Note 5 — Chapter I

Light of a phosphoric nature, is frequently emitted from various putrescent animal substances which, in the ages of superstition, served to astonish and affright the timorous. We learn from Fabricius, an Italian, that three young men, residing at Padua, having bought a lamb, and eaten part of it on Easter Day, 1592, several pieces of the remainder which they kept till the following day, shone like so many candles when they were casually viewed in the dark. The astonishment of the whole city was excited by this phenomenon, and a part of the flesh was sent to Fabricius, who was Professor of anatomy, to be examined by him. He observed, that those parts which were soft to the touch and transparent in candle-light, were the most resplendent: and also that some pieces of kid’s flesh which had happened to have lain in contact with them were luminous, as well as the fingers and other parts of the bodies of those persons who touched them. Bartholin gives an account of a similar phenomenon, which happened at Montpelier in 1641. A poor woman had bought a piece of flesh in the market, intending to make use of it the following day, but happening not to be able 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. We may judge of the terror and astonishment of the woman herself, when we find that a part of this luminous flesh was carried as a very extraordinary curiosity to Henry, Duke of Conde, the Governor of the place, who viewed it several hours with the greatest astonishment. The light was as if gems had been scattered over the surface, and continued till the flesh began to putrify, when it vanished, which it was believed to do in the form of a cross. Hence the propriety of instructing the mass of the community in the knowledge of the facts connected with the material system, and the physical causes of the various phenomena of nature.