The record-union., 1897-07-19
SECRET OF LIGHT.
PHosPHoREsCENT GLOW AND
WHAT 1T REALLY is.
Plants Which Emit Heat and Min
erals Which Give Forth
Electric Light.

Electric Light.
ST am of the opinion said New
York scientist recently, that when the
most perfect lighting sytem, the light
ing system of the future in fact, is
discovered, it VIII be found that the
invention has merely solved and ap-
piled one of natures secrets OF 1llu-
lnination, for after all our present sys-
TEN is artificial and uneconomica1 to
the last degree, and nature alone is
able to accomplish the feat at the
expense of d least amount Of energy.
1t is with the intention of solving
just such a secret as the one outlined
above that several science workers are
examining into and studying the chem
ical features of luminous insects and
marine organisms. If the secret of
how insects produce light be suffi-
ciently understood the theory is that
the light might be produced by chemi-
cal means. 1t is a known fact that
over 80 per cent. of the energy now
used to produce commercial light is
wasted in the form of heat, which
passes off unused. Insects give off a
great Central American and Mexican
beetles, which emit enough light to en-
able a person to read by, do not en-
gender perceptible heat. 1t seems there
is a total absorption of energy for
light-giving purposes alone. What,
then, is the method of its produc-
tion? Can the chemical secretions
from which it emanates be produced
by artificial means?
The wish to discover this secret is
not newly born. Scientists have sought
it for more than a century. Spallan-
Zani, BuTmeister, Macaire Darwin,
DaVy, Quatrefages, and more latterly
Langley, have at various times and
periods endeavored to determine the
exact cause of animal phosphoresence.
But the results of the observations as
set down differ in so many respects
that a final verdict cannot be given
Sometimes the light has been found
to emanate from a fluid secretion
Again it proceeds from a minute organ
more or less scaly in it's appearance.
Sometimes it appears to be white, in
another insect it is yellow. Other bugs
have displayed a brilliant green light.
Still others pale lilac, and in one in
stance the light has run the gamut
of all the chief colors of the solar
spectrum. It has been declared to be
the product of slow combustion, ana
lOgous to that of phosphorus exposed
to the air, to electricity, to the rapid
contraction of the interior mass of the
the body, to the presence of a highly
sensitive fluid called "noctilucene -
Certainly the manifestations made by
certain species make the pursuit of the
cause fascinating enough.
In Central America and in the West
Indies the Cocuja, which is a large
dark brown beetle, emits such a pow
erful light that the natives are accus-
toned to fasten several of them to
the toe Of the boot in order to light up
a path through the woods. This beetle
emits its light from four yellow spots
on the thOrax and the illumination is
so great that the way along a path
can be seen for several yards in front
of the traveller. Even so, the light
is still more vivid when the beetle is
lying, for the reason that the spiracles
or breathing apparatus of the insect
are in more rapid motion and contri-
butte more air to the Illuminating fluid
80 AAASA NNAf1iAiS5 AlS pOWeI- LII MEXICO
there is a beetle which emits a light
powerful enough to enable a person to
read a newspaper in an otherwise
darkened room. On the island of Sing
apore is to be found a curious little
hghtning bug, which clusters in great
numbers on bushes and trees and
emlts its light intermittently and in
concert. That IS the thousands of bugs
on the one bush seem to be gifted
with the power of showing their light
IN unison. The whole tree will. for
instance, flash at one moment and be-
come dark the next, the bugs SEEM
1ngly by instinct to know the proper
instant during which to show the
Hght. If, however, the insects are dis
1urbed, they will fly away with un-
/. even flashes, each bug then seeming
TO be possessed with an individuality
OF its own. The bug, however. be-
longs to a family of lampyris. sneci-
mems of which are found all over the
world. Borneo possesses a glow worm.
with triple row of lamps. which
emit a very brilliant light at night.
When the Italian vessel Vettor Pisani
was making a. voyage around the world
and While passing through the Indian
Ocean, it encountered on May ), 1885. a
regular drove Of Ostracoda. which COW
cred stretch of 420 nautical miles and
which it took the vessel four days to
traverse. The Ostracoda is a species of
small crustasean, emitting phos-
phorescent light. The Vettor Pisan1
seemed at night to be steaming through
a sea of liquid fire. The sailor natu-
TahSt, Chierchia- speaks of the man.
ner in which Ostracoda enits light.
When numbers of them We're scooped
up in a bucket they swan around.
seeming to emit fluid light which
Trailed after them like the tail of a
comet, the animal itself swimming in
the form of half circle and forming
the brilliant point of the comet. The
natural histories give long lists of lu-
minous radiated starfish, sea fans, Jelly
fish, sea rushes, and other deep and
shallow sea inhabitants. Some of these
animals use their light to attract prey.