LUMINOSITY OF THE SEA. 213 



At times it requires vigorous motion, such as 

 takes place when an oar is dipped, a stone thrown, 

 or paddle-wheels dashed into the water; but at 

 other times, the mere motion of the ocean swell, 

 even in calm weather, is sufficient to stir up the 

 lambent light and cause the crest of every undula- 

 tion to glitter as if tipped with burnished silver. In 

 such circumstances we have seen the ends of the 

 oars of a boat silvered with it when lifted out of the 

 wave, and the drops which fell from them before be- 

 ing redipped resembled the most beautiful diamonds. 



Mr. P. H. Gosse, in his interesting work, "The 

 Ocean," gives the following account of this lumi- 

 nosity of the sea, as witnessed by himself on one 

 occasion : 



"In a voyage to the Grulf of Mexico, I saw the 

 water in those seas more splendidly luminous than 

 I had ever observed before. It was indeed a mag- 

 nificent sight, to stand on the fore-part of the vessel 

 and watch her breasting the waves. The mass of 

 water rolled from her bows as white as milk, stud- 

 ded with those innumerable sparkles of blue light. 

 The nebulosity instantly separated into small masses, 

 curdled like clouds of marbles, leaving the water be- 

 tween of its own clear blackness ; the clouds soon 

 subsided, but the sparks remained. Sometimes one 

 of these points, of greater size and brilliancy than 

 the rest, would suddenly burst into a small cloud of 

 superior whiteness to the mass, and be then lost in 

 it. The curdling of the milky appearance into clouds 



