PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 48^ 



Concerning the noctiluca or phosphorus of Dr. Kunckel,* I suppose you may 

 before this have received some account, but whether you have heard of his pills 

 which he calls miraculous, I much doubt : I thought therefore it might not be 

 unacceptable to you to receive this following account of them. This chemist. 

 Dr. Kunckel, prepares out of the same condensed light, which by his skill he 

 knows how to extract out of any kind of terrestrial body whatever, as if it were 

 there naturally placed, certain pills about the size of peas, to which he ascribes 

 very strange comforting and medicinal virtues ; these being moistened a little, 

 and in the dark scraped with one's nail, or a knife, or the like, do yield a very 

 considerable light, with a smoke also ; but they afford a light yet much more 

 pleasant and strange, if about 8 or 10 of them be put into a glass of water, and 

 therewith shook in the dark ; for thereby all the water and the cavity of the 

 glass will seem perfectly filled with light, flashing by turns very briskly. Dr.. 

 Kunckel has also reduced the same lucid matter into the form of larger stones, 



• John Kunckel, one of the most celebrated chemists of the 17th century, was a native of HoU 

 stein, and was bom in l630. After being instructed in pharmacy, he turned his attention to metal- 

 lurgy, glass-making, and other branches of technical chemistry. Having seen a specimen of phos- 

 phorus that had been made by a German chemist named Brandt, he determined to prepare some 

 himself, though Brandt kept the process a secret. It was known, however, that the last mentioned 

 chemist had long been busied in making experiments on urine 5 accordingly Kunckel conjectured that 

 it was from this excretory fluid that the phosphorus was extracted. Though he repeatedly failed, he 

 still persevered, and after 4 years labour he succeeded in accomplishing his object. In his situation 

 as director of the glass works near Potsdam, he had excellent opportunities of trying experiments on 

 the coloration of glass, and accordingly brought the method of making ruby-glass to great perfection. 

 He manufactured large quantities of it, which he sold (as Lewis mentions in his Coramercium 

 Philosophico-technicum) for about 40 shillings an ounce. A chalice of this ruby-coloured glass 

 which he made for the Elector of Cologne, weighed not less than 24!bs, was a fiiU inch thick, and 

 of an uniform fine colour throughout. The principal tinging material which he employed for this 

 purpose appears to have been Cassius's precipitate of gold. He hints, however, that he used other 

 additions 5 that much depends on the degree and continuance of the fire j that a smoky flame often 

 ser\-ed to heighten tlie colour ; and tliat the process after all frequently failed. Kunckel's practical 

 knowledge in this and otlier chemical arts led him to be employed at different times in the ser\-ice of 

 the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, and of the King of Sweden j by which sovereign he was 

 ennobled, with the title Von Lowenstem. The exact time of his death is not recorded j but he was 

 known to be living when he was between 60 and 70 years of age. His observations on phosphorus; 

 on the art of making glass j on acid and urinous salts, &c. besides his work entitled Laboratorium 

 Chemicum, were written in German; but have been translated into Latin and other languages. 



Among foreigners, Kunckel is entitled to the discovery (equally with Brandt) of preparing phos- 

 phorus from urine ; but from the papers deposited by Mr. Boyle with the secretaries of the Royal 

 Society and opened after his death, it would appear that this indefatigable experimenter, our country- 

 man, had found out the method of obtaining this curious product sometime before. This circum- 

 stance we shall barely mention here, postponing tlie further consideration of it until we come to that 

 part of the Transactions coataining^ Mr. Boyle's communication on this subject.. 



VOL. II. 3 I^ 



