434 History of Luminescence 



visiting the Hen-Roosts, and the pigeon-House, and got some small mat- 

 ters thence also; I emptied the Guts of Fish, in order to get their Excre- 

 ments, and had a little Phosphorus from these, but none from the Fisches 

 themselves. 



He also tried vegetables, " Corn and other Fruit," but without suc- 

 cess; and also coal and minerals, and wished he had a sufficient 

 supply of glowworms " which seem to have Phosphorus lodged in 

 their Bodies." 



Hanckewitz (1733) expressed his idea of the composition of phos- 

 phorus in the peculiar phraseology of the time. He wrote: 



It is my Opinion, that Phosphorus doth not naturally exist in Animals 

 by itself; but when formed out of Urine, by Means of Putrefaction and 

 Fire, its principle Contexture is found to consist of a subtile Acid con- 

 centrated by the Salt of Urine, and of a fat depurated Oil. . . . 



The Phlogistic Part is so slightly connected with the other Principles, 

 that the least Motion, Friction or Warmth, sets it on fire. . . . 



Phosphorus may be called an urinous Sapo or Soap, as it consists of 

 the saline and oleaginous Parts of the Urine: But Phosphorus is not to 

 be got in so great Plenty out of Urine alone, as when the Faeces Alvinae 

 are elixerated along with it, and then brought to a Magma fit for 

 distillation: . . . 



The solubility of phosphorus in non-aqueous solvents aroused 

 considerable interest. One of these alluded to by Hanckewitz, was 

 " spiritus vini aethericus," or ethyl ether, prepared by Frobenius 

 some years before.^* The demonstration was made before the Royal 

 Society in 1731 and described by Cromwell Mortimer (1733) , who 

 wrote: " He [Frobenius] took a solution of Phosphorus in the 

 Aetherial Spirit of Wine, which he called Liquor Luminosus, and 

 pour'd it into a Tub of warm Water; whereupon it gave a blue 

 Flame and Smoak, attended with so small a Degree of Heat, as not 

 to burn the Hand, if put into it." 



Frobenius also demonstrated the light which could be obtained 

 from stick phosphorus, when burned under a bell jar, described by 

 Mortimer as " a very pompous Machine which he calls Machina 

 Frobeniana." The demonstration was only one of many on phos- 

 phorus performed before the Royal Society, but was apparently on 

 a grand scale, as Hanckewitz (1733) devoted some space to it and 

 Mortimer alluded to it again in discussing the heat of animals 

 (1745). 



The production of phosphorus in England must have been highly 

 successful because the English preparation gained great renown on 



i*See Frobenius, Phil. Trans. 36:288. 1730. 



