124 History of Luminescence 



Among terrestrial animals the luminous leg of lamb of Fabricius, 

 the luminous meat of cattle, sheep, and hens mentioned by Bartholin 

 and Borellus are described. Considerable space was devoted to 

 Pliny's birds of the Hercynian Forest " which Aldrovandus and 

 Gesner took pains to refute," and finally the cincindela or lampyris 

 and the " coyouyou " of the Antilles were mentioned as examples 

 of shining insects. There is no reference to luminous scolopendrae. 



" Among plants also you will find those that display visible flames 

 during the hours of night. Famous in this respect is the root of 

 Baaras, mentioned by Josephus, and the plant, Nyctegreton of Pliny, 

 which shines at night when dried by the light of the moon for thirty 

 days." However, Rivinus and Boehme seemed skeptical of decaying 

 wood for they " will pass by in silence " the experiments of Bacon 

 and Boyle on this material. 



The article ends with a consideration of mineral luminescences, 

 which were confined to the diamond, carbuncle, and ruby, and " a 

 certain shining fossil which first began to be unearthed by the 

 chemist, Vincentius Casciorolus at Boulais in 1602 and was later 

 discovered at Topha by Kircher." 



Another thesis, presented to the medical faculty and published at 

 Frankfurt am Oder, appeared thirteen years later by Johann Chris- 

 tolph Kletwich, with Bernhard Albinus presiding. It was a pamphlet 

 of fifty-four pages entitled Disscrtatio de Phosphoro Liquido et 

 Solido (1686). The title page is reproduced as figure 11. The 

 subject matter is mostly the element phosphorus, with special men- 

 tion of Brandt, Krafft, Boyle, and Slare but with only passing refer- 

 ence to the other phosphors known at the time. 



In addition to the theses, which represent the work of younger 

 writers and were frequently mere compilations of the observations 

 of others, a number of the learned men of the latter part of the 

 century paid especial attention to luminescences in various of their 

 writings. Some reported experiments designed to help understand 

 cold light, while others presented explanations which they argued 

 were of universal applicability. All made interesting statements, 

 which reflect the diverse thinking of the age. Among them, the 

 man who deserves most to be mentioned is imdoubtedly Robert 

 Boyle. 



Robert Boyle 



Of all the distinguished group on the roster of the Royal Society 

 of London, the only member to make an extended study of lumi- 

 nous phenomena was Robert Boyle (1627-1691) , a founder of the 

 Society and a prolific contributor to its publications. Although 

 Boyle never wrote a general account of luminescences, he became 



