PHOSPHORESCENCE. 63 



stormy " Such was the case on the 4th November, 

 1749, in 42 48' latitude north and 11-^ longitude 

 west of Paris : a few minutes before mid-day, and 

 in perfectly serene weather, a large bluish globe 

 of fire rolled up to the ship the ' Montague/ and 

 exploded, shattering one of the masts. This globe 

 of fire appeared as large as a millstone. A strong 

 " sulphurous " odour was perceived in the ship 

 for some time afterwards. The light described to 

 me by Mr. Edwards appears to have been some 

 such phenomenon, and had he and his companions 

 seen the end of it, the fears of the boatmen might 

 have been realized. 



Detailed accounts of similar electric meteors 

 may be foreign to the subject of the present work, 

 though electricity plays, doubtless, its part in all 

 phosphoric phenomena ; but I have endeavoured 

 in these pages to notice, however briefly, every 

 known source of terrestrial light, for it is not in our 

 power, in the present state of science, to restrict 

 phosphorescence to a limited number of pheno- 

 mena. 



I must now say a few words on that beautiful 

 and mysterious production of light known as the 

 Will-o' -the-Wisp or Ignis fatuus ffeuxfollets of the 

 French). 



This phenomenon is generally attributed, by 

 chemists of the present day, to the spontaneous 

 inflammation of phosphuretted hydrogen gas. It 



