THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OP THE SEA. 279 
necessarily be, as they have indeed turned out, completely 
inaccurate. 
Upon these, therefore, we shall not dwell, for it would be 
foreign to our object ; but shall confine ourselves to the account 
of some of the more lucid explanations that have been attempted 
by various authors. 
Ancient navigators appear to have attributed the light which 
is developed on the surface of the water to what may be termed 
“ ordinary causes,” and they believed it to be due to various 
atmospheric phenomena. To them, phosphorescence was the 
meteor of the sea. The foundation of this idea may be traced 
in the writings of some savans who have endeavoured to account 
for phosphorescence by purely physical action. Abbe N ollet, 
for example, sees in it nothing more than a modification of 
electrical phenomena; Bajon refers it to a disengagement of 
electricity, occasioned by the friction of the vessel against the 
waves ; Tingry compares it to the fluorescence of the diamond, 
and thinks that the sea absorbs solar light during the day, 
winch is again liberated at night. 
Side by side with these physical theories may be placed some 
chemical hypotheses, equally void of foundation ; amongst 
which may be reckoned those which attribute phosphorescence 
to “ phosphoric fires,” to the ignition of bubbles of hydrogen 
bursting at the surface of the water, &c. &c. 
Another explanation of a more rational character, and pro- 
bably in many cases the correct one, is that which traces the 
phosphorescence of the sea to the decomposition of various 
animal substances, more especially to that of the flesh of fishes 
and cetacea. This theory, propounded by Commerson in the 
manuscripts which are deposited in the library of the Museum 
of Paris, has reckoned amongst its advocates Bory St. Vincent, 
Oken, and others. As early, however, as the commencement 
of the last century, accurate observations had been made on the 
subject, and the evidence of noted travellers, together with 
that of eminent naturalists and physiologists, soon placed it 
beyond a doubt, that a great number of marine animals possess 
during life the attribute of luminosity, — the property of emit- 
ting light. 
As far back as the year 1705, Viviani, Professor of Natural 
History at Genoa, had discovered in the environs of that city, 
and had described in a memoir devoted to the subject, as many 
as fourteen species of luminous animalcules. To their presence 
he attributed the phosphorescence of the seas of his country. 
Again, Spallanzani having dissolved in milk the luminous 
mucosity that flows from the Medusae,* thereby rendered the 
* Jelly-fislies. 
