112 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 

 roomy 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 cornets 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 at 



