44 NATUKAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



which have been asserted to show phosphorescence are all of brilliant red, 

 orange, or yellow colours — the marigold, orange lily, scarlet poppy, sun- 

 flower, nasturtium, and Indian pink. It has been said by those who have 

 not been fortunate enough to see the phenomenon, that the asserted lumi- 

 nosity was the result of a peculiar effect upon the eye of the observer, 

 arising from the brilliancy of the blossoms ; but if the phenomenon 

 were looked for in twilight and on dark nights, at which time it is 

 stated to have occurred, it is difficult to conceive how the colours of the 

 petals could so greatly influence the eye; and knowing the remarkable 

 evolution of heat which occurs during the flowering of plants, and the 

 peculiar electrical conditions of the flower, the facility with which red 

 petals absorb solar rays, and that phosphorescence from insolation 

 occurs in several organised structures, it appears unphilosophical to 

 disbelieve in or deny the possibility of the occurrence, because it may 

 be of an extraordinary nature, and rarely met with. Luminosity has 

 been not un frequently observed in peat ; the appearance is quaintly 

 alluded to by Plot,* as known in Staffordshire, in his well-known work, 

 the history of that county, published in 1686. Speaking of certain clays, 

 he says: " I pass them over, and proceed to another black, moist, and 

 rotten sort of earth, that lyes just under the turf in heathy places, where 

 as I was seriously told by the "Worshipful and most ingenious Charles 

 Cotton, Esq., and others, that if one ride in a dark night in so wet a season 

 that a horse breaks through the turf, and throws up this black, moist, 

 spungy sort of earth, he seems to fling up so much fire, which lyes 

 shining upon the ground like so many embers, by the light whereof 

 one horse may trace another, though at some distance, and it be never 

 so dark ; it continuing light upon the ground, and being gradually 

 dying away, for near a quarter of an hour. To which," says he, " let me 

 add another agreeable relation, whereof I was informed by that worthy 

 Loyal Gent., Captain Tho. Lane, Esq., of Bentley, who, endeavouring 

 to help a friend and kinsman of his (one Mr. Jones), who casually 

 fell into a ditch in Bescot grounds in the night time, and having 

 stirred the mud and dirt pretty much in performing that good 

 office, they presently found their gloves, bridles, and horses, as far as 

 the water or dirt had touched them, all in a kind of faint flame, much 

 like that (as he described it) of burnt brandy, which continued upon 

 them for a mile's riding." The phosphorescence of turf in the bogs in 

 the western parts of the county of Cork was investigated by G. J. All- 

 man, and its cause, as will be shortly mentioned, ascertained to be a 

 small annelid. No reference is made upon this occasion to the lights 

 often observed in bogs, and other similar situations, caused by the evo- 

 lution of spontaneously inflammable gases. 



Passing from the vegetable to the animal kingdom, we shall find that 

 light is emitted from animal bodies under two different conditions, 

 during life as a vital act, and after death. Taking up the consideration 



* " The Natural History of Staffordshire," by Robert Plot, LL. D. 1686, 



