The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Dr Castle ( - )
References in Documents:
ter, which being
exposed for about half a minute of an
hour to the Sun, or only to
Day-light, or to a bright Fire
or Candle; will shine in the dark
for some minutes. Made
by Dr. Apr. 3. 1679
sieur
above,
but with no direction for the making of it. Nor
doth he so much as
mention the Materials.
I call it Solid, to distinguish it from two Liquid
kinds.
The Author of one, supposed to be
other invented by the Honourable
calls the Aerial Noctiluca; and whereof He hath lately
published
an excellent Discourse. In whose Laboratory, the
solid kind was also made by
his direction, several ways.
Of the Process for This here, Dr.
received a hint
from Dr.
Christian
Connerding, Archiater to
the
many that have try'd, besides these Three, to have suc
ceeded in the making of it, he hath imparted the following
Account.
Take good firm Chalk, ignite it in a Crucible, and then
powder it. Put into a
pint or half a pint of strong Spirit of Nitre,
Cochleatim, as much hereof, as will serve well to sati
ate it,
i. e. till it becomes sweetish, and makes no
Effervescence
upon the injection of the
Chalk. Then dilute this Liquor
with fair Water, filtre it through a Paper, and so evaporate
it in a large Glass, or glazed Vessel, or good
Hassian Crucible
to a dry
Salt. The preparation whereof may be perform'd
in four hours: whereas I have seen a
as many Weeks to follow it.
he main business lies in the good Enchiresis;
about
which these several Directions must be carefully ob
serv'd.
First you must prepare a Vessel of Clay, somewhat like
a shallow
Coffee-Dish, of three, four, or five inches
in Dia
metre, and an inch in depth, very well baked and
neal'd.
Then place it under a Muffle, after the manner of a
Refining
Furnace, in the place where the Cuppels usually stand:
and
so make it red hot. Then put the prepared Salt into it, by
little and little, not above ʒj
ss. or ʒij at a time. Keep the
fire to that degree, which
will suffice to make the Salt boil
in the
Dish, so as to spread it self every way, and creep up
the sides of
it. Before the Salt, last put in, be consumed, be
sure always to be ready, to make a new addition, otherwise
your labour so far is lost, and you must begin again.
nimbly out of
the fire, so soon as the Salt last put in is dry.
If you have wrought well, what remains in the Dish will
be
yellowish in some parts, and every yellow part will shine.
Secure
this Matter from the Air by fitting and cementing
a Glass to it:
otherwise it will loose its property in one
Week.
As to the Cause of this strange Phænomenon,
Dr.
continues to this effect. I shall in short offer my Thoughts,
and refer them to your Judgment. Two Questions may
arise:
What it is in this Mixture that yields the light? and,
How it doth
it? As to the first, I take it to be the pure fiery
part of the
Spirit of Nitre embraced by the Chalk. For
that the rest is weak and
phlegmatick; as appears, if it be
distill'd. Also, that about the
end of the Operation, a black
Fume begins to rise and fly away.
That if by continuing
the Dish too long in the fire, you drive all
the Nitrous parts
away, the Chalk which
stays behind will not be luminous.
Or if the Matter duly prepar'd,
be exposed to the Air, and
thereby prey'd upon, the same effect
will follow.
As to the Second, I suppose, That it shines not by Imbi
bition of Light, but by Impression from it, from whence
proceeds
a motion therein productive of Light. Which
we may the rather be
induced to believe, In that if it be
put into an Iron Cover, and
then an Iron Box, and a good
heat given to it, it will shine so
vigorously as to seem to
kindle the Air about it. That two Men by
following their
blow close, will make a Bar of Iron glow, or shine
in the
dark. And although the Impulse of Light may seem small;
yet upon Bodies nearly related to it, as This seems to be, it
appears to be great. As in those odd effects it sometimes
hath upon Infants unus'd to it; and People that have sore
Eyes; or
have been newly Couch'd; as it happen'd to
Dr.
Eyes too early, (i. e. by a
too frequent admission of light
to them,) after that Operation,
did thereupon suffer such
extreme pains, and mischief in his Eyes,
that he now dispairs
of ever seeing more.
Mr. a)
a) Author
of theExperiment upon the Loadstone, Part
3
following Experiment upon this
Phosphorus. If it be ex
posed to the Morning Light a little before Sun rising, it
Meridian, it advances to a higher and more firey Com
plexion, like that of a red hot Iron. A little after Sun-set,
declines to a pale wan colour, like
Chalk, or rather
Mother
of Pearl.
of Pearl
Expos'd, saith he, to the light of a Candle, or flaming
Fagot, it
receives a pale Luminous colour, as from the
Sun towards setting.
But being expos'd for a considerable
time to the most clear
Moonshine that I have seen in
don
least.
It hath been kept, saith he, in the Vacuum of my
Great
and Noble Patron, the Honourable Mr. Vacuum Boyleanum, and by
Rupert
self observ'd, for above four or five months, without any
diminution of its shining property.
He adds, That he hath lately found a way to affix this
Shining
Matter to Glass, whereby some not unpleasing
Experiments may be
made. Thus far Dr.
As to his Ingenious Conjectures of the Subject and
Cause of Light
in this Phosphorus: because he hath desired
my Opinion, I shall therefore subjoyn it in a few lines.
As to the first, What it is which gives the Light: It
seems hard to
say, Whether it be the Cretaceous Salt, the
Nitrous Salt, or some Igneous
Particles incorporated with
them in the Operation? It is
plain, That one way or other,
they do all concur to produce it.
As to the Question, How these Particles give
light? It
should first be stated, What Light is; Whether it be a
Body? Which, though much disputed, yet in strict speak
ing, is an absurd Question; all one, as to ask, Whether
a
Quality, be a Body? But the meaning of the Question is,
or
ought to be, Whether there be any Body in Nature,
which is the
peculiar subject of Light, or metonymically
may be called Light?
Or whether more Bodies than one,
may successively be the immediate
subject thereof? If so,
Whether it be any other Adjunct besides
Motion? If only
Motion, Whether as there is one peculiar Motion,
at least
for a Musical sound, so another for Light? And in regard
there are some Experiments which seem to favour each of
these Questions: such an Answer should be given as will
to
suit with this Catalogue.
I shall here only say, I am inclined to believe, That, in
this
Case, all the three Bodies above mention'd serve toge
ther to compose an Apt Recipient of that which is the
true
Luminous Body. That, as in the mixture of Sulphur
and Water, sulphurious Salts, of affinity with both, are
used as a medium: so
here, the Cretaceous Parts serve to
fix the Nitrous; and the
Nitrous, to fix the Igneous; being
of a middle nature and readily
incorporated with them
both. And being in this union exposed to
the Sun Beams,
or other Light, the Igneous parts serve, for some
time, to re
tain a certain portion of such as are
Luminous, or to give,
as I may say, a degree of Fixation to These
also: and that
therefore this Mixture is kindled or made to shine,
by puting
it into the Light, as a stick is made to burn, by puting
it into
the fire.
Of shining Flesh, see a Relation of some Remarkable
Circumstances,
made by Dr.
Phil. Trans. (a)a)