50 History of Luminescence 



by the Dominican monk, Thomas of Cantimpre or Th. Canti- 

 pratanus (fl. mid- 1200) ; or the vast Speculum Naturale (written 

 about 1250 and published in 1473) by the Dominican, Vincent of 

 Beauvais " (ca. 1190-1264); or the Opus Naturarum of another 

 Dominican, Albertus Magnus, teacher of Thomas Aquinas (1225- 

 1274) . The works of Roger Bacon (ca. 1214-1294) , despite his con- 

 sideration of chemical matters and his adoption of the methods of 

 experimental science, appear to contain but few passages that might 

 be interpreted as a reference to luminescence.^^ These passages are 

 discussed in footnotes, leaving the contributions of Albertus Magnus 

 to serve as a sample of the thought of this period. 



Albertus Magnus (Albrecht von Bollstadt) , chiefly responsible 

 for reconciling Aristotelian teaching with the laws of the church, 

 may be taken as an example of the group. He was the foremost 

 naturalist of the Middle Ages, with interests that covered every field. 

 His scientific work, much of it a commentary on Aristotle, was 

 written between 1245 and 1260 and appeared in book form early 

 in the history of printing. De Mirabilis Mundi was published at 

 Venice in 1472, De Mineralibus at Padua (1474) , De Animalibus 

 at Rome (1478), De Anima at Venice (1481), De Meteoris and 

 Physica 2it Venice (1488). Albertus (1193 or 1206-1280) carried out 

 most of his scholarly work at Cologne. 



His remarks on luminescence are scattered in various writings 

 but deal mostly with the light of animals. In the chief zoological 



The glowworm was included (Book XVIII, Sec. 77) , with the following description 

 taken from H. W. Seager, Natural history in Shakespeare's time, 1896: 



" The Glowworm is a little beast, with feet and with wings, and is therefore some- 

 time accounted among volatiles, and he shineth in darkness as a candle, and namely 

 about the hinder parts, and is foul and dark in full light. And infecteth and smiteth 

 his hand that him toucheth. And though he be unseen in light, yet he fleeth light, 

 and hateth it, and goeth only by night." 



^^ Ehrenberg (1834: 416) could find nothing on sea luminescence in the Speculum, 

 despite its encyclopedic character. However, Vincent did describe the firefly in 

 Liber 21 of Speculum naturale (Argentorati, 1472), Section 126, " De cincendela et 

 cimice et castro," as follows: " Isodorus. Cicendela is a genus of beetles, said to shine 

 walking or flying. From the book concerning the things of nature, cicendela is a 

 worm, in Italy flying by night: in darkness of night emitting gleams, so that if you 

 see it at night you tliink it is a bright vapor." Vincent's account, like that of Albertus, 

 gives only the most elementary facts concerning luminous beetles. 



^^ In The Myrrour of Alchimy, composed by the thrice famous and learned Fryer, 

 Roger Bacon etc., London, 1597, there is a description of a stone which by working 

 often changes color— black, red citrine, green, and " afterwards true whiteness fol- 

 loweth. Whereof one sayeth: When it hath bin decocted pure and clean, that it 

 shineth like the eyes of fishes, then are wee to expect his utilities and by that time 

 the stone is congealed rounde " (Chap VI, p. 12) . The shining probably refers to 

 reflection of light although the description might apply to the Bolognian stone, 

 discovered in 1603. 



