190 
Similar, in some respects, to those observations on the light of the pholas, 
was that which was observed to proceed from wood which was moist, but not 
in a putrid state, which was very conspicuous in the dark. 
That the sea is sometimes luminous, especially when it is put in motion 
by the dashing of oars and the beating of it against a ship, has been observed 
with admiration by a great number of persons. Mr. Boyle, after reciting all 
the circumstances of this appearance, as far as he could collect them from 
the accounts of navigators ; as its being extended as far as the eye could 
reach, and at other times being visible only when the water was dashed 
against some other body; that in some seas this phenomenon is accom¬ 
panied by some particular winds, but not in others; and that sometimes one 
part of the sea will be luminous, when another part, not far from it, will not 
be so; concludes with saying, that he could not help suspecting that these 
odd phenomena, belonging to great masses of water, were in some measure 
owing to some cosmical law or custom of the terrestrial globe, or at least of 
the planetary vortex. 
Some curious observations on the shining of some fishes, and the pickle in 
which they were immersed, were made by Dr. Beal, in 1?65 ; and had they 
been properly attended to and pursued, might have led to a discovery of the 
cause of this appearance. Having put some boiled mackerel, together with 
salt and sweet herbs; when the cook was, some time after, stirring it, in order 
to take out some of the fishes, she observed, that, at the first motion, the 
water was very luminous; and that the fish shining through the water added 
much to the light which the water yielded. The water was of itself thick 
and blackish, rather than any other colour; and yet it shined on being 
stirred, and at the same time the fishes appeared more luminous than the 
water. Wherever the drops of this water, after it had been stirred, fell to the 
ground, they shined ; and the children in the family diverted themselves with 
taking the drops, which were as broad as a penny, and running with them 
about the house. The cook observed, that, when she turned up that side 
of the fish that was lowest, no light came from it; and that, when the water 
had settled for some time, it did not shine at all. The day following, the 
water gave but little light, and only after a brisk agitation, though the fishes 
continued to shine, as well from the inside as the outside, and especially 
about the throat, and such places as seemed to have been a little broken in 
the boiling. 
