50 PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 



coloured shells," and the myriads of living creatures that 

 make the liquid element their home. 



It is also still more glorious to see all around, 

 far as the eye can stretch, a flood of fire, a sea of glow- 

 ing water, from which, the vessel ploughing on her 

 course, throws up the spray, falling like a shower of 

 stars to be lost in a boundless ocean of effulgence. A 

 writer, whose opportunities of observing this sublime 

 spectacle have been very frequent, gives us the following 

 interesting details : — " As the ship sails with a strong 

 breeze through a luminous sea on a dark night, the 

 effect then produced is seen to the greatest advantage. 

 The wake of the vessel is one broad sheet of phosphoric 

 matter, so brilliant as to cast a dull pale light over the 

 after part of the ship ; the foaming surges, as they 

 gracefully curl on each side of the vessel's prow^ are 

 similar to rolling masses of living phosphorus ; whilst 

 in the distance, even in the horizon, it seems an ocean 

 of fire, and the distant waves breaking, give out a light 

 of inconceivable beauty and brilliancy. Sometimes the 

 luminosity is very visible without any disturbance of the 

 water, its surface remaining smooth, unruffled even by 

 a passing zephyr ; whilst on other occasions, no light 

 is emitted unless the water is agitated by winds, or by 

 the passage of some heavy body through it. Perhaps 



