Chemiluminescence 429 



to the light of a Fire or a Candle; as in divers parts of Scotland and 

 Ireland is well known to the Fishermen, who get much profit by this 

 resort. ..." He also pointed out that phosphorus might be used 



to shew the hour of the night when one wakes [or as a] guide knowable 

 at a good distance off in spite of tempestuous Winds and great Showers, 

 and this in the darkest night. Divers ludicrous Experiments, very pleas- 

 ing and surprising, may be made with the Noctiluca, by him that has 

 enough of it. But these trifles, though very pretty in their Kind, I 

 purposely pass over. ... In the mean while I shall only intimate, that 

 probably the utilities that so Subtle and Noble a Substance may be 

 brought to afford in Mediciyie, may be more considerable than any of 

 its other particular uses; . . . and [may] be found conducive to discover 

 the nature of so Noble a Subject, as Light . . . the first Corporeal thing 

 the great Creator of the Universe was pleased to make . . . and to alot 

 the whole first day to the Creation of Light alone, without associating 

 with it in that Honour, any other Corporeal thing. 



The next section dealt with Mr. Boyle's thirty-two " Observations 

 about the Aerial Noctiluca." There Avas also a final section on the 

 method of preparation. An explanation of the origin or the cause 

 of the continuous light, much the most lasting of all the phosphors 

 known at the time, would have been most revealing, but Boyle 

 specifically stated that he would merely describe experiments and 

 reserve interpretation. He did incline " to think, that, to speak in a 

 general way, the Light of our Noctiluca depends upon a peculiar 

 and very brisk agitation of some minute particles of the shining 

 matter, in point of bulk, shape, and contexture, peculiarly fitted to 

 impel the contiguous aether to the bottom of our eyes. . . ." 



In Observations 4 to 10, Boyle explained how he could obtain no 

 light from the aerial noctiluca by shaking but when the vessel was 

 unstopt a light or flame (Boyle could not tell which) appeared 

 inside, beginning where the outer air touched the noctiluca and 

 then progressed from top to bottom of the vessel. The various phe- 

 nomena seemed " to favor the conjecture or suspicion I lately pro- 

 pos'd, about the interest of the air in our unburning flame." Boyle 

 then speculated " that the admitted Air, either by some subtle Salt 

 that it contain'd, or upon some such account excited in the fumes, 

 it mingled with, a kind of Fermentation, or (if you please) a Com- 

 motion, by which means the matter acquired so brisk an agitation, 

 as to propagate the motion to the eye, and there make an impression, 

 the sense whereof we call Light. . . ." The chief objection to this 

 view was that the Constant Noctiluca remained luminous even when 

 in a stoppered vessel, just like rotten wood or fish or " the liquor 

 of Glow-worms, taken out after they are dead." However, Boyle 



