THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

-e.

PHOSPHORESCENCE.

PHOSPHORIC PHENOMENON.

OBSERVED IN THE GREENLAND SEAS BY
.V.AJOR SAB1\£ & CAPTNJ ROSS.

• (See P. 54)

PHOSPHORESCENCE

EMISSION OF LIGHT

BY

MINERALS, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS.

BY

T. L. PHIPSON, PH.D., F.C.S.,

MEMBER OP THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OP PAEIS, ETC.

LONDON:

LOVELL BEEVE & CO., HENEIETTA STEEET, COVENT GAEDEN.
1862.

[The Right of Translation is reserved.]

LONDOH :

PRINTED BY JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR,
LITTLE QUEEN STREET, W.C.

T+7

TO SIR WILLIAM SNOW HARBIS, F.R.S.,

ETC. ETC.

My dear Sir,

I have great pleasure in dedicating this Work to
you, as a souvenir of the pleasant hours passed in your
society when you last visited Paris. If it meet with a
fraction of the success which has attended your admirable
contributions to Electrical Science, I shall feel justified
in having inscribed it to you.

Believe me,

My dear Sir,

Yours very sincerely,

T. L. PHIPSON.

M36505S

PREFACE.

THE original sketch of this work appeared for the
first time in the ' Journal de Medecine et de
Pharmacologie/ of Brussels, at the commence-
ment of the year 1858. It was soon after re-
printed and published anew at Brussels and Paris.
At the same time, my original paper was repro-
duced in Belgium, without my knowledge, in the
' Eevue Populaire des Sciences/ by M. Husson,
and in France, in the ' Ami des Sciences/ a
weekly paper, edited by M. Victor Meunier.

Unknown to me, it was translated also into
German, by Dr. Muller, of Berlin, about two
months after its first appearance; and I have
since learnt that an Italian edition was expected
to appear shortly.

I was thus convinced that the subject of Phos-
phorescence deserved to be treated far more ex-

viii PREFACE.

tensively than had been done in my "brochure, — a
mere sketch, which is now out of print ; so that,
instead of republishing it with additions,, I have
completely remodelled the work, and brought
forward in the present volume every case of Phos-
phorescence which it has been in my power to
obtain (many of which have originated in my own
laboratory), after seeking for and studying the
phenomenon in the whole domain of Nature.
My attention was first called to this extremely
interesting class of natural facts by my physical
and chemical studies. They have occupied my
thoughts for some time past ; and I was the more
anxious of treating this subject in extenso, since,
up to the present day, it has been impossible to
give a satisfactory explanation of phosphoric phe-
nomena.

Phosphorescence, indeed, whether manifested
by the glowworm, the Bologna stone, a fungus,
or a falling star, is generally looked upon as an
unexplained and mysterious production of light.
I hope, nevertheless, that I have been able to ex-
tricate it a little from the obscurity in which it
has hitherto been enveloped.

In order to appreciate every circumstance con-

PREFACE. ix

nected with phosphoric phenomena, or the spon-
taneous emission of light by natural or artificial
substances, as well as by living and dead organic
bodies, these phenomena must be studied in the
whole domain of Nature — in the mineral, in the
vegetable, and in the animal world. I have there-
fore brought forward what I know on the subject,
with regard to mineral substances, and have ex-
tended my investigations to vegetables, to animals,
and to organic matter deprived of life. The phe-
nomenon of Phosphorescence will thus have been
studied simultaneously throughout Nature, and
this is, to my knowledge, the first time that the
interesting series of facts I have consigned to
these pages have been looked upon as constitu-
ting a whole.

Phosphorescent properties, although developed
to a prodigious degree in the insect world, are
found nevertheless to exist in numerous other ani-
mals, in many plants, and also in certain minerals
and chemical products. They pertain at once to
the science of chemistry and physics, as well as to
botany and physiology. Those who possess a
profound knowledge of these different branches of
natural history, can alone hope to arrive at the

x PREFACE.

cause of the varied phosphoric phenomena with
which observation has already furnished us, or to
explain these phenomena in a satisfactory manner.
A flame is always a flame, light is everywhere
light ; but it remains necessary to ascertain how
this light is produced in the different circum-
stances under which it is observed. I myself do
not pretend to have snatched from Nature the
entire secret of Phosphorescence, but I have
reasons to hope that the observations contained
in this work will prove, that, owing to the
rapid progress that natural science has made
during the present century, I have been able
to tread in a firmer path than many who have
preceded me, and that I have penetrated a little
way into the track which will conduct us finally
to the desired goal.

My work is essentially divided into four parts.
The first treats concisely of mineral phospho-
rescence ; it includes also the history of certain
meteorological manifestations of light, some of
which are extremely remarkable. In the second,
I have said what I know of the emission of light,
by plants and vegetable substances ; and have pro-
ceeded in the third division to investigate the

PREFACE. xi

phenomenon of Phosphorescence in dead animal
substances, and the emission of light by living
animals.

The fourth division comprises some historical
notes upon the subject, and the theory by which
I have endeavoured to account for the various
phenomena to which the attention of the reader
is called in the previous chapters. I have pur-
posely placed my theoretical considerations in
this section, as they will thus have a better
chance of fair appreciation than if their elements
had been dispersed throughout the work, ap-
pended to every isolated fact or experiment as
mentioned or described.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

first

PHOSPHOBESCENCE OF MINERALS.

CHAPTER

I. PHOSPHOEESCENCE AFTEB INSOLATION ... 11
II. PHOSPHOEESCENCE BY HEAT . ... 18

III. PHOSPHOBESCENCE BY CLEAVAGE, FEICTION, PEB-

CIJSSION, CEYSTALLIZATION, AND MOLECTJLAE

OB CHEMICAL CHANGE . . . .25

IV. PHOSPHOEESCENCE OF GASES . . 38
V. METEOEOLOGICAL PHOSPHOEESCENCE . ..• . 43

VI. DUBATION, INTENSITY, AND COLOTJE OF PHOS-

PHOEIC LIGHT IN MINEEAL BODIES . . 70

VII. INVISIBLE PHOSPHOEESCENCE 72

xiv CONTENTS.

Part

PHOSPHORESCENCE OF VEGETABLES.

CHAPTER

I. PHOSPHORESCENCE IN PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS . 79

II. PHOSPHORESCENCE IN CRTPTOGAMIC PLANTS AND

EMISSION OF LIGHT BY DECAYED WOOD . 88

Part SEfjirto.

PHOSPHORESCENCE OF ANIMALS.

I. EMISSION OF LIGHT BY DEAD ANIMAL MATTER . 101

II. EMISSION OF LIGHT BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS

AND PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA . . Ill

III. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE EARTH-WORM . . 126

IV. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF SCOLOPENDRA . . 131
V. PHOSPHORIC INSECTS . . . . . . 135

VI. PROBLEMATICAL CASES OF PHOSPHORESCENCE IN
SUPERIOR ANIMALS AND PHOSPHORIC PHE-
NOMENA OBSERVED IN MAN . . . .157

CONTENTS.

Part ;fF0urtfj.

HISTOEICAL, THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL
CONSIDERATIONS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. HISTOKICAL NOTES ...... 171

II. THEORY . . ". >, v> :.,: * , ~ ••; •• •- •''«. '.'* . 181

III. PRACTICAL CONSIDEEATIONS . . •*.;;, 196

APPENDIX.

LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED
TO OUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OP PHOSPHORESCENCE. 203

ON

THE PHOSPHOEESCENCE

OF NATURAL OBJECTS.

P t

INTRODUCTION.

ABOUT the latter end of the sixteenth century
there lived in a narrow, winding street of the old
town of Bologna, a certain cobbler, Vincenzo Cas-
cariolo,* who devoted much of his time to al-
chemy. Some say that he even quitted his trade,
and applied himself exclusively to chemical la-
bours, but I am inclined to doubt the fact. How-
ever cheap living might then have been in Italy,
alchemy would indeed have formed a bad substi-
tute for the last in many respects. In spite of
this, Signer Vincenzo was so bent upon making
gold, that his little workshop contained nearly all
the mysterious chemical apparatus of the day.
Phials, retorts, and crucibles found room among
awls, lasts, and leather ; and Vincenzo Cascariolo,
* Some write his name Casciarolo.

2 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

no doubt, looked upon shoe-mending as a sorry
occupation for a man initiated in the secrets of
the " sublime art/' and who might indeed have
ranked among the first adepts of his day.

Some time had elapsed since our cobbler had
set his heart upon gold-making, when, strolling
one fine Sunday evening near the little eminence
known as the Monte Paterno, about a league
from Bologna, he picked up a stone, similar to
any other stone, save perhaps in one particular,
its great weight.

The fact struck him. This stone possesses,
thought he, one of the properties of gold. Per-
haps he imagined that it contained gold which
might be extracted; or, may be, he fancied it
would be capable, from its heaviness, of trans-
forming vile or imperfect metals into gold, by im-
parting to them its characteristic property.

Cardan, Van Helmont, Libavius, and many
other distinguished alchemists, had lived before
Cascariolo's time, but I know not whether he stu-
died their works, and I doubt whether he would
have profited much by them if he had.

It is impossible to ascertain therefore what pro-
minent idea, or what kind of theory reigned in
the cobbler's mind on the discovery of this stone,
destined to become celebrated and to immortalize
his name. However, no sooner had he collected
a certain number of specimens, than he hastened

INTRODUCTION. 3

back to his little workshop, and began immedi-
ately to experimentize upon the mineral.

It appears most probable that Cascariolo looked
upon the sulphate of baryta, or heavy- spar, — for
such was the object of his curiosity, — as a metallic
ore, and supposed that by heating it with charcoal
in a hot fire, he would be able to extract a metal
— perhaps gold ! His hopes in this respect were
not realized, but he nevertheless succeeded in ob-
taining one of the most curious of substances, —
a body which, to use the words of an old physicist,
" absorbs the rays of the sun by day, to emit them
by night."

At this period there was at Bologna a well-
known alchemist, Scipio Begatello, who had ren-
dered himself remarkable by his attachment to the
art of gold-making ; and in the year 1602 the cob-
bler brought to him the product of his experiments,
showed him the substance produced by calcination
(and which he called by the mystical name of lapis
Solaris), and endeavoured to convince Begatello
that from the weight of the stone which had fur-
nished it, from its power of attracting and retain-
ing the golden light of the sun, this shining sub-
stance would doubtless be fit for converting the
more ignoble metals into gold — the sol of the al-
chemists. He showed it also to Maginus, a dis-
tinguished professor of mathematics, who, being
no adept, did not keep the matter a secret, as Be-

PHOSPHORESCENCE.

gatello seems to have done, but sent both the mi-
neral and the substance produced from it, to the
princes and learned men of the day, thereby con-
tributing more than any other person to make
known this singular discovery.

The stone discovered by Cascariolo is now
known as Barytine, or Heavy-spar (sulphate of
baryta). By heating it with charcoal he had trans-
formed it into sulphur et of barium, a substance
which has the curious property of shining in the
dark, after it has been exposed for some time to
the rays of the sun.

Many years after its discovery, the German che-
mist Marggraf found an easy and certain method
of preparing it, by making into a paste with water
a mixture of pulverized barytine and flour, and
submitting the whole to heat in a closed crucible.
The sulphuret thus produced is placed in a well-
corked glass jar, or made into stars, which shine
marvellously in the dark after they have been ex-
posed to the sun for a short time.

Such is the history of the discovery of the sub-
stance first known to be phosphorescent by inso-
lation. For many years it has been sold in the
streets of Bologna as a curiosity, under the name
of Solar Phosphorus, or the Bologna Stone. Marg-
graf showed that other minerals, other varieties of
heavy-spar, were capable of furnishing similar
"light magnets" or "luminous stones," and at

INTRODUCTION. 5

tlie present day a great number of substances are
known to possess the same singular property.

In 1663, the celebrated English chemist Robert
Boyle announced to the world that the Diamond
possessed the same luminous property as the Bo-
logna Stone ; and what we haye just told of Cas-
cariolo's labours has its parallel in the discovery
of another luminous body, far more remarkable
than either.

In the seventeenth century there lived at Ham-
burg an alchemist named Brandt, who having en-
deavoured for many years, but in vain, to convert
other metals into gold, was struck one day with
the golden colour of urine, and doubted not but
that this liquid contained some substance that
would realize his dreams. Brandt thought that by
acting upon the metals he wished to convert into
gold with a blackish extract he had prepared by
concentrating and evaporating urine, he would
certainly operate the desired transmutation. He
therefore introduced this black extract into a re-
tort with the metals in question, lighted his fur-
nace, and watched intently the progress of the
operation. The result was negative : the metals
after the experiment remained unchanged. How-
ever, one evening, after having distilled a consi-
derable quantity of urine over some metal or other,
and having pushed the distillation as far as pos-
sible, he was surprised to find that a peculiar shi-

6 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

ning body had passed over into the recipient. He
repeated the experiment with the black extract,
and, after applying as great a heat as he could
muster, he obtained a notable quantity of this
trange shining substance, collected it in silent
astonishment, studied its properties, found that it
was extremely inflammable, and that it possessed
the curious property of shining intensely in the
dark.

These experiments were made in the year 1669,
and the luminous substance was called Phosphorus.

Brandt immediately sent a specimen of this
wonderful body to Kunkel, chemist to John
George II., Elector of Saxony, and one of the
most distinguished savants of the day, but did
not disclose to him the secret of its preparation.
Knnkel, in his turn, showed it to his friend Kraft,
of Dresden, who found it so marvellous that he
proposed to set out immediately for Hamburg, and
endeavour to discover how this luminous substance
was prepared. He took two hundred dollars with
him, and succeeded in buying for that sum the
whole detail of the preparation. But Brandt only
delivered it on the condition that Kraft should
disclose it to no one.

Kunkel, whose passion for chemistry was in-
tense, felt such disappointment when he learnt
that Kraft possessed the secret, and yet could not
make it known to him, that he determined to set

INTR OD UCTION. 7

about finding it out for himself. He knew that
Brandt, who died shortly afterwards, had devoted
most of his life to experiments on urine, and he
felt convinced that phosphorus must have been
obtained from that liquid. After many and varied
experiments, quite unsuccessful, Kunkel at last
obtained (in the year 1674) the substance he sought
after so long and so obstinately.*

In the year 1675, another chemist, Baudoin,
prepared a new "phosphorus," or shining sub-
stance, by calcining nitrate of lime. Since then,
many substances which shine in the dark after ex-
posure to the sun, have been discovered. One of
the most remarkable, perhaps, is "Canton's Phos-
phorus," or sulphuret of calcium, obtained accord-
ing to the author just named ' ' by heating a mix-
ture of three parts of sifted calcined oyster- shells
with one part of sulphur to an intense heat for one
hour." It can also be prepared by calcining
plaster of Paris with common charcoal.

The peculiar and sometimes extremely vivid
phosphorescence of the sea was known in anti-
quity. Pliny speaks of it, and of the phosphores-
cence of certain Medusae. But it was not till long
afterwards that the cause of this wonderful phe-

* Some authors state that phosphorus was discovered in Eng-
land, about the same time, by Robert Boyle. In 1769, G-ahn,
the celebrated Swedish mineralogist, discovered it in bones, and
published, with the illustrious Scheele, a new process for extract-
ing it, which is similar to the one practised at the present day.

8 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

nomenon was ascertained. The names of the au-
thors of this discovery, and the dates of their in-
vestigations, are given in this work, in their pro-
per places. The same observation will apply to
those singular cases of phosphorescence which
have been observed in the vegetable kingdom,
upon flesh, decayed wood, etc.

It will be easily understood what is meant by
the term Phosphorescence, when we remind our
readers that phosphorus, which shines so curiously
in the dark, and which enters into the composition
of our common lucifer matches, is the most re-
markable of all phosphorescent bodies. The word
' ' phosphorus," which signifies a substance that
bears or emits a light, has frequently been applied
to various other substances besides the non-me-
tallic element termed phosphorus in chemistry, on
account of the property these substances possess
likewise of shining in the dark.

PART I.
MINEEAL PHOSPHOBESCENCE.

11

CHAPTER I.
PHOSPHORESCENCE AFTER INSOLATION.

SEVERAL substances manifest the strange property
of emitting light when they are placed in darkness,
after having been exposed for some time to the
direct rays of the sun. In some cases a very short
exposure to sunlight is sufficient to excite the
manifestation of this remarkable property, and in
others the direct rays of the sun are not necessary :
it suffices that the substance experimented upon
be exposed to the dull light of a cloudy day. To
this phenomenon the denomination of Phosphores-
cence after insolation has been given.

' The substances which possess this property in
the highest degree are the Bologna stone, or solar
phosphorus, certain varieties of fluor-spar and
carbonate of lime, some fossils, calcined shells or
pearls, phosphate of lime, arseniate of lime, etc.
Many diamonds shine with brilliancy in the dark
if they have previously undergone an exposure of
some seconds' duration only to solar light. But

12 PHOSPHORESCENCE

no substance surpasses in this respect sulphuret
of barium.

It is nowa long time since the cobbler of Bologna,,
in Italy, astonished and amused his friends with a
peculiar substance since known as Bologna phos-
phorus, Bologna stone, or Solar phosphorus, which
shines brightly in the dark after having been placed
in the sunlight for some time. This substance is
sulphuret of barium. The cobbler prepared it by
heating red-hot with charcoal a piece of sulphate
of baryta, or Barytine, (Fig. I,) a stone which he

Fig. 1.

picked up in the secondary strata of the Monte
Paterno, where he found it in lumps of considerable
weight.* The German chemist, Marggraf, used to
prepare solar phosphorus by powdering down the
stone, and making it into thin cakes, with a mix-
ture of flour and water, before submitting it to
calcination. This " Bologna phosphorus" was the
first substance known to become phosphorescent
after insolation, and, consequently, it has been

* Barytine is found abundantly in Derbyshire, Cumberland,
the Isle of Arran, etc. .

AFTER INSOLATION. 13

submitted to many and varied experiments. It is
best obtained by the calcination of pulverized
sulphate of baryta, made into a firm paste with
common gum. It should be preserved in a bottle
which closes hermetically with a glass stopper.

When such a bottle and its contents are ex-
posed to the rays of the sun, or even to daylight,
for a certain time, and then taken into a dark
room, the sulphuret of barium is seen to be beau-
tifully phosphorescent, or to shine like common
phosphorus, and the phenomenon will sometimes
last a whole hour. The most intense cold does not
affect this phosphorescence, and it manifests itself
precisely in the same manner whether the sulphuret
be placed in vacuo or in the air.

When nitrate of lime is melted for ten minutes
in a crucible, it leaves a residue which manifests,
to a less extent, the same phosphorescent property.
This residue, which is nothing more than pure
lime, or a mixture of lime and nitrite of lime, was
known for some time as f ' Baudouin's phosphorus"
A like phenomenon is observed with calcined
shells.

Sulphuret of calcium possesses the same phos-
phorescent qualities as the sulphuret of barium
alluded to above ; hence the former is sometimes
known as " Canton's phosphorus.33 Canton pre-
pared it by heating a mixture of three parts of
sifted calcined oyster- shells, with one part of sul-

1 4 PHOSPHORESCENCE

phur, to an intense heat for one hour.* It can
also be formed by heating gypsum with charcoal.

Some diamonds, but not all, possess the same
property, and many other substances have been ob-
served to be more or less phosphorescent in the
same circumstances, that is, after insolation. f

Landrin (Diet, de Min.) asserts that radiated
sulphate of 'baryta, certain natural fluorides, rock-
salt, amber (succinum), and quartz, become lumi-
nous for a few instants after they have been ex-
posed to the sun.

Walls that have been painted or whitewashed
with lime, are apt to become luminous at night
after they have received the action of the sun's
rays in the daytime. Whitewashed houses are,
on account of their phosphorescent quality, visible
at a great distance on the darkest nights.

It was natural enough that the action which the
coloured rays of the solar spectrum exercise upon
these substances, that become phosphorescent after
insolation, should be early investigated; and in
1775, Wilson published his ' Series of Experiments
on the Phosphori,' in which paper he asserts that
the most refrangible rays of the solar spectrum
determine a vivid phosphorescence in sulphuret
of calcium (" Canton's phosphorus''), whilst those
rays which are the least refrangible — i.e. those
situated near the red light of the spectrum — cause

* Philosophical Transactions, 1768. f See Chapter VI.

AFTER INSOLATION. 15

the phosphorescence excited by the other rays to
cease ! Bitter was also aware of this, and about
the same time Beccaria found that " the violet rays
of the spectrum are the most apt, the red rays the
least apt, to develope phosphorescence in solar
phosphori." Becquerel affirms also, from his own
experiments, that the property possessed by light
of rendering certain bodies luminous in the dark,
appears to reside — if not entirely — at least to a
great extent in the violet rays, whilst the red
rays are completely deprived of this property, a
fact noted also by Heinrich.

Biot, Arago, Daguerre, and others, have made
many researches on this subject. They have
shown, among other curious facts, that with the
invisible rays — sometimes termed chemical or ac-
tinic rays — situated underneath the luminous part
of the solar spectrum, it is possible to render a
phosphorescent body luminous, or at least visible;
whilst, when plunged in the visible rays, red, yel-
low, orange, green, etc., not only this same body
is not lighted up, but its light previously excited
by the invisible rays is extinguished.

This curious phenomenon has been admirably
investigated in England by Professor Stokes, who
has denominated it Fluorescence, and who has
shown that a considerable number of substances,
besides those known as solar phosphori, act upon
these invisible rays of the spectrum and render
them visible.

16 PHOSPHORESCENCE

Dessaignes and the elder Becquerel have re-
marked that those bodies which are good conductors
of electricity are not phosphorescent after insola-
tion. We shall have occasion to refer again to this
important fact. Biot and Becquerel have both
proved that electricity acts upon the solar phos-
phori in the same manner as insolation. An elec-
tric discharge renders them luminous in the dark
for some time after the discharge has passed (a
discovery originally made by Grothuss, and with
which both Canton and Dessaignes were familiar) ,
and they have also shown that differently-coloured
rays of light modify this action in the same man-
ner as the differently- coloured rays of the solar
spectrum. Moreover, phosphori that have lost
their phosphorescence, or that have ceased to shine
in the dark after a first insolation, recover their
luminous property when acted upon by the electric
light — an observation we owe to Grothuss and
Becquerel — and when this light is passed through
certain transparent screens, such as plates of glass,
of quartz, or different salts, it is observed that these
screens become obstacles and sometimes com-
pletely prevent any phosphorescent radiations.

Electric discharges proceeding from a battery
communicate a recognizable phosphorescence of a
longer or shorter duration, to a great number of
bodies which are bad conductors or non-conductors
of electricity. This phenomenon may be observed,

AFTER INSOLATION. 17

for instance, with sugar, dry chalk, and many
other substances.

Among bodies slightly phosphorescent after in-
solation, we may name melted potash and soda,
dry nitrate of lime, and chloride of calcium, sul-
phate of potash, sulphate of soda, arragonite, calc-
spar, dolomite, carbonate of strontia, carbonate of
baryta, different calcareous earths, phosphates of
lime, sulphate of baryta, sulphate of strontia, etc.

According to Ed. Becquerel, other substances
are phosphorescent after insolation, but in order to
observe it we must remain some time in a dark
room, and then, by means of a hole in the shutter,
expose the body experimented upon to the light,
at the same time keeping the eyes closed until the
hole in the shutter is shut again. By experiment-
ing in this manner, many substances are seen to
be phosphorescent for a few seconds after insola-
tion; amongst others numerous minerals, salts,
organic substances such as paper, gum, sugar,
teeth, etc.

Long before Becquerel, however, we find in the
article ' Phosphorus," of the ' Encyclopaedia Perth -
ensis/ it has been found "that almost all terres-
trial bodies, upon being exposed to light, will ap-
pear luminous for a little while in the dark, metals
only excepted."

18

CHAPTEE II.

PHOSPHOKESCENCE BY HEAT.

MANY substances become phosphorescent when
they are heated to a certain temperature. Such,
for instance,, are fluor-spar, lime, sulphuret of cal-
cium, diamonds, etc. They manifest their phos-
phoric qualities when, after being pulverized or
broken into small fragments, they are thrown upon
a heated surface.

Fig. 2.

Some varieties of apatite (fig. 2 — phosphate of
lime with fluoride or chloride of calcium) are
phosphorescent when heated, especially the
coarser varieties. I have proved that their phos-
phorescence is owing to the fluoride of calcium
which forms part of the mineral, for pure phos-
phate of lime does not show any phosphoric light

PHOSPHORESCENCE BY HEAT. 19

when heated ; nor do most of the so-called chlor-
apatites, which contain chloride of calcium substi-
tuted in part or wholly for the fluoride.

Of all these substances, the most remarkable
is fluor-spar (fluoride of calcium — fig. 3). When

Fig. 3.

thrown in the dark upon heated mercury, into
boiling water, or on to a hot shovel, this mineral
immediately emits a brilliant phosphoric light.
Some specimens possess this property to a greater
extent than others. A certain green variety of
fluor-spar called Chlorophane becomes phospho-
rescent at the low temperature of 20° or 25° (cen-
tigrade), which is almost that of our summers.
Rare descriptions of chlorophane become phos-
phorescent in a dark room from the mere warmth
of the hand. According to Landrin (Diet, de
Mineralogie) some varieties are almost constantly
luminous in the dark.*

* Fluoride of calcium loses its phosphoric property after it
has been once heated. Miller asserts ('Elem. of Chemistry') that
when a phosphorescent fluoride of calcium is dissolved in hydro-
chloric acid, and then precipitated by ammonia, the precipitate is

20 PHOSPHORESCENCE

Common salt (chloride of sodium) , chloride of
mercury, arsenious acid, etc., are phosphorescent
only at a temperature of about 200° (centigrade).

White flocconous oxide of zinc may be heated
to a very high temperature without melting or
volatilizing ; but whilst heated it is observed to
turn yellow, becoming white again on cooling.
Now, whilst this transformation of colour from
yellow to white is going on, the oxide of zinc is
seen to glow with a faint blue phosphoric light.
This change of colour and this emission of light,
observes Baudrimont (in his ' Traite de Chimie/
vol. ii.), seem to indicate that the oxide of zinc
undergoes what is termed an isomeric modification
(change of chemical properties) at a high tem-
perature, and returns again to its primitive state
on cooling.

Bendant affirms that a crystal of fluor-spar
which is very perfect and transparent, will not be-
come phosphorescent by heat until one of its sur-
faces has been roughened a little on a piece of
sandstone; he states also that diamonds which
have not been cut are not phosphorescent by heat,
but that they become so as soon as they are cut
or polished.

phosphorescent. This is not the case, however, if the fluoride
has been previously heated enough to destroy its phosphorescence.
Solution and precipitation have therefore no power to destroy or
to restore this curious property.

BY HEAT. 21

Almost any substance,, whether organic or mi-
neral, if a non-conductor of electricity, becomes
more or less phosphorescent when it is thrown
upon a molten bath of the easily-melting alloy of
D'Arcet. Indeed, Wedgwood published an ela-
borate paper upon this subject in the ' Philoso-
phical Transactions' for 1792. He experimented
upon an extensive variety of substances both
mineral and organic, by reducing the body to a
moderately fine powder, and sprinkling it by
small portions at a time on a thick plate of iron
heated just below visible redness, and removing
the whole to a perfectly dark place. He has given
a prodigious list of substances which appear lu-
minous for a few instants when submitted to this
treatment.

When a body which is known to be phospho-
rescent by heat loses, from some undetermined
cause, its phosphoric property, the latter can be re-
stored to it by means of electricity, as we have
seen in the foregoing chapter regarding substances
which are phosphorescent after insolation. For ex-
ample, certain diamonds which cannot be made to
give out any phosphoric radiation by heat, will do
so after one or two electric discharges have been
passed over them. This curious fact was made
known by the German savant Grothuss.

Pearsall (in ' Journal of Royal Institution/
vol. i.) has described experiments proving that a

22 PHOSPHORESCENCE

dozen electric discharges passed through non-
phosphorescent bodies such as marble, certain
varieties of apatite, etc., will give them the pro-
perty of becoming luminous by heat. On twenty-
one days of exposure to light, these substances
rendered artificially phosphorescent lost that pro-
perty again. But if kept in a dark room, they
retained it. The term "non- phosphorescent
bodies," used by Pearsall, is rather exclusive; as
phenomena of phosphorescence are so universally
spread, that scarcely any substance, if properly
experimented with, will prove to be non-phospho-
rescent in the strict sense of the word. His ob-
servation is, however, exceedingly remarkable.

Some years ago M. Schonbein showed that
metallic arsenic becomes phosphorescent when its
temperature is raised to a certain degree.* I
imagined that antimony might present the same
phenomenon, but found it was not the case.
Stibine, or native sulphuret of antimony, I found,
however, to be very phosphorescent when heated
in a crucible to a dull -red heat. The light pro-
duced is white, with a slight tinge of yellow. I
have lately observed that copper, native sulphuret
of copper, gold and silver are notably phosphores-
cent when melted on charcoal before the blow-

* The metallic arsenic is placed in a small glass globe, and
heated with a spirit-lamp. The light is emitted at the same time
that the characteristic garlic odour is developed.

BY HEAT. 23

pipe. As soon as copper is thoroughly melted (at
the inner flame), it glows with a greenish-yellow
light, similar to that of the glow-worm. On cool-
ing a little, it rapidly loses this property, and at
the same time a molecular change is observed on
the surface of the metal. I have also found that
the mineral lepidolite is as brilliantly phospho-
rescent by heat as fluor-spar. But to observe this
phenomenon properly, it should be viewed through
a piece of glass coloured blue by oxide of cobalt.
In these circumstances, the phosphoric light of
lepidolite before the blowpipe is very fine. The
blue glass extinguishes the orange-red light of
the heated charcoal.

Among organic salts it has been observed that
sulphate of quinine and sulphate of chinconine be-
come phosphorescent under the influence of heat.
M. Bottger has remarked that these salts do not
shine in the dark as long as their temperature con-
tinues to rise; they become phosphorescent only
when, after being heated, the temperature begins
to decrease and they remain in a luminous state
for some minutes whilst cooling. Pure quinine
and sulphate of quinine are very phosphorescent
in this manner : the phosphoric light given out by
sulphate of quinine whilst cooling is sufficiently
strong to enable one to read by it. Pure dncho-
nine does not appear to be phosphorescent by heat,
but sulphate of cinchonine is so, though to a less
degree than sulphate of quinine.

24 PHOSPHORESCENCE BY HEAT.

Paper is also capable of becoming luminous
when heated : fix upon a plate of copper any
characters of the same metal ; these characters
should be about two-tenths of an inch thick. At
the back of the plate fix an iron rod terminating
in a wooden handle. When the plate is heated, and
then violently pressed upon very dry paper lying
upon three or four folds of cloth, the characters
thus impressed will appear faintly luminous in the
dark until the paper is cool.

25

CHAPTER III.

PHOSPHOEESCENCE BY CLEAVAGKE, FEICTION, PEE-
CUSSION, CEYSTALLIZATION, AND MOLECULAE
OE CHEMICAL CHANGE.

IT has been observed that numerous minerals and
chemical products emit light when they are split,
i. e. during the process of cleavage ; others, by
friction ; others again, by percussion or whilst
they crystallize, etc.

When a lamina of mica, for instance, is divided
by cleavage, and the operation proceeds in a dark
room, a feeble emission of light is perceived at the
moment the separation of the two plates occurs.
Each of the two plates thus separated is found
afterwards to be electric : the one shows positive
electricity, the other negative electricity. Some-
thing similar is observed in the cleavage of feld-
spar, which, according to Landrin and some other
authors, emits a feeble light in this circumstance,
the phosphorescence lasting only a few moments.

Another instance is afforded by boracic acid.
When boracic acid is melted in a crucible and then

26 PHOSPHORESCENCE

allowed to cool, it cracks or splits up as its tem-
perature decreases, and, at the same time, emits
a feeble light. When vanadic acid is melted, it
crystallizes on cooling, and during the whole time
that this crystallization lasts, the substance glows
with a red phosphoric light. When phosphate
of lead is melted before the blowpipe, it forms a
crystalline bead on cooling, and whilst this crys-
tallization takes place light is produced. I have
frequently observed the emission of light by boracic
acid: when melted before the blowpipe, and allowed
to cool in the dark, it cracks and gives a sudden
flash of light when it has cooled for about twenty
seconds. The acid should be melted upon a pla-
tinum wire bent at the end. Berzelius thought
that this light was produced in a similar manner
to the electric radiation which is sometimes ob-
served when a card is suddenly torn asunder after
being split at one of its corners. Light is also
produced when crystals of sugar and nitrate of
uranium* are broken. And I have observed the
same to take place with lactine, or sugar of milk.
Another kind of sugar, called mannite, presents
similar phenomena. An emission of light is also
observed when crystals of protochloride of mer-
cury (sublimated calomel) are broken between the
fingers.

* The effect is very striking if crystals of nitrate of uranium be
shaken up in a bottle.

£T CLEAVAGE, ETC. 27

When chloride of calcium that has been melted
in a crucible, is rubbed upon the sleeve in a dark
room, it glows with a greenish light. This was
first observed by Homberg, hence the name of
Homberg1 8 phosphorus, by which this substance
was formerly known. It is very phosphorescent
by percussion.

Certain varieties of blend (sulphuret of zinc)
become phosphorescent by percussion and some-
times after very slight friction. Speaking of blend,
Dana says : — " Merely the rapid motion of a fea-
ther across some specimens of sulphuret of zinc,
will often elicit light more or less intense from
this mineral."* Other substances require a
stronger rubbing, for instance, quartz, flint, etc.
In the case of quartz, an odour of ozone is per-
ceived, a fact to which I called attention in the
( Comptes Rendus' of the Paris Academy, in 1860. f
Borax and sugar become luminous also in the
dark, when rubbed. Otto de Guericke observed
that the globe of sulphur with which he con-
structed the first electric machine, became lumi-
nous when he rubbed it in the dark.

Hawksbee and Picard both discovered that the

* Dana's c Mineralogy.'

f I find that it requires upwards of two hundred flashes to
produce a quantity of ozone equivalent in its effects to one drop
of nitric acid. Also, that with white quartz the light is white,
but with red quartz or calcined yellow quartz, it acquires a
crimson tint, owing to the oxide of iron in the stones.

28 PHOSPHOEESCENCE

friction of mercury in the vacuum of the baro-
meter tube produces a phosphorescent light.

When oxygen gas or air are compressed sud-
denly in a piston, heat alone is produced. The
light seen in this experiment is owing to the com-
bustion of some of the oil of the piston, as proved
by Thenard. "When the piston is imbibed with
water, no light is perceived ; and M. Saissy, of
Lyons, has proved that oxygen alone, by its com-
burent power, is the cause of this light.

If chlorate of potash, fluor-spar, feldspar, sugar,
etc. be struck in the dark, or ground down in a
mortar, they present very vivid phosphoric radia-
tions. With crystallized substances which are
cleavable, i. e. easily divided into thin laminae, this
phosphorescence is very remarkable ; with sugar,
for instance, each fissure produced by the shock of
the pestle gives birth to a streak of light which
lasts for an instant, and when a certain quantity
of any of these substances is ground down rapidly
in a mortar, the whole mass appears as if on fire.
This beautiful phenomenon is exceedingly striking
when transparent feldspar is experimented upon.
It has lately been discovered that dry hypophos-
phites of lime, soda, etc., become phosphorescent
when shaken or stirred in the dark. (Note. —
These salts are apt to explode violently when
evaporated to dryness at too high a temperature.
Tuson, in ' Chemical News/ August, 1860.)

B Y CLUA VA GE, ETC. 29

In 1858, M. Landerer, of Athens, discovered
that an organic salt, Valerate of quinine, becomes
phosphorescent whilst it is being powdered in a
niortar. The light emitted, which is very strong at
first, becomes feeble as the pulverization proceeds,
and ceases altogether when the crystals are reduced
to powder. When the crystallization of fluoride of
sodium takes place in a dark room, this salt is
seen to twinkle with phosphorescent light. The
same is observed when sulphate of soda and sul-
phate of potash crystallize together. Waechter
has observed that chlorate of baryta crystallizes
from its solution in long rhombic prisms with pro-
duction of light.

A most interesting production of light was ob-
served and published (( Journ. des Sc. Physiques
et Chimiques/ de M. de Fontenelle), by Professor
Pontus, in 1833, who showed that a vivid spark
is produced when water is made to freeze rapidly.
A small glass globe, terminating in a short tube,
is filled with water, the whole is covered with a
sponge or cotton-wool imbibed with ether, and
placed in an air-pump. As soon as the experi-
menter begins to produce a vacuum, the ether
evaporates, and the sponge or cotton-wool dries,
the temperature of the water descends rapidly.
But some instants before congelation takes place,
a brilliant spark, perfectly visible in the daytime,
is suddenly shot out of the little tube that termi-

30 PHOSPHORESCENCE

nates the glass globe. M. Pontus has repeated the
experiment often, and says that the production of
this spark is a sure sign that congelation is about
to happen.

It is well known to chemists that arsenious acid
exists under two distinct molecular modifications
discovered by M. Guibourt, viz. the transparent
acid and the opaque acid. Professor H. Kose, of
Berlin, has shown that when the transparent va-
riety is dissolved in a hot solution of diluted
hydrochloric acid, and the dissolution allowed to
cool, the opaque variety is deposited in crystals,
and each crystal, as it forms, is accompanied by
an emission of light.*

The same emission of light is observed when
certain oxides, whilst heated in a crucible to a
given temperature, undergo a peculiar molecular
change which occasions a modification of their
chemical properties. A phosphoric radiation, a
sort of incandescence, is remarked the instant
that this change takes place. The substances
that are remarkably phosphorescent during this
molecular change occasioned by heat are, alu-
mina, chromic oxide, oxide of zirconium, tantalic
acid, titanic acid, the acids of the new metal nio-
bium, peroxide of iron, and some others. In the
mineral gadolinite, this phenomenon is very well

* See Rose's paper on this in the c Annalen der Physik und
Chemie,' 1835.

ST CLEAVAGE, ETC. 31

observed. The rare mineral called samarskite (nio-
bate of iron, of uranium, and of yttria) presents the
same phenomenon to a less degree.

Oxide of molybdenum (MoO) is obtained by
heating the hydrate of this oxide in vacuo :
when the water is all evaporated, the dry oxide re-
maining appears as if on fire; the anhydrous or
dry oxide is then completely formed.

According to Berzelius antimoniate of copper
becomes luminous when heated, and changes its
chemical nature. Something similar has been ob-
served with phosphate of magnesia.

About fifteen years ago, M. Scheerer showed
that the density of gadolinite (which, like samar-
skite, contains no water) increases during the
phosphoric radiation ; the density of the mineral is
greater after the experiment than before. M. H.
Rose has confirmed this fact anew, and has shown
at the same time, that with samarskite the con-
trary is observed : the density diminishes. These
observations alone prove that a molecular change
takes place during the emission of light.

H. Rose has also confirmed the fact announced
some time ago by Regnault as an hypothesis, via.
that the luminous phenomenon which occurs
when the substances above alluded to suddenly
change their state, is accompanied by an imme-
diate change in their specific heat. Thus, the
specific heat of gadolinite diminishes one-four-

32 PHOSPHORESCENCE

teenth during the emission of light. This neces-
sitates a disengagement of heat, which is really
observed to take place, as is shown in the follow-
ing experiment: — When chromic oxide, titanic acid,
or better than all, gadolinite is heated in a small
retort, the end of which, terminating in a capil-
lary tube, plunges into water, the dilated air con-
fined in the apparatus is expulsed through the
water uniformly as the heat increases, and when
the phenomenon of incandescence takes place, the
bubbles of air are, for a moment, driven out vio-
lently, indicating a sudden production of heat.

With samarskite and arsenious acid (see p. 19),
whose densities dimmish during the experiment,
no heat is disengaged, as with gadolinite. Thus,
thinks Rose, when this phosphorescence occurs
without any disengagement of heat, it seems to
indicate a diminution of density, whilst phospho-
rescence with emission of heat, appears indicative
of an increase of specific gravity ; and ' ' probably,
during the diminution of density, the caloric is
employed to separate the atoms, instead of being
disengaged."

These results, obtained at the beginning of the
year 1857, are exceedingly remarkable.

In this chapter we should include also the well-
known phosphorescence of phosphorus, formerly
studied in our ' Recherches nouvelles sur le Phos-
phore/ The phenomenon occurs when phosphorus

BY CLEAVAGE, ETC. 33

combines with the oxygen of the atmosphere to
form phosphorous and phosphoric acids. As a
chemical phenomenon it is in every respect similar
to the flame produced when potassium or sodium
burns in contact with water, or when many bodies
having very strong affinities for each other, com-
bine, with a production of light. The phospho-
rescence of phosphorus, and the combustion (for-
mation of phosphorous and phosphoric acids) by
which it is accompanied, occur in air or oxygen
gas at a given temperature. But if the pressure
of these gases be diminished, the phosphorus
becomes luminous at a lower temperature; and
reciprocally, if the pressure be increased, the tem-
perature must be elevated proportionally to make
the phosphorus shine. The introduction of some
foreign gas, such as hydrogen, nitrogen, or car-
bonic acid, into the mixture, has the same effect
upon the luminosity of phosphorus in air or oxy-
gen, as if the pressure of the latter were dimi-
nished— a remarkable phenomenon observed by
M. Bellani. This is the reason phosphorus shines
at a lower temperature in the air than in pure
oxygen gas.

Thenard has made a curious experiment : he
shows that nitrogen, hydrogen, or carbonic acid,
which have remained for five or six hours in con-
tact with phosphorus, and have then been sepa-
rated from it, become luminous when a few bub-

34 PHOSPHORESCENCE

bles of air or oxygen are passed into the gas ex-
perimented with. Carburetted hydrogen did not give
the same result. This deserves to be examined
anew, for I have shown in my ( Recherches nouvelles
sur le Phosphore/ that phosphorus is not volatile
at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere.

According to Fischer, phosphorus is luminous
in the atmosphere at any temperature above zero
(freezing-point) ; it is even luminous at 6° (centi-
grade), but does not then appear covered with va-
pours. At a lower temperature its light disappears
completely. In the barometric vacuum no light
is produced by phosphorus. (See Fischer, " On
the Light of Phosphorus," in ' Journal fur prak-
tische Chemie/ t. xxxv. p. 342.)

It is not true that phosphorus becomes lu-
minous in carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, oxide of
nitrogen, and cyanogen, as some have asserted.
When such appears to happen, the gases are
found to contain small quantities of air. The
smallest quantity of air is indeed sufficient to oc-
casion a production of light in these circumstances.

A solution of phosphorus in spirit of wine is
luminous when dropped into water ; the light is
only perceived where the drops fall into the liquid.
One part of phosphorus communicates this pro-
perty to 600,000 parts of spirit of wine.

Water in which phosphorus is preserved, be-
comes luminous in the dark after a certain time.

BY CLEAVAGE, ETC. 35

When phosphuret of calcium is thrown into wa-
ter, a decomposition takes place, and phosphu-
retted hydrogen gas is evolved. Each bubble of
this gas, as it comes in contact with the atmo-
sphere, takes fire spontaneously, and throws off a
ring of white smoke. These pretty rings of smoke
are luminous in the dark.

In the year 1851, M. Petrie discovered that the
metal potassium is phosphorescent when exposed
to the air, like phosphorus. (e Annuaire de Millon
et Reiset/ 1851.) He covered the potassium with
bees' -wax, and then cut it in two. Each segment re-
mained luminous for about half an hour, the light
being about one-tenth the intensity of that pro-
duced by a piece of phosphorus of the same size.

M. Linnemann published another note in 1859
(Journ. fur prak. Chem., Ixxv.), upon the phos-
phorence of potassium and sodium, showing that
both these metals are luminous upon their freshly-
cut surfaces. The light emitted by potassium is of
a reddish tint, that of sodium greenish, according
to this author. At 60° or 70° (centigrade), the
light of sodium is quite as intense, if not more so,
than that of phosphorus. I have had occasion to
examine sodium whilst phosphorescent. Its light
is very feeble at the ordinary temperature of the
atmosphere, and ceases when the newly-exposed
surfaces of the metal are covered with a layer of
oxide (soda). The luminosity lasts for a few mi-

D2

36 PHOSPHORESCENCE

nutes, and increases in brilliancy as the tempera-
ture rises.

Potassium also becomes incandescent when em-
ployed in the preparation of boron, as must have
been remarked by any chemist who has prepared
this metalloid. For this purpose vitrified boracic
acid, in fine powder, and potassium are heated in
a metallic tube.

In fact, light, often accompanied by heat, is
evolved, wherever chemical action is very intense.
For instance, when sulphur and lead are melted
together, light is produced whilst the combination
of these two substances takes place. The same
is remarked when phosphorus and iodine act upon
each other : the experiment is very striking, and
occurs when small quantities of phosphorus are
covered over with iodine, at the ordinary tempe-
rature of the atmosphere. In a short time the
whole takes fire spontaneously. I have seen the
same occur when a crystal of nitrate of copper
was enveloped in a thin sheet of tin.

When arsenic or antimony are thrown into chlo-
rine gas at the ordinary temperature, the metals
(which must be in fine powder) burst into flame
while combining with the chlorine. When caustic
baryta is placed in a capsule and concentrated
sulphuric acid poured upon it, the baryta becomes
incandescent.

If a drop of water fall into a bottle of anhydrous

.BF CLEAVAGE, ETC. 37

sulphuric acid, a flash, of light, accompanied by a
slight explosion, is immediately remarked. If
small pieces of cork happen to fall upon melted
chlorate of potash, so frequently used to obtain
oxygen gas, a flash of light appears ; the gas is
at first rapidly evolved from the retort, but in
an instant an absorption takes place, the water
is sucked up into it, and the apparatus broken.
When chloride of amide (formerly called chloride
of nitrogen) explodes, much light is evolved : the
preparation and explosion of this substance are
exceedingly dangerous. Potassium takes fire upon
water, and burns with a purple flame ; I have also
seen sodium shoot out flashes of yellow light in
the same circumstances. Nitric acid decomposes
oil of turpentine, producing a great flame. When
great quantities of lime are slacked in a dark
place, not only heat but light is emitted, as was
formerly observed by Pelletier.* Also, in a dan-
gerous experiment made by myself, when sodium

* There are substances called Kacodyles, (one of which is
formed when acetate of potash and arsenious acid are distilled
together,) which take fire spontaneously when they come in con-
tact with atmospheric air : they are liquid, and possess a nauseous
odour. Homberg's pyrophorus, which takes fire in the air, is an
example of intense chemical action with production of heat and
light. It is prepared by calcining alum with organic matters and
cooling the mixture slowly. It must not be mistaken for Hom-
berg's phosphorus, which is melted chloride of calcium, and
which, as we have seen, becomes luminous when submitted to
rapid friction, or when struck with a hard body.

38 PHOSPHORESCENCE,

is dropped into concentrated sulphuric acid, a
flash of light, distinctly visible in the daytime,
is emitted, and red sulphuret of sodium is
formed.

These are all instances of intense chemical
action, accompanied by evolution of light.

CHAPTER IV.

PHOSPHORESCENCE OP GASES, AND ELECTEIC
PHOSPHORESCENCE.

THE phosphorescence of gases is quite a new dis-
covery, dating from the year 1859. It is extremely
probable that many gases are phosphorescent after
insolation, when large quantities of them are sub-
mitted to the action of the sun's rays. We shall
see in the following chapter that the air probably
is so, and also that meteoric stones leave phospho-
rescent streaks in the atmosphere.

We have already noticed, that substances which
are not phosphorescent after insolation may be-
come so after they have undergone the influence
of an electric discharge. In February, 1 859, M.
Edmond Becquerel communicated to the A cademy
of Sciences at Paris a discovery made by M. Ruhm-
korff on rarefied air, and worked out afterwards
by the former.

M. Euhmkorff remarked that certain rarefied
gases, shut up in glass tubes, remained phospho-
rescent for some seconds after an electric dis-

40 PHOSPHORESCENCE

charge had been passed through the tubes and
gases. Hydrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen, chlo-
rine, protoxide of nitrogen, showed a feeble light
for a few seconds after being submitted to an
electric discharge or a current of induction. With
oxygen a similar effect is observed. Rarefied oxy-
gen, enclosed in a serpentine apparatus composed
of a series of glass globes united by bent tubes
(fig. 4), in which are soldered platinum wires to

Fig. 4.

conduct the discharge, is submitted to the action
of a powerful induction machine or common elec-
tric battery. When the current is suddenly cut
off, the entire tube shines with a yellowish light,
which persists for some seconds and then gradu-
ally disappears. The experiment must of course
be made in a dark room.

Sulphurous acid gas sometimes shows a similar
effect. M. Ed. Becquerel has not been able to
observe phenomena of phosphorescence in any of
these gases after insolation or after exposing them

OF GASES, ETC. 41

to the electric light, though it is probable such
does exist.

In the above experiment, when other gases are
mixed with the rarefied oxygen, the effect is some-
what increased, probably because a certain amount
of chemical action is set up.

Our readers know, that by passing the dis-
charges of a RuhmkorfFs induction apparatus
through a glass globe in which the air has been
highly rarefied, a beautiful luminous phenomenon
occurs and persists as long as the induction ap-
paratus continues to work. When the vapour of
some volatile substance, such as alcohol, essence
of turpentine, naphtha, bichloride of tin, etc., is
mixed with the air in the glass globe, and a va-
cuum then produced by the pneumatic machine,
the luminous phenomenon is still more beautiful.
The light forms a series of concentric arches
separated by dark stratifications ; its colour and
form remind us of the Aurora Borealis ; and, in-
deed, some have looked upon this experiment as
the production of an artificial aurora, the vacuum
of the glass globe (which is never a perfect void)
representing the rarefied air in the higher regions
of the atmosphere, where the Aurora Borealis
occurs.

The light thus produced, to be seen to advan-
tage, must be viewed in a dark room, but it is
faintly visible in full daylight.

42 PHOSPHORESCENCE

These striking experiments were made some
few years ago by Professor Quet, and have ex-
cited general admiration wherever they have been
seen. Now it has occurred to M. Ed. Becquerel,
to enclose certain phosphorescent substances, such
as sulphide of barium, etc., in glass tubes, in
which a vacuum has been produced by the air-
pump, and to submit them in these circumstances
to the action of M. RuhmkorfPs apparatus.

We have already seen that sulphide of barium,
of strontium, of calcium, diamonds, chalk, etc.,
acquire phosphorescence when submitted to an
electric discharge in the air ; as soon as the dis-
charge has passed, they glow with phosphoric
light of short duration, just as if they had been
exposed to the sun, or as if they had been heated ;
for these substances are phosphorescent by light,
by heat, and by electricity. But when they are
submitted to the rapid series of discharges of the
induction apparatus in highly -rarefied air, that is,
in the void produced by the air-pump, the effect
is very striking. The substances named glow
continuously with a vivid phosphoric light, so
long as the discharges continue to pass.*

In these experiments it has been observed, that
the glass of the tubes becomes slightly phospho-
rescent at the same time as the sulphides.

Quet made known in 1853 a very curious pro-
* See Ed. Becquerel, Ann. de Chim. Iv. p. 92 et seq.

OF GASES, ETC. 43

duction of light that takes place when water is
being decomposed by the electric current, after
being rendered a good conductor of electricity by
the addition of sulphuric acid or potassa. When
forty Bunsen's elements are employed, the water
is rapidly decomposed, and its temperature con-
siderably raised, but a moment comes when the
platinum wires plunging into the liquid become
suddenly luminous, and the decomposition of the
water ceases as suddenly. In this case, when the
water is acidified with sulphuric acid, the light
given out by the positive pole is red, whilst that
emitted by the negative pole is violet. The light
seems to encase the wires and to repel the water,
so as to prevent its contact with the metal.

44

CHAPTER Y.
METEOROLOGICAL PHOSPHORESCENCE.

NUMEROUS observations leave no space for doubt
regarding phosphorescence of the drops of rain in
certain storms. The phosphoric light produced in
these circumstances shows itself upon the coats of
travellers, or on the borders of their hats, etc.
This phenomenon astonished M. de Saussure whilst
travelling on the summit of the Breven ; whenever
he lifted his hand, he felt a sort of creeping sensa-
tion in the fingers, and in a short time an electric
spark was drawn from a golden button affixed to
the hat of his companion, M. Jalabert. The storm
roared in the clouds around him.

A somewhat similar phenomenon occurred to
Dr. Kane, the intrepid Arctic explorer, which, for
certain reasons, we shall speak of in a future
chapter.

On the 25th of January, 1822, during a heavy
shower of snow, M. de Thielaw, on his route to

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 45

Freyburg, observed the branches of the trees glow-
ing with a bluish light.

Francois Arago has collected many instances of
luminous rain, among which are the following : —

On the 3rd of June, 1731, Hallai, an ecclesiastic
of Lessay, near Constance, states that he saw, in
the evening, during a thunderstorm, rain which
fell like drops of red-hot liquid metal.

In 1761, Bergman, the celebrated Swedish
chemist, wrote to the Royal Society of London
that he had observed on two occasions, towards
evening, and when no thunder was heard, rain
which sparkled as it touched the ground, making
the latter appear as if covered with waves of
fire.

On the 3rd of May, 1 768, near Arnay-le-Duc,
M. Pasumot was overtaken on an open plain by a
violent storm. The rain-water collected abun-
dantly on the border of his hat; and when he
stooped his head to let it flow off, he observed
that, in its fall, encountering that which fell from
the clouds, at about twenty inches from the ground,
sparks were emitted between the two portions of
liquid.

On the 28th of October, 1772, on his way
from Brignai to Lyons, the Abbe Bertholon was
caught in a storm at five o'clock in the morning.
Bain and hail fell heavily. The drops of rain and
the hailstones which struck against the metallic

46 METEOROLOGICAL

parts of tlie mounting of his horse's trappings,
emitted jets of light.

A friend of Howard, the meteorologist, on his
way from London to Bow on the 19th of May,
1809, during a violent storm, distinctly saw the
drops of rain emit light when they struck the
ground.

On the 25th of January, 1822, the miners of
Freyburg informed Lampadius that the sleet which
fell during a storm emitted light when it struck
the earth.

There are other similar instances ; these pheno-
mena are evidently closely allied to electricity.

Waterspouts (called by the French les trombes),
according to Peltier and more recent observers,
are sometimes observed to be luminous when they
happen in the night.

A case of luminous meteoric dust is also on
record : — During the eruption of Vesuvius which
took place in 1794, a shower of extremely fine
dust fell in Naples and its environs. It emitted
light which, though pale, was distinctly visible at
night. An English gentleman, who happened to
be in a boat near Torre del Greco about this time,
observed that his hat, those of the boatmen, and
parts of the sails where the dust had lodged, shed
around a sensible luminosity.

Shooting stars, or meteoric stones, leave after
them in the heavens a phosphoric stream of light,

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 47

which often persists for a considerable time after
their passage (fig. 5). In his voyage round the
world, the Admiral de Krusenstern saw one of
these Aerolites leave behind it in the sky a

Fig. 5.

phosphorescent streak which persisted for a whole
hour, without sensibly changing its place. (See
Humboldt : ' Cosmos/ vol. i.) Phosphorescent
streaks left behind Aerolites not unfrequently re-
main visible for about a minute.

We cannot do more than mention here the
lightning flash,* the Aurora Borealis, the Zodia-
cal light, the fire of St. Elmo, the light of fixed

* On the various kinds of lightning, see Arago, " Notice sur
le Tonnerre," in his ' CEuvres,' or in the Ann. du Bureau des Longi-
tudes, for the year 1838 ; Phipson, in the ' Comptes-Rendus' of
the Academy of Sciences of Paris, April 13, 1857; and Du Moucel's
brochure, 'Sur le Tonnerre et les Eclairs.' Paris : Hachette, 1857.

48 METEOR OL 0 GICAL

stars or suns, and the flame, all of which doubt-
less belong to our present subject.

Lord Napier observed the fire of St. Elmo in
the Mediterranean during a fearful thunderstorm.
As he was retiring to rest, a cry from those aloft
of " St. Elmo and St. Anne \" induced him to go
on deck. The maintop-gallant-mast head was
completely enveloped in a blaze of pale, phosphoric
light, and the other mast-heads presented a similar
appearance. The phenomenon lasted for eight or
ten minutes, and then became gradually fainter.
All other descriptions of this electrical phenomenon
coincide perfectly with the above.

The Zodiacal light, when seen under the tropics,
often shines with a brilliancy equal to that of the
Milky Way in Sagittarius. In our Northern cli-
mates, it is only observed shooting up towards
the Pleiades in the beginning of spring, after the
evening twilight, in the western part of the sky ;
and at the close of autumn, before the dawn of
day, above the eastern horizon.

Some philosophers have asserted that the sun's
light is an effect of combustion, like the flame of a
common candle; but, from a comparison of the rela-
tive intensities of solar, lunar, and artificial light,
as determined by Euler and Wollaston, it appears
that the rays of the sun have an illuminating power
equal to that of 14,000 candles at the distance of a
foot, or of 3,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 4,9

candles at the distanceof 95,000,000 of miles, which
is our distance from the sun. Hence it follows,
that the amount of light which flows from the sun
could scarcely be produced by the daily consump-
tion of 700 globes of tallow, each equal to the Earth
in magnitude.

It does not follow that because planetary bodies
shine principally by borrowed light, that they do
not possess also a certain amount of phosphoric
luminosity. Some modern philosophers are in-
clined to believe that our earth itself has a peculiar
phosphoric light of its own : —

(< The extraordinary lightness of whole nights in
the year 1831," says Alex, von Humboldt, " during
which small print might be read at midnight in
the latitudes of Italy and the north of Germany,
is a fact directly at variance with all that we know
according to the most recent and accurate re-
searches on the crepuscular theory and the height
of the atmosphere." (Cosmos, i. 133, 134.) And,
again in the same beautiful work (p. 197), when
speaking of the Aurora Borealis : — ' ( This beautiful
phenomenon derives the greater part of its im-
portance from the fact that the earth becomes
self-luminous, and that as a planet, besides the
light which it receives from the central body the
Sun, it shows itself capable in itself of developing
light." The intensity of the light thus diffused is
often superior to that shed by the moon in her

50 METEOROLOGICAL

first quarter. "Occasionally, as on the 7th January,
1831, printed characters could be read without
difficulty."" Indeed, the intensity of the Northern
or Polar light is sometimes very great ; and
Lowenorn assures us, that on the 29th June, 1786,
he recognized the coruscation (trembling motion)
of the Aurora Borealis in bright sunshine.

Some splendid manifestations of the Aurora
Australisj or Southern light, were witnessed by
Captain J. Koss in his voyage to the South Pole.*
These Southern lights have often been seen in
England by Dalton, and Northern lights have been
witnessed in the Southern hemisphere — 14th Ja-
nuary, 1831 — as far as 45 degrees latitude.

It has been shown, by many experiments, that
the electric light, whatever be its source, does not
show any signs of polarization. Now this has been
lately proved to be the case with the light of the
Aurora, which shows no polarization, according to
Mr. Rankine ; but when it is viewed reflected from
the surface of a river, polarization is detected,
— which proves that in the former case the want
of polarization is not owing to the weakness of
the Aurora observed.

A curious phenomenon was noted by Admiral
Wrangel, when he was on the Siberian coast of the
Polar Sea. He observed, that during an Aurora

* The Aurora Australia was seen for the first time by Captain
Cook in his first voyage, and again in his second voyage.

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 51

Borealis, certain portions of the heavens which
were not illuminated, lit up and continued lumi-
nous whenever a shooting star passed over them.

M. Colla, formerly director of the Observatory
of Parma, has often observed, since 1825, a sin-
gular light in the northern sky, like a zone of 10
or 12 degrees, parallel to the horizon, often of a
yellow colour, and most intense in the direction of
the magnetic meridian. He considers it to be
" the permanent element of the Aurora Borealis."

That portion of the planet Yenus which is not
illuminated by the sun often shines with a phos-
phorescent light of its own.

Towards the latter end of June, 1861, the
earth passed through a region of the heavens,
then occupied by a portion of the great comet of
that year. On this occasion Mr. Hind, Mr. Lowe,
and others, observed a peculiar phosphoric glare
in the atmosphere. It was remarked by many
persons as something unusual.

That portion of the moon which is not il-
luminated by the solar rays shines with a grey
light of its own, called by the French lumiere
cendree. This is generally attributed to the light
thrown upon our satellite by the illuminated por-
tions of the earth ; but it may be that the moon
possesses phosphorescent qualities like other ce-
lestial bodies.

Doubtless other planets possess similar phos-

52 METEOEOLOGICAL

phorescent properties : — " It is not improbable/'
says Humboldt, "that the Moon, Jupiter, and
comets shine with an independent light besides
the reflected, solar light, visible through the po-
lariscope."

We cannot do better than quote the following
passage also, by the same author : —

"Without speaking of the problematical, but
yet ordinary mode in which the sky is illuminated
when a low cloud may be seen to shine with an
uninterrupted flickering light for many minutes
together [see further on] , we still meet with other
instances of terrestrial development of light in our
atmosphere. In this category we may reckon the
celebrated luminous mists seen in 1783 and 1831 ;
the steady luminous appearance exhibited without
any flickering in great clouds observed by Kozier
and Beccaria ; and, lastly, as Arago well remarks,
the faint diffused light which guides the steps of the
traveller in cloudy, starless and moonless nights,
in autumn and winter, even when there is no snow
on the ground."

Indeed, any attentive observer of Nature may
assure himself that in the darkest nights of winter,
at the hour of midnight, when the influence of
solar light is altogether withdrawn from the at-
mosphere, and in the absence of moonlight, a
suflicient quantity of light is always diffused to
render objects around us faintly visible, and to

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 53

enable us to walk without hesitation in any open
country.

Let the heavens be overcast, let the stars be
hidden by an unbroken mass of clouds, and still a
sufficiency of light will be diffused in the open
country to prevent the difficulty and inconve-
nience which would attend any attempt to walk
in a dark cave, or in an apartment the shutters
of which are closed.

It appears to me that the atmosphere and the
clouds themselves act in these cases like the
phosplwri spoken of in a previous chapter. Being
exposed to the light of the sun the whole day
long, it is very probable that they emit a phos-
phorescent light like the Bologna stone, for in-
stance, when the Sun's rays are withdrawn from
them; and moreover, that this phosphorescence
may, in certain circumstances, assume an extra-
ordinary intensity, as we shall see by some of the
following examples.

Here are the accounts by Eozier and Beccaria,
alluded to above : —

Eozier states that, being at Beziers, in France,
on the loth August, 1781, at a quarter before
eight in the evening, the sun having gone down
and the sky overcast, thunder was heard. At five
minutes past eight, the storm having attained its
height, Rozier observed a luminous point above
the brow of a hill fronting his house ; this point

54 METEOROLOGICAL

gradually augmented in magnitude until it as-
sumed the form and appearance of a phosphoric
zone subtending at his eye an angle of about 60
degrees, measured horizontally, and having the
apparent height of a few feet ; above this was a
dark band, and then again another zone of light.
These luminous zones of cloud were nearer the
earth than the storm clouds, and their brilliancy
lasted about a quarter of an hour.

Beccaria assures us that the clouds over his
observatory at Turin frequently shed in all direc-
tions a strong reddish light, which was sometimes
so intense as to enable him to read ordinary print.
This nocturnal luminosity was especially observed
in winter, between successive falls of snow.

When General Sabine and his crew were lying
at anchor at Loch Scavig, in the Isle of Skye, he
observed a cloud which constantly enveloped the
summit of one of the naked and lofty mountains
which surround that island. This cloud which
had been formed by the vapour precipitated near
the mountains after having been brought by the
constant west winds from the Atlantic, was self-
luminous at night, not occasionally, but perma-
nently. He saw frequently issue from it jets of
light, and convinced himself that this phenomenon
had nothing whatever to do with the Aurora
Borealis.

We may add to these an observation of Nichol-

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 55

son, who states that during a storm on the 30th
July, 1797, at about five in the morning, certain
clouds were observed to shine first with a red, and
afterwards with a blue, light.

De Luc affirms also, that one winter's night, in
the neighbourhood of London, he observed a lumi-
nous cloud extending east and west across the
southern meridian of the place, about 30 or 40
degrees from the zenith. The atmosphere was
clear but not cold, and "there were no signs of
electricity/'*

One of the most authentic and curious observa-
tions of luminous fogs was lately communicated in
a letter to M. Elie de Beaumont by M. L. F.
Wartmann,f of Geneva. The strange phenomenon
was observed during nine successive foggy nights,
from the 18th to the 26th of November, 1859. The
moon being new, was invisible and absent from
the heavens of Geneva. But a vast fog, not damp
enough to wet the earth, but so opaque as to
render invisible the borders of the river Leman
and the mount Salese, hovered permanently over
Geneva and its environs. This fog diffused so
much phosphoric light, that M. Wartmann could
easily distinguish books, etc., upon his table, with-

* For more ample details on some of these phenomena, see
Beccaria, ' Dell' Elettricismo terrestre atmosferico;' Deluc, 'Idees
sur la Meteorologie,' and Arago, in the 'Annuaire' for 1838.

f Comptes-Kendus of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, 25 De-
cember, 1859.

56 METEOROLOGICAL

out having recourse to any other light. Moreover,
he questioned a person who had gone on foot from
Geneva to Annemasse, in Savoie, on the 22nd of
November: he had started at half-past ten at
night, and declared that he saw his way the whole
distance as if it had been a moonlight night. M.
Auguste de la Rive was, that same night, at some
distance from Geneva, and was also surprised at
the distinctness with which he saw his road and
the objects around him.

The celebrated dry fog of 1783 was described
by M. Verdeil, a physician of Lausanne, as having
diffused at night, a luminosity sufficiently intense
to render distant objects visible, and this light was
equally spread in all directions. It resembled the
light of the moon seen through the clouds.

This dry fog, in which objects could be seen at
night at a distance of 600 feet, lasted a whole
month ; it made its appearance nearly at the same
time in many distant places, spreading from the
north of Africa to Sweden; it was likewise ob-
served over a great portion of North America,
but was not seen to spread over the sea. It ap-
peared to reach higher than the summits of the
highest mountains, and neither winds nor rain
had any power to disperse it. In Europe this fog
exhaled a disagreeable odour, was remarkably dry,
did not affect the hygrometer, and possessed the
remarkable phosphoric quality I mentioned above.

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 57

Many philosophers thought that, at this period,
the earth was bathed in the tail of a comet.

But in 1831 another dry fog exactly similar
was observed ; it did not spread so far as that of
1783, and as it did not cover the whole of Europe,
it was easy to perceive that no comet was present
to cause its production.

The origin of these dry, luminous mists, is yet
a mystery. It may, however, be noted that in
1 783 Calabria was visited by a terrible earthquake
which destroyed 40,000 inhabitants ; Mount Hecla,
in Iceland, broke out in one of its most remark-
able eruptions, and volcanic rocks were seen to
emerge from the sea, etc.

It is said that a periodical dry fog, which does
not spread over the sea, visits the eastern coasts
of Africa with the disastrous wind called the par-
matan ; but whether it is luminous or not I can-
not say.*

But one of the most curious phenomena ever
witnessed was doubtless that described as having
been seen by General Sabine and Captain James
Ross in their first northern expedition. Being in
the Greenland seas during the period of darkness,
they were called up by the officers on deck to ob-
serve an extraordinary appearance. Ahead of the
vessel, and lying precisely in her course, appeared

* On a dry fog observed at London, see my note in the
' Comptes-Bcndus,' Paris, 1861.

58 METEOROLOGICAL

a stationary light resting on the water, and rising
to a considerable elevation. Every other part of
the heavens and the horizon all around the ship
were in utter darkness. (Vide Frontispiece.} As
there was no known danger in this phenomenon,
the course of the vessel was not altered; and
when the ship entered the region of this light,
the officers and crew looked on with the liveliest
interest. The whole vessel was illuminated ; the
most elevated parts of the masts and sails, and
the minutest portions of the rigging, became
visible.

The extent of this luminous atmosphere might
have been about 450 yards. When the bow of
the ship emerged from it, it seemed as if the vessel
were suddenly plunged in darkness. There was
no gradual decrease of illumination. The ship
was already at a considerable distance from the
luminous region when it appeared still visible as
a stationary light astern.

Many persons would look upon this curious
phenomenon as an intensely phosphorescent mist.
Several observations tend to prove that in these
northern latitudes the density, and often the dry-
ness, of the air, contribute much to the intensity
of luminous apparitions, especially those which
appear to depend upon electrical actions. The
above is the account of this phenomenon as re-
lated in F. Arago's ' Notice sur le Tonnerre.'

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 59

The following is however that of General Sabine
himself, which he has kindly given me in a let-
ter : — te Before the ship entered into the Auroral
light, the Aurora as seen from the ship appeared
as an arch, formed partly of an uniform yellowish
light, and partly of vertical or nearly vertical
streamers proceeding out of the luminous arch
upwards. The centre of the arch was not far dis-
tant from the zenith, and the legs descended to-
wards east and west points. We were opposite to
one of the legs, and sailing towards it till we en-
tered it. We were sensible of having entered it,
by no longer seeing it as a distant appearance,
and by the moment of our entrance into it being
marked by a generally diffused light, enabling
those on deck to see distinctly men on the fore-
topsail yard, who we could not see previously."
The ship was sailing southward, and entered the
western leg of the luminous arch.

At the meeting of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Manchester on January 31, 1861, Mr.
Baxendell stated that many of the fogs observed
during that winter were luminous. Mr. Crosse
and other observers have found fogs to be highly
electrical.

I will place here a passage from a Brussels cor-
respondent, who writes in 1860 : —

" On looking out of my bedroom window at two
o' clock on the morning of the 25th January, I

60 METEOROLOGICAL

perceived the sky to be very light, insomuch that I
could discern the buildings and other objects. The
wind blew in fresh gales from W.S.W., barome-
ter below ' tempest/ and thermometer about 41°.
I have only once seen this luminosity before."

Loch Scavig appears destined to become cele-
brated for luminous phenomena. Besides the
phosphorescent cloud seen there by General Sa-
bine, my friend Mr. T. K. Edwards tells me of
another curious case of a luminous meteor seen
in the same locality. It was in the month of
September, 1852 or 1853, and the phenomenon
was observed about eight o' clock in the evening.
He was being rowed by four stout men from
Torrin, in the Isle of Skye, to one of the oppo-
site shores. On entering Loch Scavig the boat
containing Mr. Edwards, his friend Mr. Raymond,
four boatmen, and a guide, steered across the
little bay situated on their right, when a light
was distinctly seen at a great distance to the sea-
ward. At first it appeared like the light from the
cabin window of a steamboat being near to the
surface of the water, and moving with great ra-
pidity towards them. The four men at the oars
noticed it with evident alarm, and spoke hurriedly
to each other in Gaelic. When the guide was
asked what they were talking about, he answered,
" About yon light ; it's no canny thing, neither."
The rapidity with which the light moved, and its

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 61

proximity to the boat after a few seconds had
elapsed,, fully convinced every one that it belonged
to no boat ; besides, as the guide remarked, ' ' no
bird could fly so quick. " It appears that this phe-
nomenon, which I believe to have been globular
lightning, is not unprecedented in the neighbour-
hood of Loch Scavig; for though the four oarsmen
had never witnessed it before, they had heard it
spoken of on the land as betokening evil, and were
so much afraid of it that they pulled the boat along
most lustily. The light curved off and was soon
lost to sight, having been in view and indeed very
near to the boat, for about two minutes. The
next day was extremely sultry.

This kind of travelling light reminds us of some
descriptions of Will-o' -the- Wisp ; but besides be-
ing seen over the sea, its resemblance to the light
of a ship (though it is quite evident no ship or
boat carried it), and the extreme sultriness of the
next day, makes me think that it is more probably
allied to those curious cases globular lightning. Our
travellers in the boat may not have noticed the
sultriness of the air whilst on the water, but only
remarked it the next day, and the men at the
oars might have heard of the disastrous effects of
globular lightning.

A similar light, but a fixed one, was observed
by Maffei, in 1713, and the phenomenon recorded
by F. Arago : — It was during a heavy shower of

62 METEOROLOGICAL

rain on the 10th of September. He took shelter
in the Chateau de Fosdinovo (in the province of
Massa- Carrara, in Italy ), and was standing at a
window on the ground-floor,, when a bright light
appeared upon the pavement. This light, which
in colour appeared to be white and blue, was very
unsteady or vibrating, but had no progressive
motion ; it disappeared as it had made its appear-
ance, that is, suddenly, but not until it had ac-
quired a great size. The moment it vanished,
Maffei felt a slight itching on his shoulder, a little
plaster fell from the ceiling of the room, and a
cracking noise was heard, very different from that
of thunderi

A flame which rose from the ground and
maintained itself at three feet from the floor of
the church St. Michel, at Dijon, was noticed by
the Abbe Richard, on the 2nd July, 1750. This
flame rose afterwards to twelve or fifteen feet in
height, increased considerably in volume, and dis-
appeared near the organ of the church with a loud
explosion.

These phenomena are evidently allied to atmo-
spheric electricity, as they manifest themselves
during storms; but F. Arago distinctly states
('Annuaire/ 1838, p. 371) : "it appears that great
luminous meteors, similar to lightning in their
nature, show themselves sometimes at the surface
of the globe, even when the sky does not appear

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 63

stormy " Such was the case on the 4th November,
1749, in 42° 48' latitude north and 11-^° longitude
west of Paris : a few minutes before mid-day, and
in perfectly serene weather, a large bluish globe
of fire rolled up to the ship the ' Montague/ and
exploded, shattering one of the masts. This globe
of fire appeared as large as a millstone. A strong
" sulphurous " odour was perceived in the ship
for some time afterwards. The light described to
me by Mr. Edwards appears to have been some
such phenomenon, and had he and his companions
seen the end of it, the fears of the boatmen might
have been realized.

Detailed accounts of similar electric meteors
may be foreign to the subject of the present work,
though electricity plays, doubtless, its part in all
phosphoric phenomena ; but I have endeavoured
in these pages to notice, however briefly, every
known source of terrestrial light, for it is not in our
power, in the present state of science, to restrict
phosphorescence to a limited number of pheno-
mena.

I must now say a few words on that beautiful
and mysterious production of light known as the
Will-o' -the-Wisp or Ignis fatuus ffeuxfollets of the
French).

This phenomenon is generally attributed, by
chemists of the present day, to the spontaneous
inflammation of phosphuretted hydrogen gas. It

64 METEOROLOGICAL

is well known that one of the gaseous compounds
of phosphorus and hydrogen takes fire as soon
as it eomes in contact with atmospheric air ; and
it is supposed that in certain circumstances the
putrefaction of animal matters,, containing phos-
phorus and sulphur, besides the four elements
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phos-
phate of lime, is accompanied by a production of
this phosphuretted hydrogen gas. Will-o'-the-
Wisp is observed in boggy lands, and where it is
seen some animal or perhaps an unlucky traveller
has been swallowed up in the mire.

The "corpse-candle" of the Welsh, which nickers
over churchyards, is attributed to the above cause,
and the same may be said of that mysterious pro-
duction of light which occasionally takes place in
dissecting rooms.

But no chemical experiment, made with organic
matters, has yet been brought forward to prove
the production of phosphuretted hydrogen with evo-
lution of light by submitting these matters to the
process of putrefaction. Indeed, I have shown, as
will be stated in a future chapter, that the phos-
phorescence of dead fish does not appear to depend
upon the presence of the chemical element phos-
phorus.

If, however, it were placed beyond doubt that
the phenomenon of the Will-o' -the-Wisp or Ignis
fatuusj depended upon the production and spon-

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 65

taneous inflammation of phosphuretted hydrogen,
it could not be classed among phenomena of
phosphorescence any more than the flames of
certain fire-springs in the East, which are owing
to the combustion of carburetted hydrogen or
naphtha, and some of which, like the famous
Lycian Chimasra, in Asia Minor, have been burn-
ing for several thousand years.

From some very interesting arguments brought
forward in the last edition (in one volume) of
Kirby and Spencers ' Introduction to Entomology,'
it would appear probable that some cases of ignis
fatuus might be attributed to certain luminous
insects not yet known, which hover in clusters
over marshy ground. These insects seem to be-
long to the genus Tipula (Gnat, " Daddy-Long-
legs," etc.), if we are to judge from the hovering
appearance of the light. Thus Dr. Derham, in the
' Philosophical Transactions' for 1729, describes
an ignis fatuus, seen by himself, as flitting about
a thistle.

Dr. Derham got within two or three yards of
another ignis fatuus, in spite of the boggy nature
of the soil. He states, however, that it appeared
like a complete body of light without any division,
so that he was sure it could not be occasioned by
insects.

At the same time, it is evident that no insects
could produce the phenomenon described by Dr.

p

66 METEOROLOGICAL

Weissenborn, in 1818, where the light travelled
over a distance of half a mile in less than a second.
(Mag. of Nat. Hist. N.S. i. 553.)

From these facts, it appears probable to modern
philosophers, that there are two kinds of ignes
fatui, the one referable to spontaneously inflam-
mable gas, the other to luminous insects.

If phosphuretted hydrogen, or any other spon-
taneously combustible gas or liquid, caught fire
upon a marsh where carburetted hydrogen (marsh
gas) is constantly evolved, the latter would in-
flame also.*

In the valley of Gorbitz, Mr. Blesson discovered
a light emanating from marshy ground. Remain-
ing for some days near the place, in order to study
the phenomenon as closely as possible, he found
it was owing to an ignited gas, the faint flame of
which was invisible during the day, but became
gradually visible in the evening. The gas appears
to have been carburetted hydrogen, or marsh gas.
As he approached it, the flame receded, but he
eventually succeeded in lighting a piece of paper
by it.

According to some authors, Will-o' -the- Wisp
may be seen at all seasons of the year; but a great

* At Wigmore, in Herefordshire, and other places in England,
carburetted hydrogen used to be so abundant in the ground that
it was employed for lighting and cooking in the houses, as we
learn from travellers is a common practice in China.

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 67

number of persons I have questioned upon the
subject all agree in stating that they have noticed
it in autumn, or towards the end of autumn, and
the beginning of November. It cannot be termed
a common phenomenon, as many distinguished
naturalists have never been able to observe it;
it is not unfrequent in the north of Germany, and
is often witnessed in the peat districts around
Port Carlisle, in the Lowlands of Scotland, and in
the swampy parts of the South of England, etc.
It was seen by Mr. Warltire, in a very curious
form, on the road to Bromsgrove, about five miles
from Birmingham, as noted by Dr. Priestley in the
Appendix to his third volume of ' Experiments and
Observations on Air/ The time of observation
was the 12th December, 1776, before daylight.

Some countries are very remarkable for this
curious phenomenon ; for instance, the neighbour-
hood of Bologna, in Italy, and some parts of
Spain and Ethiopia. According to an account
left us by M. Beccari, an intelligent gentleman
travelling in the evening, between eight and nine
o' clock, in a mountainous road about ten miles
South of Bologna, perceived a light which shone
very strangely upon some stones on the banks of
the Rio Verde. It appeared as a parallelepiped
of light, about a foot in length, and two feet above
the stones. Its light was so strong that he could
plainly see by it part of a neighbouring hedge and

68 METEOROLOGICAL

the water of the river. On examining it a little
nearer, lie was surprised to find that the light be-
came paler, and when he came to the place itself,
it quite vanished. No smell or other mark of fire
was observed at the place where this light shone.

Another gentleman informed M. Beccari that
he had seen the same light five or six different
times, in spring and autumn, always of the same
shape, and in the very same place.

Dr. Shaw, in his ' Travels to the Holy Land/ states
that an ignis fatuus appeared to him in the val-
ley of Mount Ephraim, and attended him and his
company for more than an hour. Sometimes it
appeared globular, at others it spread to siicli a
degree as to involve the wliole company in a pale,
inoffensive light ; then contracted itself, and sud-
denly disappeared, but in less than a minute it
would appear again; sometimes running swiftly
along, it would expand itself at certain intervals
over two or three acres of the adjacent mountains.

Dr. Priestley has given an account of what some
look upon to have been an artificial Will-o'-the-
wisp. A gentleman, who had been making elec-
trical experiments for a whole afternoon in a small
room, on going out of it, observed a flame follow-
ing him at some little distance. In this case, how-
ever, there seems to have been a difference between
the artificial ignis fatuus and that met with in
nature, for the flame followed the gentleman as

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 69

he went out of the room, but the natural pheno-
menon generally recedes as we approach it.

It is a common practice, in chemical lectures, to
imitate the Will-o'-the-wisp by throwing fragments
of phosphuret of calcium into water, when flames
arise, owing to the spontaneous combustion of
phosphuretted hydrogen gas. But the imitation
is very bad indeed, and can hardly be said to
resemble the mysterious natural phenomenon,
much less explain it. For my own part, I think
the ignis fatuus to be sometimes the light from a
burning gas, which light is invisible in the day-
time, and at other times to be connected with
those curious cases of luminous mists mentioned
above, and in which electricity doubtless plays an
important part.

The luminous appearances known in Scotland
as Elf-candles belong either to this category of
phenomena, or to that which will be treated of in
a future chapter of this Work.

70

CHAPTER VI.

DURATION, INTENSITY, AND COLOUR OF PHOS-
PHORIC LIGHT IN MINERAL BODIES.

THE duration, the intensity, and the colour of
phosphoric light produced by mineral substances,
depend upon the nature of the phosphorescent body.
I shall mention only a few examples of colour.
The most general tint of light is that seen in the
glow-worm and other phosphorescent animals, of
which we shall speak hereafter ; it is a greenish-
yellow light, at times approaching to whiteness.
Some bodies however appear, during their phos-
phorescence, to emit light which differs a little
from this as to its colour. Certain marbles and
amber (succinum) give a phosphorescent light of
a golden yellow ; some specimens of fluor-spar,
arseniate of lime, and chloride of calcium, emit a
greenish light; other varieties of fluor-spar pro-
duce a bluish-violet radiation, and that which is
called Chlorophane gives a green phosphorescence.
Oriental garnet shines with a reddish phosphores-
cence, whilst Harmotome (a sort of zeolite) gives

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 71

a greenish-yellow phosphorescence. Dolomite,
Aragonite, and some specimens of diamond, shine
with a brilliant, white, phosphoric light.

In the same manner, the colour of a flame de-
pends upon the nature of the body that burns.
Thus, carburetted hydrogen and sodium burn with
a yellow flame, oxide of carbone with a blue
flame, potassium and cyanogen with a purple
flame, etc.

Pearsall, Brewster, Dessaignes, and Becquerel
have studied this subject. It appears to me very
evident that the same substance may slightly
differ in the colour of its phosphorescence, ac-
cording to the manner in which the latter is
prepared or excited.

Concerning colours and tints, we should, in
general, be careful in admitting them too exclu-
sively, for there are scarcely two persons who will
entirely agree upon the denomination of any tint
that is not one of the striking colours of the solar
spectrum.

72

CHAPTER VII.

INVISIBLE PHOSPHORESCENCE.

I HAVE given the name of Invisible Phosphores-
cence to some curious phenomena discovered by
my ingenious friend M. Niepce de St. Victor,
who communicated them to me with much kind-
ness before they were published. During latter
years he has, however, addressed to the Academy
of Sciences, at Paris, a number of notes and papers,
in which his experiments are detailed.* The basis
of them all was the following interesting obser-
vation : —

M. Niepce discovered that if an engraving be
exposed for some time to the sunlight, and then
taken into a dark room, and placed upon a sheet
of photographic paper prepared with chloride of
silver, an impression of the engraving is produced
in a very short space of time upon the paper. This
experiment was immediately tried with a great
variety of substances, such as white porcelain with
* ' Comptes-Rendus' from 1857 to the present time.

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 73

black figures, wood, linen, cardboard, marble,
etc., and always with the same result. In every
experiment, an impression was left on the photo-
graphic paper in the dark, and this experiment
was clearly proved to be owing to the action of
light alone ; no chemical agent whatever to which
such a phenomenon might be attributed, entered
into these experiments.

It was soon perceived that certain substances
seemed to possess, as it were, " a greater affinity
for light than others," and, as M. Niepce used to
say, " seemed to become, during their exposure
to the sun, more saturated with light than others"
in the same space of time, and, consequently, acted
with greater intensity on the photographic paper
in the dark.

A step more, and my friend had actually ' ' bot-
tled up light," to use his own expression. A sheet
of cardboard, imbibed with a solution of tartaric
acid or a salt of uranium, was rolled into a cylinder
and placed inside a tin tube, open at one end, so
as to line it. The tube was then exposed to the
light, with its orifice towards the sun. After a
certain time had elapsed, from a quarter of an hour
to about an hour, the orifice of the tube was her-
metically sealed up. If such a tube be taken into
a dark room, opened, and its orifice placed upon
a sheet of photographic paper, in a very short
time the impression of this orifice is left upon the

74 INVISIBLE

paper. I have seen tubes of this kind that had
been prepared and corked up for a week, a fort-
night, and some that had even been closed up for
months, after their exposure to light, and all left
the impression of their orifices upon the photo-
graphic paper, as if the paper in the tube had
been acted upon only a few seconds before. But
the impression is not so intense when the tube
has been kept closed for a long period of time.

These effects are owing probably to a pheno-
menon of phosphorescence, and, if so, they prove
evidently that all bodies possess this property to
a greater or less extent, depending upon the
nature of the substance examined. Luminous
vibrations, which constitute phosphorescence, are
hereby shown to exist when we cannot perceive
them : their presence is made known by the pho-
tographic paper when the eye is not able to discern
them. These luminous vibrations persist, also, for
a period of time which is much longer than any
one would, at first, be inclined to suppose.

In a recent paper, M. Niepce says : — " I have
repeated my former experiments of shutting up
light in tubes, employing in these experiments
cardboard imbibed with a salt of uranium, or with
tartaric acid. The results have been far more
surprising than before. I expose to sunlight a
sheet of cardboard saturated with tartaric acid or
with a salt of uranium, after which I roll my card-

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 75

board into a metallic tube, so that it lines the
latter. I close the tube, and after a very long
period of time I prove, by opening it, that the
cardboard acts upon salts of silver as perfectly as
it did the day it was prepared. At the ordinary
temperature, this action becomes manifest only
after a period of twenty -four hours ; but if, after
opening the tube, a few drops of water are thrown
into it, and it be then closed again, and heated to
forty or fifty degrees (centigrade), on re-opening
the tube, and applying its orifice to a photogra-
phic paper, an impression is produced upon the
latter in less than five minutes. This experiment
only succeeds once, as if the photographic paper
had absorbed all the light out of the tube ; and to
produce a second impression, the cardboard must
be again exposed to light."*

This shows that heat and chemical action have
an influence in these phenomena, and we know
that this is very generally the case in phenomena
of phosphorescence.

Mr. Draper, in his ' Human Physiology/ p. 288,
describes an experiment which is closely allied to
the above : — If a sheet of paper, upon which a key
has been laid, be exposed for some minutes to the
sunshine, and then instantaneously viewed, in the
dark, the key being removed, a fading spectre of

* This passage is not entirely in M. Niepce's own words, but
as I condensed it from his paper for the English press in 1858.

76 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

the key will be visible. Let this paper be put
aside for many months where nothing can disturb
it, and then in darkness be laid on a plate of hot
metal, the spectre of the key will again appear.

In the cases of bodies more highly phospho-
rescent than paper, the spectres of many different
objects which may have been laid on in succession
will, on warming, emerge in their proper order.

PART II.
EMISSION OF LIGHT BY VEGETABLES.

79

CHAPTER I.

PHOSPHORESCENCE IN PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS.

THE phenomenon of phosphorescence has, up to
the present time, been very little observed in the
vegetable world.

I have collected, not without much difficulty,
all the observations upon this subject which ap-
pear to me worthy of confidence. Luminous
plants are probably numerous, though few have
been observed hitherto, and the observations we
possess are somewhat scanty and uncertain.

The first discovery of a light-emitting vege-
table is attributed to the daughter of Linnaeus —
a young damsel who was fond of setting fire on a
dark summer evening, to the inflammable atmo-
sphere which envelopes the essential-oil glands of
certain Fraxinellte, an experiment with which the
learned Francois Arago was quite as delighted as
the daughter of Linnaeus.

A curious fact strikes us here : the first obser-
vation of vegetable phosphorescence was made

80 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

by the Swedish maiden on an orange-coloured
flower — that of the garden nasturtium (Tropao-
lum majus, fig. 6) ; and most cases of plant phos-

Fig. 6.

phorescence hitherto recorded have been observed
upon flowers in which the orange and yellow
tints predominate. Indeed, whether we consider
phosphorescence in the mineral, the vegetable, or
the animal kingdom, whether we take into con-
sideration the colour of the substance which
shines or that of the light produced, we are for-
cibly led to notice that of all the colours of the
solar spectrum, the yellow and orange tints appear

PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS. 81

to be connected in an extraordinary manner with
these phenomena.

Seated one sultry summer evening in a garden,
the daughter of the illustrious naturalist observed
with surprise certain luminous radiations emitted
by the flowers of a group of nasturtiums. This
curious observation was made more than once
during twilight in the months of June and July,
1762. The girl lived long to tell her wonderful
tale.*

The same phenomenon has been witnessed by
other naturalists, but almost exclusively on yellow
or orange-coloured flowers. Thus, it has been
seen, we are told, in the corolla of the sunflower
(Heliantlius annuus), in the garden marigolds
(Calendula), in the two species of Tagetes (which
the French botanists call the Rose d'Inde and the
(Eillet d'Inde). Phosphoric light has also been
seen to be emitted from the flowers of the Tu-

* Mrs. Loudon, in her 'Ladies' Flower Garden,' p. 116, says: —
" A curious discovery was made respecting this plant (Trop&olum
majus, L.) by one of the daughters of Linnseus, who died lately
at the advanced age of ninety-six. This lady, in the year 1762,
observed the T. majus, or garden Nasturtium, to emit sparks or
flashes in the morning before sunrise, during the months of June
and July, and also during twilight in the evening, but not after
total darkness came on. Similar flashes have been produced by
other flowers, and it has been observed that they are always most
brilliant before a thunderstorm." See also Paxton's Mag. of
Botany, vol. ii. p. 195. It has been asserted that certain flowers
always emit light at the periods of floration and fecundation.

G

82 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

berose, different varieties of Nasturtium, the Yel-
ow Lily, and some other plants.

The Swedish naturalist, Professor Haggern, per-
ceived one evening a faint flash of light repeatedly
dart from a marigold (fig. 7) . Surprised at such

Fig. 7.

an uncommon appearance, he resolved to examine
it with attention, and, to be assured that it was no
deception, he placed a man near him with orders
to make a signal at the moment when he ob-
served the light. They both saw it constantly at
the same moment. The light was most brilliant
upon marigolds of an orange or flame colour ; but
scarcely visible on pale ones. The flash was fre-

PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS. 83

quently seen on the same flower two or three
times in quick succession, but more commonly at
intervals of several minutes; and when several
flowers in the same place emitted their light to-
gether, it could be seen at a considerable dis-
tance. This phenomenon was remarked in July
and August at sunset, and for half an hour, when
the atmosphere was clear ; but after a rainy day,
or when the air was loaded with vapours, nothing
of it was seen. The fact of this phenomenon only
occurring when the air is dry, leads us naturally
to presume that it is connected with electricity.
The following flowers were observed by M. Hag-
gern, to emit flashes more or less vivid, in this
order : 1. The marigold (Calendula officinalis,
fig. 7). 2. Monkshood, or garden nasturtium (Tro-
pceolum majus). 3. The orange lily (Lilium bulbi-
ferum, fig. 8) . 4. The French and African mari-
golds (Tagetes patula and T. erecta).

To discover whether some little insects or
phosphoric worms might not be the cause of this
emission of light, M. Haggern carefully examined
the flowers with the microscope, but no animal
organisms were found. The rapidity of the flash
seems to indicate that electricity has something to
do -with the phenomenon. The same philosopher,
after having observed the flash from the orange
lily, the anthers of which are a considerable dis-
tance from the petals, assured himself that the

PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

light proceeded from the petals. But as it is well
known that when the pistil of a flower is impreg-
nated, the pollen bursts away by the elasticity of
the anthers, and may be to a certain extent elec-

trifled, M. Haggern thinks that this emission of
light by flowers is electrical, and that it is caused
by the pollen which, in flying off, is scattered
upon the petals. Whatever we may be inclined
to think of this theory, the observations of M.
Haggern are exceedingly interesting.

The latest, and at the same time most authentic

PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS. 85

observation of luminous flowers that lias been
made, is the following : —

On the 18th of June, 1857, about ten o'clock
in the evening, M. Th. Fries, the well-known
Swedish botanist, whilst walking alone in the
Botanic garden of Upsal, remarked a group of
poppies (Papaver orientate), in which three or
four flowers emitted little flashes of light. Fore-
warned as he was by a knowledge that such
things had been observed by others, he could not
help believing he was suffering from an optical
illusion. However, the flashes continued showing
themselves from time to time during three-quar-
ters of an hour. M. Fries was thus forced to be-
lieve that what he saw was real. The next day,
observing the same phenomenon to re-occur at
about the same hour, he conducted to the place a
person entirely ignorant that such a manifesta-
tion of light had ever been witnessed in the vege-
table world, and without relating anything con-
cerning it, he brought his companion before the
group of poppies. The latter observer was
soon in raptures of astonishment and admiration.
Many other persons were then led to the same
spot, some of whom immediately remarked that
the flowers were throwing out flames.

Some days later, on the 23rd of June, the wea-
ther having become warmer, fourteen persons
again witnessed the little flashes of light on the

86 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

flowers, not only of Papaver orientals, but also
on those of the lily, Lilium bulbiferum. And be-
fore the phenomenon had ceased, upwards of a
hundred and fifty persons had been astonished
and delighted with this singular case of phospho-
rescence.

In the flowers observed by the daughter of
Linnaeus, the phosphoric light produced was not
continuous ; it manifested itself in flickerings or
sparks, which were shot out from the corolla, and
resembled somewhat those given by an electric
machine. Other observers agree with these state-
ments, and remark that the plants in question are
most luminous on calm sultry summer evenings
when the air is highly charged with electricity,
and have never been noticed to emit light when
the atmosphere is very damp.

In the phenomena remarked by Fries, the phos-
phorescence of the flowers always occurred be-
tween the hours of a quarter past ten and a quar-
ter past eleven in the evening. The weather was
warm and sultry, and the luminous phenomenon
was best observed by looking at a group of
poppies without fixing the eyes upon any one
flower in particular.

But the emission of light by phanerogamic
plants is not limited to the flowers. Some natu-
ralists assure us that the leaves of CEnothera ma-
crocarpa, an American plant, exhibit phosphoric

PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS. 87

light when the air is highly charged with electri-
city.

The latex or milky juice of some vegetables
becomes phosphorescent when it is rubbed upon
paper, or when it is heated a little. This is ex-
tremely remarkable in Euphorbia phosphorea, a
Brazilian species, which I believe has also been
met with in Asia. If its stem be broken, and the
milky juice which exudes be drawn over paper,
characters are obtained which appear luminous in
the dark. It is to M. Martins, of Montpellier,
that we owe the discovery of the phosphoric pro-
perty of this plant.

An emission of light has also been observed in
a plant closely allied to the Palm family, and
which belongs to the genus Pandanus. The rup-
ture of the spatha which envelopes the flowers of
this genus of plants, is accompanied by a loud
cracking noise, and a spark of light.

The common potato in a state of decomposi-
tion sometimes emits a most vivid light, sufficient
to read by. This fact was remarked some time
ago by an officer on guard at Strasburg, who
thought the barracks were on fire, in consequence,
of the light thus emitted from a cellar full of
potatoes. This phosphorescence resembles that
of stale fish, but it is perhaps attributable to the
same cause as that of decayed wood, treated of in
the next chapter.

88

CHAPTER II.

PHOSPHORESCENCE IN CRYPTO GTAMIC PLANTS,
AND EMISSION OF LIGHT FEOM DECAYED
WOOD.

PHOSPHORESCENCE has been rather more frequently
observed in Cryptogams than in Phanerogams.

An emission of light has been observed in a
pretty little plant belonging to the family of
Hepaticce, which grows chiefly upon schists, and
resembles in miniature the royal fern (Osmunda
regalis). From these two circumstances, the
plant in question has been named ScJiistostega
osmundacea (fig. 9). When this plant germinates,
it gives birth to numerous confervoid filaments,
which shine in a semi-obscurity with a very sin-
gular luminosity.

linger has observed, however, that spider s' webs
present very nearly the. same appearance, and this
circumstance has led some naturalists to believe
that the shining property of Schistotega osmun-
dacea may probably be nothing more than re-
flected light.

CRYPTO GAMIC PLANTS.

89

In the great family of Fungi, many cases of
phosphorescence have been accurately observed,
especially among the Rhizom orpine, — cnrious vege-
table organisms, resembling long thin dark-co-

loured roots (rliizo-morplia, in form of a root) , some-
times expanding into a membraniform production,
which are seen creeping between the bark and the
wood of old decayed trees (willows, oaks, poplars),
or shooting down into dark holes, into damp cre-
vices, etc.

The white, flocconous extremities which consti-
tute the mycelium of the species known as R. siib-
terranea (fig. 10), observed not unfrequently at the

90

PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

bottom and on the walls of dark damp mines or
moist caverns, on old decayed humid towers, etc.*
evolve a tranquil phosphoric light, which some-
times attracts attention by its intensity.

The phosphorescence of R. sulterranea is fre-
quent in coal mines, and has been many times
observed near Dresden. Counsellor Ehrman has
spoken with enthusiasm of its pleasing effect in
these lone and desolate places. Having once de-
scended into one of the Swedish mines, he saw
these "vegetable glowworms" gleaming along its
walls or shining in some obscure recess.

Caverns in the granitic rocks of Bohemia are
often beautifully decked with this luminous cryp-
togam, and I am told that our English coal-mines
occasionally exhibit, by its aid, a light sufficiently
clear to admit of reading ordinary print.

CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 91

But nowhere, perhaps, is the effect produced by
this cryptogamic phosphorescence so exquisitely
beautiful as in the mines of Hesse, in the north of
Germany, where the walls of the air galleries ap-
pear illuminated with a pale light resembling that
of the moonbeams stealing through narrow cre-
vices into some gloomy recess.

Some other species of Rhizomorpha are sup-
posed to be luminous, but this is doubtful. Heinz-
mann says he has remarked phosphorescence in
It. subterranea and in R. aidulce.

Certain experimentalists think that the light of
these fungi is more brilliant in oxygen gas than
in the air, and that it is extinguished in those
gases which are non-respirable ; whilst others, on
the contrary, have asserted that though hydrogen
gas, hydrochloric acid, and nitric oxide, seem to
put out the light of many phosphorescent fungi,
this light is not extinguished in pure nitrogen.
These observations require, therefore, to be re-
peated with care.

Phosphorescence appears to have been first ob-
served in large fungi at Amboine, by the botanist
E/umphius, who saw light emitted from a species
he has designated Fungus igneus, or fire-mush-
room. It was afterwards seen in the Brazils by
another botanist, Gardner, upon an agaric, which
grows on the dead leaves of the Pindoba palm,
and which has been named Agaricus Gardneri.

PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

Mr. Gardner found these phosphorescent fungi in
Brazil, but it appears that a very large species
which possesses similar light-emitting properties,
is found in the Swan River colony.

A red mushroom, AgaricMs olearius (fig. 11),

Fig. 11.

which grows at the foot of the olive-tree, in Italy,
throws out during the night a blue light, which it
spreads silently around. This remarkable fungus
has been studied by M. Delille and M. Fabre.
According to the first-named naturalist, when
this agaric is still young, it is phosphorescent for
many successive nights, even when it is detached
from the tree, at the foot of which it is generally
to be found. It begins to shine a little before
nightfall, continues luminous during the night,

CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 93

and ceases to shine as soon as the sun rises.
The same author says that he never saw the
Agaricus olearius shine during the daytime, how-
ever dark the room in which it was kept ; and we
might remark upon this that fungi only vegetate
at night. But M. Fabre has, more recently, ob-
served that the phosphorescence of this agaric is
not intermittent, as M. Delille supposes, and that
it shines during the day as well as by night. Ex-
posure of the plant to sunlight appears to have no
influence whatever upon the phenomenon, " and
does not prevent its manifestation as soon as
the fungus is removed into a dark place." This
seems, however, to indicate that the sun's light
has, in reality, an influence upon the emission of
light by this fungus during the daytime, and
that the phenomenon observed by M. Fabre is
probably a case of phosphorescence after insola-
tion— a circumstance not to be passed over slightly,
as we see further on, that a similar fact has been
observed in the insect world.

M. Fabre has also shown that the dampness or
dryness of the air does not appear to have any
influence upon the phosphorescence of Agaricus
olearius, unless indeed the dryness is so intense
as to desiccate the tissue of the plant. An eleva-
tion of temperature, within certain limits, does
not modify the phenomenon : below H- 9° to -K 6°
(centigrade) the light ceases, but the phosphores-

94 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

cence recommences when the temperature is gra-
dually raised again above this point. If the plant
has been kept for some time at freezing-point,
it loses its phosphoric property completely. A
warmth of +48° to +50° likewise destroys this
peculiar property. In other respects the emission
of light by this agaric is the same under water
as in the air, and pure oxygen does not appear to
augment its intensity. No elevation of tempera-
ture can be observed in the parts of the fungus
which shine.

The phosphoric light emitted by Agaricus ole-
arius is evolved from the head (pileus) of this
fungus : the lamellce of the pileus, where the spo-
rules or seeds are accumulated, are the seat of
this extraordinary phenomenon.

The byssoid fungi, which penetrate the tissues
of other superior kinds of fungi, or into decayed
wood, are frequently seen to'be phosphorescent,
and the light observed is generally attributed to
the decayed wood itself. This is very remarkable
in old willows (Salix). Wood which is tender, like
that of these willows, is often penetrated in all its
parts by filaments of the mycelium of some infe-
rior byssoid fungus, by which it acquires a pe-
culiar fungoid smell, and becomes luminous in
the dark.

This light is curious to observe under the mi-
croscope, in a dark room.

CEYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 95

It is not exactly known to what species of fun-
gus decayed wood owes its phosphoric light, but
we can, with much probability, attribute it to the
mycelium of a certain Thelephora which Linnaeus
has named Byssus phosphorea, placing it in the
genus Byssus, because this illustrious naturalist
was only acquainted with the filaments of the my-
celium, and not with the entire plant.

Agardh, who also saw the mycelium only,
classed its filaments under the name of My cinema

Fig. 12.

phosphoreum, and other botanists have named
them Conferva phosphorea and Auricularia phos-
phorea. At the present day the fungus, of which
these luminous filaments constitute a part — the
mycelium — is known under the specific name of
Thelephora ccerulea (fig. 12), on account of the
fine blue colour observed upon the perfect
plant.

96 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

It is quite possible, however, that the syno-
nyms given above refer to more than one plant ;
it is very probable also that many byssoid fungi
are luminous in the dark, and that this phospho-
ric property pertains to many other cryptogams.
Adrien de Jussieu, in his ' Elements de Bota-
nique/ remarks that certain kinds of wood become
phosphorescent when they are exposed to the
damp after they have been cut in full sap. The
phosphoric light emitted in this case appears to
be owing to one of the byssoid fungi just named.

No Algce have, if I mistake not, been described
as phosphorescent, although many whilst grow-
ing under water reflect colours which perish al-
most immediately when the plant is removed to
the air. Of this class are several species of Cysto-
seira, especially 0. ericoides, which, though really
of a greenish-olive, appears when growing under
water to be clothed with the richest phosphoric
greens and blues, changing momently, as the
branches move to and fro in the water. Similar
colours, according to Harvey, have been observed,
though in a less striking degree, on some of the
RedAlgce, and the genus Iridcea derives its name
from this phenomenon. Clwndrus crispus is ob-
served to be occasionally iridescent, and at the
Cape of Good Hope Ghampia compressa and Cliy-
locladia Capensis present very brilliant rainbow
colours, etc. "The cause of these brilliant co-

CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 97

lours/' says Professor Harvey, "has not been
particularly sought after."

I cannot say these pertain to phosphoric phe-
nomena, but I have cited the above cases on ac-
count of their curiosity. They appear rather to
belong to the optical phenomenon of interference.

Experiments made with a view of investiga-
ting the physical causes of the phosphorescence
of decayed wood, alluded to above as owing to a
minute cryptogamic organism, have consisted in
placing the luminous wood into different gases,
plunging it under water, etc. Bockman has proved
that phosphorescent wood is as luminous in pure
nitrogen and in a void, as in pure oxygen, and
that its light is extinguished even in oxygen gas,
if the temperature be rather high; also, that it
remains luminous under water. This ingenious
experimentalist has remarked that moisture ex-
alted, to a remarkable degree, the phosphoric in-
tensity of decayed wood, and that it appeared es-
sential for its manifestation.

In general a certain degree of warmth and
moisture, combined sometimes with a peculiar
electrical state of the atmosphere — though this
does not always seem essential — appear to be the
most favourable conditions under which we ob-
serve vegetable phosphorescence.

PART III.

ANIMAL PHOSPHOBESCENCE.

101

CHAPTER I.
EMISSION OF LIGHT BY DEAD ANIMAL MATTER,

IN this section of my work I shall speak of the
emission of light by dead animal .matter, before
entering upon the subject of phosphoric animals.

It is well known that when the dead bodies of
certain fish, more especially mackerels and her-
rings, are exposed to the air for a short time,
they soon become luminous in the dark. When
they are in this state, if we merely rub the finger
over the luminous surface of the dead fish, we re-
cognize the presence of an oily substance, which
renders the finger luminous, as if it had been
rubbed upon phosphorus.

This grease, when separated from the body of
the fish by means of a knife, and placed upon a
plate of glass, continues to shine in the dark.
When examined under the microscope, not a ves-
tage of infusoria or other animalcule is seen in it,
which otherwise, as we shall see further, might
account for its luminosity.

102 EMISSION OF LIGHT BY

When these dead fish are placed in sea-water,
they render it luminous in the course of a few
days, — the phosphorescence of the sea is however
owing to a different cause, — and the water then
shines in a uniform, manner, i.e. everywhere with
equal intensity : if it be passed through a filter it
continues to shine as before. These facts prove
clearly that this singular phosphorescence is not
owing to any luminous animalcules.

Water that has been rendered luminous by
dead fish loses its transparency, becomes milky,
and acquires a repulsive odour; in the space of
four or five days it ceases to be luminous.

Hulme, who has made numerous observations
on this particular case of phosphorescence, says
that the luminous greasy substance of the herring
soon loses its phosphoric properties in pure water.
Alcohol, acids, and alkalis also prevent its shining.
Common salt and honey appear, on the contrary,
to assist this phosphorescence. Sometimes also,
when the latter has been extinguished by one
means or another, it can be brought back again :
thus, in one of Hulme' s experiments, twenty -four
grammes of sulphate of magnesia, dissolved in
twenty-one grammes of water, and mixed with
the luminous substance of the mackerel, com-
pletely extinguished its light ; but if to this mix-
ture six times its volume of water were added, it
became luminous again. The same observer also

JDEAD ANIMAL MATTER. 103

remarked that the quantity of light produced in
phosphorescent putrefactions diminishes as the
process of putrefaction itself advances.

Cold prevents the phenomenon of phosphores-
cence in dead fish, but only temporarily, for the
light bursts forth again with its usual intensity as
soon as the temperature becomes milder. It has
been also seen that this phosphorescence is ac-
companied by no production of heat in the parts
which shine. We have already noticed this fact
in the mineral and in the vegetable world, and we
shall notice it again when speaking of luminous
animals. Boiling water and high temperatures
destroy the phosphorescence which occupies us
here.

I have myself proved the exactness of most of
the above facts whilst studying the body of a dead
stockfish (Ray a) in a luminous condition. In a
short note published in the ' Comptes-Rendus' of
the Paris Academy of Sciences for I860, I have
shown by direct chemical experiment that no phos-
phorus can be found in the luminous grease which
shines upon fish. I was at first inclined to attri-
bute their phosphorescence to the presence of
some microscopic fungi, but at present I am more
inclined to believe it is owing to some peculiar
organic matter which possesses the property of
shining in the dark like phosphorus itself.

The bodies of other marine animals shine after

104 EMISSION OF LIGHT J5F

death, none perhaps so vividly as that of the Pholas,
a mollusk well known to those who reside on the
coast. That this mollusk was luminous after death
was known to Pliny, who said that it shone in the
mouths of the persons who ate it ; and among
the moderns, Keaumur, Beccaria, Marsilius, Galea-
tus, and Montius have studied its phosphores-
cence.

Beccaria had the curiosity to ascertain how
the light of putrescent fish, and that of the dead
pholas, affected different colours, and for this pur-
pose he placed in the light emitted, pieces of dif-
ferent coloured ribbons. The white came out
brightest, next -to that was the yellow, and then
the green-, the other colours could hardly be per-
ceived. The same experiment was repeated, with
similar results, on trying coloured liquids in glass
tubes. We have here then another instance of the
predominance of yellow tints over the others in
cases of phosphorescence. Indeed Sir Isaac New-
ton, who first decomposed light into the seven
rays of the spectrum, says, " The most luminous
of the prismatic colours are the yellow and the
orange ; these affect the senses more strongly than
all the rest together."

These experiments of Beccaria were made chiefly
with the Pholas. A single pholas rendered seven
ounces of milk so luminous that the faces of per-
sons might be distinguished by it, and it looked
as if transparent.

DEAD ANIMAL MATTER. 105

Beccaria and Reaumur made many attempts to
render the luminosity of the pholas permanent.
The best result was obtained by placing the dead
mollusk in honey, by which its property of emit-
ting light lasted more than a year ; whenever it
was plunged into warm water the body of the
pholas gave as much light as ever.

Galeatus and Montius showed that vinegar and
wine extinguished the light of the dead pholades;
that a heat of 45° Reaumur (56° centigrade) ex-
tinguished this light, though it had increased in
intensity up to that temperature, and that it could
not afterwards be brought back again.

Many other less remarkable experiments have
been noted by the above-named authors.

Most saltwater fish become phosphorescent in
the dark, like those mentioned above ; and con-
cerning those which inhabit fresh water I have
heard it stated that the ovaries of the carp have
been seen in a phosphorescent state.

Mr. Canton has observed that several kinds of
river fish could not be made to give light in the
same circumstances in which sea-fish became lu-
minous, but that a piece of carp made water very
luminous, though the outside or scaly part of it
did not shine at all.

In 1672 Boyle published a paper in the ' Philo-
sophical Transaction s/ containing observations
upon shining flesh. He treats in this paper of the

106 EMISSION OF LIGHT BY

phosphorescence of a neck of veal, which shone in
more than twenty places, as decayed wood or putre-
fying fish, do.

In 1 838, M. Julia de Fontenelle related in his
' Journal des Sciences Physiques et Chimiques/
a curious case of phosphorescent light observed
upon the dead body of a man. Such cases of
phosphorescence are not unfrequent in dissecting
rooms, but often escape observation, as neither
students nor professors visit these rooms at night,
and when a person does happen to enter them
after dark, the light he carries in his hand is too
powerful to allow him to perceive the phosphoric
radiations which often emanate from fragments of
dead bodies lying about.

As this chapter is devoted exclusively to the
phosphorescence of animal matter which has lost
its vitality, I have reserved certain observations
concerning evolutions of light by living subjects
for a future one.

All the observations we possess regarding the
nature of the light emitted by dead animal matter
coincide with those of Robert Boyle, published as
stated above, in the year 1672. When all the lucid
parts of the shining neck of veal were surveyed
at once, they made, he tells us, " a very splendid
show." By applying a printed paper to some of
the more luminous spots, divers letters of the title
could be distinguished. But notwithstanding the

DEAD ANIMAL MATTER. 107

vividness of the light, it did not yield the least
degree of heat appreciable either to the touch or
by the thermometer.

Boyle was often disappointed in his experiments
made with a view of obtaining shining flesh at
will. The luminous neck of veal was observed on
the 15th of February, 1672, by one of his servants.
Suspecting that the state of the atmosphere had
something to do with it, he carefully noticed that
the wind was south-west and blustering, the air
hot for the season, the moon past its last quarter,
and the mercury in the barometer at 29-^ inches.

The first distinct account that I meet with of
light proceeding from putrescent flesh is that
which is given by Fabricio d'Acquapendente, who
says that when three Eoman youths residing at
Padua had bought a lamb and had eaten part of
it on Easter-day, 1592, several pieces of the re-
mainder which they kept till the day following
shone like so many candles when viewed in the
dark. Part of this luminous flesh was sent to Fa-
bricio d'Acquapendente, who was then Professor
of Anatomy in Padua. He observed that both the
lean and the fat shone with a white kind of light,
and that some pieces of kid's flesh which had lain
in contact with it were luminous, as well as the
fingers of the persons who touched it. Those
parts shone most which were soft to the touch,
and which appeared more or less transhicid when
held before a lighted candle.

108 EMISSION OF LIGHT BY

The next account of a similar appearance was
described by Bartholin, the celebrated Danish
philosopher, as seen at Montpelier in 1641. A
poor woman had bought a piece of flesh in the
market, intending to make use of it the day fol-
lowing ; but happening not to sleep well that
night, and her bed and pantry being in the same
room, she observed so much light come from the
flesh as to illuminate all the place where it hung.
This flesh was shown to many persons as a curi-
osity, and kept till it began to putrefy, when the
light vanished.

After these come Boyle's observations alluded
to above.

It has often occurred to me that this singular
production of light in dead animal matter precedes
putrefaction; no disagreeable smell is observed
until the luminous appearance has lasted some
time. Boyle was also aware of this, for he says,
"Notwithstanding the great number of lucid
parts/' referring to his neck of veal, " not the least
degree of stench was perceivable to infer any putre-
faction."

Water does not destroy the phosphorescence of
dead animal matter ; but alcohol, acids, etc., soon
extinguished it. According to Boyle's experi-
ments, a piece of shining flesh shone less, but did
not lose its light, when placed in the exhausted
receiver of an air-pump ; " but," he adds, ( ' by the

DEAD ANIMAL MATTER. 109

hasty increase of light that disclosed itself in the
veal upon admitting the air into the exhausted
receiver, it appeared that the decrement, though
slowly made, had been considerable." The lumi-
nosity of flesh generally lasts about four days,
after which putrefaction sets in rapidly.

A peculiar mucilaginous substance, or mucus,
is sometimes seen about spring, on the damp
ground near rivulets or stagnant pools in the
fields, which, from the circumstance of its being
occasionally phosphorescent at night, has been
regarded, since the middle ages, as having some
connection with shooting stars. The Belgian pea-
sants call it " the substance of shooting stars."

I have sketched the history of this curious sub-
stance in the ' Journal de Medecine et de Pharma-
cologie' of Bruxelles, for 1855. It was analysed
chemically by Mulder, and anatomically by Carus,
and from their observations appears to be the pe-
culiar mucus which envelops the eggs of the frog.
It swells to an enormous volume when it has free
access to water. As seen upon the damp ground
in spring, it was often mistaken for some species
of fungus; it is however simply the spawn cf
frogs, which has been swallowed by some large
crows or other birds, and afterwards vomited,
from its peculiar property of swelling to an im-
mense size in their bodies. From the fact of this
mucilaginous matter having been sometimes ob-

110 DEAD ANIMAL MATTER.

served in a luminous state at night, the Dutch
and Belgian peasants imagine that it has been
dropped upon the ground by some passing shoot-
ing star; and in Mulder' s account of its chemical
composition, given by Berzelius in his ' Rapport
Annuel' (French edition), he distinguishes it by
the designation of " mucilage atmospherique."

My attention was called lately to a case of lumi-
nous urine, observed by a friend of mine, in 1859,
during a warm summer in Paris. It was observed to
shine with a slight phosphoric light when stirred.
I was at first inclined to attribute this to a phe-
nomenon of reflection, but I find that the same
fact was observed many years ago by two well-
known medical men, Reiselius and Pettenkofer,
one of whom witnessed this phosphorescence in
November, and the other in March. It appears,
therefore, evident that urine may become lumi-
nous in certain circumstances with which we are
not acquainted. The old chemist Lemery has,
moreover, remarked that urine is sometimes phos-
phorescent.

Ill

CHAPTER II.

EMISSION OF LIGHT BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS.
PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA.

I SHALL now enter upon the subject of Phosphoric
Animals; i.e. of the phenomenon of phosphorescence
in living animal organisms. And in the first place
I shall draw attention to a curious fact. With the
exception of a few more or less doubtful cases, to
which I shall allude at the end of this part of my
work, the faculty of producing light seems, in the
animal world, to cease with the class of insects.
But, on the other hand, from insects downwards,
there is scarcely a section of the animal world but
which furnishes us with some self-luminous beings.
Thus decided cases of phosphorescence have been
and are frequently observed, in Infusoria, Rhizo-
podes, Polypes, Echinoderms, Annelides, Medusae,
Tunicata, MollusJcs, Crustaceans, Myriapodes, and
Insects.

It would indeed require volumes to describe
each luminous animal belonging to these numer-
ous tribes. I shall not attempt it here, but I

112 EMISSION OF LIGHT

shall call attention to the most remarkable of
them. Their zoological descriptions, i.e. their
nature and habits, can be found in other works.

A vast number of these inferior organisms
render the waters of the ocean luminous in every
latitude. The little beings classed in the genus
Noctiluca, which resemble the larger kinds of In-
fusoria, but belong in reality to the class of Wdzo-
podes, play an important part in the illumination
of the sea. Polypes , Medusae, a whole host of In-
fusoria, some Worms, and some small Crustaceans,
contribute also to the beauty of this phenomenon.

In the years 1749 and 1750, Vianelli and Grix-
ellini, two Venetian naturalists, discovered in the
waters of the Adriatic, considerable quantities of
an animalcule evidently possessed of luminous pro-
perties. They immediately attributed to this sin-
gular being, the cause of the phosphorescence of
the sea, a phenomenon which to that day had re-
mained a mystery. This animalcule received from
Linnasus the name of Nereis noctiluca.

In 1776, Spallanzani was made aware of the
self-luminous properties of a Mediterranean blub-
ber, Pellagia phosphorea, and at the commence-
ment of the present century Yiviani made known
the following fifteen species of phosphoric animals,
Asterias noctiluca, Gy clops exiliens, Gammarus
caudisetus, G. longicornis, G. truncatus, G. hetero-
j G. crassimanus, Nereis mucronata, N. radi-

SY INFERIOR ORGANISMS. 113

ata, Lumbricus hirticauda, L. simplicissimus, Pla-
naria retusa, Srachiurus quadruples, andSpirogra-
phis Spallanzanii. Some of these were found off the
coast of Genoa in 1805. Scoresby and Eiville soon
recognized other phosphorescent species, which
they dredged from the ocean in their voyages.
Macartney made known, in 1810, the luminous
Medusa scintillans, M. lucida, and another curious
little being closely allied to Medusas, called Beroe
fulgens. Peron and Lesueur, in their voyage from
Europe to the Isle of France, discovered the Pyro-
soma Atlantica (fig. 12 : 1, the entire animal mag-

Fig. 12.

nified ; 2, the phosphorescent surface of the body,
magnified 300 diameters), one of the most curious
of animals. It belongs to the tribe of Tunicata;
each individual resembles a minute cylinder of
glowing phosphorus ; sometimes they are seen
adhering together in such prodigious numbers,
that the ocean appears as if covered with an enor-

i

114 < EMISSION OF LIGHT

mous layer of shining phosphorus or molten lava.
These singular productions of nature are met with
between 19° and 20° of longitude east of Paris,
and 3° and 4° north latitude.

The no less curious animals belonging to the
genus Salpa (fig. 13, Salpa cristata : 1, an iso-
lated individual; 2, five Salpae united as they
swim), also classed in the Tunicata, abound in the

Fig. 13.

Mediterranean and warmer parts of the ocean.
They are often phosphorescent. They also swim,
adhering together in vast numbers; their phos-
phorescence resembles the light of the moon on
the still waters, and they give rise to what is termed
by the French a mer de lait, or sea of milk.

Sir Joseph Banks, in his voyage from Madeira
to Rio Janeiro, discovered the little crab Cancer
fulgens, a species said to be very phosphorescent.
In nearly the same latitude that this discovery
was made, Medusa pellucens was met with; its
phosphorescence is described as resembling a
flash of lightning.

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS.

115

In 1810, M. Suriray showed that the phospho-
rescence of the sea in the English Channel was
owing exclusively to Noctiluca miliaris, a very mi-
nute Rhizopode, which has since been studied by

Fig. 14.

M. de Quatrefages, of Paris, and Dr. Verhaghe, of
Ostend. (Fig. 14, Noctiluca miliaris : I, The animal

116 EMISSION OF LIGHT

highly magnified; 2, less magnified; 3, as seen
with a pocket lens on the surface of a glass of
water; 4, as they descend through the water,
glowing with phosphorescent light, when the
glass is shaken.)

In the year 1830, Michaelis, a distinguished
professor at Kiel, was, according to Humboldt, the
first to make known the existence of Phosphoric
Infusoria. He first observed the phenomenon
of phosphorescence in a species of the genus
Peridinium (fig. 15), a ciliated animalcule, and

Fig. 15.

afterwards in Prorocentrum micausj* and in the

* It is exceedingly probable that this animalcule will be placed
among the Khizopodes; and the same remark may apply to
many now-called Infusoria. In this microscopic class of ani-
mals, as it undergoes fresh investigations, the species are con-
tinually being removed and placed in higher genera, families or
classes. Thus the Rotifera are now classed among the Annelides.

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS. 117

Rotifer which he has named Synchata Baltica,
indicating that it is found in the Baltic Sea.
The naturalist Focke has since found this re-
markable little being in the lagune of Venice.

Ehrenberg has described the following species
of self-luminous Infusoria existing in the Baltic :
— Prorocentrum micans, an oval-shaped animalcule
with a long cilium, and containing many trans-
parent nucleoles (fig. 16) ; Peridinium Michaelis,

Fig. 16.

P.micans, P.fusus, P. f urea, P. acuminatum, Syn-
chata Baltica, and a species of Stentor (S. igneus?) .
Peridinium Michaelis (fig. 1 7), named after the
distinguished naturalist already alluded to, is not
unlike a very minute Florence flask filled with
plums, standing upon two legs, and hav-
ing a ciliated belt round its middle. It
is perfectly invisible to the naked eye.
The other species are very odd-look-
ing creatures, which it is impossible to
describe here. Flg- 17>

118 EMISSION OF LIGHT

The interesting Synchata Baltica (fig. 18) be-
longs to the tribe of Hydatinea, of which many
individuals are common in our ditches and stag-
nant freshwaters.

The largest of these phosphorescent Infusoria
described by Ehrenberg, are about one-eighth 01
a line, the smallest are from a forty- eighth to
a ninety-sixth of a line in size. They offer a

Tig. 18.

magnificent spectacle when placed under the mi-
croscope in a dark room.

Ehrenberg has likewise studied certain species
of Photocharis, marine animalcules which resemble
Nereis among the worms ; and, when seen under
the microscope, appear like minute strings of
lighted sulphur. The phosphoric light they emit
is of a greenish-yellow, similar to that of the com-

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS. 119

mon glowworm. Oceana hemispJi<jerica, another
minute creature described by the same naturalist,,
appears " enveloped with a shining crown."

At the present day it appears doubtless that
certain small crustaceans are occasionally phos-
phorescent; especially the species Cancer fulg ens
already mentioned, and Cyclops quadricornis.

Many mollusks have also been seen to shine at
night, especially certain Pholades which bore into
ships, etc., and, according to some authors, cer-
tain terrestrial species. Concerning these mol-
lusks, it is well known that they shine intensely
after death ; but do they shine when alive ? I have
not been able to solve this query. The other ani-
mals alluded to have been frequently seen, and
many of them by myself, in a shining condition
during life.

Fig. 19.

The different species of Cephalopoda which live
near the shore, and some Pteropoda, have been seen
to be self-luminous. The same may be said of the
curious organisms called BiphoreSj Dyphises, Phy-

120

EMISSION OF LIGHT

salia, Salpa, certain Nereids; and among the Star-
fish (Asterias), I should mention the Ophiura, or
Sand-stars.

Fig. 21,

Medusce (figs. 19, 20, 21, and 22) and Cyaneas
possess this luminous property to a very high de-

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS.

121

gree, and so do many polypes, such, as the Penna-
tula, known to naturalists as the Phosphorescent
Sea-pen, and in French as Plumes de mer. Some

Fig. 22.

species ofVeretilla and Virgularia (Sea Rush) are
known to be self-luminous. The thick branchy

Fig. 23.

Alcyonid'ium gelatinosum (fig. 23), which is only
found attached to rocks situated in deep water,

122 EMISSION OF LIGHT

has been remarked to emit phosphoric light at cer-
tain seasons of the year.*

Among the Khizopodes, the species named by
Ehrenberg Mammaria scintillans, now better
known as Noctiluca miliaris, which is never larger
than the head of a small pin according to Hum-
boldt (I never saw one half so large), " offers to
the microscopical investigator of Nature, the mag-
nificent spectacle of a starry firmament reflected
in the sea." Humboldt tells us, in one of his
works, that his body has remained luminous for
an hour together, covered as it was by Noctiluca,
after bathing in the waters of the Pacific.

Noctiluca miliaris is very common in the Eng-
lish Channel ; and I have found this species in such
prodigious numbers in the damp sand at Ostend,
that on raising a handful of it, it appeared like so
much molten lava.

In the year 1854, the number of marine animals
known to be endowed with phosphorescent pro-
perties during life, amounted to upwards of a
hundred distinct species, all invertebrata.

MM. Edoux and Soulezet, two French natu-

* It would certainly be interesting to introduce some of these
luminous animals into the marine aquariums which are much
in vogue at present. For my own part, I have often been de-
lighted with the phosphorescent spectacle some of them present in
a small flask. The species figured in the text are perhaps among
the more worthy of notice in this respect, viz. fig. 19, Thaumantius
pilosella; fig. 21, ^Cydippe pileus ; fig. 22, Beroe Forskallii, etc.

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS. 123

ralists, who made a scientific voyage round the
world in the ship ( La Bonite/ observed that cer-
tain small phosphorescent Crustacea sometimes
secrete a peculiar phosphorescent matter, and
that when they are irritated, they send forth mag-
nificent flashes of light. Other crustaceans did
not appear to possess this faculty. These two
gentlemen collected a certain quantity of the
phosphoric substance ; they found it to be " yel-
lowish, viscous, and soluble in water/' communi-
cating its luminous property to this liquid, but
only for an instant or two. It lost its luminosity
when it had been separated for a few moments from
the body of the animal.

These naturalists have also observed the phe-
nomenon of phosphorescence in certain Pteropoda
and Cephalopoda j they believe that these animals
possess a peculiar phosphorescent substance like
that of the Crustacea, which, from their observa-
tions, appears to be continuously and uniformly
luminous as long as the animals live, but ceases
to be so when they die.

When the phosphorescent Infusoria, of which
I have spoken, are exhausted and cease to emit
any light, their luminous faculty can be restored
for a while by exciting them with a drop of dilute
acid or alcohol mixed with the sea-water; but
this experiment soon kills them.

Humboldt affirms that having placed certain

124 EMISSION OF LIGHT

Medusae upon a tin plate, he observed that when-
ever he struck this plate with another metal, the
slightest vibrations of the tin were sufficient to
render the animal completely luminous many
consecutive times. It has been observed also that
these Medusae emit a more intense phosphores-
cence when they are placed in a galvanic circuit ;
but the electric current must not be too powerful.

The experiments undertaken by M. Suriray a
Havre, by Professor Ehrenberg at Heligoland, by
M. de Quatrefages at Boulogne, and by Dr. Ver-
haghe at Ostend, have added considerably to our
knowledge of the emission of light by Noctiluca.

All mechanical or chemical agents that bring
about a contraction of tissue in these animalcules
excite their phosphoric quality. A drop of weak
acid or alcohol, a shock given to the glass
which contains them, immediately renders every
individual luminous. If a few teaspoonfuls of
Noctiluca be collected upon a filter, the light they
emit is powerful enough to enable us to read at a
distance of nine inches and a half. When the
bulb of a small and very sensitive thermometer is
plunged into this little heap of Noctiluca, it is
found, that although these small beings are in full
life, not the slightest elevation of temperature can
be observed during the emission of their light.

A curious observation has been made by Pro-
fessor Ehrenberg. By submitting his "Mam-

BY INFERIOR ORGANISMS. 125

maria" (Noctiluca) to a magnifying power of
thirty diameters,, he saw some of them become
brilliant on one part of their body only, others on
many points, and others again on their whole
surface. On increasing the magnifying power
from sixty to one hundred and forty diameters,
more and more brilliant points became luminous.
The light seemed concentrated in them, whilst
the homogeneous luminosity of the animalcule dis-
appeared. Ehrenberg considers these brilliant
points to be so many light-emitting organs.

126

CHAPTER III.
PHOSPHOKESCENCE OF THE EAETHWOEM.

IN the year 1840 M. Forester wrote to the Aca-
demy of Sciences at Paris, stating that during a
dark rainy night he had seen a great number of
Xiumbrics, or earthworms, shining with a white
phosphoric light, which he compared to that of
iron heated to a white heat.

When this letter was communicated to the Aca-
demy, the distinguished naturalist M. Audouin
rose and said, that to his knowledge no authen-
tic case of phosphorescence in earthworms had
ever been made known, but that he could cite
numerous cases where these worms had been mis-
taken for Scolopendra, some species of which are
known to be phosphorescent.

Upon this occasion M. Dumeril, lately one of
the greatest ornaments of the present Institute
of France, said that he happened to know of two
very authentic observations, emanating from two
eminent naturalists, concerning the emission of

PHOSPHORESCENCE OF EARTHWORM. 127

light by earthworms, properly so called (Lumbri-
cus) ; the first of these was made by Flaugergues,
who had observed the phenomenon of phospho-
rescence in Lumbrics for some years consecu-
tively, and always in the month of October ;
namely, in 1771, 1775, and 1776. Flaugergues
had, moreover, remarked that the light was
emitted principally from that portion of the body
in which are situated the external organs of re-
production. The second observation is owed to
the naturalist Bruguiere ; his note, which was in-
serted in the ' Journal d'Histoire Naturelle ' (vol.
ii. p. 267), is entitled " Sur la Qualite Phosphorique
du Ver de Terre en certaines cir Constances."

Since then, M. Audouin himself has been con-
vinced of the fact by some curious observations
made known to him by Professor Moquin-Tandon,
one of the present members of the Academy of
Sciences. These observations are well worth re-
cording.

The last-named savant, together with M. Saigey,
remarked one warm summer evening in the year
1837, a number of small phosphorescent animals
in a garden-walk at Toulouse. Both M. Saigey
and M. Moquin-Tandon ascertained positively that
these animals belonged to the genus Lumbricus.
They were from forty to fifty millimetres long.
The light with which they shone was nearly white,
and resembled that of a bar of iron heated to a

128 PHOSPHORESCENCE OF

white heat. When one of these worms was trodden
upon and crushed, the phosphorescence spread
out upon the ground, producing a long train of
light, as if the earth in this place had been streaked
with a piece of phosphorus.

Each of these Lumbrics was remarked by their
observers to have a well-developed clitellum, which
proves that the worms under inspection were adults
and that it was their period for coupling. M.
Moquin-Tandon preserved some of these worms
for many days, and observed that their luminous
property resided in the sexual swelling or clitellum,
and that their phosphorescence ceased immediately
after copulation.

The editor of a French periodical,* in which my
brochure on Phosphorescence was reprinted with-
out my consent soon after it appeared in France,
received shortly afterwards a letter, dated 18th
November, 1858, and signed M. Adrien, of Pont
Saint-Esprit, in which the writer declares that,
having read my papers, the paragraphs which
treat of the phosphorescence of Lumbrics had re-
minded him of an observation he had made about
three years ago.

" One summer's night after a rainy day," says

the writer, "I saw the ground sparkling with a

whitish phosphoric light whilst sprinkled with

warm urine, and I recognized at the same time

* ' L'Ami des Sciences.' Paris, 1858.

OF THE EARTHWORM. 129

the presence of numerous small worms. . . . The
phenomenon was so curious that I took up some
of these worms and carried them into the house to
examine them by the light of my lamp. I imme-
diately recognized them to be small Lumbrics,
about fifteen millimetres long. Returning again
into my garden, with a lantern, I saw at the same
place many Lumbrics crawling upon the ground
with their usual slow and regular mode of progres-
sion. But they showed no light ; and when the
lantern was put out, their presence could not be
recognized. But as soon as they were in their
turn sprinkled with warm urine, the phosphores-
cence of their entire bodies shone forth and illu-
minated their wriggling movements."

The writer of this letter says he has since re-
peated the experiment many times, and he asks
if the phenomenon ought to be attributed to the
saline matter contained in the urine, or if the
warmth of this liquid is alone necessary to oc-
casion the phosphorescence of Lumbrics. This
might have been easily ascertained by using pure
warm water in the experiment; but the author
of the letter apparently did not think of it. His
observation, as we have given it in his own words,
tends to prove that violent muscular contraction
excites an increase of phosphorescence in the
earthworm as in the Noctiluca mentioned among
animals in the preceding chapter; and the fact

K

130 PHOSPHORESCENCE OF EARTHWORM.

concerning the earthworm appears to have been
observed by M. Vallot, of the Academy of Dijon,
as early as 1828. I may add here, that I distinctly
remember witnessing, when quite a child, the
phosphorescence of the earthworm ; the light
appeared connected with the slimy matter that
covers the animal's body. It was whilst digging
at night, in a large dunghill, for worms to supply
baits for a fishing excursion that my schoolfellows
and myself turned up many hundred Lumbrics in
a highly luminous condition ; but I cannot recol-
lect in what month this happened.

131

CHAPTEK IV.
PHOSPHORESCENCE OF SCOLOPENDEA.

IT is well known that the centipedes belonging to
the genus Scohpendra, and the class of Myriapoda,
present us with at least two self-luminous species.
In common with the earthworm, Scolopendra
emit phosphoric light of a greater intensity at the
time when the functions of reproduction are about
to be performed.

We must register here another anecdote : —
On the 16th of August, 1814, about nine o'clock
in the evening, some persons came to M. Audouin
at Choissy-le-Roi, near Paris, where he was pass-
ing his vacations, and called his attention to a
curious fact. They had seen, they said, an im-
mense number of " earthworms" in a chicory-field
not far distant, and these " worms" shone with a
light that could only be compared to that of a
piece of coal white-hot. One of these was brought
in a flowerpot to M. Audouin. It was evidently
a Lumbric; but, at the same time, this Lumbric

132 PHOSPHORESCENCE

was not phosphorescent. All present were greatly
surprised, and so was M. Audouin, when the
latter, removing some earth from the flowerpot,
soon discovered six small Scolopendra belonging
to the species 8. electrica of Linnseus. Their
phosphoric light was indeed vivid enough.

Going afterwards into the chicory-field, M.
Audouin observed this phosphorescence on a
grand scale. At first he saw only a few streaks
of light upon the soil ; but, having ordered some
of the earth to be dug up, the spectacle that pre-
sented itself was truly magnificent. The up-
heaved soil appeared everywhere sprinkled with
phosphoric radiations, and if some of it was trod-
den upon or rubbed between the hands, streaks
of light were produced which remained visible for
eight, ten, and twenty seconds.

Many persons have witnessed the luminous
phenomenon of 8. electrica, and their observations
coincide precisely with those just related.

Scolopendra eledrica (fig. 24) and 8. phospJwrea

Fig. 24.

are the only two species that are known with cer-
tainty to be highly phosphorescent. But it is

OF SCOLOPENDRA. 133

probable that future observations will furnish us
with others. The S. electrica of Linnaeus is not
uncommon in England, Belgium, France, etc.
Its light is seldom seen, in consequence of its ha-
bit of living in holes in the soil ; but it is some-
times to be met with in outhouses or crawling
along some secluded pathway, leaving a track of
phosphoric matter behind. It is about an inch
and a half long, its diameter being scarcely more
than one-tenth of an inch ; its colour is a dusky
brown, and its legs, which are one hundred and
forty in number (seventy upon each side of the
animal's body), are of a yellowish hue.*

We know very little of 8. plwsphorea, which
appears to be a native of Asia.

Some authors state that 8. electrica is only
phosphorescent when in motion, and that its light
cannot be discerned when the creature is at. rest ;
it is particularly brilliant, however, when the ani-
mal is disturbed or irritated. f

Macartney has made some extremely curious
observations on the phosphoric properties of our
English Scolopendra. It results from his re-
searches that the 8. electrica is capable of secret-
ing a luminous fluid (like the little Crustacea ob-
served by Edoux and Soulezet, as I have already

* I have already alluded to the yellow colour as being appa-
rently so intimately connected with phosphoric phenomena,
f We have seen that this is the case with Noctiluca.

134 PHOSPHORESCENCE OF SCOLOPENDRA.

noticed), and that this fluid can be communicated
by the centipede to every part of its tegument.
He has remarked also — and his observation has
since been confirmed by Kirby and Spence — that
this fluid can be received upon the hand, where it
will remain luminous for some seconds. But the
most curious of Macartney's observations is this —
he believes that this peculiar luminous substance
of S. electrica does not shine in the dark unless
it has been previously exposed to the solar rays.

This is certainly a remarkable observation, and
if it should be confirmed by future investigations,
it will constitute a very important feature in the
phenomena of animal phosphorescence. We shall
see presently that a similar observation has been
made with regard to the phosphorescent substance
of a luminous insect belonging to the genus Lam-
pyris.

135

CHAPTEE Y.
PHOSPHOEIC INSECTS.

PHOSPHORESCENCE has been observed with cer-
tainty in a considerable number of insects belong-
ing to the numerous family of Coleoptera, and in
some belonging to the family of Hemiptera. We
possess also some doubtful observations of this
kind regarding certain Lepidoptera and Ortho-
ptera.

First among luminous Coleoptera I must men-
tion the genus LampyriSj to which belong our own
Glow-worms (Vers-luisants or Lampyres of the
French) .

There are many species of Lampyris. No in-
sects, perhaps, have given rise to more poetical
sentiments among English authors, some of whom
have termed them " stars of the earth/' " dia-
monds of the night/' etc. : pseudonyms they owe
to their faculty of emitting a tranquil phosphoric
light, by which they illuminate and decorate our
hedgebanks on fine summer nights. For, if we

136 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

examine them in the daytime, these insects, as
every one knows, are not characterized by any
extraordinary feature, nor do they astonish us by
their beauty.

Lampyris noctiluca (fig. 25) is the species most
abundant in England, Belgium, Germany, and the

north of France. We all know it well. We have
all admired it silently shining on the fresh green
sward of the country, and we all value this insect
for the agreeable souvenirs which it calls forth as
we contemplate its soft light. These little shining
beings remind us of our younger days. They
were shown to us in our early childhood, and we
have been taught to look upon them as something
mysterious. ' f Those sparks in the grass, what are
they ? Insects ! But the light ! " How often
have we not heard such questions. Or this, again :
" Tell me, then, — you, a philosopher, — what is it,
definitely, that produces the light of the glow-
worm ? " To which we can only reply, " Those
sparks, in the grass have excited the inquisitive-

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 137

ness of philosophers, no less than the curiosity of
children ; but that which is a mystery to the latter
is still a secret, or nearly so, for the others."

Lampyris hemiptera is a rarer insect with us,
but it is met with, nevertheless, now and then.
It is black and small, its body being rather elon-
gated, its elytra or wing-cases conical, and the
extremity of its abdomen yellow.

Lampyris italica, both sexes of which are
winged, — which is not the case with the two fore-
going species, the females of which have no wings,
— sheds a very brilliant light ; it inhabits Italy and
Southern Europe, but has been accidentally met
with in England and Belgium. Lampyris splendi-
dula and L. mauritanica are found in the South of
France, and L. corusca in Russia.

An error, that has become popular, has held
ground regarding glow-worms. It has been
stated and persisted in, that the males of the dif-
ferent species of Lampyris have not the faculty
of emitting light. Now it has been shown long
ago that this opinion is inexact. An English na-
turalist, Ray, was the first to observe that the
male of our L. noctiluca shone in the dark. Geof-
froy afterwards found that this male insect has
four small luminous points, two upon each side of
the abdomen : and Miiller confirmed his observa-
tion. The male insect of L. splendidula and that
of L. hemiptera show a very brilliant light when

138 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

they fly. However, both the males and females
of glow-worms possess the faculty of extinguish-
ing or emitting their light, seemingly at will.

The light of the females is emitted from the
last three segments of the abdomen. On the last
segment of all we find, in L. noctiluca, two small
luminous points, more brilliant than the rest of
the segment, The light of L. italica is very
bright. Both sexes fly, and these insects are not
uncommon in Italy. Whilst flying through the
evening air they produce a very pretty effect ; at
first sight, the stars appear to be moving about in
all directions. We are told that it was formerly
a custom among the Italian youths to decorate
the hair of their mistresses with these " diamonds
of the night," which were probably less expensive
than pearl necklaces, and evidently surpassed the
brightness of the mineral diamond.

We know that the light of glowworms is trans-
mitted to us directly from the body of the insect,
for it does not possess the properties of reflected
light. It has been remarked, that the light of L.
noctiluca is refracted like that of the sun or the
stars, when it passes from one medium to another
of greater or lesser density. But it has never
been analysed prismatically, so that we cannot say,
at present, whether it is possessed of any peculiar
properties.*

* In 1808, Wollaston discovered what are called the dark lines

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 139

Matteucci has made a number of experiments
upon Lampyris italic a, with a view of proving
that the phosphorescence of the glowworm is a
phenomenon of combustion ; and, however erro-
neous this opinion may hereafter appear, M. Ko-
berts had already professed it as the result of his
own experiments a year before M. Matteucci.
This part of my work is not devoted to the dis-

of the solar spectrum ; twelve years afterwards Fraunhofer de-
termined the position of these lines, which are simply breaks or
interruptions in the coloured spectrum, with great accuracy.
Whenever light comes from the Sun, as solar light, as planetary
reflected light, as lunar light, or as light reflected from the clouds,
the number and position of these lines are the same. But when
light comes from other sources than the sun — from other suns, for
instance, from the star Sirius — these dark lines of the spectrum
differ. We find that the dark lines in the spectrum of Sirius
differ from those of Castor or from those of our Sun. This dif-
ference, which was first indicated by Fraunhofer, was afterwards
confirmed by Professor Amici, who also showed that in fixed
stars that have an equal and perfectly white light, the dark lines
are not the same. We also know that the specific character of
the source of light, i. e. its nature, has an influence upon these
lines of the spectrum. Thus the light of the electric spark and
that of incandescent solid bodies exhibit great diversity in the
number and position of Wollaston's dark lines. However inter-
esting the inquiry may appear, this knowledge has not yet been
applied to the light emanating from luminous animals, nor in-
deed to any phosphorescent substance in the strict sense of the
term.

(Since the above was written, Kirchhoff, of Heidelberg, has
discovered that the dark lines of the solar spectrum are owing to
the presence of metals in the sun's atmosphere.)

140 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

cussion of theoretical points ; I must, however,
expose a few facts.

Matteucci himself observes that glow-worms
possess a substance which gives forth a brilliant
light without any sensible heat ; and that this light
is visible after the animal has been torn to pieces ;
that it persists for some time after death.

Those animals which furnish us with examples
of rapid and energetic combustion, such as birds,
by their respiration, possess also a high degree of
animal heat, when compared with animals in which
respiration is less energetic. With reptiles, where
combustion, due to respiration, is comparatively
incomplete, we find on the contrary, an animal
heat of a low degree, dependent upon the tem-
perature of the place they inhabit. In accordance
with this observation, if the light of Noctiluca,
Pyrosoma, or Lampyridce was owing to combus-
tion, their animal heat would be considerably
higher. Experiment, however, shows us the con-
trary.

According to Matteucci, also, the phosphorescent
substance, when extracted from the insect and
placed in hydrogen gas or carbonic acid, ee ceases
to shine in thirty or forty minutes." Thirty or
forty minutes is a very long time indeed, for a
combustion to continue in gases that are devoid of
the faculty of supporting it. As this experiment
was very carefully verified by the author, we can

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 141

assert without danger, that in gases which extin-
guish combustion the luminous substance ex-
tracted from glowworms shines for thirty or forty
minutes.

The same author next remarks, that in oxygen
gas, the phosphorescence of the luminous sub-
stance shines three times longer. Only three times.
But this may be due to a diiference of vitality
in the different individual insects submitted to
examination. Heat increases the light of glow-
worms ; too great a temperature destroys it.

On the whole, the experiments of M. Matteucci,
made with remarkable delicacy, can lead to no
conclusion which tends to establish the nature of
the phosphorescence of the Lampyrida ; unless,
indeed, this conclusion be that the phenomenon
in question is not directly owing to combustion.

With the exception of a single one, the same
may be said of those undertaken by M. Roberts,
and communicated to the ' Annales des Sciences
Naturelles' in December, 1842. M. Roberts has,
however, noted a fact similar to the observation
of Mr. Macartney, regarding the luminous sub-
stance of the Scolopendra. I shall give it in his
own words : —

" If a female Lampyris be divided into two
transversal halves, the light spread around by the
abdominal portion disappears in about half an
hour. But by placing this same portion near a

142 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

candle,, the light reappears, and, strange to say, is
not extinguished in thirty-six hours." He adds
to this, " It is in vain that I endeavoured to make
it appear again by the same process ; this singular
phenomenon seems only to take place once"

This observation seems to be a complete repre-
sentation of phosphorescence after insolation, such
as we observe in mineral substances. It would
certainly be interesting to ascertain whether solar
light has any influence upon the phosphorescence
of glowworms. We must not forget, however,
that the luminous substance of the glowworm is
capable of shining for some time after death. If
M. Roberts was not aware of this, his observation
cannot have much weight.

I must register here an interesting experiment
made some years ago by Dr. Lallemand : — One
fine summer evening, M. Berard, of Montpellier,
had invited to his house a number of professors
and naturalists. Dr. Lallemand, who was present,
caused them to witness a very curious phenome-
non. He placed upon his hand a female glow-
worm (Lamypris noctiluca), and stretched his arm
out of the drawing-room window, which opened
into the garden. Very few instants elapsed be-
fore a male Lampyris flew into the doctor's hand
and immediately coupled with the vermiform fe-
male which he held. But as soon as the act was
accomplished, the light of the female was extin-
guished completely.

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 143

This experiment was witnessed by many emi-
nent savants, among whom were MM. Berard,
Dujes, Dubreuil, Balard, and Moquin-Tandon.

M. Schnetzler, of Vevey (Switzerland), made
some experiments upon Lampyris noctiluca in
1854. He attributes the light of these insects to
the combustion of phosphorus, which he thinks
he has found in the greasy tissue which constitutes
the luminous organ of the insect.* Phosphorus
probably exists in the luminous tissue, but only
in the state of phosphates. By heating this tissue
with nitric acid until complete dissolution was
obtained with destruction of the organic matter,
M. Schnetzler procured a solution showing those
chemical reactions which characterize phosphates.
But that does not prove that phosphorus in a free
state exists in this tissue.

An English chemist, Mr. Thornton Herapath,
asserts, on the other hand, that the most delicate
analysis did not show the slightest quantity of
phosphorus (as phosphate) in the bodies of those
insects.

Here, then, we have one observer inferring the
existence of free phosphorus after finding phos-
phates, and another denying the existence of free
phosphorus after seeking for phosphates only.
Mr. Herapath thinks, in his turn, that the light
of the glowworm is due to a compound of hydro-

* ' Archives des Sciences Physiques de Geneve,' Nov. 1855.

144 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

gen and carbon, secreted by a particular gland,
organized for that purpose. I believe this car-
buret of hydrogen exists in the tissue of the
Lampyridte, where it forms, with other substances,
that greasy matter that all observers have re-
marked in the luminous tissue, not only of Lampy-
rida, but of other phosphorescent insects. But I
doubt that the phosphorescence of these insects
is owed to combustion. However, I have given
this opinion its due in the theoretical part of my
work.

M. Schnetzler* has brought forward some other
observations on Lampyris noctiluca, which appear
worthy of note. It is generally believed that the
light of the glowworm is not visible in the day-
time, for the simple reason, perhaps, that a light
sixty times stronger than another prevents our
perceiving the latter. But, according to the au-
thor just named, if the inferior posterior portion
of the abdomen of a female glowworm be opened,
we perceive a yellowish -white substance which
emits a very feeble light during the day.

Although the light of the glowworm appears
to be in direct submission to the will, or rather to
the instinct of the insect during its life, and can
therefore be extinguished more or less at certain
intervals, it is not less true that this light persists
for some time after death, and even after the lumi-

* Loc. cit.

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 145

nous substance has been extracted froiii the in*
sect's body. According to Cams,* the light, when
extinguished in the dry luminous matter, reap-
pears when the latter is damped with water. The
naturalist Boitard has made a similar assertion ;
speaking of the glowworm' s light, he says : " II
parait qu'ils peuvent a volonte augm enter oil
diminuer cette singuliere lumiere, qui disparait
lorsqu/ils sont morts, mais settlement par le des^

We are thus led to infer that the luminous sub-
stance of glowworms is permanently phosphores-
cent even after death, if the tissue of the lumi-
nous organ be kept dry, and not decomposed by
chemical means.

When the insect, dead or living, is plunged
into boiling water, its light is extinguished sud-
denly. A vigorous individual plunged into olive
oil soon loses its brightness, but a feeble lumi-
nosity persists for a long time even after death.

The microscope shows us in the luminous sub-
stance of glowworms a cellular tissue, filled with
what appears to be a soft yellowish grease ; the
whole is traversed by the trunks and branches of
the tracheae or air- tubes. This substance extends
in a thin layer along the inner sides of the ab-
domen. It is this greasy substance, this corps
graisseux, that Treviranus regarded as the source
* Comp. Anat. f ' Manuel d'Entomologie.' Paris, 1828.

L

146 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

of the light of glowworms. According to Carus,
this luminous organ " constantly receives a cur-
rent of a liquid equivalent to blood." This flow,
in his opinion, is the cause of the rhythmical
character of the luminous emanation, as seen in
Lampyris italica.

Gueneau de Montbelliard showed in 1 782 (Nouv.
Mem. de FAcad. de Dijon, vol. ii. p. 80) that the
eggs of Lampyridce, which are small yellowish
spheres, appear also phosphorescent in the dark.
Carus has confirmed this observation, and assures
us, at the same time, that the larvae of these in-
sects emit a greenish phosphoric light, — a fact
which had been observed by Treviranus as early
as 1802. Some authors have asserted that the
chrysalis of the glowworm is slightly luminous.

Fig. 26.

Other Coleoptera are exceedingly phosphores-
cent. Such are the numerous species belonging
to the genus JElater, known to the English as
Fire-flies, and of which E. nodilucus (fig. 26) of

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 147

Latreille has been most attentively studied. This
insect, of a dark brown colour, attains about one
inch and a half in length. On its back are ob-
served two smooth yellow spots. It is extremely
common in the Antilles and the whole of South
America, and emits a much more vivid light than
the LampyridfB. Besides the two yellow dorsal
spots, which are very brilliant at night, there
exist two others, hidden under the wing-cases or
elytra, the light of which is only visible when the
insect flies ; it then shows four luminous points of
great brilliancy. Moreover, the whole body of
the insect appears glittering with light, which
shines through the intervals existing between
each segment or ring of the abdomen, and which
is easily perceived when these segments are gently
pulled asunder. The light which is emitted by
the two points upon the thorax alone, is suffi-
ciently strong to allow us to read by its aid the
smallest print.

Under the common name of Fire-flies a great
number of these exotic Elaters are indistinctly
grouped. Most of them are smaller than Elater
noctilucus. Closely allied to this is E. ignitus.
But, besides these two species, Illiger has described
ten others under the generic name of Pyr jphorus ;
and Kirby and Spence state that seventy distinct
species of these luminous insects are spread about
the hot climates, from Chili to the south of the

148 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

United States. The species described by Illiger
(in vol. i. of Annals of Nat. Hist. Soc. of Berlin)
were taken in the Brazils, Peru, Buenos Ayres,
Chili, Cuba, St. Domingo, and Guiana. At St. Do-
mingo, where these insects are abundant, the in-
habitants call them Cucuij. They are often applied
to useful purposes, as lights, as decorations, and
especially to destroy gnats which swarm in the
dwellings. Considerable quantities are taken to
this effect in the month of June.

On examining the luminous tissue in Lampy-
ris nodiluca, Mater noctilucus, and Elater Ignitus,
Macartney observed that this tissue only differed
by its yellow colour from the greasy intercellular
substance which is found in other portions of the
insect's body. In E. noctilucus and E. ignitus
the light proceeds from masses 6f this substance
elosely applied underneath the transparent parts
of the insect's skin. When the season for giving
light is passed, this yellow tissue is absorbed and
replaced by the ordinary intercellular tissue. In
Lampyris noctiluca, besides this greasy tissue, the
same author observed, in the last abdominal seg-
ment, two small oval sacs formed by an elastic
spiral fibre, containing a soft yellow greasy sub-
stance of closer texture than that above-mentioned,
and affording a more brilliant light than the rest
of the luminous tissue.* The light emitted by
* Philosophical Transactions, 1810.

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 149

the yellow greasy tissue of the spots in the thorax
of E. noctilucus can be communicated, it appears,
to the interstitial tissue which pervades the whole
of the insect's body. It was De Geer who first
observed that light shone between the segments
of the abdomen when these were separated one
from another.

Morren, late Professor of Botany in the Uni-
versity of Liege, has studied minutely the struc-
ture of the luminous organ of Lampyris noctiluca.*
He has shown that the luminous sacs described
by Macartney are connected with a multitude of
trachean ramifications (air-tubes), and that the
luminous property of the glowworm appears to
depend, to a considerable degree, upon the pro-
cess of respiration. The trachean ramifications
proceed from a large trachea which issues from a
spiracle (breathing-hole) situated immediately at
the side of the luminous mass, on the exterior of
the insect's body. When this spiracle is closed
the light is immediately extinguished, and reap-
pears when the spiracle is opened. As insects
have the power of opening or closing their spira-
cles at will, the glowworm can thus increase or
diminish its light. This also explains why the
light of the fire-flies (Elater) is more brilliant
when the insects are flying, for then their spira-

* I have not read M. Morren's paper. It is abridged in Kirby
and Spence's Introd. to Ent. p. 513 (edit, in one vol.).

150 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

cles are wide open, and respiration more energetic
than when they are in repose.

An interesting observation was made formerly
by Alexander von Humboldt. He drew out a
very vivid light from an Elater noctilucus that was
dying, by touching the ganglia of one of its an-
terior limbs with a piece of zinc and a piece of
silver.

Some other Coleoptem, said to be phosphores-
cent, belong to the genus Paussus. Of this genus
at least three species have been brought to Eu-
rope,— Paussus lineatus, from the Cape of Good
Hope, P. microcephalus and P. spJiteroce?*us, also
from Africa. The habits of these insects are not
well known. It is the species P. splicerocerus (fig*.
27) which is stated to be phosphorescent. The

Fig. 27.

phosphoric light emanates from a peculiar swell-
ing or vesiculous segment, which terminates the
antennae or horns of this curious insect. The fact
was observed by Afzelius. Mr. Westwood, who
has written a monograph upon this genus of in-

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 151

sects, states that the " dim phosphoric light "
mentioned by Professor Afzelius is probably only
reflected light owed to the highly polished surface
of the spherical cellular antennae. But this is
merely a supposition, and does not even amount
to negative evidence. The genus Paussus is not
mentioned in the twelfth edition of Linnseus's
( Sy sterna Naturae.' The species above named
appear to be all night insects; they are easily
recognized by the peculiar knob at the end of
each of their" antennae, which are very short, and
composed of only two segments, including the
cellular one.

Lamarck thought that the two oval red spots
which we remark upon the second segment of the
abdomen of Chiroscelis bifenestrata are luminous
in the dark. I am not aware that the fact has
ever been confirmed. This insect, which is black,
and about 1^ inch long, inhabits the Isle Maria.
Its oval spots resemble those on the back of Ela-
ter noctilucus.

According to Latreille,the Chinese insect known
as Buprestis ocellata has two spots upon its elytra,
which are luminous at night. A friend of this
naturalist assured him that he had seen these
spots luminous in a living specimen which was
brought from China to the Isle of France in some
wood.

The Scarabaus pJwsplioricus, which Treviranus

152 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

speaks of as being luminous at the abdomen, is
no other than Lampyris italica, of which I have
spoken above.

One of the Longicorn beetles, named by Che-
vrolat Dadoyclius flavocinctus} has the third and
fourth segments of the abdomen of the same yel-
low colour and appearance as the luminous seg-
ments of the Lampyridte, and we know that a
considerable number of the Brazilian Helopidae
present a similar peculiarity, whence some ento-
mologists are inclined to infer that these insects
are also luminous.

In the family of Hemiptera we have the genus
Fulgora, which includes several species said to be
highly phosphorescent. Their light is so brilliant
that the authors who speak of it have called these
insects Lantern-flies.

Fulgora laternaria and .F. candelaria (fig. 28)
are the two species best known. These, like all
the insects of this genus, have a very singular ap-

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 153

pendage projecting from the head — a sort of long
proboscis. In F. laternaria, which inhabits South
America, this projection is horizontal, uneven, and
rounded at the extremity. In F. candelaria, which
is found in China, the proboscis is cylindrical and
curved upwards.

It is from these appendages, the sides of which
are transparent, that the phosphoric light ema-
nates ; they appear to be filled with a peculiar
phosphoric substance. Madame Merian was the
first to observe the phenomenon. According to
her account, F. laternaria, which is a large insect,
emits a most brilliant light. It is said also that
the trunk of a tree covered with numerous indivi-
duals of F. candelaria — some in movement, others
in repose — presents a very grand spectacle, impos-
sible to describe, but which may be witnessed
sometimes in China.

Fulgora pyrrhorynchus, described and figured
by Donovan in his ' Insects of India/ is said to
emit light of a fine purple colour.

Some authors have denied that the Fulgora
shine. Count Hoffmansegg informs us that his
insect collector, Sieber, a practised entomologist
of thirty years' standing, who took many spe-
cimens of F. laternaria in the Brazils, never saw
one luminous. On the other hand, the Marquis
Spinola, in the ' Annals of the Entomological So-
ciety of France/ vol. viii., contends for the lumi-

154 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

nous character of the whole tribe. Again, M.
Richard reared a species of Fulgora, but never
saw it shine ; whilst a friend of M. Westmael as-
sured him he had seen F. laternaria luminous when
alive.

Mr. Smith, of the British Museum, has related
to me an anecdote which confirms the opinion
that the Fulgora are certainly luminous. Whilst
curator of the Entomological Society, he was one
day showing some insects to Lady Seymour, her
son, a young midshipman, and one of his com-
panions. The two latter had wandered to a case
of Fulgora, when one of the boys exclaimed,
" Why, look here ! these are the Candle-flies that
we used to knock down with our caps in China."
Besides this, Dr. Donovan has carefully figured
these Fulgora, and his figures show them in the
act of emitting light from the points of their pe-
culiar proboscis.

The group of Fulgora is, however, very little
known; we know scarcely anything of their
habits, except that they appear to be night-insects :
they merit assuredly a more complete history.

In the family of Lepidoptera, which includes
Butterflies, Moths, etc., a phosphoric light has
been observed in the eyes of Noctua-psi, — a little
grey nocturnal moth, which has upon its upper
wings a few black spots resembling the Greek
letter psi.

PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 155

The same phenomenon appears to have been
seen in the eyes of Bombyx cossus.

A Russian naturalist, M. Gimmerthal, has ob-
served that the caterpillars of Noctua occulta are
luminous, and the observation was communicated
to the Entomological Society of France by M.
Audouin. Since then, M. Boisduval remarked
one hot summer evening in the month of June,
a quantity of caterpillars on the stems of grass.
They shed a phosphorescent light, and were cer-
tainly not the larvae of Noctua occulta, but rather
those of Mamestra oleracea, though they seemed
larger than usual. M. Boisduval believes that
this luminous appearance was caused by disease,
which would account for its not having been met
with before upon this common species.

If disease is capable of developing phosphoric
light in insects, which it certainly has been known
to do in superior animals, as we shall see further,
it will account for the fact that other insects be-
sides those named have been seen, though rarely,
in a luminous condition whilst alive. Thus, some
authors speak of Grillus campestris, or Mole-
cricket, among the Orihoptera, as having been
once seen in a phosphorescent state. Others as-
sure us that the common " Daddy Longlegs," Ti-
pula oleracea, was taken by a farmer who, seeing
a light, knocked the luminous object down, and
found it to be the insect just named.

156 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS.

Many insects which we are in the habit of ob-
serving only in the daytime may probably emit
light in the evening, though all those which have
been recognized with certainty to be highly phos-
phorescent, such as the Lampyridae and the Ela-
terida, are nocturnal insects.

157

CHAPTER VI.

PROBLEMATICAL CASES OF PHOSPHORESCENCE
IN STJPEKIOK ANIMALS, AND PHOSPHOBIC PHE-
NOMENA OBSERVED IN MAN.

IN the animal kingdom phosphorescence appears
to cease with the class of insects ; in reality,, how-
ever, phosphoric phenomena have been observed
in animals of superior organization during their
lifetime.

To speak, in the first place, of some proble-
matical cases of phosphorescence in animals more
highly organized than insects, I will state that,
according to Carus, we are wrong in attributing
to a simple effect of reflected light that peculiar
scintillation which is observed in the eyes of dogs,
cats, tigers, etc. Rennger, in his ' Natural His-
tory of the Mammalia of Paraguay ' (' Naturge-
schichte der Saugthiere von Paraguay'), published
at Basle in 1830, says, that he has seen the eyes of
a monkey so brilliant in complete darkness, that
they illuminated objects at a distance of half a
foot. The animal in question is the Nyctipithecus

158 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

trivirgatus, or Singe Dormeur (Sleeping Monkey),
described for the first time by Humboldt, under
the name of Simia trivirgata, in his ' Recueil d'Ob-
servations de Zoologie et d'Anatomie Comparee '
(vol. i. p. 306).

I have observed a brilliant scintillation in the
eyes of man himself, but only once. The light
was of a metallic-pink colour, resembling, in ge-
neral aspect, the green light emitted from dogs'
eyes. I only saw this in one individual, though
I have examined many ; but a friend of mine
lately witnessed it in the eyes of a little girl.
Both subjects alluded to were remarkably de-
licate.

I do not think we can attribute this light to
phosphorescence, but rather, that it is owing to a
phenomenon of reflection. I have never had an
opportunity of ascertaining whether this luminosity
of the eyes of human beings is visible in complete
obscurity, as Eennger states was the case with the
light emitted from the eyes of Simia trivirgata;
but it is certain that the scintillation in the eyes
of a cat or a dog is not visible in complete dark-
ness.

In most cases it is not difficult to distinguish
light which is reflected from light which is directly
transmitted to us from the illuminated body itself,
by means of the phenomena to which reflected
light gives birth in the polariscope, — an ingenious

SUPERIOR ANIMALS. 159

instrument imagined by Fran9ois Arago. Now, in
the case of the phosphorescence of Schistotega o,<?-
mundacea, spoken of in the second part of this
work, and those cases alluded to here, it would be
easy to ascertain whether the light was transmitted
directly from the plant or the animal itself, or owed
to the reflection of diffused daylight, as we observe
on the spiders' -webs in a semi-obscurity. Very
simple polariscopes, consisting of plates of crystal
inserted into flat pieces of cork, are sold by some
of the opticians of Paris ; whenever reflected light
is observed, at certain incidences, through this
simple apparatus, it shows coloured stripes, owing
to the polarization of the reflected light. With
directly transmitted light these coloured bands
are not visible.

A very remarkable case of phosphorescence was
witnessed by Dr. Kane in his last voyage to the
Polar regions, and described in his journal under
the date January 2nd, 1854. He was on his way
with Petersen to an Esquimaux settlement, in
order to procure food. Their thermometer was
at -42° Centigrade (-44° Fahr.). With their
weary dogs and sledge they had reached some un-
tenanted huts at a place called Anoatok, after
thirty miles' march from the ship : — (( We took to
the best hut/' says Dr. Kane, " filled in its broken
front with snow, housed our dogs, and crawled in
among them. It was too cold to sleep. Next

160 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

morning we broke down our door and tried the
dogs again. They could hardly stand. A gale
now set in from the south-west,, obscuring the
moon and blowing very hard. We were forced
back into the hut ; but after corking up all the
openings with snow and making a fire with our
Esquimaux lamp, we got up the temperature to
80° below zero Fahr.( — 34'5° Centigrade), cooked
coffee, and fed the dogs freely. This done, Peter-
sen and myself, our clothing frozen stiff, fell asleep
through pure exhaustion ; the wind outside blow-
ing death to all that might be exposed to its in-
fluence. I do not know how long we slept, but
my admirable clothing kept me up. I was cold,
but far from dangerously so, and was in a fair way
of sleeping out a refreshing night, when Petersen
woke me with, f Captain Kane, the lamp's out/
I heard him with a thrill of horror. . . . Our only
hope was in relighting our lamp. Petersen, acting
by my directions, made several attempts to obtain
fire from a pocket-pistol ; but his only tinder was
moss, and our heavily stone-roofed hut or cave
would not bear the concussion of a rammed wad.
By good luck I found a bit of tolerably dry paper,
and becoming apprehensive that Petersen would
waste our few percussion caps with his ineffectual
snappings, I determined to take the pistol myself.
It was so intensely dark that I had to grope for
it, and in so doing touched his hand. At that

SUPERIOR ANIMALS. 161

instant the pistol became distinctly visible. A pale-
bluish light, slightly tremulous, but not broken, co-
vered the 'metallic parts of it — the barrel, lock, and
trigger. The stock, too, was clearly discern-
ible, as if by the reflected light ; and to the amaze-
ment of both of us, the thumb and two fingers with
which Petersen was holding it, the creases, wrinkles,
and circuit of the nails, clearly denned upon the
skin. The phosphorescence was not unlike the in-
effectual fire of the glowworm. As I took the pistol,
i/ny hand became illuminated also, and so did the
powder-rubbed paper when I raised it against the
muzzle. The paper did not ignite at the first
trial ; but the light from it continuing, I was able to
charge the pistol without difficulty, rolled up my
paper into a cone, filled it with moss sprinkled
over with powder, and held it in my hand whilst I
fired. This time I succeeded in producing flame,
and we saw no more of the phosphorescence. . . .
Our fur-clothing, and the state of the atmosphere,
may refer it plausibly enough to our electrical
condition."*

I have given this account in Dr. Kane's words,
that the conditions under which this curious pro-
duction of light occurred may be more readily
appreciated.

The light arising from currying a horse, or 'rub-
bing a cat's back, has often been observed. A
* See Dr. Kane's work, c The Second G-rinell Expedition,' etc.

M

162 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

peculiar snapping noise accompanies this light,
which is owing simply to the production of a
quantity of electric sparks. Similar instances of
spontaneous production of light have been observed
on combing a woman's hair, provided it be very
dry, and the atmosphere devoid of moisture.*

Bartholin gives an account of a lady in Italy,
whom he designates as ' ' mulier splendens" whose
body shone with phosphoric radiations when slightly
rubbed with a piece of dry linen.

A phenomenon, which might perhaps be termed
subjective phosphorescence, occurs when injuries are
received by the eye or the optic nerve (fig. 29).

Fig. 29.t

Thus, when the head has been held down for some
moments, sparks are often seen before the eyes
on resuming an upright position. These sparks

* I have observed this frequently, but generally when a south-
west wind is blowing, and the atmosphere highly electrical.

f Fig. 29, the human eye, showing the different membranes
and the optic nerve.

SUPERIOR ANIMALS. 163

.appear in motion, and are of frequent occurrence
in some diseases, such as typhus fever, when the
invalid sees them upon the bed-cover, and con-
stantly endeavours ' to pick them off with his
fingers. When a blow is received upon the eye,
an intense light is perceived : this must be familiar
to pugilists.

When the optic nerve is cut., no pain is felt ; but
an intense flash of light across the eyes is experi-
enced. The same flash occurs when an electric
current passes through the optic nerve, as some-
times happens when a piece of silver and a piece
of zinc are made to form a galvanic couple with
the tongue or other parts of the mouth. To en
sure the success of this experiment, the plates of
zinc and silver should be placed upon the inside
of each cheek, and connected together, outside
the mouth, with a piece of silver wire.

I have observed very vivid luminous appear-
ances, during fever, in my own eyes ; they mani-
fested themselves after any violent exertion, such
as going upstairs, walking quickly across a room,
etc.* The light appeared in the form of myriads
of luminous spots, in rapid motion, and of a
greenish-yellow tint.

These phenomena, to which I have given the

* These actions would not amount to violent in a state of
health, but require a great amount of exertion during illness.

164 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

name of subjective phosphorescence, were first ac-
curately described by Purkinje.

Bitter, Purkinje, and Hjort have noticed that
when the eye is included in a galvanic current, a
vivid flash of light is perceived whenever this cir-
cuit is closed or opened. Purkinje also remarked
that whenever the eye is pressed with the finger
certain arborescent figures are produced, all of
which are luminous.

Narcotic medicines often affect the eyes in a
similar manner, producing subjective phosphoric
radiations. A production of light in the above
circumstances is exceedingly interesting, and
tends, perhaps more than we are aware, to esta-
blish the fact that the phenomena of light are
owing to a vibratory 'movement of matter.

In a former chapter I have spoken of the ap-
pearance of phosphorescent light upon the bodies
of animals, and upon the human body after death.
In this one I have to mention similar appearances
upon the living body.

Marsh, in an c Essay upon the Evolution of
Light from the Human Subject/ brings forward
the following statement made to him in these
words : — " About an hour and a half before my
sister's death, we were struck by luminous ap-
pearances proceeding from her head in a diagonal
direction. She was at the time in a half recum-
bent position and perfectly tranquil. The light

SUPERIOR ANIMALS. 165

was pale as the moon, but quite evident to mamma,
myself, and sisters, who were watching over her
at the time. One of us, at first, thought that it
was lightning, till shortly afterwards we fancied
we perceived a sort of tremulous glimmer playing
around the head of the bed ; and then, recollect-
ing that we had read something of a similar
nature having been observed previous to disso-
lution, we had candles brought into the room,
fearing our dear sister would perceive it, and
that it might disturb the tranquillity of her last
moments."

We are told of a similar luminous apparition
around the person, and in the room, of a man
who had been lying ill of a lingering disease, of
which he afterwards died, in the south-west of
Ireland.

In 1840, Donovan published, in the ' Dublin
Medical Press/ a very curious case of phospho-
rescence upon the living body of a man. " I was
sent for," he says, " to see Harrington, in Decem-
ber, 1828. He had been under the care of my
predecessor, and had been entered in the dispen-
sary book as a phthisical patient ; and on referring
to my note-book, I find that the stethoscopic
and other indications of phthisis were indubit-
able. He was under my care for about five years,
during which time the symptoms continued sta-
tionary, and I had discontinued my attendance

166 PHOSPHORESCENCE IN

for about two years, when the report became
general that 'mysterious lights were seen every
night in his cabin. The subject attracted a great
deal of attention. ... I determined to submit the
matter to the ordeal of my own senses ; and for
this purpose visited the cabin for fourteen nights.
On three nights only did I witness anything un-
usual. Once I perceived a luminous fog, resem-
bling the Aurora Borealis ; and twice I saw scintil-
lations, like the sparkling phosphorescence exhibited
by sea-infusoria. From the close scrutiny I made,
I can with certainty say that no imposition, was
either employed or attempted/'

These strange luminous apparitions are never
seen but in cases of extensive disease. The
theories that have hitherto been brought forward
to explain them are quite inadequate to account
for these phenomena.

I read also of another similar case of phosphoric
light glimmering about the bed of a woman in
Milan. This light fled from the hand which ap-
proached it, and was at length entirely dispersed
by a current of air.

Of the same kind are those luminous appear-
ances which are sometimes, though rarely, seen
in houses, and which have been called " Elf-
candles33 by the Scotch. They are supposed to
portend the death of some person in the house.
As they have been known to occur before death

SUPERIOR ANIMALS. 167

upon the living subject, I have separated them
from those mentioned in the first chapter of this
part of my work, although they may probably be
referable to the same cause.*

* It is by no means proved that death inevitably follows this
phosphorescent light : the case of the Milanese woman seems to
prove the contrary.

PART IV.

HISTOEICAL, THEOEETICAL, AND
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

171

CHAPTER I.
HISTOEICAL NOTES.

I HAVE now exposed all the cases of phosphores-
cence with which I am acquainted,, in minerals,
mineral substances artificially produced, in vege-
tables, both phanerogams and cryptogams, and
in animals dead or living, besides having alluded
to several singular cases of meteorological, and
some problematical cases of astronomical, emission
of phosphoric light.

It will thus be seen that phosphorescence per-
vades the whole of nature. Not only have spon-
taneous evolutions of light been witnessed in our
chemical and physical laboratories as curiosities
produced by human skill, we find the same in-
teresting phenomena exhibited in natural mineral
substances, in various plants and animals, where
our physical knowledge takes no part in their pro-
duction. Moreover, we see phosphoric light de-
veloped in the atmosphere, as, for instance, lumi-
nous fogs, and in the heavens.

172 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

We thus become impressed with the generality
of these phenomena, which have hitherto been re-
garded only as rare and mysterious evolutions of
light.

It is curious to note the progress of the dis-
covery of phosphoric phenomena, and the in-
effectual attempts that have been made to explain
them as our knowledge gradually extended.

The ancient Greeks gave the name Phosphorus
to the morning star, or planet Venus, when it
rises before the sun. By the Latins, the name of
Lucifer was given to this star, which the French
term Etoile de Berger.

Although the phosphorescence of the Bologna
stone, and certain other phosphori, was only ob-
served in the seventeenth century, the luminosity
of the sea was familiar to observers in the darkest
ages of antiquity. Some authors assert that it
was generally attributed by the ancients to Castor
and Pollux; but the phenomenon attributed to
these divinities was simply the electric light which
I have alluded to as the Fire of St. Elmo, appear-
ing in stormy weather on the masts of ships.

Aristotle mentions light proceeding from pu-
trescent substances and from glowworms; Pliny
was acquainted with the luminous properties of
the dead Pholas and certain Medusa, and this
ancient naturalist knew that by rubbing one of
these animals upon a plank the wood became

HISTORICAL NOTES. 173

luminous, and that when it had ceased to shine,
the light could be brought back again by rubbing
the hand over the board.

In 1592, Fabricio d'Aquapendente brought for-
ward the first observation of phosphorescent flesh,
which Robert Boyle afterwards attempted so
energetically to explain.

In 1602, Cascariolo discovered the famous
Bologna stone, in the manner already described.

In 1663, Robert Boyle found that diamonds
possessed the properties of solar-phosphorus.

In 1669, Brandt discoverd the chemical element
phosphorus, re-discovered by Kunckel in 1674,
and, according to some, by Robert Boyle in 1680.
Boyle's account of this new substance was indeed
only published in 1680. Some authors say that
he saw phosphorus in the hands of Kraft, and
knew that it was extracted from some matter
pertaining to the human body; others say that
Brandt had partially communicated his secret to
Kunckel. However this may be, the discovery,
after all, was made by Brandt.

The remarkable light emitted by phosphorus
in the dark, known at present to be an effect of
oxidation, was supposed to be owing to combus-
tion ; and strange to say, this opinion, which was
not till long afterwards confirmed by direct ex-
periment, was the exact representation of the
phenomenon.

174 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

In 1686, Tachard, an ecclesiastic, in order to
explain the phosphorescence of the sea, stated
that the waters of the ocean absorbed the light of
the sun by day and emitted it again at night.
The distinguished philosopher Eobert Boyle, who
lived at this period, believed that the light of
the waves was owing to friction. He imagined
that the atmosphere rubbed against the water of
the sea by the rotation of the earth, and that
this friction had for direct effect the emission of
a certain amount of caloric and light. We have
already seen that Boyle endeavoured also, by
numerous and ingenious experiments, to account
for the phosphorescence of rotten wood, flesh, etc.

Later still, we find that Mayer reproduces the
old opinion of Tachard ; and Beccaria affirms that
the solar-phosphorus, or Bologna stone, " absorbs
light, and emits it some time .afterwards." Bec-
caria thought he had observed that this substance,
when submitted to coloured light from red, yellow,
blue, and green glasses, shone in the dark with a
red, yellow, blue, or green light. But this was
afterwards distinctly denied by Wilson in England,
Zanetti and Algerotti in Italy, by Dufay in France,
and by Grosser of Vienna.

In 1797, Brugnatelli published a singular opi-
nion in the ' Annali di Chimica/ He believed
that the phosphorescence of the Lampyridce, or
glowworms, was owing to a peculiar physiological

HISTORICAL NOTES. 175

act, by which these insects separated light from
their food, and afterwards secreted it in a sensible
form. When we recall the chemical theories in
vogue at that period, we find that BrugnatelliV
opinion is not so ridiculous as one would be apt
to suppose.

Carradori, another Italian naturalist, appears
to have admitted Brugnatelli's opinion ; but know-
ing that the Lampyridce could extinguish or emit
their light at will, he thought that they effected
this with a peculiar membrane acting as a screen,
by which the insect (Lampyris italica) hid its
light. The existence of this membrane was after-
wards denied by Macartney in the ' Philosophical
Transactions for 18 10/ But Carradori caused
science to take a step forward when he proved
that the light of Lampyris italica was not imme-
diately extinguished in vacuo, in oil, or under
water, as the light of a candle, or that of common
phosphorus would be.

Boyle, Hume, and Macaire have all observed
that the phosphorescence of certain dead organic
matters was extinguished, at least partially, in
vacuo. Boyle's experiments on this subject were
published in the ' Philosophical Transactions' for
1668. Although he certainly did happen once to
extinguish the light of phosphorescent wood, in
vacuo, completely, he never succeeded in totally
extinguishing that emitted by dead fish.

176 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

Experiments, the results of which appear con-
tradictory, were made upon the glowworm' s light,
by Forster, Spallanzani, Dr. Hulme, Beckerheim,
and Humphry Davy. Davy's experiments show
that the light was neither increased in oxygen or
extinguished in hydrogen gas (Phil. Trans. 1810).
It was in 1749 and 1750, as we have seen, that
Professor Viannelli and Dr. Grixellini discovered,
in the Adriatic Sea, their small luminous worm,
Nereis noctiluca ; and from this moment the real
cause of the phosphorescence of the sea was esta-
blished. It was then owing to animalcules ! Soon
afterwards Captain Cook and Mr. Forster met
with those curious little organisms, the Noctilucce,
and recognized them as the cause of the phospho-
rescence of the ocean. In 1776, the Abbe Spal-
lanzani treated of the phosphoric light emitted
by Medusa.

Since then, discoveries connected with phos-
phorescence have multiplied considerably up to
the present day.

The history of that of our own Noctiluca miliaris,
which illuminates the waters of the English Chan-
nel, and therefore interests us particularly, is curi-
ous enough.

This animalcule was accurately observed, for
the first time, by a French naturalist, Rigaud, in
1765, who speaks of it in the 'Memoires de
FAcademie de Paris/ it was seen also, about the

HISTORICAL NOTES. 177

same time, by Slabber of Harlem. In 1775,
Dicquemare discovered it again in the sea at
Havre, and in 1810, M. Suriray called attention to
its existence upon the same coast as a novelty.
He gave it the name Noctiluca miliaris, which it
has since retained. In 1 834, Professor Ehrenberg,
whilst studying the phosphorescence of the sea
on the coast of Heligoland, met with the same
little animal, and called it Mammaria scintillans,
by which name it is designated in some of Hum-
boldt^s works. M. de Quatrefages, of Paris, has
written an interesting paper upon it ; and lately,
in 1855, Dr. Yerhaeghe, of Ostend, published a
small pamphlet, ' De la Phosphorescence de la Mer
sur les Cotes d^Ostende/ containing the results of
his observations upon this curious little being.

The dates of other important discoveries con-
nected with phosphorescent phenomena have been
given in preceding chapters.

In 1775, Wilson discovered that the most re-
frangible rays only of the solar-spectrum acted
upon the different kinds of solar phosphori ; Bec-
caria, from his own experiments, came to the same
conclusion about the same time. In 1802, Enge-
field re-discovered that the blue rays of the solar-
spectrum acted more energetically than any others
in promoting the phosphorescence of the Bologna
stone, and his experiments were repeated and con-
firmed by Hitter, Goethe, and Seebeck.

N

178 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

Some papers upon phosphorescence after inso-
lation, were afterwards published by M. Dessaignes;
they gained the prize of the Academy of Sciences,
at Paris, in 1807-1808. This author was the first
to observe that substances which are bad conductors
of electricity are very easily rendered phospho-
rescent, whilst those which are good conductors
apparently very rarely or never.

Dessaignes, moreover, remarked that electricity,
either in the shape of an electric spark or dis-
charge, or in that of a simple current devoid of
light, gives the faculty of shining in the dark to
bodies which do not appear to possess it.* Des-
saignes was therefore naturally brought to the
conclusion that every case of phosphorescence is
intimately connected with electricity.

Some years later, M. Becquerel and M. Biot,
in France, and afterwards, Professor Henry, in
America, repeating the experiments of Dessaignes,
and adding some new ones of their own, arrived
at the same conclusion.

But they were not the only observers who were
occupied upon this subject; whilst Grothuss, in
Germany, who seems to have been the first to re-
cognize the action of an electric discharge upon
phosphoric bodies, was evidently remaining be-

* Grotlmss seems to have been the first to show that the dia-
mond became luminous when an electric discharge was passed
over it.

HISTORICAL NOTES. 179

hind, and believed in the old opinion of Beccaria,
Heinrich, at Nuremberg, and Pearsall, in London,
supported the ideas of Dessaignes. Becquerel
and Biot have the merit of having first studied
the influence of transparent screens of different
substances (glass, quartz, calcareous spar, etc.) in
promoting or extinguishing phosphorescent light
produced by insolation. Their experiments were
repeated recently by Professor Henry, of Phila-
delphia. The action of coloured glasses upon this
phenomenon had already been investigated by
Wilson and Beccaria.

I shall not repeat here what I have stated in
other parts of this work concerning the discovery
of plant-phosphorescence and of light-emitting
animals.

For the benefit of those who might desire to
consult some of the more important and original
documents relating to the subject of phospho-
rescence, I have determined to give, in an Ap-
pendix to this work, their titles, and the dates of
their publication.

As we have already seen, the light emitted by
flowers is thought to be owing to electricity ; but
as for that which is evolved from Fungi, such as the
Agaric of the olive, the Rhizomorpha, etc., no idea
has been formed of the direct cause of the lumi-
nous phenomenon.

According to Matteucci, Roberts, and De

180 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

Quatrefages, the light of glowworms is a pheno-
menon of combustion — such, at least, was the
opinion of these philosophers when their observa-
tions were published.

According to De Quatrefages and Professor
Ehrenberg, the light of the Noctiluca is an electric
phenomenon. Ehrenberg has discovered in a little
marine worm, Photocharis cyrrigera, that which
appears to him the organ of phosphorescence. He
thinks also, that those small elevations which we
observe upon the bodies of Noctiluca, when highly
magnified, are so many phosphoric organs; so
that it seems evident, at present, that wherever
phosphorescence is observed in animals, there
exists a special organ destined to fulfil this func-
tion.

181

CHAPTER II.

THEOEY.

IT will be easily seen, by examples that have been
brought forward in preceding chapters, how diffi-
cult and how ineffectual have been the attempts
to give a satisfactory explanation of phospho-
rescence. The opinions on this subject published by
Dessaignes and Becquerel certainly merit the most
consideration. The theory to which they lead may
be seen condensed in the following paragraph : —
"It is perfectly demonstrated, at the present
day, that an evolution of electricity takes place
in bodies whenever the equilibrium of their mole-
cules undergoes a change of any sort, either in
their chemical constitution or in their physical ag-
gregation. If these molecules are not separated
thereby, we observe a recomposition, more or
less rapid, of the two electricities that, for an
instant, were put in liberty ; and this may deter-
mine, according to the nature of the body and
the tension of the electricity, a production of

182 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

light and heat. Hence, when the particles of a
body are shaken by percussion, friction, heat,
light, or decomposed by chemical action or by an
electric spark, these two effects (light and heat)
may be produced by the recomposition of the two
electricities, especially when the particles sub-
mitted to experiment are bad conductors. But as
these causes are precisely those which produce
phosphorescence, we are induced to admit the
identity of electric light and that of phospho-
rescence;* so much the more as the luminous
appearances are sensibly the same in both cases,
and as bodies, which are good conductors of elec-
tricity, in which the phenomena are rarely accom-
panied by emission of light, are also devoid of
phosphorescence " (Becquerel) .

This theory, brought forward some years ago,
is hardly on a level with the present state of
science; and, indeed, Dr. Young's ideas on the
phosphorescence of solar phosphorus, appear to
me quite as near a satisfactory explanation. Dr.
Young admitted that the shining of the Bologna
stone, after it has received the rays of the sun,
greatly resembles the sympathetic sounds of musi-
cal instruments, which are agitated by other sounds
conveyed to them through the air.

* It would not be impossible to prove this opinion to be true
or false, by submitting phosphoric light to spectrum analysis, as
I have stated before. For my own part, I am not inclined to
admit the fact ct, priori, in M. Becquerel's sense.

THEORY. 183

All the physical researches of times gone by,
and all the experimental data furnished by the
philosophers of the present day, tend to prove the
reality of those admirable notions brought forward
by Grove in his ' Correlation of Physical Forces/
The correlation theory enables us to account for
many hitherto unexplained phenomena, and points
out to us the direction in which physical science
may spread to greatest advantage.

I am indeed led to believe that all those re*
markable phenomena classified under the heads
of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, etc., are in
reality modes of motion, or matter in motion.
When two bodies of a certain volume move before
us, we can witness and describe the motion easily
enough ; but when motion takes place among the
molecules of bodies, the most powerful microscope
will not allow us to detect it : we are led, how-
ever, by innumerable facts, to infer that such
motion does occur. By stating that the so-called
" physical forces " are different modes of motion,
I understand that if the molecules of any substance
vibrate in one direction, north- south for instance,
we have light; in another direction, east-west,
electricity ; in an intermediate direction, heat ; in
another direction, magnetism, etc. All these mo-
tions being connected to the primary rotation of
our planetary system, or gravitation. But we
have no proof that the molecules of bodies vibrato

184 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

in straight lines ; their motion is more probably
circular. Indeed, my ingenious friend M. Porro
has endeavoured to show the great resemblance
which seems to exist between these molecular
movements and those of celestial bodies; and it
has been supposed by some philosophers that the
molecules of matter are as distant from each other,
in proportion to their size, as the planets them-
selves.

But, in the present state of knowledge, all these
considerations are premature.

We must not confound the luminosity produced
in substances that are heated to a certain degree
which is supposed to be identical, or nearly so,
for all, with that peculiar phosphoric radiation
which a great number of substances - emit at
different degrees of heat, and some, at the ordi-
nary temperature of summer. As early as 1776,
Dr. Fordyce observed, that heated bodies began
to be luminous in the dark at from 600° to 700°
of Fahrenheit's thermometer (see his interest-
ing paper in the ' Philosophical Transactions' for
1776).

I say that we must not confound these two
manifestations of light, though they are both
molecular vibrations of the body submitted to
experiment ; yet they differ : for instance, fluor-
spar heated gently over a fire becomes phospho-
rescent; heated to a still higher degree, the

THEORY. 185

phosphorescence disappears, and is afterwards re-
placed by another kind of light ; the body is then
said to be red-hot, white-hot, etc.

In every case phosphoric light is developed
first, and is followed by the second kind of lumi-
nosity, unless chemical decomposition is required
to take place before phosphorescence ensues.*

These two kinds of light have never been ex-
amined physically to ascertain whether they differ
in any essential property, but we know that they
must differ. Researches undertaken with this
view would be exceedingly interesting. We know
that the light of incandescent solid bodies, that is,
bodies heated red-hot, and the light of the electric
spark, exhibit great diversity in the number and
position of Wollaston's dark lines, already referred
to in this work. The velocity of electric light is
also known to be greater than solar light in the
ratio of three to two, according to Wheatstone's
admirable experiments. Again, we know that
a solid or liquid incandescent body possesses light

* For instance, when native gypsum is heated on charcoal
before the blowpipe, some curious phenomena occur. After the
compound has lost its water, it melts into a beautiful transparent
bead, which becomes opaque on cooling. If this be strongly
heated in the flame of reduction, the sulphate of lime loses its
oxygen ; at the same time, its point of fusion is considerably
raised, and it is transformed into sulphuret of calcium. At this
moment, with greater heat, it begins to melt again, and at the
same time a very brilliant phosphorescence is observed.

186 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

which, differs in certain properties, from that pro-
duced by a burning or luminous gas, as shown by
Arago j the former gives indications of polariza-
tion when viewed at an acute angle, whilst the
latter never shows any traces of polarization at
whatever angle it is viewed.

All these experiments remain to be made with
phosphorescent bodies. We are therefore very
much in the dark as to the nature of phosphoric
light.

We are so accustomed to associate light and
heat, as in the flame of a candle, for instance, that
it is difficult to bring the mind to reflect upon a
fact beyond doubt, namely, that the one may be
generated without the other. When a wire be-
comes heated by an electric current, it often be-
comes luminous also ; but in other cases a body
may become luminous without any sensible degree
of heat. With combustible substances used in
candles, lamps, etc., the greater the light the less
the heat, and reciprocally. The flame of an oil
lamp is very hot ; that of a camphine lamp, which
is far brighter, is very much cooler; whilst the
flame of a spirit lamp, quite invisible in the sun-
shine, produces a great amount of heat. Let us
inquire how these things occur.

We know that whenever any one of those spe-
cific motions of matter which we term force (light,
heat, electricity, etc.) ceases to manifest itself, it is

THEORY. 187

replaced immediately by another, equivalent for
equivalent. Thus,, & force A, being given in action,
as soon as it ceases to act, we see it replaced im-
mediately by its equivalent of another force B.
And when the force B ceases to manifest itself,
it is immediately replaced by its equivalent of
another force C, D, or E, or the force A re-ap-
pears.

Hence we see one kind of motion (friction)
transformed into heat or electricity, according to
the substance submitted to experiment. By rub-
bing wood we produce heat, by rubbing glass
or resin, electricity. Again, motion (pression) is
transformed into electricity, when we press the
angles of certain crystals, such as Iceland spar.
In the same way heat can be transformed into
motion (steam-engine), into electricity (thermo-
electric currents), into light, into chemical action,
etc. And each of these new kinds of motions
(forces) generated may in its turn be transformed
into heat or into any of the others. By heating
water, the molecules of this body are put into
motion ; by heating a bar of antimony soldered to
a bar of bismuth, a certain amount of the vibra-
tion called heat is transformed into its equivalent
of electricity. The same transformation takes
place when crystals of Tourmaline or Boracite are
heated.

When we heat a platinum wire by means of an

188 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

electric current, we see a certain amount of electric
vibration transformed into heat and light, for the
wire first becomes hot and then luminous. If we
place upon the snow two pieces of cloth — one
white, the other black — the white one reflects back
the light of the sun, the dark one absorbs the
light, and a certain amount of it is transformed
immediately into heat, which, in its turn, is trans-
formed into another kind of motion manifested by
the melting of the snow under the black clofch.

In the same way light is transformed into
chemical action (as in photographic processes), and
chemical action into light (combustion of phos-
phorus). So, again, the electricity of the galvanic
battery is transformed into its equivalent of light,
chemical action, heat, etc., and chemical action
gives birth to electricity, light, and heat.

The motion or vibration of a special organic
substance, which motion constitutes nervous force,
can be transformed into electricity, and electricity
into nervous force. Matteucci, who has made nu-
merous experiments upon this subject, distinctly
insists upon the necessity of distinguishing be-
tween electric force and nervous force. One of
these can give birth to the other, and reciprocally ;
but they are not identical. When a nerve is
excited by an electric current, it immediately oc-
casions muscular contractions ; but at this moment
not a trace of electricity can be detected in any

THEORY. 189

part of the nerve. As soon as electricity meets
with the nerve, it finds the necessary medium for
transforming itself into another kind of vibration,
which we call nervous force, and this passes into
muscular motion, or contraction. Reciprocally,
when we hold in our hands the two wires of a
galvanometer, and, by a muscular contraction,
set the needle of the instrument in motion, we
cannot say it is nervous force which moves the
needle ; this motion is owing to electricity, result-
ing itself from the transformation of a certain
amount of nervous force.

It is highly probable that this doctrine of trans-
formation may apply to nervous force and instinct
or will ; though we enter here into considerations
which are beyond our present means of experi-
ment.

In nature, we can almost always connect light
with electricity as a starting point, — especially
when it concerns bad conductors. When an elec-
tric current passes through a bad conductor, a
great amount of electricity is transformed into
light, and the body experimented on becomes
luminous. Again, in the combustion of phos-
phorus, as in every chemical action, a certain
amount of what we call chemical force or chemical
affinity, is transformed into electricity ; and, in the
case of phosphorus and many other bodies, a
portion of this electricity into light. This latter

190 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

transformation depends upon the nature of the
body and the intensity of the action.

The phosphorescence of" minerals, or mineral
substances artificially produced, is an example of
one of the vibrations of matter already alluded to,
and which may be owed, in the first place, to heat,
electricity, solar 1'ght, chemical action, etc. In
a great many cases, as Dessaignes and Becquerel
have shown, electricity is the immediate vibration
to which the light produced may be referred ; and
that is the reason why bad conductors are more
readily phosphorescent than other bodies, and,
probably, why the most refrangible rays of the
solar-spectrum are the only ones which will induce
phosphorescence after insolation.

My own idea of phosphorescence after insolation
is as follows : — The light of the sun, acting upon a
mineral substance, occasions a certain vibration
(electric, chemical, or magnetic) ; but this vibra-
tion not being able to continue when the action of
light ceases, that is, when the substance is placed
in obscurity, the body gives back light whilst
losing the vibration (electric, chemical, or mag-
netic) occasioned in it by the rays of the sun.
The body in question does not, in this case, give
back the entire quantity of light it has received;
but a quantity equivalent to the electric, chemical,
or magnetic vibration induced in it by the direct
influence of the solar light.

THEORY. 191

The reason why I suppose a magnetic vibration
may be induced as well as a chemical or electric
motion, is obvious, since Morichini and Mrs. M.
Somerville have shown, by direct experiment, that
magnetism is induced in steel by exposure to the
most refrangible of the solar rays, precisely those
which induce phosphorescence. * Moreover, light
is engendered by magnetism in a curious experi-
ment made by Grove in 1845. A tube, filled with
the liquid in which magnetic oxide of iron has been
prepared, and terminated at each end by plates of
glass, is surrounded by a coil of coated wire.
" To a spectator, looking through this tube, a
flash of light is perceptible whenever the coil is
electrized ; and less light is transmitted when the
electrical current ceases, showing a symmetrical
arrangement of the minute particles of magnetic
oxide while under the magnetic influence/' (Cor-
relat. of Phys. Forces, p. 158.) Some remarkable
results were likewise arrived at by Sir W. Snow
Harris, as early as 1834, by vibrating magnets
in the sun, and published in the ' Edinburgh
Philosophical Transactions' for that year.

A similar conception would apply to phospho-
rescence produced by heat, chemical action, elec-
tricity, etc.

* These are also the rays which cause chlorine to combine
with, hydrogen, and which decompose many chemical com-
pounds.

192 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

It is well known that when a platinum wire is
suspended, after being heated, in a mixture of
ether- vapour and air, or in a mixture of alcholic
vapour and air, it continues incandescent for
hours together, until all the ether or alcohol em-
ployed is spent. In this case, the spirituous
vapour is burnt by the oxygen of the air; but
neither the oxygen nor the ether become lumi-
nous,— it is the wire alone which gives out light.
This curious phenomenon may go far, perhaps,
to explain the phosphorescence of dead animal
matter. The whole circumstances connected with
it have been brought forward in my prize memoir,
*'La Force Catalytique, ou Etude sur les Pheno-
menes de Contact/ printed at Harlem in 1858
(see Appendix) .

As regards phosphorescence in the vegetable
kingdom, possessing, as we do, only a few isolated
observations, we are devoid of sufficient experi-
mental data to offer any theoretical consideration
as to its production. If the light emitted by
flowers appears to be electrical, that evolved from
fungi is more probably connected with chemical
action.

In luminous animals, we find everything pre-
pared by nature for the production of light;
namely, a phosphorescent organ specially adapted
for this purpose.

Taken in its most satisfactory point of view, the

THEORY. 193

evidence of combustion being the cause of the
light of glowworms may be thus stated : —

1. Matteucci and Koberts, the former by very
delicate experiments, assure themselves that a
slow combustion takes place, though no sensible
heat is evolved. They do not know what sub-
stance burns; they find, however, that the light,
though not immediately extinguished in hydrogen
and carbonic acid, is so in about half an hour ;
whilst, in oxygen gas, it shines three times longer :
that is, at least an hour and a half. 2. M. Schnetz-
ler finds phosphorus in the luminous tissue of the
insect, after oxidizing it with nitric acid, in the
state of phosphoric acid or phosphates ; and this
phosphorus may have been present as free phos-
phorus, since Mr. Thornton Herapath finds no
phosphates in the insect's body. 3. Professor
Morren, as Macartney had done before him,
shows that large air-tubes or tracheae are inti-
mately connected with the luminous tissue; and
Morren shows further that the animal extinguishes
its light by closing the spiracula or air-orifice
through which the air enters the luminous organ.
4. The luminous substance shines for some time
after death, as if phosphorus were really present,
especially when damp.

Until these facts, which tend to prove that the
phosphorescence of glowworms is a phenomenon
of combustion, be confirmed or refuted by fur-

o

194 PHOSPHORESCENCE.

ther research, I cannot do otherwise than repro-
duce here the theory I published for the first time
in 1858.

In the glowworm, the luminosity can be traced
directly to the instinct of the insect through what
are termed the correlative forces, electricity and
nervous force. We find the phosphorescent
organ of a greasy nature, a bad conductor of elec-
tricity, under the dependence of the nerves, which
in their turn depend upon the instinct. In the
Fireflies there exist similar organs, destined by
nature to produce light ; and, as anatomical science
progresses, the same will doubtless be found in
those myriads of inferior organisms endowed with
phosphorescent properties. Indeed, Ehrenberg
has already described what he takes to be the
phosphoric organ in Noctiluca miliaris and Photo-
charis cyrrigera.

A given amount of electricity will always pro-
duce an equivalent proportion of light when
passing through a bad conductor ; and a certain
amount of nervous force, acting through the
nerves, is capable of producing an equivalent
amount of electricity ; finally, it is doubtless true
that instinct is correlative with what are called
the other modes of force.

It will be objected, perhaps, that the luminous
substance extracted from the body of a Lampyris
shines for some time after the death of the insect ;

THEORY. 195

but can we not contract the leg of a frog long
after death by means of a galvanic current?
What is termed nervous force exists, then, for some
time after death, as numerous observations show ;
and when it disappears, no more contractions —
no more light.

196

CHAPTER III.
PEACTICAL CONSIDEEATIONS.

To those reflective minds who really enjoy the beau-
ties of nature and contemplate them with admira-
tion, practical details are of so little interest, that
I had not the intention of saying anything upon
the subject in this work. But, as some persons
endeavour, at any risk, to turn everything to pro-
fit, to make everything in nature useful to man
in one way or another, I am willing to show that
phosphorescence is far from being devoid of uti-
lity, and that it has already been extensively ap-
plied to various uses, often without a knowledge
of the fact.

It would, indeed, be superfluous here to dilate
upon the uses of light ; it will be sufficient for me
to state that the most powerful light ever pro-
duced by man, without exception, is owed to a
phenomenon of phosphorescence. I allude to the
" Drummond, or Lime-light."

It is produced by submitting lime, a highly

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 197

phosphorescent substance, to the heat, or, rather,
to the chemical and electrical action, engendered
during the combustion of hydrogen by oxygen
gas. I have indeed been able to show by direct
experiment that heat has not so much to do with
the production of this intense light as is generally
supposed.

If a piece of borax be heated before the blow-
pipe, it melts when it has attained a red heat. If
it be now allowed to cool and a little lime sprinkled
over it, on applying heat a second time, the lime
becomes vividly phosphorescent long before the
borax is at all affected by the heat. It is there-
fore evident that lime glows vividly with phos-
phoric light long before its temperature has at-
tained what is termed a red-heat.

In the case of the Drummond Light and the
phosphorescence of lime before the blowpipe,
electricity may probably be the force which in-
duces phosphorescence, since Grove (in 1854) has
shown that the blowpipe flame gives rise to a very
marked electric current; a number of jets ac-
tually enabled the author to form an electric bat-
tery of a certain intensity. Now, when the flame
of oxygen and hydrogen gases is employed, the
electric action must naturally be far more con-
siderable than with a simple blowpipe flame.
Hence the vivid phosphoric light which bears the
name of Mr. Drummond, and which has been ap-

198 PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

plied to so many useful purposes by engineers,
astronomers, microscopical observers, etc.

The same arguments might apply to the Elec-
tric Light; but it has not yet been proved that
this is identical with phosphorescence, though
such is the opinion of some philosophers, as we
have already seen.

Again, I have alluded, in the first part of this
work, to the fact that houses freshly painted with
lime-wash are frequently luminous at night, though
slightly, after exposure to the sun's rays during
the day. If, by chemical and physical research, a
means were discovered capable of rendering this
phosphoric light more powerful, by employing sul-
phides of calcium or barium, etc., and superadd-
ing, if necessary, the action of an electric cur-
rent when the sun is hidden by clouds, a street
might be effectively illuminated by phosphorescent
light alone.

The light of the Elaterida, or Fireflies, has for
years been employed for lighting apartments, and
in travelling, in the West Indies.

Phosphorus dissolved in oil has been sometimes
used as a night-light. As long as the bottle which
contains the liquid remains closed no light is seen ;
but when opened the phosphorescence is suffi-
ciently bright to enable us to read the hour upon
a watch, etc. These luminous bottles were once
much in vogue as useful curiosities.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 199

In cases of poisoning by phosphorus, the lumi-
nosity of this substance in the dark is the princi-
pal character by which chemists assure themselves
of its presence in the intestines, etc., submitted to
analysis. Mitscherlich, of Berlin, has invented an
ingenious apparatus for this purpose.

If we were acquainted with the circumstances
which produced the phosphoric light described by
Dr. Kane, and which enabled him to find the pis-
tol so readily, it would be exceedingly useful to
command at will such an evolution of light.

As concerns Natural History, new sources of
light employed in microscopical investigations are
often attended with unexpected results. Such
was the case when polarized light was first ap-
plied in this sense ; and we know that the solar
microscope may be brought into action at night by
means of the phosphoric light evolved by lime.
I have known phosphorescence had recourse to in
order to distinguish one plant from another. This
was the case with two closely allied species of
Rhizomorpha, which sometimes resemble each
other extremely ; the one is however phosphores-
cent at night, and the other devoid of this pro-
perty.

In Mineralogy the phosphorescent properties of
fluor-spar, arsenic, lime, oxide of zinc, etc., ren-
der it easy to detect their presence when sub-
stances are heated before the blowpipe.

200 PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Again, no stone resembles the diamond so
closely as white topaz, which is often sold as dia-
mond. But the phosphorescent properties of the
latter furnish us with a ready means of detecting
the one from the other.

The reproduction of engravings, etc., by phos-
phorescence has been achieved by my friend
M. Niepce de St. Victor, as stated in Chapter VII.
(Parti.).

As phenomena of phosphorescence are more
studied, they will doubtless lead to new views
upon the molecular constitution of bodies, which
cannot fail to be attended with practical results.

Phosphorescence will certainly be applied to
many other useful purposes as it becomes better
known. We must remember, however, that it is
yet in its infancy, and that the greatest philoso-
phers of the present day know less of it than of
any other physical phenomenon.

APPENDIX.

203

APPENDIX.

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS THAT HAVE
CONTRIBUTED TO OUR, PRESENT KNOWLEDGE
OF PHOSPHORESCENCE.

FABBICIO (Jer6me) $ Aquapendente. On the Phosphorescence
of Flesh, in Opera Omnia. Edition published at Leipsic in
1687.

BAKTHOLIN (Thomas). De Luce Hominum et Brutorum. Pub-
lished at Leyden in 1647. But two other editions were pub-
lished in 1663 and 1669, in 8vo (HaffniEe) ; and to the latter
has been added the treatise of Gesner, entitled De Raris et
Admirandis Herbis quce Noctu Lucent.

LICETUS. Fortunii Liceti Litheosphorus, sive de Lapide Bono-
niensi. (Utini, 1640.) Account of the Discovery of the Bo-
logna Stone.

POTIEB (Pierre). Pharmacopoeia Spagyrica, ii. 27, in Opera
(Frankfort, 1698.) Description of the method formerly em-
ployed for preparing Solar Phosphorus from the Bologna
Stone.

MAKGaKAF. Chymische Serif ten, vol. ii. New Method for pre-
paring Solar Phosphorus.

BOYLE (Robert). On the Phosphorescence of the Diamond,
Adamas Lucens, tyc. (Lond. 1663.) " Experiments concerning
the relation of air and light in shining wood and fish : " Phi-
losophical Transactions, 1668. " Observations on shining
flesh:" Phil. Trans., 1672. "Account of the new element
Phosphorus :" Phil. Trans., 1680.

204 APPENDIX.

LEMEET (Nicholas). Prep, of Solar Phosph. : Cours de Chy-
mie. (1675 ; the best edition of this remarkable work was
published at Paris in 1713.) Lemery's knowledge of Phos-
phorescence was greater than that of any man of his time.
The pages 482, 483 et seq. of his work on Chemistry, may
be read with interest at the present day. It is exceedingly
remarkable that his explanation, constantly repeated, of the
light being owed to rapid molecular motion, is precisely that
which is becoming adopted at present.

BAUDTJIN. (Some authors write his name Balduin, and Baldwin.)
On his Phosphorus produced from Nitrate of Lime. Phos-
phorus Hermeticus, seu magnes Luminaris, 1675 ; see also
Phil. Trans. Abrid. ii. p. 368.

HOMBEEG. On his Phosphorus. Memoires de VAcademie de
Paris, 1693, p. 307. He prepared it by heating sal-ammoniac
and chalk. The result was carbonate of ammonia which
distilled and dry-fused chloride of Calcium, which shines in
the dark when struck.

HATTKSBEE. On the Luminosity produced by the Friction of
Mercury in the Barometer Yacuurn. Physico-mechanical Ex-
periments. (London, 1709.) " Experiments on the attrition
of bodies in vacuo : Phil. Trans., 1705. In this paper the author
proves by direct experiment, that when steel is rubbed against
flint, the sparks are not produced without the presence of air ;
hence it was afterwards discovered that, in this case, the light
is produced by the rapid combustion of small particles of
steel.

BOUEYES (Father). " Concerning the Luminous Appearance
observable in the Wake of Ships," &c. : Phil. Trans., 1713.
I have not alluded to this paper in my historical notes, as the
author brings forward no observations of particular value, and
has not the most remote idea of the true cause of this phos-
phoric appearance. " The production of the light," he says,
" depends very much on the quality of the water." The au-
thor's observations are however interesting, as having been
made in the Indian Seas.

APPENDIX. 205

DUFAY. On the Phosphorescence of Diamonds, etc. : Memoires
de VAcad. de Paris, 1730, and id. 1735. According to this
author, yellow diamonds are more apt to become phosphores-
cent than those of other tints.

WILSON. Influence of the different rays of the Solar Spectrum
on Phosphoric Light : Journ. de Physique, t. xv. p. 92.

BECCAEJA. De quamplurimis Phosphoris, etc. (Bologna, 1744),
and on luminous clouds, etc., quoted by Arago in the Annuaire
for the year 1838.

VIANELLI. Nuove Scoperte intorno le Luci notturne dell' Acqua
Marina. (Venezia, 1749.)

G-RIXELLINI. On the Luminous Scolopendra. (Venice, 1750.)
I am not acquainted with this work.

CANTON. On his Phosphorus, in Phil. Trans., 1768.

WEDGWOOD (Thomas). "Experiments and Observations on the
Production of Light from different bodies by Heat and by
Attrition : " Phil. Trans., 1792.

HTJLME. Exp. on the Light which is spontaneously emitted
from various bodies, and on Solar Light : Phil. Trans., 1802.
In this remarkable paper Dr. Hulme states, " that solar light,
when imbibed by Canton's Phosphorus, is subject to the same
laws with respect to heat and cold as the spontaneous light of
fishes, rotten wood, and glowworms."

VIVIANI. Phosphorentia Maris, etc. (G-enoa, 1805.)

DESSAIG-NES. Papers on Phosphorescence, in Memoires de VA-
cademie de Paris, 1807, 1808.

PEAESAL. " On Phosphorescence by Heat," etc.: Ann. de Chim.
2nd series, t. xlix. pp. 337, 346. " Electricity and Phospho-
rescence : " Journ. of the Royal Institution, vol. i.

BEEWSTEK. " On Phosphorescence by Heat :" Edin. Phil. Mig.
i. 383.

HEINEICH (Placidus). " On Phosphorescence after Insolation
and by Heat :" Journ. de Phys. Ixxi. 307.

SEEBECK. " Exp. on Phosphorescence : " Comptes-Rendus de
VAcad. des So. de Paris, t. xiv.

G-EOTHUS. " Exp. on Phosphorescence : " Schweiger's Journal,
xiv. p. 134.

206 APPENDIX.

MACAETNEY. " On Luminous Animals : " PUL Trans., 1810.

THOMSON (Thos.) A System of Chemistry, in four vols. Yol. i.
chap. 1, of Light. (London, 1820.)

SOMEBVILLE (Mary). "On the Magnetizing Power of the
more refrangible Solar Eays : " PUL Trans., 1826. MOEI-
CHINI'S Experiments were published in Gilbert's Annalen
der PhysiJc, in 1813 ; see also Annals of Philosophy, ii. 390,
where PLAYFAIE gives an account of the success of these
experiments in the hands of M. CAEPE. In Ann. of Phil.,
iv. 228, they are, however, denied by other authors.

MICHAELIS. Ueber das Leuchten der Ostsee. (Hamburg, 1830.)

TEEVIBANTTS. Die 'Erscheinungen und Gesetze des Thierischen
Lelens. (Bremen, 1831.) And his Vermischte Schriften,
edited with his brother from 1816 to 1821. 4 vols. (Bremen
and Grottingen.)

TILESIITS. On the Phosphorescence of Small Medusae, in An-
nalen der Wetterauischen Gesellschaft, vol. iii. p. 360. A pa-
per quoted by CAEUS in his Comp. Anat., vol. i. (Belg. ed.
1838.)

PONTTJS. On the Spark produced by Water when it is made to
freeze : Journ. des Sciences Physiques de M. Julia de Fonta-
nelle, vol. i. p. 131. (1833.)

DELILLE. On the Phosphorescence of the Italian Agaric, in
Comptes-Rendus of the Acad. des So. Paris, 1833.

DUMAS. Discovery of the Phosphoric Radiation emitted by
Boracic Acid when cooling after melting (cited by BEEZELITTS).
Traite de Chimie (Belg. ed.), vol. i.

BEEZELIUS. Discovery of the light produced when fluoride of
sodium crystallizes, and other cases of mineral phosphores-
cence, in Traite de Chimie, vol. i. to v. (Belg. ed.)

HAEEIS (Sir W. Snow). On the Investigation of Magnetic In-
tensity, etc., in Edin. Phil. Trans., January, 1834. In this
paper Sir William Snow Harris has arrived at the conclusion
that magnetism induced by the sun's rays does not occur in a
vacuum. " The influence of the sun's rays," says the author,
" on a magnet oscillating in air, is to reduce more rapidly the

APPENDIX. 207

arc, and to diminish the time of a given number of vibrations.
The influence of the sun's rays on a magnet oscillating in a
void, is to increase the time of a given number of vibrations ;
whilst the arc, if the retardation of the rate of vibration be
small, is not materially affected." Nearly the same pheno-
mena occur when bars of copper are vibrated in like manner.

MELLONI. " Observations et Experiences relatives a la theorie
et a 1'identite des agents qui produisent la lumiere et la cha-
leur rayonnante," in Journ. des So. PJiys. de M. Julia de Fon-
tanelle, t. iv. p. 161. (1836.) In this remarkable paper, which
was, I think, presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris,
the author, after proving that radiant light and heat have two
distinct causes, or are two distinct effects of one cause, endea-
vours to separate light completely from heat. His experiments
succeeded admirably. Absorbing all the heat either of the
solar rays or an artificial fire, by making the rays pass through
a system of diaphanous bodies, such as water or blue glass, he
succeeded in obtaining pure light. " This pure light" says
Melloni, " emerging from this system, contains much yellow,
and possesses moreover a bluish-green tint. It has no action
whatever on the most delicate thermometer, even when con-
densed by a lens until it is as brilliant as the direct rays of the
sun." This pure light has therefore all the properties hitherto
recognized in ordinary phosphoric light, such as that of the
glowworm, the Bologna-stone, etc.

SUEIEAY. " Kecherches sur la cause ordinaire de la Phosphores-
cence Marine." — Mag. de Zoologie de Guerin, 1836.

BECQUEEEL (Ed.). On Phosphorescence after Insolation ; many
papers in Ann. de CJiim. Paris. Compare also MOEEEN, in
Convptes-Rendus, 1861 and 1862, on the Phosphorescence of
Gases.

BECQUEEEL (Pere). Traite d'Electricite, t. vi.

MOIGNO. Repert. d'Optique Moderne. (Paris, 1842.)

These two authors have quoted several facts relating to Phos-
phorescence in their large works.

AEAGO. " Notice sur le Tonnerre," etc., in his (Euvres Completes.

r208 APPENDIX.

M ABCHAND. " On the Phosphorescence of Phosphorus :" Journ.
fur Prakt. Chemie, 1851, 1. p. 1. We have here a set of
experiments, tending to show that the phosphorescence of
phosphorus is not owing to combustion, but to a molecular
action upon the surface of this substance, and which mani-
fests itself in all kinds of gases, whether they support com-
bustion or not. But the phosphorescence does not appear to
be of long duration in gases, such as carbonic acid and hy-
drogen, and moreover depends upon the pressure to which the
gases are submitted. Marchand thinks that phosphorus is ca-
pable of shining in the dark in carbonic acid, hydrogen, etc.,
and that the phenomenon is owing to the volatilization going
on at the surface of the phosphorus.

SCHEOETTEE. In 1852, Professor Schroetter of Vienna, after
assuring himself by several experiments that the light given
out by Phosphorus, when its temperature is slightly raised, is
owing to oxidation, showed that Sulphur, Selenium, Tellurium,
and Arsenic, heated gradually in contact with oxidizing bo-
dies, give out light and produce oxides which differ from those
produced by ordinary combustion at higher temperatures. — Le
Cosmos, vol. i. (Paris, 1852.)

EHRENBEEG-. Ueber das LeucUen des Meeres. Abhand. der
AJcad. zu Berlin, 1854.

DE QTJATREFAGES. On the Phosphorescence of Noctiluca :
Comptes-Rendus, t. xxxi., andAnnales des Sciences Naturelles,
3e serie, vol. xiv.

VEEHAEGHE. On the Phosphorescence of the Sea at Ostend.
A pamphlet reprinted from the Bulletin de VAcad. des So. de
B'ruxelles, 1855.

EOSE (Heinrich). On the emission of light by Arsenious Acid
whilst crystallizing : Ann. der PhysiJc, 1835, and Ann. de
Chim., 2e serie, Ixi. 288. Light developed during the crystal-
lization of sulphate of soda and potash : Ann. de Chim., 3e
serie, Iv. 125. On the phosphorescence of certain substances
when heated : Annales der PhysiJc, March, 1858, and Ann.
de Chim., January, 1859.

APPENDIX. 209

PHIPSON. " Sur une espece particuliere de mucilage animale :"
Journ. de Medecine et de Pharm. de Bruxelles, 1855. — De la
Phosphorescence en general et des Insectes phosphoriqiies.
Bruxelles and Paris, 1858. Abridg. ed. in German, published
at Berlin, 1858, by Dr. Miiller. — On some new cases of Phos-
phorescence by Heat, in Comptes-Rendus de TAcad. des Sc. de
Paris, February, 1860. — Recfierches nouvelles sur le Phosphore.
Brussels, 1856. — La Force Catalytique, ^Etudes sur les PMno-
mtnesde Contact. Me moire couronne par la Societe Hollan-
daise des Sciences, Harlem. 1858.— Sur la Matiere Phospho-
rescente de la Raie : Comptes-Rendus, 1860.

NIEPCE DE ST. VICTOR. O n a new Action of Light. Many papers
in Comptes-Rendus de VAcad. des Sc. Paris, from 1857 to
1858.

BECQTTEEEL (Edmond). On Phosphorescence after Insolation :
Ann. de Chim., January, 1859, and some papers on the same
subject in Comptes-Rendus since the date just given. — On the
Phosphorescence of Gases : Comptes-Rendus deVAcad. des Sc.
Paris, 1859.

WAKTMANHT. On a Luminous Fog at Geneva : Comptes-Rendus,
December, 1859.
The names of other authors have been given in the present

work.

Note. — It has been observed that Calamine (hydrated silicate
of zinc), when heated, becomes electric and phosphorescent at the
same time ; and tins will doiibtless be found to be the case
with many other mineral substances which exhibit phosphores-
cence.

The mineral called Wollastonite (silicate of lime) become?
phosphorescent by friction.

My attention has lately been called to the fact that ice and
snoiu are phosphorescent after insolation. Although I have
not had an opportunity of witnessing it myself, I find that
Placidus Heinrich was acquainted with the phenomenon ; he

P

210 APPENDIX.

found that large lumps of ice are slightly phosphorescent in a
dark room after being exposed to the sun, the temperature being
kept several degrees below freezing point. The brothers Schlagint-
weit, Prof. Berty, and Mr. Tuckett, have witnessed the phos-
phorescence of the snow and the ice on the glaciers of the Alps,
etc. The darker the night, the more brilliant the phenomenon.
It appears sometimes like the effect of a second sunset. This
phosphorescence is remarked on the Alpine summits and on the
snow which lies in the valleys of Piedmont, Switzerland, Valais,
etc. The colour of the light emitted is bluish. It is not re-
marked in snow which has fallen shortly before night, and which,
consequently, has not been long exposed to the sun.

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pidoptera,
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CONTENTS.

Page

British Museum Interiors . 3

Castles and Abbeys 4

Cathedrals and Churches 5

Calvaries and Crosses . . . . .6

Druidical Remains 7

Mountain and River Scenery . . . . . 7

Domestic Architecture ...... 8

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SKETCHES IN INDIA.

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BEITISH HUSETTM: INTERIORS.

PHOTOGHAPHED BY EOGEK FENTON.

1. The Northern Egyptian Gallery.

2. Belzoni's Head of Tothmes III.

3. Egyptian Gallery with the Discobolus.

4. Nineveh Gallery with the Nebo.

5. The Greece-Roman Saloon.

6. Group of Muses, with Thalia, in ditto.

7. Paris and Mithraic Statues, in ditto.

8. The Lycian Sculptures from Xanthus.

9. Elgin Room with Metopes and Friezes.

10. The Parcse from pediment of the Parthenon.

11. Theseus and Goddesses from ditto.

12. Etruscan and Graeco-Roman Antiquities.

13. Second Temple Collection of ditto.

14. Third Temple Collection of ditto.

15. Pompeian Relics and Bronzes.

1 6. Carved wood and Ivory Figures.

17. Ivory Carving of the Temptation.

18. Jesus sustained by Angels, in Ivory.

19. Marriage of St. Catherine, in Ivory.

20. General view of the Mineral Gallery.

21. General view of the Reptile Room.

22. Fossil Gallery, with the Irish Elk.

23. Fossil Gallery, with the Megatherium

24. Group of specimens of Corals.

LOYELL KEEYE AND CO.'s

CASTLES AND ABBEYS.

25. Raglan Castle, Monmouthshire.

26. Falaise Castle, Normandy*

27. Kirkham Abbey Gateway.

28. Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire.

29. Penshurst Castle, Kent.

30. Helmsley Castle, Yorkshire.

31. Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire.

32. Muckross Abbey, Killarney.

33. Blarney Castle, Killarney.

34. Hever Castle, Kent.

35. Castle of Ashby-de-la-Zouche.

36. St. Mary's Abbey, York.

37. Netley Abbey, Southampton.

38. Castle of Chateaubriand, Combourg.

39. Ramparts and Tower, St. Malo.

40. Castle of Tonquedec, Lannion.

41. Ruins of Bern castle, on the Moselle.

42. Castle of Cochem, on the Moselle.

43. Castle of Marienberg, on the Moselle.

44. Towers of St. Vincent, Tannes.

45. Tower of the Constable, Vannes.

46. Castle of Hennebon, Brittany.

47. Castle of Sucinio, Morbihan.

48. Chateau de Leon, Napoleon ville.

49. Chateau de Leon, Josselin.

50. Inner Court of ditto.

51. North Tower of ditto.

52. Marble in Banqueting Hall.

53. Castle of Anne of Brittany, Dinan.

54. Abbey of Lehon, near Dinan.

55. Tomb of the Duchess Anne in ditto.

56. West Door of ditto.

57. Carisbrook Castle, Isle of Wight.

58. Castle Howard, Yorkshire.

59. Castle of Lausanne, Switzerland.

60. Castle of Waffleurs, Switzerland.

LIST OF STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES.

61. Castle of La Foret, Quimper.

62. Inner Court of ditto.

CATHEDRALS A1STD CHURCHES.

63. South Door of York Minster.

64. Entrance to King's Chapel, Cambridge.

65. West Front of Lichfield Cathedral.

66. Chantrey's Sleeping Children in ditto.

67. South Porch of St. Mary's, Oxford.

68. View of Peterborough Cathedral.

69. Interior of Canterbury Cathedral.

70. Tomb of Howley, Canterbury.

71. The Baptistery, Canterbury.

72. Pilgrims' Staircase, Canterbury.

73. West Door of Rochester Cathedral.

74. General view of Ely Cathedral.

75. Marochetti's Tomb of Princess Elizabeth.

76. Porch of Barfreston Church, Sussex.

77. Brading Church, Isle of Wight.

78. The old Church, Bonchurch.

79. Whippingham Church, Isle of Wight.

80. The Queen's Pew in ditto.

81. Interior of St. Thomas's, Newport.

82. Cathedral of St. Malo, Brittany.

83. Town and Cathedral of Guingamp.

84. South-west corner of ditto.

85. Western doorway of ditto.

86. Ruins of Temple Church, Lanleff.

87. Transept of Cathedral, Treguier.

88. Perforated Spire of ditto.

89. Church of the Trinity, Lannion.

90. The Creisker, St. Pol de Leon.

91. West Front of Cathedral of ditto.

92. Porch of the Church of Guimiliau.

93. Chapel of St. Michael, Chateaulin.

94. Cathedral and Spires of Quimper.

95. West Front and Towers of ditto.

96. Church of St. Michael, Quimperle.

6 LOVELL EEEVE AND CO.'s

97. Church of St. Croix, Quimperle.

98. Chapel of St. Anne, Auray.

99. Church of Carnac, Morbihan.
1 00. Town and Church of Baud.

101. Church of Napoleonville.

102. Bridge and Cathedral, Rennes.

103. Great Porch of Cathedral, Dol.

104. West Front of St. Ouen, Rouen.

105. South Porch of ditto.

106. South Side of ditto.

107. North Door of ditto.

108. West Front of St. Maclou, Rouen.

109. Porch of ditto, enlarged.

110. Towers of Cathedral, Rouen.

111. Porch of the Calende, ditto.

112. Church of St. Vincent, Rouen.

113. Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland.

114. Cathedral of Tournai, Belgium.

115. Roodscreen, Cathedral of Dixmude.

116. Interior of Bruges Cathedral.

117. Interior of Mechlin Cathedral.

118. Interior of St. Quentin, Tournai.

119. Interior of St. Jacques, Tournai.

120. Collegiate Church of Stonyhurst.

121. Interior of Our Lady Chapel, ditto.

CALTAEIES AND CROSSES.

122. Calvary of St. Thegonnec.

123. Calvary of Lampaul.

124. Calvary of Guimiliau.

125. Calvary and Sacristy, Guimiliau.

126. Calvary of Plougastel.

127. South base of ditto in detail.

128. Wayside Cross at Plougastel.

129. Cross of St. Esprit, Dinan.

130. Great Cross of Muiredach, Ireland.

131. Cross and Round Tower, Ireland.

LIST OF STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES.

DEUIDICAL BEMAINS.

132. Dolmen at Erdeven, Morbihan.

133. Group of Menhirs, Carnac.

134. Remarkable Menhir in ditto.

135. Row's of Menhirs at Menec.

136. Group of Menhirs at Kemaon.

137. The largest Menhir at Kemaon.

MOUNTAIN AND BIYEE, SCENERY.

138. Caerhun on the Conway, North Wales.

139. Llyn-yr-afranc, or Beaver Pool.

140. The Llyn-Glas, or Blue Lake.

141. Pont-y-Pair on the LJugwy.

142. Falls of the Llugwy.

143. Miners' Bridge on the Llugwy.

144. Rocks in the Llugwy.

145. Pool on the Llugwy.

146. Rocks in the Lledr,, North Wales.

147. Pont-y-Lledr, ivy-mantled.

148. Open vale of Glyn-Lledr.

149. Distant view in Glyn-Lledr.

150. View of Moel Siabod.

151. Escarpment of Tan Aldrach.

152. Island in the Lledr.

153. Pont-y-Pant over the Lledr.

154. Looking down the Lledr.

155. Double Bridge on the Machno.

156. Pool on the Machno.

157. Channel of the Fordd-Nevin.

158. Pont Aberglaslyn.

159. Vale of Tiefenbach, on the Moselle.

160. Berncastle, on the Moselle.

161. Weishanschan, on the Moselle.

162. Gorge of Fallierd, near Treves.

163. Quay and Bridge at Chateaulin.

164. View on the Benoulet, Quimper.

165. Quay on the Elle, Quimperle.

166. Ancient Dovecot on the Elle.

8 LOYELL REEVE AND CO.'s

167. Quay on the Blavet, Hennebon.

168. Quay on the Auray, Morbihan.

169. Watermill at the Lake of Ploermel.

170. Dry Bed of Waterfall at ditto.

171. Quay on the Vilaine, Rennes.

172. Viaduct over the Ranee, Dinan.

173. Panoramic view of the Ranee.

174. Glen at Hurst Green, Stonyhurst.

175. Sale Weel, on the Ribble, Lancashire.

176. Carting Gravel on ditto.

177. Raid Deep on the Ribble.

178. View on the Hodder, Lancashire.

179. Paradise, on the Hodder.

180. Bathing Place on the Hodder.

181. Old Bridge over the Hodder.

182. New Bridge over ditto.

183. Devil's Glen, County Wicklow.

184. Wicklow Railway, at Brayhead.

185. Fishing stream at Farningham.

186. The Powerscourt Waterfall, Ireland.

187. The Tore Waterfall, Killarney.

188. Pont-y-Pant, North Wales, near view.

189. The Dargle Hole, Wicklow.

190. View on the Liffey, Dublin.

191. Bend in the Lledr, North Wales.

192. Last leap of the Lledr.

193. VaUey of the Flon, Lausanne.

194. Shanklin Chine, Isle of Wight.

195. On the Beach at Shanklin.

196. Rowtor Rocks, Derbyshire.

197. Black Marble Quarry, ditto.

198. Granite Quarry, Derbyshire.

199. Caaterton Waterfall, Westmoreland.

200. The Landslip, Isle of Wight.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.

201. Sackville Street, Dublin.

202. Charlton House, Kent.

203. Cobham Hall, Kent.

LIST OF STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES.

204. Maison des Bateliers, Ghent.

205. Monument of St. Remain, Rouen.

206. Base of ditto, ditto.

207. Quaint Porcelain Shop, Rouen.

208. Place de la Pucelle, Rouen.

209. Hotel de Bourgtherould, Rouen.

210. Palais de Justice, Rouen.

211. Hotel de Ville, Audenarde.

212. The Halle, or Trade Hall, Bruges.

213. Pugin Gate, Magdalen College, Oxford.

214. Hotel de Ville, Louvain.

215. Hotel de France, St. Malo.

216. Inner Court-yard of ditto.

217. Overhanging houses at Guingamp.

218. Hooded houses at Guingamp.

219. Renaissance Fountain at ditto.

220. Curious turreted house at Lannion.

221. Hospital of St. Anne, Lannion

222. Houses in Cathedral Square, Quimper.

223. Ornamental Well at Hennebon.

224. Hooded House at Napoleonville.

225. Triumphal Arch at ditto.

226. Street and Halle at Combourg.

227. Cloistered houses at Dinan.

228. Quaint declivitous street at ditto. '

229. Street in Berncastle," on the Moselle.

230. Street in Trahen, on the Moselle.

231. Ancient house at Treves.

232. Carisbrook, Isle of Wight.

233. View at Casterton, Westmoreland.

234. Shanklin, Isle of Wight.

235. The Chine Inn, Shanklin.

236. Cottage at Smallbrook, Isle of Wight.

237. Village of Shanklin, Isle of Wight.

238. The Crab Inn at Shanklin.

239. Westfield House, Isle of Wight.

240. Library in Westfield House.

241. King Charles's Window, Oxford.

10 LOVELL REEYE AND CO.'S

SKETCHES OF CHARACTER.

242. Group of Finisterre Peasants.

243. Second group of ditto.

244. Leonnese Peasants at Lampaul.

245. Market-day at Lannion.

246. Market Fruit Stall at ditto.

247. Fish-wives selling Conger Eels.

248. Market-day at Morlaix.

249. Brittany cart with oxen.

250. Market-day at Josselin.

251. On board the yacht Maraquita.

252. Basket store at Rouen.

253. Beach, with Bathing Machine, at Shanklin.

254. The Harvest Supper.

255. Hop Growing in Kent.

256. Haymaking.

257. Archery Meeting, near Southampton.

MISCELLANEOUS.

258. Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.

259. Chapel of ditto.

260. Flaxman's Shield of Achilles.

261. Albertini's Statue of Silence.

262. Workbox of Queen Elizabeth.

263. The Taylor Gallery, Oxford.

264. Fountain at Bonchurch.

265. Ryde Pier (instantaneous).

266. End of Landslip, Isle of Wight.

267. Landon Ferry, York.

268. Group of Statuary.

269. Basin of the Great Geyser, Iceland.

270. Village of Reikjavik, Iceland.

271. The Porta Nigra at Treves.

272. Ruins of Roman Baths, Treves.

273. The Roman Amphitheatre, Treves.

274. Arch of the Allinges, Savoy.

275. Michael Angelo's Mater Dolorosa.

276. Carving of the Crucifixion, by Albert Diirer.

LIST Or STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES. 11

277. Chiding Stone, Kent.

278. Scene in the Gardens, Stonyhurst.

279. Yew Hedge in ditto.

280. The Hardinge Statue, Calcutta.

281 . Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

282. Block of Double Refracting Spar.

283. Cobham Park, Kent.

284. Interior of the Museum of Geology.

285. Ditto Museum College of Surgeons.

286. The New Museum, Oxford.

287. Museum, Royal Gardens, Kew.

288. The Succulent House, Kew.

289. Statue of Dr. Johnson, Lichfield.

290. Assafostida Plant in flower.

291. Thorvaldsen's Statue of Byron.

292. Nollekens' Statue of Newton.

293. The Stove Plant Medinilla magnified.

294. View at Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire.

295. Renaissance Gateway, Thegonnec.

296. Charnel House, Thegonnec.

297. Choir of Amiens Cathedral.

298. Porch of Amiens Cathedral.

299. Fa$ade of College, Stonyhurst.

300. Refectory of the College, Stonyhurst.

301. Hobart Town, Tasmania.

302. Forest of Gum Trees, ditto.

303. Tree Ferns, ditto.

304. Chinese Curiosities.
305. Ivory Caskets.

306. Interior of Conservatory.

307. Composition of Fruit and Flowers.

308. Group of Shells.

309. Vases, Kensington Museum.

210. Thornycroft's Statue of James I.

311. — — Charles I.

312. - Princess Helena as " Plenty."

313. Durham's ditto Chastity.

314. Interior of Black Marble Quarry, Ashford.

315. Composition of Fruit and Flowers.

12 LOVELL REEVE AND CO.'s

316. Fruit, with Ivory and Silver Tankard.

317. Group of Hothouse Plants.
318. Shells.

319. Composition of Fruit.

320. Fruit and Flowers.

INDIAN SUBJECTS.

321. Sketch of Character, Secunderabad.

322. Sleeping Beauty.

323. Indian Beggar.

324. Bangle Seller and Hindoo Female.

325. Bridge, Secunderabad.

326. Gentoo Medicine Seller.

327. Native Mohamedan Tailor at work.

328. Portrait of a Mohamedan Lady.

329. Indian Jewellers.

330. Mohamedan Shopkeeper.

331. - - Temples.

332. Portrait of a Parsee.

333. Indian Hawker.

334. Water Carriers.

335. Hindoo Dancing Girls.

336. DeadChetah.

337. Hindoo Gardener.

338. Milk Hedge.

339. Tiger.

340. Ton Ton.

The following comprise the Series of Captain Scott's Sketches
in India: —

SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES AT GOLCONDA.

341. Hill Fort of Golconda, near Hyderabad.

342. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 1.)

343. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 2.)

344. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 3.)

345. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 4.)

346. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 5.)

347. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 6.)

LIST OF STEEEOSCOPIO SLIDES. 13

348. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 7.)

349. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 8.)

350. Tombs of the Ancient Kings of Golconda. (No. 9.)

351. Golconda, under the Dome in the Interior of Tomb No. 5.

352. Golconda, Verandah of the Tomb No. 9.

MISCELLANEOUS TOMBS AND TEMPLES.

353. Very Ancient Jain Temple at Mucktagherry, near Ellich-

pore, North Berar.

354. Entrance to the Tomb of Booran Sahib, near Hyderabad.

355. Roadside Tombs (Mahomedan) near Hyderabad.

356. Tomb of a Mahomedan Lady at Booran Sahib's Durgah,

near Hyderabad.

357. Another View of the same.

358. Door of the same.

359. Hindoo Temple at Secunderabad.

YIEWS AT HYDERABAD, SECUNDERABAD, AND THEIR
YICINITY.

360. British Residency at Hyderabad (Deccan), front View.

361. Back View of the same.

362. Protestant Church at Secunderabad.

363. View in the Arsenal at Secunderabad.

364. Another View in the same.

365. Street in the Bazaar at Secunderabad.

366. Entrance to the Village of Mowl Alii, near Secunderabad,

with Trees of the Sago-Palm.

367. The Date-Palm, with Natives.

368. Remarkable Tree at the Residency, Hyderabad.

369. View from the Garden Residence of Nawaub Shumsh-ool-

oomra, of Hyderabad.

370. Another View from the same.

371. Another View from the same.

372. View in the Palace of the Nawaub Mooktiar ool Moolk

Salar Jung Bhadur, Minister at Hyderabad.

373. The China-Room in the same.

374. View in the Residence of Nawaub Shumsh-ool-oomra, of

Hyderabad.

14 LOYELL REEVE AND CO.'s

SKETCHES ILLUSTRATING ENGLISH LIFE IN INDIA.

375. Midday Rounds, a fine sunshiny day.

376. Packing Carts preparatory to Marching.

377. "Good bye." ^

378. A Hill Tent.

379. Scene in Camp.

380. "Rest, Warrior, rest."

381. The Dead Tiger.

382. News from Home.

383. Early Breakfast.

384. A Palanquin.

385. A Buggy.

386. Brougham, with Arab Horses.

387. Carriage, with Pegu Ponies.

SKETCHES OE NATIVE CHARACTER.

388. Mountain Train Ordnance.

389. Irregular Cavalry of the Hyderabad Contingent (Mounted).

390. The same (Dismounted).

391. Commandant of Irregular Cavalry receiving the Morning

Report.

392. Infantry of the Hyderabad Contingent.

393. Group of the Tenth Regiment of Madras Native Infantry.

394. Portrait of Nawaub Mooktiar ool Moolk Salar Jung Bhadur,

Minister at Hyderabad (Deccan).

395. Group of Nobles of Hyderabad (Nawaub Salar Jung, his

Nephew, and Rajah Narrindhar).

396. Another Group of Nobles (Nawaub Shumsh-ool-oomra, his

Son, and Grandson).

397. A Hindoo Gentleman of Hyderabad (an Architect),

398. Dassey Sing (a Seikh).

399. A Parsee Lady and Children.

400. A Hindoo Lady.

401. The Sleeping Beauty.

402. Bombay Hawker or Pedlar.

403. A Seller of Bangles.

LIST OF STEEEOSCOPIC SLIDES. 15

404. A Travelling Beggar.

405. Woman Carrying Water.

406. Snake -Charmers.

407. Madras Jugglers.

408. A Brahmin Beggar.

409. Hindoo Dancing-Girls.

410. Another Group of the samer

411. The same Playing Cards.

412. .The same Resting after their Performance.

413. Roadside Devotions.

414. A Native Band of Music.

415. Shoeing a Bullock.

416. Drawing Water at a Well.

417. The Bheastie, or Water-Carrier.

418. Spinning.

419. A Dooly (used for carrying the Sick).

420. The Midday Meal.

421. An Ayah, or Ladies' Maid.

422. The Cook and his Assistant.

423. Servants Cleaning the Plate.

424. Kneeling Elephant.

425. Camels and Attendant.

426. Native Cart (used generally by women).

427. Hindoo Butcher.

428. Toddy-Drawer (climbing).

429. A Toddy-Seller.

430. A Toddy-Drawer Sharpening his Knife.

431. Wrestlers.

432. Dancing Beggar.

433. Driving out an Evil Spirit.

434. Berar Bullocks.

435. Natives, with Bear.

436. Natives, with Arab Pony.

437. Roadside Sketch, "LaChasse."

438. Mummers during the Mahomedan Festival of the Mohurrum

(the Tiger).

439. Mohurrum Mummers (the Nanik Shah Beggars).

440. Mummers during the Hindoo Festival of the Dusserah.

STEREOSCOPIC PHOTOGBAPHY.

Published Monthly, with Three Stereographs, price 2*. 6d.,

THE STEREOSCOPIC MAGAZINE:

A Gallery for the Stereoscope of

LANDSCAPE SCENERY, ARCHITECTURE, RARE ANTIQUITIES, ETC.
With Descriptive Letterpress.

" 'The Stereoscopic Magazine' has more than realized tho expectations of
those who relied upon the good taste of Mr. Reeve, and the vrc- -known care with
which he issues the splendid illustrated works for which his house is cele-
brated."— Liverpool Courier.

Published Monthly, with Three Stereographs, price 2s. 6d.,

THE STEREOSCOPIC CABINET;

OR, MONTHLY PACKET OF SLIDES FOR THE STEREOSCOPE.

Published Monthy, with Three Stereographs, price 2«. 6d.,

THE FOREIGN STEREOSCOPIC CABINET;

OR,
MONTHLY PACKET OF FOREIGN SLIDES FOR THE STEREOSCOPE.

"Like all the stereographs issued from Mr. Reeve's establishment, they are
clearly and carefully printed, and the names of the Photographers are sufficient
to warrant that the scenes have been chosen with judgment, and taken from a
good point of view. Artistically, that by the late Mr. Howlett is the best; but
he had a rare genius for the art, and every photograph of his is precious." —
Literary Gazette.

Now ready, price 15s., a Series of Fifteen Stereoscopic Slides,

STONYHURST COLLEGE AND ITS ENVIRONS,

Photographed by ROGER, FENTON, Esq.

Amongst the Stereographs are — a view of the Facade of the Building ; a vie
of the Collegiate Church ; a beautiful interior of the Chapel of the Sodality

a view
of

Our Lady, richly decorated with carvings in oak and stone ; an interior of the
College Refectory, anciently the Banqueting Hall of the mansion; and two
beautiful scenes from the Garden, displaying: the peculiar characteristics of the
Dutch style.

The other views are of scenes in the vicinity of the College ; a Bobbin-Mill
and Cottage in a romantic glen at Hurst Green, the neighbouring Village ; Sale
Weel, a picturesque bend in the Ribble ; Raid Deep, likewise on the Ribble ;
the Old and New Lower Hodder Bridges, of the vale called Paradise ; and the
Hodder Roughs, the bathing-place of the Stonyhurst boys.

LOVELL REEVE & CO., 5, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

LOAN DEPT.

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

15Feb'57jF|
REC'D

FEB 1 1357
9

REC'D LD

0V 2 2 '69 -2 PI

LD 21-1007n-6,'56
(B9311slO)476

General Library

University of California

Berkeley