SOMETHING ABOUT JELLY-FISHES. 245 
of a Medusa is wholly resolved, by a kind of instanta- 
neous fusion, into a fluid analogous to sea-water; and yet 
the most important functions of life are effected in bodies 
that seem to be nothing more, as it were, than coagulated 
water. The multiplication of these animals is prodigious, 
and we know nothing certain respecting their mode of 
generation. They may acquire dimensions of many feet 
in diameter, and weigh, occasionally, from fifty to sixty 
pounds; and their system of nutrition escapes us. They 
execute the most rapid and continued motions ; and the 
details of their muscular system are unknown. 
“Their secretions seem to be extremely abundant ; but 
_ We perceive nothing satisfactory as to their origin. ey 
have a kind of very active respiration; its real seat is a 
mystery. They seem extremely feeble, but fishes of large 
size are daily their prey. One would imagine their 
stomachs incapable of any kind of action on these latter 
animals : in a few moments they are digested. Many of 
them contain internally considerable quantities of air, but 
whether they imbibe it from the atmosphere, extract it 
from the ocean, or secrete it from within their bodies, we 
are equally ignorant. A great number of these Meduse 
are phosphorescent, and glare amidst the gloom of night 
like globes of fire; yet the nature, the principle, and 
the agents of this wonderful property remain to be dis- 
covered. Some sting and inflame the hand that touches 
them; but the cause of this power is equally unknown.” 
Professor Richard Owen quotes these “lively paradoxes” 
to show the progress made since then im clearing up many 
points that were obscure at their time, and to show that 
even the skilful naturalist, with abundant material at hand, 
may plod on with uncertainty unless aided by the higher 
powers of the microscope. Recent works published by 
