542 History of Luminescence 



Jiihling has recorded many of the folk-remedies in his Die Tiere in 

 deutsches Volksmedezin alter und neuer Zeit (1900) . 



Later in the seventeenth century accounts of travelers appeared, 

 recording observation of fireflies in different parts of the world, but 

 little was added to scientific knowledge of light production. Among 

 those men, whose quaint description of " the sparks of fire " make 

 interesting reading, John Evelyn (1645) , de Flacourt (1658) , John 

 Josselyn (1673) , Thomas Ash (1682) , and Lionel Wafer (1699) 

 should be mentioned. 



THE GLOWWORM OF ENGLAND 



In England the glowworm was described in some detail by a 

 number of writers— Henry Power (1664), John Templar (1671), 

 and Richard Waller (1685) . Waller published a very fine drawing 

 in the Phil. Trans, reproduced as figure 41. Robert Plot (1684) 

 discussed ^ the question of light after death and John Ray ® in corre- 

 spondence of 1692 took up the relation between "ye flying and 

 creeping Glowworms," citing the experience of a neighbor who had 

 seen " a flying Glow-worm, though it does not shine " couple with a 

 creeping glowworm, and quoting Vintimillia's observation. Ray 

 wrote: " I know no other way [to explain the winged and wingless 

 varieties] but by supposing that there are two sorts of flying Glow- 

 worms, the one whereof hath both sexes flying, and the other is the 

 male of the creeping Glow-worm." Ray was quite correct. Sir T. P. 

 Blount, in his Natural History (London, 1693) also discussed the 

 flying and creeping variety, disagreeing with Ray, and held that the 

 light was " a Lantern to the Insect in catching its Prey, and to direct 

 its Course by in the Night. . . ." 



However, the most important observation on glowworms was 

 made by Robert Boyle. At the time (1667) he studied the behavior 

 of shining wood and fish in a vacuum, Boyle also wished to test the 

 glowworm, but none were then available. A few years later the 

 experiment was carried out and the results appeared in Tracts touch- 

 ing the Relation betwixt Flame and Air, published in 1671. Boyle's 

 motive was to learn more about the " Flamma Vitalis " of animals 

 in relation to air, for he introduced his experiment with the expla- 

 nation: ^ 



^ In the Philosophical Society of Oxford, formed in 1651. The minutes have been 

 published by R. W. T. Gunther. Early science in Oxford 4, 1925. 



« Correspondence of John Ray, edited by R .W. T. Gunther, 209, 228, London, Ray 

 Society, 1928. The glowworm is also treated in Ray's Historia insectorum (1710) and 

 in J. Swammerdam's Biblia natnrae sen historia insectorum (1747) . 



'T. Birch, Works of Boyle 3: 587-588, 1772. 



