The Portland daily press., 1894-12-15


deep jungles of the interior. Another is
found growing on palm trees, emitting
brilliant greenish hue. and known as
the Flor de Coco.
SOME USED AS LAMPS.
Perhaps the most startling exhibition
was observed several years ago by an
English traveller in Borneo. Belated he
was overtaken by night, and, there be-
ing no moon, he was fearful of losing
his way, when, as the darkness came on
singular lights appeared here and there
in the busnes and by the roadside. Some
were yellow, others burned, or seemed
to, with bright greenish hue. AS it
grew darker the blaze of light increased,
and finally the traveller was amazed to
find that he was passing through lines
of luminous bush which emitted light
so brilliant that h could read by it-a
strange and awe-inspiring spectacle,
which struck terror to the hearts of his
followers, who saw him handle what
they supposed to be fire without harm.
MIR. Hugh Low, well known English
writer, witnessed a similar scene. He
desert bes the jungle as being ablaze
with light, and SO vivid that he read by
it.
In Australia these agarics are utilized
for the light they give. Especially on
the Swan river they are very common,
where Drummond, the naturalist, first
noticed two specimens on the roots OF
trees He describes their appearance at
night as marvellous, and compares Them
to veritable lamps. They were first OBJ
served ON the roots of bauksia trees, and
surrounded by water, giving the i'm
preston of little islands of fire. The
plant was about two inches across, and
when a number were detached and hun g
in room they served as lights; even
one placed upon newspaper for several
days served as light to read by, the
luminosity disappearing as the plant
dried up One specimen found by this
botanist was nearly two feet in diane
ter, and regarding it he says "This
ney of our sitting room to dry, and 10
passing through the apartment in the
dark observed the fungus giving out
most remarkable light. No light ia
so white as this, at least none that
have seen. We called some natives and
showed them the fungus, and they cried
out, 'Chinga,' the name for spirit, and
seemed very much in fear Of it,"
NOT YET EXPLAINED.
In Italy plant, agaricus oleariusis is
found ON the trunks of olive trees, that
often emits bright light of blue tint
that is so vivid that sometimes it can
be seen in the daytime.
The remarkable feature of these lights
is that 80 far satisfactory explanation
has not been gwen. In some experiments
made the light was extinguished when
the temperature was lowered to a certain
degree, hut when the temperature was
increased the light reappeared. When
kept below freezing for long time the
ligh-emitring power appeared to be
destroyed. 1t cleaned brightly under
water, and thermometer buried in it
was not affected in the slightest, SO here
was light without heat.
Upon one occasion the miners in a
Cardiff coal4mine reported that when
their lights went out in certain por-
tion of the mine that had not been used
for some time the men believed them to
be the disem bodied spirits of miners
who had been killed some years before.
The story was circulated through the
press, and at last was seen by a botanist,
who entered the haunted mine at night
and pronounced the ghosts the light
from plant that was growing upon the
wall. There was apparently some reason
for the excitement among the supersti-
tious and ignorant coalers, as the light
assumed strange shape and could be
seen at distance of sixty feet.
Some of the most beautiful, or rather
aesthetic displays of luminosity in plant
life have been observed about flowers
The daughter of Linnaeus, the great
naturalist, was one of the first to observe
it about the nasturtium, having seen
sparks of light about the blossoms. This
is especially noticeable about yellow
flowers, as the sunfower, marigold, yell
low lily, and others; and while it has
been ascribed to electricity there appears
to be as much mystery about the real
cause as about the light of fungi.