PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 159 



enabled to illuminate its whole body, and emits vivid 

 flashes of light. Many of the medusae also exhibit 

 powerful phosphorescence.* These noctilucous creatures 

 are> many of them, exceedingly minute, several thou- 

 sands being found in a tea-cup of sea water. They float 

 near the surface in countless myriads, and when dis- 

 turbed they give out brilliant scintillations, often leaving 

 a train of light behind them.f By miscroscopic ex- 

 amination no other fact has been elicited than that these 

 minute beings contain a fluid which, when squeezed out, 

 leaves a line of light upon the surface of water. The 

 appearance of these creatures is almost invariably on the 

 eve of some change of weather, which would lead us to 

 suppose that their luminous phenomena must be con- 

 nected with electrical excitation; and of this, the 

 investigations of Mr. C. Peach, of Fowey, communicated 

 to the British Association at Birmingham, furnish the 

 most satisfactory proofs we have as yet obtained. 



Benvenuto Cellini give a curious account of a car- 

 buncle which shone with great brilliancy in the dark.J 

 The same thing has been stated of the diamond ; but it 

 appears to be necessary to procure these emissions of 



- The most complete examination of this subject will be found 

 in two Memoirs : 



1. Experiments and observations on the light which is spontaneously 

 emit ted with some degree of ptrmanency from various bodies. Phil. 

 Trans., vol. xc. 



2. A continuation of the above, with some experiments and obser 

 vations on solar li(/ht, when imbibed by Cantoris phosphorus: by 

 Nathaniel Hulm, M.D. Phil. Trans., vol. xci. ; and in the Mono- 

 graph of the British Naked-eyed Medusa, by Professor Edward 

 Forbes (published for the Ray Society). See Wilson's note to the 

 account of Pennalata phosphorea in Johnston's Zoophytes, 2nd 

 edition. 



f A General Outline of the Animal Kingdom : by Thomas Rymer 

 Jones, F.L S. Acalephse, p. 64. Lettre 4 >/. Uumas sur la Phos- 

 phorescence de& Vers luisants: par M, Ch. Matteucci. Annales de 

 Chimie, vol. ix. p. 71, 1843. 



I Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini Bohns Standard Library. See 

 also his Treatise on his Art as a Sculptor and Engraver. Florence, 

 3568. 4to. 



