LIVING LAMPS 



From the very earliest times the curiosity of man has been 

 aroused by the power various creatures have of giving out a 

 vivid flash of hght or a more or less continuous glow. 



When you are camping in the woods at night there is a 

 strange fascination in the fitful greenish "fox-fire" on the sur- 

 face of rotting logs, now brighter now fainter according to the 

 movements of the air about it; in the shimmering radiance of 

 various fungi, some of which give off light enough to enable 

 you to read a watch face if held close enough; and in the 

 sparkling of the myriads of fire-flies and the glowing of the 

 glow-worms in the damper spots. More uncanny still are those 

 strange lights called "will-o'-the-wisps" seen mostly over swamps 

 and marshes, usually as transient flickers here and there but 

 sometimes as small shining clouds drifting slowly by or rarely 

 as a bright light in rapid motion. 



On the sea beaches on dark nights in summer the line of 

 breakers always sparkles with httle brilliant points of vivid 

 light, mostly green or bluish, some of which glow for a while 

 when stranded on the mud or sand; and there may be so very 

 many of these httle lights that the surf emits a constant steady 

 glow with here and there from time to time some bright and 

 vivid flashes. Higher on the beach beyond the waves you see 

 dead fishes shining with a lovely silver light and as you walk 

 along on the wet sand each footstep is surrounded by a more 

 or less scattered halo of brilhant little sparks. 



The dipping of the oars, especially in a muddy harbor in 

 late summer, causes the appearance of multitudes of httle 

 lights about the blades; and by watching closely it is easy to 

 perceive that the httle lights are of several different kinds vary- 



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