310 Luminousness of the Sea. 
What is the cause of this singular appearance is a question 
which has been often asked, title been frequently attempted to 
be solved, and has, till lately, been generally attempted in vain. 
Formerly it was alleged by some authors (Mayer, &c.), that it 
was from the solar light, which the sea had ssotned during 
the day, being given out at night: by others (Bajon and Gentil), 
that the phenomenon was altogether electrical ; for, said they, 
it is excited by friction. One set of philosophers asserted 
that the waters of the sea were possessed, of themselves, ofa 
phosphorescent nature, and that the appearance was purely 
phosphoric ; and they sat down quite contented with having 
given it a name, without troubling themselves much about the 
proper meaning of that name: while another party, again, 
attributed the phenomenon to the putrefaction of sea water, 
equally contented with the last-mentioned theorisers, with 
assigning a cause which satisfied themselves, although it was 
only in other words confessing to the world their ignorance 
upon the subject. Nay, though the luminous bodies them- 
selves had been examined by some naturalists, and their 
animal nature made obvious to their eyes, assisted by the 
microscope, the conclusions drawn from the examination 
were still wrong, and they were styled particles of an oily or 
bituminous nature, in order to coincide with the preconceived 
opinions of the observer. It was not indeed till lately that the 
real cause of this appearance was generally adopted, and that it 
was acknowledged by most authors that it proceeded from 
animalcules. ‘This opinion has been slowly and gradually 
making its way, and, like others of this kind, has, from that 
very circumstance, only the more surely acquired strength 
and solidity. Every day’ s examination of the waters of the 
ocean establishes it the more, and already various species of 
these interesting little animals are known to naturalists. 
It were a needless and unprofitable task to attempt to 
refute the theories of the various authors who have written 
upon the cause of the luminousness of the sea, some of which 
I have stated above. It cannot proceed from putrefaction, for 
we do not find the ocean ever ina putrid state ; and moreover 
it is now clearly ascertained, that when fishes and other marine 
animals have fairly commenced the putrefactive process, their 
luminousness ceases altogether. No attempt has ever been 
made, I believe, to prove that sea-water contains phosphorus 
in its composition; it is therefore needless to refute an opinion 
which has no foundation. The idea of the sea giving out the 
light during the night which it had absorbed during the day, 
is so utterly irreconcilable with the appearance itself, that it 
