DISCOVERIES OF EHRENBERG. 427 



to sparkle ; but he was never able to detect 

 organization in any ' of these particles, and he 

 could never satisfy himself that any of the 

 microscopic animals which he found with them 

 in the water gave out light. They did not 

 unite and form large slimy masses, but were 

 dispersed about in small flakes. On examining 

 the water, after a violent storm at Heligoland, 

 Ehrenberg found no infusorial animalcules in it ; 

 but quantities of morsels of gelatinous matter, 

 often torn and ragged, which emitted light, and 

 small gelatinous globules, with jagged edges 

 occurred, similar to those which he obtained in 

 the Eed Sea. During his stay at Heligoland, 

 he often observed as it were chains of luminous 

 matter floating in the sea, which on examination 

 proved to be the masses of luminous medusce, de- 

 tached and torn by the violence of the sea. 

 Darwin says, . " The same torn and irregular 

 particles of gelatinous matter described by 

 Ehrenberg, seem in the southern as well as in 

 the northern hemisphere to be the common 

 cause of this phenomenon. The particles were 

 so minute as easily to pass through fine gauze, 

 yet many were distinctly visible by the naked 

 eye. The water when placed in a tumbler and 

 agitated, gave out sparks, but a small portion 

 in a watch-glass scarcely ever was luminous. 

 Observing," he adds, "that the water charged 



