in this part of the ocean, from being modified by the land breezes.
I had kept ſome bottles of the ſea-water, which I had collected the night before, during its phoſphoreſcence, for the purpoſe of examining the ſmall luminous ſubſtances which occaſion this phenomenon. Having incloſed ſome of this water in a vial, I agitated it in the dark, and preſently obſerved luminous globules ariſing within it, which appeared perfectly ſimilar to thoſe that are ſeen in the agitated water of the ocean. I tried the ſimple experiment of ſeparating theſe particles from the water, in order to learn whether it would ſtill retain its phoſphoreſcent quality. Upon filtrating it, by means of a piece of blotting-paper, a number of minute tranſparent particles, gelatinous in their conſiſtence, and of a globular form, were left upon the filtre. The water had now entirely loſt its phoſphoreſcent quality, which I again reſtored to it by mixing it with thoſe particles. If theſe ſmall animalcula be expoſed for any conſiderable time to the air, they loſe their phoſphoreſcent properties.
I have frequently repeated the ſame experiment upon water collected in different parts of the ocean, and have uniformly found it to contain the ſame ſort of animalcula, which I therefore conſider to be the principal cauſe of the phoſ-
phoreſence
