48 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



a few degrees from the line, projects near three 

 hundred myriameters toward the weft ; while the 

 diftancc at which a (nip is from this land 

 when IV n t<> the fouthward of the equator, 

 prevents the general winds of thefe feas from 

 undergoing thence any change. 



I had preferved a few bottles of fea-water, 

 taken up the evening before during its phofpho- 

 refcence, to examine the little luminous bodies 

 h arc the caufc of this phenomenon. This 

 water, poured into a glafs, was fet in motion in 

 the dark. I immediately faw fome luminous 

 globules which differed in no rcfpecl from thofc 

 which arc commonly remarked when the fea is 

 agitated. It appeared to me quite an cafy mat- 

 to try to feparate thefe bodies, in ord< r to 

 fee whether the water would ft ill preferve its 

 phofphoric qua'ih : I firaincd it through a piece 

 of white-brown paper: fome molecules, very gela- 

 tinous and tranfparent, the fize of which was 

 almoft a third of a millimeter, remained in the 

 ftrainrr, and from that time this fea-water loft 

 all its phofphorefcence, which I reftored to it at 

 ;ure, by throwing therein the little mole- 

 cules. It was ncccflary not to leave thefe dimi- 

 nutive animals expofed long to the air, for they 

 fbon loft all their phofphoric properties. 



I have fcvcral times repeated the fame experi- 

 in has very diftant from each other, and 



I have 



