LUMINOUS, an epithet applied to anything that shines or emits light.
LUMINOUS Emanations have been observed from human bodies, as also from those of brutes. The light arising from currying a horse, or from rubbing a cat's back, are well known. Instances of a similar kind have been observed on combing a woman's head. Bartholin gives us an account, which he entitles Mulier Splendens, of a lady in Italy whose body shone whenever slightly touched with a piece of linen. These effluvia of animal bodies have many properties in common with those produced from glass; such as being lucid, snapping, and not being excited without some degree of friction; and they are undoubtedly electrical, as a cat's back when stroked has been found strongly electrical.