266 History of Luminescence 



phosphine,-^ or to electrical discharges. ^^ The English names applied 

 have been as numerous as the explanations— Kitty-with-a-wisp or 

 Kit-with-the-Candle-Stick, fetch lights, dead men's candles, corpse 

 candles or elf candles, etc., when seen near grave yards. To the 

 French they were " feux follets " and to the Germans, " Irrwisch " 

 or " Irrlicht." The author has never seen one, unless an ignis fatuus 

 is no fire at all but a whisp of vapor condensing over a marsh and 

 seen in a dim light. 



RECORDS OF IGNIS LAMBENS 



Examples of ignis lambens in classic times have already been 

 given in Chapter I, the most quoted being the flames that appeared 

 about the heads of Julus (Ascanius) , of Servius Tullius, and of 

 L. Marius; flame from the unbridled horse of Tiberius; and the 

 legend of Alexander the Great of whom it was said he emitted sparks 

 in battle. Thomas Bartholin (1647) collected many records from 

 the nobility, cited in Chapter IV of this book. 



Other examples of ignis lambens were reported in a treatise De 

 Igne Lambente (Verona, 1642) , by Ezechiel (later Petrus) di Castro, 

 a physician of Verona; in De Ignis Lambentibus (Jena, 1686) , a 

 Disputatio Physica, by J. C. Vulpius; and in a paper in the Ephe- 

 merides Naturae Curiosum for 1733—" De Rariore Ignis Lambentis 

 Specie "—written by " Eugenianus I." 



The Ignis Lambens of di Castro, an octavo book of 198 pages, 

 dealt with more than the " licking fires " its author had observed in 

 medical practice. He began with a general discussion of the three 

 kinds of fire, recounted the famous historical cases of ignis lambens, 

 and referred to the various luminescences of animals and plants. 

 However, di Castro is most quoted for his luminous matron of 

 Verona, who appeared not only in Bartholin's famous book (1647) 

 but in most later accounts of strange light connected with human 

 beings. 



The " Disputatio Physica " of Vulpius, De Ignis Lambentibus 

 (1686) was a really comprehensive compilation (32 pages) of the 

 records of ignis lambens, going back to classic times. Its title is re- 

 produced as figure 21. The observations and opinions of over sixty 

 eminent commentators on the subject are given, including writers 

 up to the latter part of the seventeenth century. 



The light from combing human hair was often recorded. Light 

 from the hair of horses, cats, dogs, and other animals, when stroked 



"^ Phosphine is not known as a decomposition product of organic matter. 

 ^* An account related by J. Priestley in his book on Electricity (1769:294), quoted 

 in the next section. 



