190 History of Luminescence 



luminous insects have inspired the poet and intrigued the prose 

 writer up to the present day. At first regarded as a dirty worm or 

 an insignificant source of illumination, the glowworm of eighteenth- 

 century poets had ceased to be a foul creature. Instead, the poems 

 stress the light that guides as dusk gives way to night, or compares 

 the glow to light in lovers' eyes. 



The beauties of a phosphorescent sea were also extolled by such 

 eighteenth-century writers as William Falconer (1735-1769) , George 

 Crabbe (1754-1832) , S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834) , and many others 

 (see Chapter XV) , but far less attention was paid to the many more 

 unusual types of luminescence known to the eighteenth-century 

 chemist and physicist. 



An early notice of phosphorescence in prose literature was made 

 by Joseph Addison (1672-1719), who wrote: "Of lambent flame 

 you have whole sheets in a handful of phosphor." In poetry, the 

 allusion is mostly to dark places, as in Edmund (1700) , an epic 

 poem by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711): "No light was there 

 but what the phosphors raise." The personal touch was introduced 

 by John Keats (1795-1821) in Lamia (1819) , when he wrote: 



Her eyes in torture fix'd, and anguish drear . . . 

 Flashed phosphor and sharp sparks. 



Because of Goethe's (1749-1832) early interest in light and color- 

 he published Betrdge zur Optik (2 parts) in 1791-1792, and Zur 

 Farbenlehre in 1810— one might expect references to luminescence 

 in his poetry and prose, at least frequent mention of phosphors, 

 with which he was concerned in the 1780's and 1790's (see Chapter 

 VIII) . However, a check in various word indices to Goethe's works 

 has revealed no Johanniswiirmer and very little on luminescence. 

 " Leuchtamiesen," translated as " firefly-emmets, " is used in Faust 

 in describing (Part II, Act I) the gnomes: "** 



In massy garb with lantern bright. 

 They move commingling, brisk and light. 

 Each working on his separate ground. 

 Like firefly-emmets swarming round. 



A few luminous ants have been reported, probably infected with 

 luminous bacteria, but Goethe undoubtedly wished to imply a com- 

 bination of luminescence and industrious behavior. 



The word " phosphor " occurs only once in Faust. In the second 

 part. Act V (not finished until 1831) , Mephistopheles remarks to 

 the " Stout devils, with short straight horns ": ** 



** From the English translation of Bayard Taylor (1870). Lines 5845 and 11659 of 

 the Weimar edition of Goethe's Werke (1888). 



