210 MEDUSA : THEIR NUMBER. 



beautifully moiiiliforai. Whether they were living 

 animals, and possessed of locomotion, I could not 

 ascertain. They possessed the property of decom- 

 posing light, and in some cases showed all the 

 colours of the spectrum very distinctly. 



" I afterwards examined the different qualities of 

 sea water, and found these substances very abundant 

 in that of an olive-green colour ; and also occurring, 

 but in lesser quantity, in the bluish-green water. 

 The number of medusae in the olive-green water was 

 found to be immense. They were about one-fourth 

 of an inch asunder. In this proportion, a cubic inch 

 of water must contain 64; a cubic foot 110,592 ; ;% 

 cubic fathom 23,887,872 ; -and a cubic mile about 

 23,888,000,000,000,000." 



Of course we have, in the last two numbers, 

 reached the utterly incomprehensible ; but Dr. 

 Scoresby goes into comparisons which help us a 

 little, at least to ascertain how hopelessly beyond 

 our conceptions such numbers are. 



"From soundings made in the situation where 

 these animals were found, it is probable the sea is 

 upwards of a mile in depth ; but whether these sub- 

 stances occupy the whole depth is uncertain. Pro- 

 vided, however, the depth to which they extend be 

 but two hundred and fifty fathoms, the above im- 

 mense number of one species may occur in the space 

 of two miles square. It may give a better concep- 

 tion of the amount of medusae in this extent, if we 

 calculate the length of time that would be requisite, 



