One of the most valuable of these, from a scientific point of
view, was an essay upon the causes of phosphorescence in the sea,
frequently observed in tropical and subtropical regions, but occasionally
in European waters.*
(* Crabbe described it admirably in The Borough (9 103):
"And now your view upon the ocean turn,
And there the splendour of the waves discern;
Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar,
And you shall flames within the deep explore;
Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand,
And the cold flames shall flash along your hand;
When, lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze
On weeds that sparkle and on waves that blaze.)
Although Peron was not the first naturalist to explain that this aspect
of floating fire given to the waves was due to the presence of multitudes
of living organisms, he was the first naturalist to describe their
structure and functional processes.* (* Phipson on Phosphorescence (1862)
page 113, mentions that as early as 1749 and 1750, Vianetti and
Grixellini, two Venetians, discovered in the waters of the Adriatic
quantities of luminous animalculae; and the true cause of the phenomena
must have occurred to many of those who witnessed it, though groundless
and absurd theories were current.
