22 ELECTRIC LIGHTING. 



plunged beneath the surface of the water, attracts fish or 

 drives them away. According to some persons, it would be 

 a means of making miraculous draughts, and Jobard, of 

 Brussels, published in 1865 a very ingenious paper on this 

 application ; but we must unfortunately dispel the illusions 

 which were formerly cherished. J. Duboscq has in fact con- 

 structed, to the order of an Anglo-French nabob, a large globe 

 lamp for the electric light, with which experiments were 

 made one fine summer evening on the lac d'Enghitn: the 

 waters were perfectly illuminated, but the fish, instead of 

 coming towards the light, avoided it in alarm ; not one was 

 seen, so the apparatus has been useless. This discomfiture 

 is described as above by FAbbe Moigno ; but we observe 

 that his opinion was not very conclusive, for we read in the 

 journal of Les Mondes, t. XII. , p. 46, /. VI., p. 584, andt. V., 

 p. 374, articles on fishing by the electric light, in which he 

 attaches more importance to the matter. In fact, he quotes 

 an article stating that Fanshawe had been very successful 

 in this way, catching by bait many whitings and mackerel. 

 According to this amateur fisherman, the appearance of the 

 sea during the experiment was splendid ; the reflected light 

 carried the greenish-blue colour of the water from the bottom 

 to the summit of every wave. The sails and rigging of the 

 vessel were also illuminated, and it seemed as if it were 

 floating in a sea of gold. The silvery fish darted all around 

 and constantly rose towards the surface of the illuminated 

 water, presenting the appearance of brilliant jewels in a sea 

 of azure and gold. It is true that in another article the 

 author of the Les Mondes describes the experiments made at 

 Dunkirk with a submarine lamp excited by currents from an 

 Alliance machine, experiments which have left much uncer- 

 tainty on the action of the light on fishes. 



Electric lights have, however, been constructed for fishing, 

 and Gervais has, according to the journal Les Mondes of the 

 3oth March, 1865, a rather ingenious one, which is attached 

 to a buoy, and can be let down to any required depth. 



