80 History of Luminescence 



drank in wine make the use of lust not only irksome but loathsome, as 

 Benedictus ^^ saith; the same also Gilhertiis ^° an English Physician, 

 Albertus,^^ Nicolaus,^^ Florentines, ^"^ and Rhasis ^^ do confidently affirm. 

 It were worthily wisht therefore that that unclean sort of Letchers were 

 with the frequent taking of these in Potion disabled, who spare neither 

 wife, widow nor maid, but defile themselves with lust not fit to be men- 

 tioned. Rhasis saith that the Glow-worms are very good for the stone, if 

 beaten with oil, and therewith the place having the hair dipt off, be 

 anointed, which will never suffer it to grow afterwards. Bairus. If they 

 be beaten and put behinde the ears, they will divert and evacuate all 

 Rhumes ^* falling into the eyes and teeth. Anonytmis. 



Liquor Lucidus 



Beliefs concerning the firefly before 1600 should not be dismissed 

 without an account of a miraculous liquid, " liquor lucidus," or 

 " liquor cicindelarum," allegedly prepared from flying or creeping 

 glowworms. The story of its existence and preparation goes back 

 at least to Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) and undoubtedly had its 

 origin in the alchemy of the Dark Ages (see Chap, II) . It was 

 believed in by Paracelsus (PI493-1541) , Cardanus (1501-1576), 

 Levinus Lemnius (1505-1560),=^ Gaudentius Merula (1500-1555)^" 

 and many others. Giambattista della Porta (1541-1615) actually 

 boasted of lighting houses with the liquid in his Magia Naturalis, 

 libri IV (1558) . 



A large number of receipts, differing in detail were published. 

 The two commonest methods of preparation involved burying the 

 luminous organs in manure, or mixing them with quicksilver, with 

 or without distillation. Again Muffet has recorded the procedures 

 in his Theatre of Insects (1658) . He wrote: 



Some there are which take a great many Glow-worms, beat them 

 together, put them into a vial of glass and bury them fifteen dales in 



'•Possibly John Benedictus, a Polish physician, who wrote in 1530. 



^"William Gilbert (1540-1603) who wrote De magnete (1600). 



^^ Albertus Magnus. Theodosius (1553) also considered the matter. 



^* Although there is a comma between Nicolaus and Florentinus in Muffet's Theatre 

 of insects (1658) , he probably referred to Nicolaus Florentinus (Nicolo Falcucci, died 

 1412) who wrote Sermones medecinales (1484) . 



^^ Ar-Razi or Rasis or Razes (died 930) , an Arab physician, physicist, and alchemist, 

 who practiced at Bagdad, and traveled extensively. 



^* Rhumes, watery matter secreted by mucous membranes and supposed to cause 

 disease, now archaic. 



^^ De miraculis occultis naturae, libri IIII. Coloniae Agrippinae, 1581 (1st ed. 

 Antverpiae, 1559) . Lemnius was a physician of Zeeland, who wrote on occult matters. 



^* Merula said, " Of these glow-worms being putrified there is made a water, or a 

 liquor rather, in a vessel which will wonderfully shine in the dark " (Muffet, 1658: 

 979) . Merula is best known as a writer on Cisalpine Gaul. 



