88 History of Luminescence 



fessor of anatomy in that city. He observed that both the lean and the 

 fat of this meat shone with a whitish kind of Hght, and also took notice 

 that some pieces of kid's flesh, which had happened to have lain in con- 

 tact with it, was luminous, as well as the fingers, and other parts of the 

 bodies of those persons who touch it. Those parts, he observed, shone 

 the most which were soft to the touch, and seemed to be transparent in 

 candle light; but where the flesh was thick and solid, or where a bone 

 was near the outside, it did not shine. 



Fabricius also quoted Aristotle, mentioning the heads, scales, and 

 eyes of fishes, fungi and Sepia, which " shine at night, sometimes to 

 no purpose, as though crushed and stifled by the aforesaid light of 

 day." He regarded them as lights similar to the innate light of the 

 eye (lumine insito) observed in animals which see at night, i. e. the 

 cat, whose eyes appear to glow in the dark, and stated that those 

 creatures which lacked the glowing eye were unable to detect objects 

 in darkness. 



The story of the luminous mutton has been repeated many times 

 by various authors but in the writings of William Harvey (1578- 

 1657) who arrived in Padua as a pupil of Fabricius about 1597, some 

 time after the event, there appears to be no reference to luminous 

 meat or any kind of luminescence. Other examples of shining flesh 

 were to receive much attention and comment in the next century. 



Superficially allied to shining meat was the luminous medusa or 

 " Pulmone marino," included in an Italian book of marvels. La 

 Miniera del Mondo, by Gio M. Bonardo and published at Venice in 

 1585. The statement is similar to that of Pliny that " the jelly-fish 

 rubbed on a stick renders it luminous, like a lighted torch." 



Su7n7nary 



Progress in the study of luminescence in the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries may be summed up in a few words. From the death of 

 Pliny to 1400, no new luminous phenomena were discovered. Dur- 

 ing the fifteenth and sixteenth centtiries, knowledge of the ancients 

 was still copied but became much better known and many of the 

 statements were confirmed by actual observation. Little progress 

 was made in rectifying mistakes or in interpretation. A number of 

 new luminous animals were discovered. The existence of the rail- 

 road worm, luminous centipedes, and the luminous elaterid beetles 

 of the New World became well established, and the sparkling of the 

 sea pen recognized. Knowledge was collected in the works of the 

 great naturalists. The diffuse phosphorescence of the sea, often 

 referred to as a " white sea " at night, was frequently described. 



