THE EARTH. 207 



corrupt all the world. The experiment of this I 

 saw in the year 1590, lying with a fleet about the 

 islands of Azores, almost six months ; the greatest 

 part of which time we were becalmed. Upon 

 which all the sea became so replenished with 

 several sorts of jellies, and forms of serpents, 

 adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful ; some 

 green, some black, some yellow, some white, some 

 of divers colours, and many of them had life ; and 

 some there were a yard and a half, and two yards 

 long ; which had I not seen, I could hardly have 

 believed. And hereof are witnesses all the com- 

 pany of the ships which were then present j so 

 that hardly a man could draw a bucket of water 

 clear of some corruption. In which voyage, to- 

 wards the end thereof, many of every ship fell sick, 

 and began to die apace. But the speedy passage 

 into our country was a remedy to the crazed, and 

 a preservative for those that were not touched.'* 



This shows abundantly, how little the sea's salt- 

 ness is capable of preserving it from putrefac- 

 tion i but, to put the matter beyond all doubt, 

 Mr Boyle kept a quantity of sea water, taken up 

 in the English Channel, for some time barrelled 

 up ; and, in the space of a few weeks, it began 

 to acquire a fetid smell :* he was also assured, by 

 one of his acquaintance, who was becalmed for 

 twelve or fourteen days in the Indian Sea, that 

 the water, for want of motion, began to stink ; 

 and that had it continued much longer, the stench 

 would probably have poisoned him. -It is the 



* Boyle, vol. iii. p. 222. 



