4 J. LeConte on the Silver-Spring in Florida. 
of the slender and delicate moss-like alge, by means of the cur- 
rents created by the boiling up of the water, and the swimming 
f numerous fish above this miniature subaqueous forest, imparted 
a living reality to the scene which can never be forgotten. And 
if we add to this picture, already sufficiently striking, that ob- 
jects beneath the surface of the water, when viewed obliquely, 
were fringed with the prismatic hues, we shall cease to be sur- 
prised at the mysterious phenomena with which vivid i imagina- 
tions have invested this enchanting spring, as well as at the inac- 
euracies which have been ——_* in relation to the won- 
derful properties of its wa On a bright day, the beholder 
seems to be looking down “on some lofty airy point on a truly 
fairy scene in the i immense basin beneath him, a scene whose 
beauty and magical effect is vastly enhanced by the chromatic 
tints with which it is invested. 
opular opinion -has ascribed to these waters remarkable 
magnifying ower. In confirmation of this, it is commonly re- 
ported that the “New York Herald” can be read at the bottom 
of the enn parts of the pool. It is almost needless to state, 
that the waters do not possess this magnifying a that it is. 
only the large capitals, constituting the heading o A 
which can be read at the bottom, and that the — na 
were oo ie and colored by sr Numerous compara- 
tive experiments were likewise executed, in relation to the dis- 
tances at which the same. cards could be read in the air. The 
results of these experiments may be announced in a few words, 
namely :—That when the letters are of considerable size, say a 
those who were ignorant of the words on them. The experi- 
ments were made on various siz a iptiars, and at depths varying 
eto eo tive | iionts in reading the 
n air and. water, serve to convey a more distinct idea of 
the qonderful iaphanous p properties of theta ater, than aur ver- 
bal descriptio 
* Bovover, in his Traité a ise sur la graduation de la lumivre, (Paris, 1760,) 
gives of e experim on sea water 
oe ves the 
% _ the loss of light in a ann a 3™11 is -_ of sea pe derma oe gers 
* 
