126 History of Luminescence 



claimed by the alchemists, especially that fire was the great " opener 

 of bodies " and " improves their vertues." In The Sceptical Chymist 

 (1661) , his plea for concise definition of chemical terms, with argu- 

 ment against both the " Hermetick philosophers " and the " vulgar 

 spagyrists," Boyle wrote (1680 ed.: 344) : 



The shyning property of the tayles of glowworms does survive but so 

 short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that inquisitive 

 men have not scrupled publickly to divide Baptista Porta and others; 

 who, deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises, have ventured to 

 describe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of Glowwormes, as 

 a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. 



Boyle's principal luminescence studies began with diamonds, 

 extended to shining wood, fish, and flesh, and ended with the 

 element phosphorus. All these luminous materials are dealt with 

 more fully in later chapters, but it will not be amiss to point out 

 some of his more unusual observations. Boyle was probably the 

 first to describe phosphorescence, thermoluminescence, electrolumi- 

 nescence, and triboluminescence in a single substance, a diamond. 

 He had noted in 1662 that certain varieties had not only the proper- 

 ties of a phosphor when exposed to candle light, but that if heated 

 slightly or if made electrical by rubbing on woolen cloths, they 

 would shine for a little while in the dark. He knew that diamonds 

 glowed when broken, and recorded (1663) that one of the King's 

 diamonds would shine after " one brisk stroke of a bodkin." *^ 



His studies on the influence of a vacuum on various phenomena 

 led to the testing of " shining fish " and " shining wood " in vacua 

 and the famous comparison of shining wood with a glowing coal. 

 These experiments, described in Chapter XIV, are truly classical 

 and have been quoted by the great majority of subsequent writers. 



There is evidence that Boyle observed meat and fish to be lumi- 

 nous at least five years before publication in the Royal Society 

 Transactions (1667) . His interest in the preservation of anatomical 

 material led to the suggestion of spirit of wine for the purpose to a 

 Mr. Croune, who exhibited two dog embryos preserved in this liquid 

 at a Royal Society meeting on May 28, 1662. In June, 1663, Boyle 

 expressed his ideas on the advantages of alcohol: 



For this Liquor being very limpid, and not greasy, leaves a clear pros- 

 pect of the Bodies immers'd in it; and though it do not fret them, as 

 Brine and other sharp things commonly employ'd to preserve Flesh 

 are wont to do, yet it hath a notable Balsamick Faculty, and powerfully 

 resists Putrefaction, not onely in living Bodies . . . but also in dead 



*^ Works of Boyle. 2nd ed., 5: 29. 1772. 



