6 PHOSPHORESCENCE. 



ning body had passed over into the recipient. He 

 repeated the experiment with the black extract, 

 and, after applying as great a heat as he could 

 muster, he obtained a notable quantity of this 

 trange shining substance, collected it in silent 

 astonishment, studied its properties, found that it 

 was extremely inflammable, and that it possessed 

 the curious property of shining intensely in the 

 dark. 



These experiments were made in the year 1669, 

 and the luminous substance was called Phosphorus. 



Brandt immediately sent a specimen of this 

 wonderful body to Kunkel, chemist to John 

 George II., Elector of Saxony, and one of the 

 most distinguished savants of the day, but did 

 not disclose to him the secret of its preparation. 

 Knnkel, in his turn, showed it to his friend Kraft, 

 of Dresden, who found it so marvellous that he 

 proposed to set out immediately for Hamburg, and 

 endeavour to discover how this luminous substance 

 was prepared. He took two hundred dollars with 

 him, and succeeded in buying for that sum the 

 whole detail of the preparation. But Brandt only 

 delivered it on the condition that Kraft should 

 disclose it to no one. 



Kunkel, whose passion for chemistry was in- 

 tense, felt such disappointment when he learnt 

 that Kraft possessed the secret, and yet could not 

 make it known to him, that he determined to set 



