Dec. 1833. phosphorescence of the sea. 



191 



the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. 

 There was a fresh breeze^ and every part of the surface, 

 which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a 

 pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of 

 liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a 

 milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every 

 wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon, from the 

 reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so utterly ob- 

 scure, as over the rest of the heavens. 



As we proceed further southward, the sea is seldom phos- 

 phorescent; and ofl" Cape Horn, I do not recollect more 

 than once having seen it so, and then it was far from being 

 brilliant. This circumstance probably has a close connexion 

 with the scarcity of organic beings in that part of the ocean. 

 After the elaborate paper^i^ by Ehrenberg, on the phospho- 

 rescence of the sea, it is almost superfluous on my part to 

 make any observations on the subject. I may however add, 

 that the same torn and irregular particles of gelatinous mat- 

 ter, described by Ehrenberg, seem in the southern as well 

 as in the northern hemisphere, to be the common cause of 

 this phenomenon. The particles were so minute as easily 

 to pass through fine gauze ; yet many were distinctly visible 

 by the naked eye. The water when placed in a tum- 

 , bier and agitated gave out sparks, but a small portion in a 

 watch-glass, scarcely ever was luminous. Ehrenberg states, 

 that these particles all retain a certain degree of irritability. 

 My observations, some of which w^ere made directly after 

 taking up the water, would give a difl"erent result. I may 

 also mention, that having used the net during one night I 

 allowed it to become partially dry, and having occasion 

 twelve hours afterwards, to employ it again, I found the 

 whole surface sparkled as brightly as when first taken out 

 of the water. It does not appear probable in this case, that 

 the particles could have remained so long alive. I remark 



* An abstract is given in No. IV. of the Magazine of Zoology and 

 Botany. 



