The Nineteenth Century 199 



annotation, on the aurora borealis, on spontaneous light, on solar 

 phosphori, and on light from friction. The " spontaneous light " 

 section contains most of the early work on phosphorescence of the 

 sea and " phosphoric animals. " 



The Natural Philosophy of Thomas Young was a truly valuable 

 compilation, containing not only the facts themselves, but the early 

 history of natmal science, presented in a readable yet comprehen- 

 sive manner, made possible by Young's wide interests and ability as 

 a linguist. The 'tvave theory of light held sway during most of the 

 nineteenth century as a result of the labors of Young and of Augustin 

 Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) , whose diffraction formulas were com- 

 pletely verified by experiment. Only after 1900 were corpuscular 

 theories revived, following Max Planck's concept of quanta and 

 Albert Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect by the 

 quantum principle. At the present time both views appear to be 

 acceptable. 



Prize Essays 



Like the first part of the eighteenth, the early nineteenth century 

 was characterized by the offer of numerous prizes for essays on vari- 

 ous physical, chemical, industrial, biological, and medical subjects. 

 They ranged from a re^vard of 3000 francs ($600) , offered by the 

 Society for the Encouragement of National Industry in France for 

 discovery of a metal -which is not corroded by animal and vegetable 

 juices, to one of 300 francs for an essay on the results of too rapid 

 growth, offered by the Royal Medical Society of Bordeaux. Among 

 the prizes, several were offered for essays on light and luminescence, 

 and at least three awards (to Link, Heinrich, and Dessaignes) were 

 made, and probably a fourth (to Bernoulli) . 



CHRISTOPH BERNOULLI 



The first essay, devoted entirely to bioluminescence, was by Chris- 

 toph Bernoulli (born 1782) entitled, Ueber das Leuchten des 



on mineralogy, Phosphorescentia mineralium and Lapis bononiensis include fourteen 

 authors. This would appear to be the first bibliography on luminescence not con- 

 tained in a publication specifically devoted to that subject. Many author bibliographies 

 of both eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as those of W. Englemann, the 

 Bibliotheca historico-naturalis, 17-fO-lS-f6 (Leipzig, 1846) , continued as Bibliotheca 

 zoologicae by J. V. Carus and W. Englemann (1861) , or the Select bibliography of 

 chemistry by H. C. Bolton (Smithsonian Misc. Collec. No. 850, 1893 and No. 1170, 

 1899) , or the Index to literature on spectroscopy, by Alfred Tuckermann (Smithsonian 

 Misc. Collec. No. 658, 1888) , all contain luminescence subjects grouped in the index. 



Extended literature references on biolimiinescence are included in Ehrenberg's 

 Das Leuchten des Meeres (1834) , with 436 titles, and Dittrich's Ueber das Leuchten 

 der Tiere (1888) , with 250 titles. The really compiehensive subject bibliography on 

 luminescence is a growth of the twentieth century. H. Kayser (1908) is excellent for 

 inorganic luminescences and E. N. Harvey (1952) for bioluminescences. 



