104 History of Luminescence 



forth that shining matter, as it sensed the presence of a friend or foe; 

 for when it was pinched or moved, it drew back the matter and, after a 

 little while, it brought it forth again. But especially when rather many 

 cincindelae or lampades were put together, then most of all did it dis- 

 play the proud ornament of its shining liquid, as if it were exulting in 

 the ostentatious glory of light. You would say that it was walking around 

 in order to be seen. 



Kircher then asked, " What is this light? " and referred to Aris- 

 totle's statement that " it is of the nature of smooth things to glow." 

 This explanation was rejected, for Kircher wrote: 



We, putting aside such opinions as these, say that the noctilucent Nite- 

 dula has this intrinsic and innate light, whereby it both sees and is 

 seen, by the providence of nature, for definite ends, just as decaying wood 

 and the scales of fish; and it has that inborn light from fire. For ani- 

 malcules of this sort, Vv^ithout blood, when the fiery parts and the heat 

 concentrated by nature around the place of digestion are very cold, 

 then they acquire the power necessary to make them shine. We see the 

 same thing in fish. Nature has provided for them, since they live in a 

 cold element, very hard and sticky scales and earthy parts endowed with 

 a certain fiery power to strengthen and conserve the heat of nature. But 

 in decaying wood the fiery warmth is collected at the extremities with 

 humid air.-^ 



Experiments prove that very many fish, but especially the Lucius, 

 Gabio (gudgeon) , Rana piscatrix, [Lophius], shell-fish, Crustacea, and 

 other offspring of the sea, have the power of shining in the darkness; 

 and decaying oysters, put in a dark place, pour forth so much light that, 

 because of the unknown causes of things, they can reasonably seem 

 prodigies. And there is the dactylus of the mussel family [Pholas], which 

 when rubbed with the hands scatters from itself light like sparks, as I 

 remember observing, not without wonder, under the guidance of fishers 

 and sailors, in Malta, Calabria, Sicily, and along the coasts of the Gulf 

 of Genoa. 



Kircher then discussed the possibility of making a luminous liquor 

 from the firefly to light houses as had been claimed by Porta, who 



prepared the separated liquid of the Nitedula rubbed in porphyritic 

 stone and confined under a glass for fifteen days; then he added some 

 mercury and distilled out the essence with an alembic. He [Porta] 

 thought that this when put in a glass saucer would illuminate the whole 

 house. Nonsense of nonsense. For I do not see how that liquid could 

 preserve its original purity when it had been completely changed, coagu- 

 lated, fixed, encompassed, putrified, and mixed with destructive mer- 



^^ In Mundus subterraneous (1664, 12: S 2, C 5, F 366) , Kircher held that cincindelae 

 are luminous because they come from rotten wood which is itself luminous (Quoted 

 from Sachs, Gainmerologia 209, 1665. 



