The Wild Wild West The Night of the Glowing Corpse (1965–1969) Online
During the Franco-Prussian War, the French entrust their newest scientific breakthrough, Franconium, to the care of the United States to keep Prussian agents from it. Deadly in the smallest quantities, the chemical must be protected. Before it can be debuted to the American scientific community thieves steal it; Jim and Artie must recover it before the thieves escape the country with their toxic treasure.
| Episode complete credited cast: | |||
 | Robert Conrad | - | Jim West |
 | Ross Martin | - | Artemus Gordon |
 | Kipp Hamilton | - | Cluny Ormont |
 | Marion Thompson | - | Amelie Charlemont |
 | Phillip Pine | - | Lt. Armand Renard (as Phillip E. Pine) |
 | Oscar Beregi Jr. | - | Dr. Jean Paul Ormont (as Oscar Beregi) |
 | Charles Horvath | - | Ironfoot |
| Ron Whelan | - | Consul-General Potez |
The name "franconium" suggests an element, but it is described as a "chemical", suggesting a compound of some kind. There is an element called Francium; its existence was predicted in 1870 on the basis of its position in the periodic table, but was not positively identified and named until 1939. It was the last naturally-occurring element to be discovered and is the second-rarest element, with only 30 grams in existence at any given time in the entire Earth's crust.
During the second act, when West enters the funhouse at the Hannibal Amusement Park he first encounters a bug-eye monster in the darkness. The monster was originally a rejected design concept for the alien visitors in the movie It Came From Outer Space (1953); a design which two years later became the basis for the monstrous Metaluna mutants in the film This Island Earth (1955).
The "detector" used here to show the presence of franconium is actually a Crookes radiometer, a device in which the vanes revolve when exposed to visible light. It was invented in 1873 by British chemist chemist Sir William Crookes, and continues to exist to this day as a novelty item. Other types of radiometers are activated by other types of electromagnetic radiation.
Part of the context of this episode is the currently ongoing Franco-Prussian War which means that this episode was set between July of 1870 and May of 1871. While Captain West works in support of the French (led by Napoleon III) they were the eventual losers of this conflict which led to the unification of Germany.
Phillip Pine's character, Lieutenant Armand Renard, is a member of France's "Surete". The French word surete, is usually translated as "safety" or "security". In the context of this episode it is the organizational title of a civil police force, especially the detective branch thereof.
Artemus compliments Amelie Charlemont's cattleya occidence. Cattleya is a genus of orchids containing 113 species (although none of those species is named occidence), and is the variety generally considered by most people as the "typical" orchid.