JURA. LUMINOUS ANIMALS. 



definite idea was attached; and which has thrown no 

 further light on the question than that usually arising 

 from the substitution of one word for another. Mayer, 

 and those who followed him, conceived that the water 

 of the sea imbibed light which it afterwards discharged. 

 It is scarcely necessary to mention the speculations of 

 those who conceived it to be the result of electric friction ; 

 since a consideration of the laws of electricity would have 

 shown that electric light is never produced in any ana- 

 logous case. A more accurate investigation of the subject 

 would have suggested that which the researches of recent 

 zoologists have at length proved ; that the luminous 

 appearances in sea water were independent of the element 

 itself, and arose from the phosphorescent property of 

 living animals, or of animal matter diffused through it. 

 Many distinct animals possessing this quality have been 

 ascertained by the various naturalists who have accom- 

 panied the late voyages of discovery ; and the subject 

 having lately excited attention, many others have also 

 been recently observed on our own shores. Had it been 

 generally understood that this splendid phenomenon was 

 a property possessed by the inhabitants of the sea, and 

 riot by th'e water, there is little reason to doubt that the 

 researches of naturalists, like those of fishermen, would 

 not only have extended our knowledge of the luminous 

 individuals, but have perhaps ere now ascertained the pecu- 

 liar chemical and vital powers to which the appearance is 

 owing. It is true that a few persons have not only doubted 

 the existence of this power among marine animals, with 

 the exception of two or three species ; but have fancied, 

 that although the property of giving light was proved to 

 reside in some of these, yet the general light of the ocean 

 was the result of some hidden property in the water itself. 

 After enumerating the luminous species which have been 

 unquestionably ascertained, it will be seen that they are 

 much more abundant than has been generally imagined ; 

 and it will also appear that even the light of that water 



