Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-24
FlREFLYs SECRET BATTLES.
Science Has Failed to Solve Mystery
of Light Giving Bugs.


The light giving bugs have attract
ed the attention of scientists from
very early TIMES. During recent years
much careful and more or less elabor-
ate investigation of them has been
carried On by highly trained natural
lists ana chemists. They have been
disse1tcd under the microscope and in
the test tube domestlcated and stud
led alive, X-rayed ultra violet-rayed,
treated with electricity and nearly ev-
cry common chemical substance. Their
light giving parts have been dried and
] preserved. and reVivifed after sew
eral years; their light itself an
! eiyzed, with both speetroscoPa and
| photometer. IN fact, pretty nearly ev-
| cry possible angle of approach has
been tried in the effort to unlock the
| secret of producing light without neat
For the hrefly's light is SO much
| more economical than anything lumi
nous man has been able 10 devise that
an artificial lamp only 30 per cent as
efficient would Gf properly handled
commercially place it's inventor in the
same class as the present Standard
Oil maGnates. But after all this work,
with our wonderful modern methods
and Northumberland brains-thc puz
zle Still romans. The FREELY as a
heht giver is nearly 100 per cent eff
fcient--ta be exact. 81 per cent, ae-
cordiag 10 recent tests on Photufis
PennsyIvanica The best that man has
been able 10 de in light-making effie-
ieney is something less than per cent.
It is Worth nothing in this eonnec-
tor. however that a paper on the
mechanism OF physiological light ny
Prof l.. Dubois. of the University OF
Lyons. WAS presented To the recent
Chemical Congress in New York. in
which 1t WAS claimed that some of the
most puzzling chemical problems oil
the FREELY had already Eeen solved.
Prof. Dubois declares that the light
giving process is nothing more than a
reaction between a nucleo protcid Luz
ciTerase. and. a phosphorus-co
nroteid which he has named Lucifer-
inc The former is a yeast-like body
that can be replaced by an oxydizlng
agent. A 1ourescent substance pyro-
nharine, which plays some part in the
reaction in the case OF Pyrophorus
Noctiluous he considers either a glu-
coside or an albaloid.
Even though Prof. Dubois's conclu-
sions are confirmed by other students,
his apparent belief that, as we now
know the chemistry of the FREELY. an
artificial reproduction of him for COM
mercial lighting is close at hand,
seems rather premature. SO long as
the bugs and worms retain monopoly
in the manufacture Of Luciferine and
Luciferase, those names Will help us
little in oheapening our Matchmaking.
It may be of interest, therefore. 10
summarize briefly some of the cont
paratfvely recent work on firefiies 9TH
| CT than that done in Prof. Dubois
| laboratory.
| Many years ago, probably as Tar
| back as 1873, it was known that the
| luminous parts of firefiies. gloWWorms
| etc. could be dried pnd preserved
| out OF contact with the air for con
| siderable periods, without losing their
| light-s power. In late years 1T
! has been possible to prove without
losing their lights giving power, for at
least IS months. Kastle and McDer-
| mott We're able. upon opening tubes
containing the luminous organs of the
| common freely. preserved in hydrogen
| or a vacuum to obtain quite q brill
| liant light by simply noistening with
water. The light was increased when
| hydrogen peroxide replaced the water
Indeed, such organs, after accidental
| exposure to the air FOR many months
| six at least, were found Still to possess
| some luminosity. In the case of the
| FREELY. the light giving tissue can be
| heated to 100 degrees centigrade
without perceptibily injuring its ae-
| tivity upon moistening.' and is also
unframed by temperature extremes at
| the al her end of the scale.
| F. a. McDermott records the follow
| ing experiment with a firehy: "A liE-
| ing lampyrid dropped into a testtube
| immersed in liquid air, flashed rapid
| ~ for a few seconds, but was soon
| overcome by the cold and fell back in
| the tube. frozen stiff: meanwhile, the
| luminous organ began to shine brill
| 1iantly, but the brilliancy rapidly di
minished, the diminution in brilliancy
/ being accompanied by a change in
| the color of the light, which became
| very redish The light finally dis
/ appeared entirely or very nearly so.
! On warming to the room temperature,
| the light first appeared reddish, and
| with increase in intensity, became
| more and more like the normal light
| of the insect. The insect was dead
/ but the luminous tissue continued to
| glow for some time
| The original notion that the light
! giving tissue contains free phos-
| phorus is now pretty thoroughly ex-
| ploded. 1t is known that certain
| fats. when undergoing oxidation ex-
| hibit faint luminosity. This has led
| to the suggestion that some peculiar
fat is at the bottom of the phe-
| nomenon. According to McDermott
| the best guess at present is that the
| firetlys fuel is an "albuminous lipoid
| tphosphatide)." 1t is now considered
| improbable that either phosphores-
cence or luminescence, in the ordinary
sense, have anything to do with bug
light Tests show that it contains
| no X-rays.
Among the other odds and ends of
fact picked up in the course of FREELY
study the following items seem of
chief interest: Anaesthetics act as
powerful stimulants to the living
| light oivinsr material The color of