52 History of Luminescence 



Albertus is evidently atempting to explain why parts of fish emit 

 light, a point left unclarified by Aristotle (see Chap. I) . However, 

 luminescence of the shells of eggs is a novel observation. 



Albertus also mentioned ^- Pliny's birds of the Hercynian Forest 

 with luminous wings, and, described the liquid ink of the squid. 

 Sepia piscis ^^ which, " as is said, placed in a lantern and ignited 

 makes the bystanders appear like Ethiopians." Although some squid 

 eject a luminous secretion, the fact that the liquid was set on fire 

 suggests a combustible oil rather than a luminescence. 



Among questionable creatures Albertus included -* the " Stella 

 figura," a fabulous animal which is so cold that like ice, it puts out 

 fire. 



It is never seen except during heavy rains and its appearance foretells 

 fair weather to come. If it should touch a man's flesh, all his hair would 

 fall out. This animal does not breed. Neither male or female occur; 

 hence it must arise from putrefaction. At night it lights like a star. 



Whether he referred in the above passage to luminous earthworms 

 or to luminous centipedes is uncertain."^ 



These passages will give an idea of the attention paid to luminous 

 animals in the thirteenth century. In later compilations on natural 

 history, such as the Liber de Natiira Rerum, based on the works of 

 Thomas, Vincent, and Albert, the cicindela and stella figura were 

 again mentioned. One of the best known of these was Aleman, 

 Conrad von Megenberg's (1309-1378) Das Buck der Natur (1475) , 

 written about 1349-1350, probably a translation from the Latin Liber 

 de Natura Renim. The glowworm appeared in this book,^® as well 

 as luminous stones, the chrysopasion and carbuncle. During the 

 Middle Ages the glowworm was believed to have great medicinal 

 value and was mentioned by a number of writers as a cure for vari- 

 ous ills (see Chapter III under T. Muffet) . 



Albertus devoted considerable attention to precious stones in his 

 De Minerabilis, frequently referring to the ability of the carbuncle 

 and the diamond to light in darkness. It has been held by both 

 Dufay (1735) and Heinrich (1811: 9) that Albertus knew that the 



^^ Book 23, trac. 1, cap. 24, sec. 67 of De animalibus. 



"Book 24, Sec. 113 of De animalibus. 



^* Book 26, Sec. 34 of De animalibus. 



^^ MufFet (1658: 979) recounted the story of the " Stella figura " in connection with 

 his description of luminous centipedes but believed this creature was confused with 

 a salamander. According to S. Killerman (1914) the " Stella figura " of Petrus Candidus 

 was a firefly, Luciola. 



2" See the Old German text published by F. Ffeiffer (Stuttgart, 1861), and the 

 modern German of J. H. Schulz (Griefswald, 1897) . Das Buck der Natur, is the first 

 natural history in the German language. 



