404- Dr. J. H. Pring's Observaiio?is and 



by F. D. Bennett, Surgeon to the Expedition, we find the fol- 

 lowing account of the phasnomenon : — 



" During a dark and calm night, with transient squalls of 

 rain, in lat. 43° S. long. 79° W., the sea presented an unusu- 

 ally luminous appearance. While undisturbed, the ocean 

 emitted a faint gleam from its bosom, and when agitated by 

 the passage of the ship flashed forth streams of light which 

 illuminated the sails, and shone in the wake with great inten- 

 sity. A net, towing alongside, had the appearance of a ball 

 of fire followed by a long and sparkling train ; and large fish, 

 as they darted through the water, could be traced by the 

 scintillating lines they left upon its surface*." And again, 

 "At midnight, on the 1st of December, in lat. 19° N. long. 

 107° W. (half-way between the group of the Revilla-gigedo 

 and the continent of America), the sea around us presented 

 one uniform milk-white and luminous expanse, as far as the 

 eye could see from the mast-head. It emitted a faint light 

 like that which attends the dawn of day, and bore a near re- 

 semblance to a field of snow reflecting the rays of the moon ; 

 the horizon being strongly defined, by the contrast of its bright 

 and silver hue with the murky darkness of the sky above. 

 Close to the ship the water appeared brighter than elsewhere, 

 and the dashing of the waves against her bows produced bril- 

 liant flashes of light; but it occurred very strangely, that al- 

 though the waves could be heard lifting in the ordinary man- 

 ner, it was difiicult to perceive them ; and the sea appeared as 

 one tranquil unbroken surface. A net and a bucket were 

 employed to ascertain the cause of this phasnomenon. The 

 former captured nothing but a few Medusae of no phospho- 

 rescent power ; and the water taken up by the bucket, though 

 it was thickly studded by luminous points, contained no tan- 

 gible bodies. 



"A shoal of porpoises came around us at this time; and as 

 they sported in the luminous ocean, darting rapidly beneath 

 the surface, their dark bodies enveloped, as it were, in liquid 

 fire, they tended to complete a scene, which, if correctly pic- 

 tured, would appear rather as the fiction of a fairy tale than 

 the effect of natural causes f." 



In a small work entitled ' The Ocean,' by Mr. P. H. Gosse, 

 we have also an interesting notice of the same appearance, 

 which is thus described : — " The most usual appearances, as 

 far as they have fallen under my own observation in the At- 

 lantic, are as follow : — On looking over the stern, when the 

 ship has steerage-way, her track is visible by a line or belt of 

 light, not a bright glare, but a soft, subdued, yellowish light, 

 * Pp. 17-18, vol. i. t Pp. 289, i290. 



