Experiments on the Noctiluca miliaris. 421 



Whilst then we have thus cursorily glanced at some of the 

 theories which have been advanced on this subject, we are 

 compelled to confess that even those best established amongst 

 them are far from being in any degree satisfactory. In the 

 instance of the glow-worm, for example, the purpose which 

 this provision fulfills may be said to be universally admitted 

 and agreed upon ; yet what sufficient reason can be assigned 

 for such a faculty being conferred almost exclusively on this 

 insect, in preference, as it were, to all others? On this head 

 one cannot do otherwise than express an entire concurrence 

 in the conclusion of Matteucci, that this phenomenon, " in its 

 exceptional character, is one of those mysterious singularities 

 which Nature seems to have distributed amidst the immense 

 variety of beings, almost without any previous attention to the 

 animals on which she bestows them, as if merely for the pur- 

 pose of constraining us to admire with humility the power of 

 her creative skill." 



In concluding this brief and imperfect sketch of a subject 

 involving so many points of interest, my object will have been 

 attained, if what has been here advanced should serve the pur- 

 pose of rendering somewhat more defined the outline of a pic- 

 ture which yet remains to be filled up in its details, and still 

 invites the hand of the more skilful artist to the undertaking. 

 The subject of vital phosphorescence, as embracing a minute 

 and accurate account of all the known examples of the phae- 

 nomenon, its causes, its uses, and a yet more critical inquiry 

 into the chemical nature of the phosphorescent process than 

 it has hitherto received, is still open to investigation. And 

 lest any should be inclined to underrate this humble yet in- 

 teresting department of inquiry, I would venture, in reference 

 to it, to bring to their recollection the high authority of Bacon, 

 who says, " And here men ought to lower their contemplations 

 a little, and inquire into the properties common to all lucid 

 bodies ; as this relates to the form of light ; how immensely 

 soever the bodies concerned may differ in dignity, as the sun 

 does from rotten wood, or putrefied fish*." 



Weston-super-Mare, Sept. 8, 1849. 



* On the Doctrine of the Human Soul, p. 113. vol. i.. Bacon's Philoso- 

 phical Works. 



