September 22, 1898] 



NATURE 



497 



There was no moon, the wind was south-west and light — the 

 end of the monsoon ; and although the sea was, as a matter of 

 fact, breaking here and there, it app'eared a calm white sheet, 

 only disturbed by the displacement waves near the ship and a 

 very occasional breaker elsewhere ; showing through it were 

 occasional flashes of the ordinary brilliant phosphorescence. It 

 will therefore be seen that the luminosity of the " white sea" 

 was rather less than that of a breaking wave with the same 

 illumination. A bucket of water drawn showed nothing 

 unusual. Samples with and without alcohol were preserved. 



A fireball was thrown overboard, and burnt on the surface of 

 the water ; this was done in order to see if any fog or mist was 

 present. There was no indication of anything of the kind. 



On the port side of the ship is an aperture through which the 

 surplus water from the bath tanks is constantly ejected, slightly 

 warmed. This water, as it fell on to the sea, appeared much 

 blacker than the sea, and floated for a few seconds as a black 

 mass ; unfortunately, the same shoot is used for the ashes at 

 times. But the ejected water is quite white by daylight. 



The appearance of the sea lasted about an hour, then faded, 

 then brightened again, and was quite bright at daylight, 

 4.15 a.m. ; so that it was seen throughout a distance of nearly 

 fifty miles. A slight recurrence was observed the following 

 night, when the monsoon was blowing more strongly. 



At 3 o'clock on the 22nd, in the midst of the "white sea," 

 the latitude was 10° 35' N. and the longitude 63° 25' E. ; the 

 temperature of the air was 77° F., that of the water 77° F. 

 Specific gravity of the water by ship's instrument No. 1314 

 = 25- 



I shall be glad to hand over the specimens of water to any 

 one interested. James W. Barrett. 



22 Cavendish Square, September 13. 



Deep-Sea Dredging, and the Phosphorescence of 

 Living Creatures, at Great Sea Depths. 



May I call attention to this most interesting subject, upon 

 which so little is known, and with reference to the exploration 

 of the bottom of tropical seas ; nothing is known, though there 

 is here a mine of natural history wealth probably of unexampled 

 magnitude. In that interesting work on "The Depths of the 

 Sea," by Sir Wyville Thomson, published more than twenty 

 years ago, we get a glimpse of a hitherto unworked zoological 

 province, which creates a desire to know more from the richness 

 and beauty revealed, where it would be least expected. 



He writes — " We had a gorgeous display of luminosity, 

 coming down the Sound of Skye, while dredging in 100 

 fathoms. 



" The Pavonarise came up, resplendent with a pale lilac phos- 

 phorescence, like the flame of cyanogen gas — not scintillating, 

 but constant and sufficiently bright to make every portion of a 

 stem distinctly visible, and the stems were a metre long, fringed 

 with hundreds of polyps ; and from the number of specimens 

 brought up, we must have passed through a luminous forest of 

 them. 



" Among Echinoderms, Ophiacanfha spinulosa was one of the 

 prevailing forms, and we were greatly struck with the brilliancy 

 of its phosphorescence. Very young Ophiacantha shone very 

 brightly also. 



"At 344 fathoms, some of our hauls were taken late in the 

 evening, and the tangles were sprinkled over with stars of the 

 most brilliant uranium green. The light was not constant, nor 

 continuous all over the stars, but sometimes it struck out a line of 

 fire all round the disc ; flashing or glowing up to the centre ; 

 then that would fade, and the whole five rays of Ophiacantha 

 spinulosa would light up at the ends, and spread the fire 

 inwards. 



"At 557 to 584 fathoms, many of the animals dredged were 

 most brilliantly phosphorescent. In some places, nearly every- 

 thing brought up seemed to emit light, and the very mud itself 

 was perfectly full of luminous specks. The Pinnatuliv, Virgulariie, 

 and Gorgoniw, shone with a lambent white light, so bright that 

 it showed quite distinctly the hour on a watch. 



"The light from Ophiacantha spinulosa was a brilliant green, 

 coruscating from the centre of the disc, now along one arm, now 

 along another ; and vividly illuminating the whole outline of the 

 star-fish." 



From a depth of 567 fathoms, a beautiful scarlet Urchin, 

 Echinus microstoma, was obtained. In the year 1846 Keferstein 

 mentions having seen in Stockholm a Crustacean taken from the 



NO. 1508, VOL. 58] 



depth of 1400 fathoms, of a bright colour. In 1869 and 1870 

 dredging was carried down to 2435 fathoms by H.M.'s ship 

 Porcupine, and the fact that there is an abundant and character- 

 istic invertebrate fauna at that great depth was placed beyond 

 question ; but the bottom of the deep sea that has been fairly 

 dredged, may still be reckoned by the square yard ; while every 

 haul of the dredge, hitherto used, has brought to light new and 

 unfamiliar forms. 



In the number of Nature for June 30 of this year, there is a 

 most interesting article on deep-sea fishing by means of a trap, 

 an illustration of which is given. These traps are said to have 

 been used at a depth of three thousand fathoms, with complete 

 success. On one occasion a trap that had been lying on the 

 bottom of the Mediterranean, at 700 fathoms depth, for twenty- 

 four hours, brought up 1198 fish, called Simenchelys parasiticus. 

 On another occasion, a new crab, one of the largest ever known, 

 Geryon affinis, was brought up, and there were sixty-four 

 specimens of it. All this shows how much remains to be done 

 in this province of natural history. E. L. J. Ridsdale. 



Rottingdean. 



The Injection of Cocaine as a Remedy for Stings. 



As no one has answered the question asked by Sir J. F. D. 

 Donnelly in your issue of September 8, will you allow me to 

 say that the hypodermic injection of cocaine, or indeed its use 

 in any form, is never quite free from risk. As with most other 

 drugs there is an element of idiosyncrasy, which sometimes 

 produces unexpected and unpleasant results. I believe these 

 occur more frequently, when the drug is injected, than when it is 

 simply applied to the mucous membrane ; and when they do 

 occur, they are very alarming. I know that some dentists have 

 given up the practice of injecting cocaine into the gums before 

 extraction on this account, and having been present once when 

 it was done, I should not consent to it again. What we have 

 to remember with regard to the use of all powerful drugs is this, 

 that a few individuals under all conditions, and nearly all under 

 certain conditions, are specially susceptible to their action, and 

 that we cannot determine a priori either the individuals so 

 predisposed, or the conditions which render susceptible those 

 not specially predisposed. These drugs must therefore be used 

 with caution, and not be regarded as wholly innocuous. 



I should say the hypodermic injection of cocaine into the 

 tongue is undesirable, and only to be done if the pain is 

 intense or the swelling such as to threaten life, in which case it 

 would probably be useful. I would add that so far as I know 

 no W?//?c?M.f of cocaine keep well. M.D., OxoN. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED 

 STATES} 



THIS volume completes the description of the North 

 American continent with the exception of Mexico ; 

 but, although an excellent account of the United States, 

 it leaves North America itself still undescribed. The 

 general reader, of course, will not miss what he has not 

 been trained to expect ; and, if he leaves the conception of 

 geography as a science capable of systematic study out 

 of account, the professed geographer will find much valu- 

 able material collected with discrimination and stated 

 clearly and modestly. Indeed, except for an implication 

 on the first page that the United States are in many 

 respects more civilised than Canada, the English reader 

 will find nothing to disturb his equanimity even in 

 the account of the revolutionary war or the feats of 

 the Alabama. Mr. Gannett writes always as a good 

 American, but is ready to recognise the defects of his 

 country when necessary, and careful to buttress all 

 agreeable statements with statistics which more than 

 prove them. 



Of the arrangement of the matter it is impossible to 

 speak with the same satisfaction. The chapters do not 

 flow in the natural sequence desirable in a literary work, 



1" Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel" (New Issue). 

 North America. Vol.11. "The United States." By Henry Gannett, Chief 

 Geographer of the United States Geological Survey. Maps and Illustra- 

 tions. Pp. xvi + 466. (London : Edward Stanford, 1898.) 



