be dis- 

 cussed in a later section. 



The early Greeks observed the aurora borealis and there is some- 

 what uncertain indication of knowledge of inorganic luminescence. 

 A passage of Euripides (480-406 b. c.) in his tragedy Bacchae de- 

 scribed how the Bacchantes " carried fire on their hair without 

 being hurt." The " fire " has been interpreted by J. P. Jorrissen 

 (1948) as a phosphorescent material, but the evidence is far from 

 convincing. These inorganic luminescences will be discussed in 

 separate sections. 



ARISTOTLE 



It is with Aristotle (384-322 b. c.) that a fairly wide knowledge 

 of cold light begins. He not only listed some well-known lumines- 

 censes but realized that they were different from other bodies which 

 had color and could be seen by day. There is little doubt that Aris- 

 totle knew of the luminescence of dead fish and flesh and also of 

 fungi. The evidence on which this is based comes from a discussion 

 of light and color in De Anima (Book II, Chap. 7, Sec. 4) . In R. D. 

 Hicks' translation the statement is as follows: 



Some things, indeed, are not seen in daylight, though they produce 

 sensation in the dark: as for example the things of fiery and glittering 

 appearance for which there is no distinguishing name, like fungus 

 (mukes) horn (keras) and the head scales and eyes of fishes. But in 

 no one of these cases is the proper color seen. Why these objects are 

 seen must be discussed elsewhere. ^^ 



*" See L. Moule, Etudes zoologique et zootechniques dans la litterature et dans I'Art. 

 La faune d'Homere, Mem. Soc. Zool. de France 22: 183-233, 1909. 



^° A similar idea is expressed in Aristotle's De coloribus of the Opuscula: " some 

 things though they are not in their nature fire nor any species of fire, yet seem to 

 produce light." Further discussion of such phosphorescent objects was not made by 

 Aristotle but his commentators have presented their views. Sosigenes (fl. second 

 century a. d.) , teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias, held (in De visu 3) that lumi- 

 nescences gently illuminate the air around them, not enough to render objects clearly 



