678 LIGHT. 
more vivid by that means. The chief of Mr. Boyle’s ex¬ 
periments were made in October 1667. This philofopher 
attended to a great variety of circumftances relating to 
this curious phenomenon. Among other things he ob- 
ferved, that change of air was not neceffary to the main¬ 
tenance of this light; for it continued a long time when a 
piece of the wood was put into a very fmall glafs, herme¬ 
tically fealed; and it made no difference when this tube, 
which contained the wood, was put into an exbaufted re¬ 
ceiver. This he alfo obferved with refpect to a luminous 
fifti, which he put into water, and placed in the fame cir¬ 
cumftances. He alfo found, that the light of fiiining fifties 
had other properties in common with that of thining wood ; 
but the latter, he fays, was prefently quenched with wa¬ 
ter, fpirit of wine, a greater variety of faline mixtures, 
and other fluids. Water, however, did not quench all 
the light of fome ftiining veal on which he tried it, though 
fpirit of wine deltroyed its virtue prefently. 
'Mr. Boyle’s obfervation of light proceeding from flefli- 
meat was quite cafual. On the 15th of February 1662, 
one of his fervants was greatly alarmed with the ftiining 
of fome veal, which had been kept a few days, but had 
no bad fmell, and was in a ftate very proper for ufe. The 
fervant immediately made his matter acquainted with this 
extraordinary appearance.; and, though he was then in 
bed, he ordered it to be.immediately brought to him, and 
examined it with the greateft attention. Sufpediing that 
the ftate of the atmofphere had fome ftiare in the produc¬ 
tion of this phenomenon, he takes notice, after defcrib- 
ing the appearance, that the wind was fouth-weft and 
bluftering, the air hot for the feafon, the moon was palt 
its laft quarter, and the mercury in the barometer was at 
29-^ inches. 
Mr. Boyle was often difappointed in his experiments 
on ftiining fifties; finding that they did not always ftiine 
in the very fame circumftances, as far as he could judge, 
with others which had fliined before. At one time that 
they failed to ftiine, according to his expectations, he ob¬ 
served that the weather was variable, and not without 
fome days of froft and fnow. In general he made ufe of 
whitings, finding them the fitted: for his purpofe. In a 
difcourfe, however, upon this fubject at the Royal Society- 
in 1681, it was aflerted, that, of all fiftiy fubftances, the 
eggs of lobfters, after they had been boiled, (hone the 
brighteft. Olig. Jacobceus obferves, that, upon opening 
a fea-polypus, it was fo luminous as to ftartle feveral per- 
fons, who faw it; and he fays, that, the more putrid the fifti 
was, the more luminous it grew. The nails alfo, and the 
fingers, of the perfons who touched it, became luminous; 
and the black liquor which iflued from the animal, and 
which is its bile, (hone alfo, but with a very faint light. 
Mr. Boyle draws a minute comparifon between the light 
of burning coals and that ot ftiining wood or fifh, fliovving 
In what particulars they agree, and in what they differ. 
Among other things he obferves, that extreme cold ex- 
tinguifties the light of (hilling wood, as appeared when a 
piece of it was put into a glafs tube, and held in a frigo- 
rific mixture. He alfo found that rotten wood did not 
wafte itfelf by ftiining, and that the application of a ther¬ 
mometer to it did not difcover the lealt degree of heat. 
There is a remarkable ftieil-fifti, or worm, called Pliolas, 
which forms for itfelf holes in various kinds of ftone, See. 
That this fifti is luminous, was noticed by Pliny ; who ob¬ 
ferves, that it fnines in the mouth of the perfon who eats 
it, and, if it touch his hands or clothes, makes them lu¬ 
minous. He alfo fays that the light depends upon its 
snoifture. The light of this worm has furniftied matter for 
various obfervations and experiments; for which fee the 
article Pholas. 
Some curious obfervations on the ftiining of fome fifties, 
and the pickle in which they were immerfed, were made 
by Dr. Beale, in May 1665 ; and, had they been properly 
attended to and purfued, might have led to the difeovery 
of the caufe of this appearance. Having put fome boiled 
mackrel into water, together with fait and fweet herbs; 
when the Gook wa-s, fome time after, ftirring it, in ordep 
to take out fome of the fifties, (lie obferved, that, at the 
firft motion, the water was very luminous; and that the 
fifti ftiining through the water added much to the light 
which the water yielded. The water was of itfelf thick 
and blackifh, rather than of any other colour; and yet it 
(hined on being fiirred, and at the fame time the fifties 
appeared more luminous than the water. Wherever the 
drops of this water, after it had been (Hired, fell to the 
ground, they (hined ; and the children in the family- 
diverted themfelves with taking the drops, which were as 
broad as a filver penny, and running with them about the 
lioufe. The cook obferved, that, when (he turned up 
that fide of the fifti that was loweft, no light came from 
it; and that, when the water had fettled for fome time, it 
did not (hine at all. The day following, the water gave 
but little light, and only after a briftc agitation, though 
the fifties continued to ftiine as well from the infide as the 
cutfide, and efpecially about the throat, and fuch places 
as feemed to have been a little broken in the boiling. 
When in the light of the fun he examined, with a mi- 
crofcope, a finall piece of a fifti which had (hined very much 
the night before, he found nothing remarkable on its fur- 
face, except that he thought he perceived what he calls a 
fleam, rather dark than luminous, arifing like a very fmall 
dull from the fifh, and here and there a very fmall and al- 
moft imperceptible fparkle. Of the fparkles he had no 
doubt ; but he thought it pofiible that the (team might be 
a deception of the fight, or fome duft in the air. Finding 
the fifti to be quite dry, he moiftened it with his fpitlle; 
and then obferved that it gave a little light, though but 
for a (liort time. The fifti at that time was not fetid, nor 
yet infipid to the belt difcerning palate. Two of the 
fifties he kept two or three days longer for farther trial ; 
but, the weather being very hot, they became fetid ; and, 
contrary to his expectation, there was 110 more light pro¬ 
duced either by the agitation of the water or in the fifti. 
That the fea is fometimes luminous, efpecially when it 
is put in motion by the dafhing of oars or the beating of 
it againft a (hip, lias been obferved with admiration by a 
great number of perfons. Mr. Boyle, after reciting all 
the circumttances of this appearance, as far as he could 
colled them from the accounts of navigators ; as its being 
extended as far as the eye could reach, and at other times 
being vifible only when the water was dallied againlt fome 
other body ; that, in fome feas, this phenomenon is ac¬ 
companied by fome particular winds, but not in others ; 
and that fometimes one part of the fea will be luminous, 
when another part, not far from it, will net be fo ;—con¬ 
cludes with laying, that lie could not help fufpefting that 
tliefe odd phenomena, belonging to great maffes of water, 
were in fome meafure owing to fome cofmical law or cuf- 
tom of the terreftrial globe, or at leatt of the planetary- 
vortex. 
Father Bourzes, in his voyage to the Indies in 1704, 
took particular notice of the luminous appearance of the 
fea. The light was fometimes fo great, that he could ea- 
fily read the title of a book by it, though he was nine or 
ten feet from the furface of the water. Sometimes he 
could eafily diftinguifti, in the wake of a fliip, the parti¬ 
cles that were"luminous from thofe that were not ; and 
they appeared not to be all of the fame figure. Some of 
them were like points of light, and others fuch as ftars 
appear to the naked eye. Some of them were like globes 
of a line or two in diameter; and others as big as one’s 
head. Sometimes they formed themfelves into fquares of 
three or four inches long, and one or two broad. Some¬ 
times all thefe different figures were vifible at the fame 
time 5 and fometimes they were what he calls vortices of 
light, which at one particular time appeared and difap- 
peared immediately like flafhes of lightning. 
Nor did only the wake of the fliip produce this light; 
but fifties alfo, in fwimming, left fo luminous a track be¬ 
hind them, that both their fize and fpecies might he dif- 
tinguiflied by it. When he took fome of the water out 
of 
