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On Ominous and Luminous Stones: Bologna

A luminous or phosphorescent stone, which has been named the Bologna stone, is the subject of a treatise published by the physician Mentzel in 1675. (Christiani Mentzelli, "Lapis Bononensis," Bilefeldiae, 1675.) The writer describes various experiments made to test the peculiar qualities of this mineral, which is partly a radiated or crystalline sulphate of barytes, and phosphoresces when calcined. It was sometimes called the "lunar stone" (lapis lunaris), because, like the moon, it gave out in the darkness the light it received from the sun. Mentzel also relates that the stone was first discovered, in 1604, by Vincenzio Casscioroli, an adept in alchemy, who believed that it would be a great aid in the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, on account of its solar quality. The place of its occurrence was Monte Paterno, near Bologna, where it appeared in the fissures of the mountain, after torrential rains.

The various phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence undoubtedly explain some at least of the legends regarding luminous stones, superstition or fantasy having here as in most other cases a certain substratum of fact. This class of physical phenomena has been made the subject of special investigation by the author, as many as 13,000 specimens of various minerals having been subjected to the most searching tests in order to determine their qualities in this respect. (See Kunz, "The Phosphorescence of the Diamond," Trans. N. Y. Academy of Sciences, 1890-91; Kunz and Baskerville, "The Action of Radium, Actinium, Roentgen rays, and Ultra Violet Light in Mineral and Gems,' Science, December 18, 1903). His interest in this field of research was greatly stimulated by a fortuitous happening. In 1891 his wife, while hanging up a gown in a closet one evening, saw that the diamond in a ring she was wearing gave off a faint streak of light which was very noticeable in the dark, and this fact led to a long series of experiments on the fluorescence, phosphorescence, and triboluminescence of the diamond. (See page 172) More than two centuries before, Robert Boyle made a similar set of experiments at night with a diamond which must have been an Indian stone, and which he describes as table cut, about one-third of an inch long and somewhat less in width; he remarks that it was a dull stone of very bad water, having a blemish with a whitish cloud covering nearly a third of the stone. (Boyle, "Works," London, 1744. The experiments were made October 27, 1663, and the results were communicated to the Royal Society the next day, the diamond which had been used being shown to the members at that time.) The "Journal des Scavans" for 1739 gives certain tests of the luminous quality of diamonds made by Mons. Du Fay. In order successfully to observe this phenomenon, he prescribes that the experimenter shall remain in a darkened room for fifteen minutes, taking the additional precaution of closing one or both of his eyes. The diamond to be tested should be exposed to the sun's rays, or to strong daylight, for less than a minute, and when taken into darkness the luminosity, if observable, lasts twelve or thirteen minutes at longest. Not all diamonds show this quality, and nothing in their form or appearance serves to determine their possession of it. However, Mons. du Fay observed that the yellow diamonds, of which he tried a considerable number, were luminous. A single emerald, out of twenty that were tested, proved to be luminous. ("Journal des Seavans," 1739 of Amsterdam edition, citing "Hist. de l'Acad. Roy. des Sciences," 1735).

Boyle's experiments led to the discovery that some diamonds, when rubbed against wood or other hard substances, and even against cloth or silk, will emit a ray of light which seems to follow them; this is what is called triboluminescence.

The power of absorbing sunlight or artificial light and then giving it off in the dark is only possessed by certain diamonds. These are Brazilian stones, slightly milky in tint, or blue-white as they are often termed, and it is an included substance and not the diamond itself that possesses the power of storing up light and then giving it out. Willemite, kunzite, sphalerite (sulphide of zinc) and some other minerals possess the same power. Their peculiar property may be due to the presence of a slight quantity of manganese or to that of some of the uranium salts. That it is only the ultra-violet rays that are thus absorbed by these diamonds is proved by the fact that the phenomenon is not observable when a thin plate of glass is interposed between the sunlight or artificial light and the diamond, as glass is not traversed by these rays. The still undetermined substance to whose presence in diamonds of this type the special class of phenomena must be due, was named by the author tiffanyite, in honor of the late Charles L. Tiffany (1812-1902), founder of the firm of Tiffany & Company. (See Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences; 1895.) On the other hand all diamonds phosphoresce when exposed to the rays of radium, polonium, or actinium, even when glass is interposed. Treating of some of the aspects of phosphorescence in diamonds, Sir William Crookes says: ("Diamonds," a lecture delivered before the British Association at Kimberley, Sept. 5, 1905; London, 1905. See also the same author's "Diamonds," London and New York, 1909.) In a vacuum, exposed to a high-tension current of electricity, diamonds phosphoresce of different colours, most South African diamonds shining with a bluish light. Diamonds from other localities emit bright blue, apricot, pale blue, red, yellowish-green, orange, and pale green light. The most phosphorescent diamonds are those which are fluorescent in the sun. One beautiful green diamond in my collection, when phosphorescing in a good vacuum, gives almost as much light as a candle, and you can easily read by its rays. But the time has hardly come when diamonds can be used as domestic illuminants!