28 INTRODrCTIOX. 



As Sea-weeds grow, — how and whence do they obtain 

 nourishment? Land-plants, it is known, derive nourish- 



for in his plate xxi. his figures quite corresponded with what 1 had observed. 

 I then tried an experiment ou them which Sir John does not mention ha\-ing 

 done. I took the tumbler into a darkened apartment, and giving the glass 

 a smart percussion, instantly my little puft'-balls sent forth a very brilliant 

 flash of phosphorescent light, showing me tbat in all likelihood they play no 

 vei7 secondary part in that beautiful phosphorescence of the sea, wbich in the 

 wake of a vessel I had so often admired in a summer evening. — I continued 

 to watch theniin the hope of seeing them transformed into Medusa bifida, 

 but frost of unusual intensity for the season set in after the middle of Octo- 

 ber, and my Medusettes sank under it. On trying to rouse them, only one 

 attempted to rise, and next day it had vanished, — like another creature of 

 gi'eater pretension, " fleeing also as a shadow and continuing not." — On con- 

 templating the wonderful works of God even in this little world of water, one 

 is led to exclaim, in the singularly beautiful and truly eloquent words of 

 Hedwig : — 



" Vere magna et longe pulchcrrima sunt etiam ilia, profundissima, sapientifi 

 hie exstructa opera tua, O Jehovah ! quse non nisi bene armatis nostris 

 oculis patent ! Qualia autem eruut denique ilia, qufc, sublato hoc speculo, 

 remota mortalitatis caligiue, daturus es tuis Te vcre sincero pectore colen- 

 tibus ! Ebeu qualia ! " 



" Truly great and transcendently beautiful, O Jkuovah ! are these thy 

 works even here below. Framed they are in profound wisdom, disclosing all 

 their charms only to our lens-aided eyes ! How grand, then, will those be 

 which — when this glass has been removed in which we see darkly — when 

 this mist of mortality has been scattered — Thou art pledged to reveal here- 

 after to thy servants, that have worshipped Thee here in sincerity and truth 1 

 Ah me ! how grand ! " 



