426 History of Luminescence 



The first publication on phosphorus, written in 1676 by George 

 Kaspar Kirchmaier (1635-1700) , professor of eloquence at the Uni- 

 versity of Wittenberg, was undoubtedly at Kunckel's suggestion, de- 

 signed to popularize the material. It was entitled Noctiluca Con- 

 stans et per Vices Fulgurans, etc. and was followed by a longer 

 article in 1680, De Phosphoris et Natura Lucis nee non de Igne (see 

 title page in figure 36) , giving all that was known concerning phos- 

 phorus and recounting his own ideas on fire and light. 



One of Kunckel's contributions was to cast the phosphorus in 

 little molds such as are sometimes used today. Priestley (1772: 585) 

 wrote: 



Kunckel formed his phosphorus into a kind of pills, about the size of 

 peas, which, being moistened a little, and scraped in the dark, yielded a 

 very considerable light, but not without smoke. The light was much 

 more pleasing when eight or ten of these pills were put into a glass of 

 water; for being shaken in the dark, the whole glass seemed to be filled 

 with light. Kunckel also reduced his phosphorus into the form of larger 

 stones, which being warmed by a person's hand, and rubbed upon paper, 

 would describe letters that were very legible in the dark. 



A complete account of Kunckel's work will be found in his Lahora- 

 torium Chymicum, which appeared in 1716, well after his death. 



Advertisement of the new material was largely due to Krafft. 

 Around 1677 he exhibited his " Kalte Feuer " or " immerwahrende 

 Feuer " to various royal persons, including Charles II of England. 

 Robert Boyle saw ^ the material but did not know its method of 

 preparation, except that it came from some constituent of the human 

 body. Boyle immediately set to work to prepare phosphorus and 

 succeeded so well that on October 14, 1680, he deposited a sealed 

 paper with the Secretary of the Royal Society giving the method 

 of preparation. It was published (Boyle, 1692-1693) two years after 

 his death in 1691, and gives very detailed directions. Boyle pub- 

 lished two booklets on phosphorus, which will be discussed later. 



In the meantime (1678) , Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz (1646- 

 1716) , then librarian at the Court of Hanover, drew up a contract 

 between Duke Johann Friedrich and Brand involving payment for 

 the secret and for any new developments concerning the cold fire. 

 As a result Leibnitz was able to prepare phosphorus himself and 

 sent a specimen to Christian Huygens in Paris. Later the secret of 

 preparation was sent by Leibnitz to Count Ehrenfried Walter von 



'' According to Hooke's Cutler Lectures, the demonstration took place in the evening 

 of September 15, 1677 and Mr. Krafft is referred to as " the artist." At this time it 

 was suggested that luminescence of the material might be tested in a vacuum but 

 Mr. Krafft did not offer to have the trial made. 



