PHOSPHORESCENCE. 63 
stormy.” Such was the case on the 4th November, 
1749, in 42° 48’ latitude north and 114° longitude 
west of Paris: a few minutes before mid-day, and 
in perfectly serene weather, a large bluish globe 
of fire rolled up to the ship the ‘ Montague,’ and 
exploded, shattering one of the masts. This globe 
of fire appeared as large as a millstone. A strong 
“‘sulphurous”’ odour was perceived in the ship 
for some time afterwards. The light described to 
me by Mr. Edwards appears to have been some 
such phenomenon, and had he and his companions 
seen the end of it, the fears of the boatmen might 
have been realized. 
Detailed accounts of similar electric meteors 
may be foreign to the subject of the present work, 
though electricity plays, doubtless, its part in all 
phosphoric phenomena; but I have endeavoured 
in these pages to notice, however briefly, every 
known source of terrestrial light, for it is not m our 
power, in the present state of science, to restrict 
phosphorescence to a limited number of pheno- 
mena. 
I must now say a few words on that beautiful 
and mysterious production of light known as the 
Will-o’ -the- Wisp or Ignis fatwus (feux follets of the 
French). 
This phenomenon is generally attributed, by 
chemists of the present day, to the spontaneous 
inflammation of phosphuretted hydrogen gas. It 
