FOOT — ON ANIMAL LUMINOSITY. 45 



of the latter condition first, it will be found that posthumous luminosity 

 has no necessary connexion with any advanced putrefactive change, or 

 sometimes with any perceptible degree of it: on the contrary, the 

 evolution of light, though not absolutely incompatible with well- 

 marked putrefaction, is almost always annihilated by any great amount of 

 cadaveric decay. Posthumous luminosity has been observed in various 

 kinds of meat, especially in veal, while still apparently quite fresh ; 

 also in the flesh of fowls, fish, Crustacea, and many of the less highly 

 organized animals, and several communications on the subject were 

 made to the Royal Society during the last two centuries by the Hon. 

 R. Boyle,* Dr. T. Beal,| and Dr. Hulme.J One instance of luminosity 

 in veal may be quoted as an example of phosphorescence in dead flesh. 

 At Yeoval, in Somersetshire, a neck of veal, which seemed to be well 

 coloured, and in good condition in every respect, being killed in the 

 evening of the day before, was hung to a shelf in a little chamber. 

 The following day, in the evening (twenty-four hours after it had been 

 killed), the veal shone so bright that the woman of the house was 

 frightened. She called up her husband, who hastened to the light, 

 fearing fire, and seeing the light come only from the flesh, he caught 

 it in his left hand and struck it with his right hand, endeavouring to 

 extinguish the flame, but without effect, as the flesh shone as much as 

 before, if not more, and his hand with which he struck the veal 

 appeared all in a flame, as bright and vivid as the flesh of the veal 

 was, and so it continued as he went from place to place showing it to 

 others ; and though he thrust his blazing hand into a pail of water, 

 the flame was not extinguished, but his hand shone through the 

 water. At last he took a napkin and wiped his hand till he wiped off 

 all the light. The next day the veal was dressed, and it eat very 

 well.§ The flesh of fish is that which most frequently exhibits 

 luminosity after death ; it has been particularly noticed in the 

 whiting, herring, and mackerel, and has been stated to occur in the 

 sardine, pollock, and pilchard, and other fishes. Freshwater fish, with 

 the exception of the carp, appear seldom to exhibit this phenomenon. 

 Dr. Hulme has shown from experiments made on the post mortem 

 luminosity of fishes, that the quantity of light emitted by fish after 

 death is not in direct proportion to the degree of putrefaction, as was 

 commonly supposed, but that, on the contrary, the greater the putres- 

 cence the less is the quantity of light emitted. || Dr. Jacob has observed 

 the luminosity of a fish to be bright enough to read a book by, placed 

 near it, while as yet there was not the least putrefactive odour per- 

 ceptible.^ The phosphorescence of dead fish is imparted to the hand, 



* "Phil. Trans.," 1667, vol. ii., p. 581 ; 1672, vol. vii., p. 5108. 

 f " Phil. Trans.," 1676, vol. xi., p. 599. 

 X " Phil. Trans.," 1800, vol. xc, p. 161. 

 § Dr. J. Beal, "Phil. Trans.," 1676, vol. xi., p. 599. 

 || " PhiL.Trans.," 1800, vol. xc, p. 161. 



«[(" " Essay on Evol. of Light from Living Human Subject." Sir H. Marsh, 1842, 

 n.18. 



