Note 115 — Chapter VII

Phosphorescence of the Diamond: by M. Reiss (Revue Scientifique et Industrielle, vol. xxiii. p. 185).—“The diamond, phosphorescent by insulation, lost rapidly its phosphorescence when submitted to the action of the red rays of the solar spectrum. On the contrary, the blue rays are those which render the diamond the most luminous in the dark. It is probable that the phosphorescence produced by heat is equally diminished by the action of the red rays of the solar spectrum.” Giovanni Battista Beccaria published his experiments in 1769. See Priestley’s History of Electricity; and On the Effects of Electricity upon Minerals which are Phosphorescent by Heat; and Further Experiments on the communication of Phosphorescence and Colour to bodies of Electricity; by Thomas J. Pearsall.—Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Oct. 1830, Feb. 1831.—These two memoirs contain the most complete set of experiments on this subject which have yet been made; see Placidus Heinrich, Phosphorescenz der Körper, vol. iv.; Gmelin’s Handbuch der Chemie, part 1.;—On the Phosphorescence of Minerals, Brewster: Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 137.;—The Aërial Noctiluca, or some New Phenomena, and a process of a factitious self shining substance: Boyle’s Works, vol. iv.