Animalcular Thofphorefcence of Ocean Water. 2$ 



to the refpiration of animals which are of larger fize and 

 more complicated ftru&ure. The only reafon why it is via- 

 ble from their bodies is, that the gelatinous matter of which 

 they confift is tranfparent. It is not improbable the fame 

 phenomena would be as obvious in the bodies of other crea- 

 tures, and of even human beings, if the opacity of the ma- 

 terials of which we confift did not hinder the light within us 

 from mining fo as to be feen. 



The remarks hitherto made chiefly refer to the larger fpe- 

 cies of light-emitting creatures. The fame apply, as far as 

 I can judge, to all the fmaller fpecies. A vefTel of the water, 

 containing no vifible animalcula, was carried, the fame- 

 evening, to my chamber. When agitated from without, it 

 fparkled ; and if ftirred by the linger within, the number of 

 ihining fpots increafed. When left to reft, lucid points were 

 frequently to be feen arranging themfelves at the fur face of 

 the water, where it touched the mfide of the glafs. Some of 

 this water, that was poured upon the table, appeared full of 

 mining points, like fparks of fire. There was not a doubt in 

 my mind, that thefe phenomena, like the others, were ani- 

 malcular; yet, on viewing the water in the morning, it was 

 as tranfparent as fea water ufually is, and not a fingle crea- 

 ture was to be difcerned in it. The prefumption, therefore, 

 is, that this form of marine light is alfo owing to animalcules, 

 though too fmall to be difcerned by the eye unaffifted by op- 

 tical glaflbs. [ am fomewhat doubtful whether the transpa- 

 rency of thefe minute light-emitting creatures would allow 

 them to be diftinguiflied if [ had had a microfcope with me. 

 Reafoning in this manner, I became peiTuaded that the 

 luminous appearance of ocean water in other cafes, wherein 

 no flam or iparkle was diftin&ly to be feen, or traced to an 

 individual point, but an indiftincl; glow alone appeared, as 

 around the blades of ores, or near the bows and rudders of 

 yefTels in motion, that the phaenomenon was, in like man- 

 ner, referable to animalcular action. And I terminated my 

 fpeculation by concluding, that the light emitted from mil- 

 lions of thefe viewlefs aquatic animals concurred to produce 

 the general luminous appearance of the ocean in which they 

 float, by the fame rule that innumerable clufters of iixed ftars, 

 as modern allronomcrs teach us, produce the luminous fpots 

 or milky hue of tho/e portions of the heavens where Omni- 

 potence has placed them. 



I have laid nothing about the manner in which the light 



is evolved in thefe animals. If it is by the decomposition of 



oxygenous air that light is fo freely emitted, what becomes 



pf the caloric ? for their bodies are not fenfibly heated, nor 



9 warmer 



