73 



salt water, but that brandy immediately extin- 

 guishes it. He endeavoured to make this light 

 permanent, but none of his schemes succeeded. 



The attention of the Bolognian academicians 

 was engaged on this subject, by M. F. Marsilius, 

 in 17^4, who brought a number of these fishes, 

 and the stones in which they were enclosed, to 

 Bologna, on purpose for their examination. 



Beccarius observed, that though this fish 

 ceased to shine when it became putrid, yet that 

 in its most putrid state it would shine, and make 

 the water in which it was immersed luminous 

 when it was agitated. Galeatius and Montius 

 found that wine and vinegar extinguished this 

 light; that in common oil it continued some 

 days, but in rectified spirit of wine or urine, 

 hardly a minute. 



In order to observe in what manner this light 

 was affected by different degrees of heat, they 

 made use of a Reaumur's thermometer, and 

 found that water rendered luminous by these 

 fishes increased in light till the heat arrived to 

 45, but that it then became suddenly extinct, 

 and could not be revived again. 



In the experiments of Beccarius, a solution 

 of sea-salt increased the light of the luminous 



E 



