H2 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
singularly beautiful. We cast anchor; some officials 
arrived and demanded a clean bill of health. We had 
none. They would have nothing to do with us; so the 
yellow quarantine flag was hoisted, and we waited for per- 
mission to land the Cadiz party. After some hours' delay 
the English consul and vice-consul came on board, and 
with them a Spanish officer ablaze with gold lace and 
decorations. Under slight pressure the requisite permis- 
sion had been granted. We landed our party, and in the 
afternoon weighed anchor. Thanks to the kindness of our 
excellent paymaster, I was here transferred to a more 
roorny berth. 
Cadiz soon sank beneath the sea, and we sighted in suc- 
cession Cape Trafalgar, Tarifa, and the revolving light of 
Ceuta. The water was very calm, and the moon rose in a 
.quiet heaven. She swung with her convex surface down- 
ward, the common boundary between light and shadow 
being almost horizontal. A pillar of reflected light shim- 
mered up to us from the slightly rippled sea. I had pre- 
viously noticed the phosphorescence of the water, but to- 
night it was stronger than usual, especially among the foam 
at the bows. A bucket let down into the sea brought up 
a number of the little sparkling organisms which caused 
the phosphorescence. I caught some of them in my hand. 
And here an appearance was observed which was new to 
most of us, and strikingly beautiful to all. Standing at 
the bow and looking forward, at a distance of forty or fifty 
yards from the ship, a number of luminous streamers were 
seen rushing toward us. On nearing the vessel they 
rapidly turned, like a comet round its perihelion, placed 
themselves side by side, and, in parallel trails of light, kept 
up with the ship. One of them placed itself right in front 
of the bow as a pioneer. These comets of the sea were 
joined at intervals by others. Sometimes as many as six 
at a time would rush at us, bend with extraordinary rapidity 
round a sharp curve, and afterward keep us company. I 
leaned over the bow, and scanned the streamers closely. 
The frontal portion of each of them revealed the outline 
of a porpoise. The rush of the creatures through the 
water had started the phosphorescence, every spark of 
which was converted by the motion of the retina into a 
line of light. Each porpoise was thus wrapped in a 
luminous sheath. The phosphorescence did not cease a,t 
