430 WHE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
cause of this phenomenon lies then most likely in the putrefying 
fibres of dead mollusks, which are mixed with the waters in 
countless numbers.” 
Summing up the foregoing in a few words, it is thus an indis- 
putable fact, that the phosphorescence of the sea is by no means 
an electrical or magnetic property of the water, but exclusive:y 
bound to organic matter, living or dead. But although thus 
much has been ascertained, we have as yet only advanced one 
step towards the unravelling of the mystery, and its proximate 
cause remains an open question. Unfortunately, science is still 
unable to give a positive answer, and we are obliged to be 
contented with a more or less plausible hypothesis. When we 
consider that the phosphorescence most commonly resides only 
in the outward mucous covering of the body, in which a number 
of particles cast off by the skin are continually undergoing de- 
composition, the phenomenon seems to be a simple chemical 
process, during which more or less phosphorus may be dis- 
engaged, which by agitation or friction gives rise to the emission 
of Jight. It is more difficult to explain those cases in which 
the entire mass of the body is luminous (as in Pholas), or the 
muscular substance (as in some Annelides), or the vibratcry 
cilia (as in the Beroés); and here we do better to confess our 
entire ignorance, than to resort to the hypothesis of electrical 
discharges, extremely improbable in an element which is so ex- 
cellent an electrical conductor, and particularly when we consider 
that no emission of light takes place in the few and powerful 
electrical fishes we are acquainted with. 
We know as little of what utility marine phosphorescence may 
be. Why do the countless myriads of Mammarize gleam and 
sparkle along our coasts? Is it to signify their presence to other 
animals, and direct them to the spot where they may find 
abundance of food? So muchis certain, that so grand and wide- 
spread a phenomenon must necessarily serve some end equally 
grand and important. 
As the phosphorescence of the sea is owing to living creatures, 
it must naturally show itself in its greatest brilliancy when the 
ocean is at rest; for during the daytime we find the surface of 
the waters most peopled with various animals when only aslight 
zephyr glides over the sea. In stormy weather, the fragile or 
gelatinous world of the lower marine creatures generally seeks a 
