64 History of Luminescence 



Take urine and thoroughly distill it, water, air and earth will ascend 

 together, but the fire remains at the bottom. Afterwards mix all together 

 and distill again four times after this manner; and at the fourth distil- 

 lation the water will ascend first, then the air and the fire, but the earth 

 remains at the bottom. Then take the air and the fire in a separate 

 vessel, which put in a cold place, and there will be congealed certain 

 icicles, which are the element of fire. Although this congelation will 

 take place in the course of distillation, still it will do so more readily in 

 the cold. 



The " icicles " which are " elements of fire " might refer to the 

 element phosphorus, and it is interesting to note that Robert Boyle 

 used the term " Icy Noctiluca " for solid phosphorus, as distin- 

 guished from the " Aerial Noctiluca " or luminescence of phos- 

 phorus vapor. However, if Paracelsus really did discover the ele- 

 ment phosphorus, it is surprising that no greater interest was taken 

 in the find. 



Paracelsus repeated the old formula ^* for " liquor lucidus," made 

 from glowworms, described in a subsequent section, but apparently 

 paid attention to no other bioluminescences. Like alchemists of the 

 period, Paracelsus engaged in the transmutation of metals but his 

 chief claim to fame is attached to his three principles— salt, sul- 

 phur, and mercury— which greatly influenced the thinking of early 

 chemists, and were used by a number of later writers in attempting 

 to explain the properties of various phosphors. 



Andreas Libavius (died 1616) , the German physician and chemist, 

 and Rector of the Gymnasitmi at Coburg, who wrote what is often 

 considered the first textbook of chemistry, Alchemia (1595), com- 

 batted the school of Paracelsus, but his writings contain nothing 

 important on luminescence. 



Conrad Gesner and the First Book on Luminescence 



During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries knowledge of lumin- 

 otis animals was often taken from the older works which appeared 

 during the Middle Ages. For example, a modification of the early 

 encyclopedia of Bartholomaeus Angelicus {ca. 1190-1260) was pre- 

 pared by Stephen Batman (1537-1587), " Professour in Divinitie," 

 and printed in old English type. The title was Batman uppon Bar- 

 tholome his Books De Proprietatibus Rerum, newly corrected 

 enlarged and amended: etc. Profitable for all Estates, as well as for 

 the benefite of the Mind as the Bodie, London, 1582. The added 

 material in the field of natural history came from the works of 



^*Waite translation, 2:316, 1894. 



