Shining Fish, Flesh, and Wood 475 



Later Beal (1676) wrote on luminous meat in Volume 11 of the 

 Phil. Trans. " Two Instances of Something Remarkable in Shining 

 Flesh." Beal referred to some luminous beef, previously observed in 

 the Strand in London. He then described the experience of a 

 " Woman of this Town " who brought a " Neck of Veal " on Friday, 

 February 25, 1675, and hung it on a shelf in the bedroom. 



Upon the following Saturday, about 9 in the night, the Neck of Veal 

 shined so bright, that it did put the Woman into a great affrightment. 

 She calls up her Husband; he hastens to the Light, as fearing fire and 

 flames, and seeing the light come only from the flesh, he caught the 

 flesh in his left hand, and beat it with his right hand, as endeavouring to 

 extinguish the flame, but without effect. The flesh shined as much, if not 

 more, than before, and his hand, with which he did beat the flesh, 

 became all in a flame, as bright, and vivid, as the Flesh of the Veal was, 

 and so it continued, whilst he went from place to place, shewing it to 

 others. Then he thrusts his blazing hand into a pail of pure water; this 

 could not extinguish the flame at all, but his hand shined through the 

 water: at last he took a napkin, and wiped his hand, till he wiped off 

 all the Light. 



Beal then described a similar experience of his own with some 

 pork which had been pickled. He emphasized the brightness of 

 the light, yet there was no heat to be perceived even by " young 

 children which have the tenderest touch." Beal had no explanation 

 of the origin of the light except to compare it with other lumines- 

 cences, such as Auzout's worms and Boyle's diamond. He had heard 

 of " some Dews on Meadows shining in the early morning, before 

 daylight," and had " read in our Chronicles, That in England, for 

 many days together, there had been a fiery incalescence, with light, 

 as if all the air had been in a flame. Thus we have flaming Air and 

 flaming Water, in Seas, in Clouds, and in Pickle; yet not so frequent 

 as to escape always the Suspicion of being Prodigies." Beal ended 

 by noting that at the time his pork became luminous, the stars had 

 been brighter and larger than ordinary and the weather had been 

 more gentle and warm than usual, " but tis above my skill to demon- 

 strate, how this belongs to the matter in hand." 



Beal and Boyle evidently had considerable correspondence. In a 

 letter from Beal written February 1, 1680,^^ to Boyle's secretary, 

 thanking Boyle for a sample of the " aerial noctiluca," Beal de- 

 scribed his experience with luminous lobster -" shells " shining 



i» T. Birch, Works of Boyle 4: 440-441, 1772. 



=° Charles Dickens (1812-1870) may have heard of this kind of phosphorescence 

 from Beal's letters; at least he alluded to luminous lobsters in A Christmas carol 

 (Chapter I, 1843) . Dickens related how Scrooge, returning home one evening, saw on 



