Physics. [f. L. calor heat; suggested by calcescence, fluorescence. (Etymologically, incorrect in form, and not expressing the fact to which it is applied.)] A name applied (Jan. 1865) by Prof. Tyndall to the change of non-luminous heat-rays into rays of higher refrangibility so as to become luminous. See also CALCESCENCE.
1865. Tyndall, Heat, xiii. (1870), § 617. To express this transmutation of heat-rays into others of higher refrangibility, I propose the term calorescence. Ibid. (1869), Notes Lect. Light, § 248. In calorescence the atoms of the refractory body are caused to vibrate more rapidly than the waves which fall upon them; the periods of the waves are quickened by their impact on the atoms. The refrangibility of the rays is, in fact, exalted.
1881. Nature, XXIV. 66. Akin gave the name of calcescence … but the term has been superseded by Tyndall’s term calorescence, which is etymologically unfortunate, seeing that the Latin verb is calesco, not caloresco.
