« WATER TURNED TO BLOOD." 



203 



either to mineral particles diffused through the air strata which are 

 traversed by the rain, or to the dejections of certain moths in their 

 last metamorphosis, or to the remains of infusoria carried up by the 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Red Water of the Salt-Marshes, 

 taken from the surface. 



The same after it has been allowed to 

 rest. (The infusoria have risen 

 to the surface.) 



winds. But the ignorant multitude continue still to believe in rains 

 of blood, and bow down blindly before so-called miracles which have 

 no existence save in the wild fancies of those who regard them as 

 articles of faith. 



We are not concerned now with these errors and superstitions, on 

 which modern science has pronounced its verdict ; we propose rather 

 to consider some well-attested facts, the causes of which leave no 

 room for doubt or ambiguity. It is now ascertained beyond question 

 that, where fresh water wears a peculiar tinge, this coloring is due to * 

 the presence of infusoria (Eiiglena viridis, E. sanguinea, Astasia h<&- 

 matodes) f or to microscopic vegetation ( Oscillatoria rubesce?is, Sphw- 

 roplea annulina), or to minute entomostraca (Daphnia pulex, Cyclops 

 quadricornis). 



The waters of the sea may also be tinged in a similar way. Thus, 

 in 1820, Scoresby found that the blue or green tinge of the Greenland 

 Sea was caused by an animalcule allied to the medusae. Of these he 

 counted 64 in a cubic inch ; this would be in a cubic foot 110,392, and 

 23,888,000,000,000 rn a cubic mile. According to Arago, the long and ' 

 sharply-defined streaks of green in the polar seas include myriads of 

 medusae, whose yellow color, added to the blue of the water, produces 

 green. Off Cape Palmas, on the Guinea coast, Captain Tuckey's ship 

 appeared to be sailing through a milky sea. The cause of the phenom- 

 enon was the multitude of animals floating at the surface, and masking 

 the natural tint of the water. The carmine-red streaks which various 

 navigators have sailed through on the high-seas are produced in the 



