Captain Bonnycastle, coming up the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the 7th of September, 1826, was roused by the mate of the vessel in great alarm from an unusual appearance. It was a starlight night, when suddenly the sky became overcast in the direction of the high land, and an instantaneous and intensely vivid light, resembling the aurora, shot out of the hitherto gloomy and dark sea on the lee bow, which was so brilliant that it lighted everything distinctly even to the mast-head. The light spread over the whole sea between the two shores, and the waves, which before had been tranquil, now began to be agitated. Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene as that of a blazing sheet of awful and most brilliant light. A long and vivid line of light, superior in brightness to the parts of the sea not immediately near the vessel, showed the base of the high, frowning, and dark land abreast; the sky became lowering and more intensely obscure. Long tortuous lines of light showed immense numbers of very large fish darting about as if in consternation. The sprit-sail yard and mizen-boom were lighted by the glare, as if gaslights had been burning directly below them; and until just before daybreak, at four o’clock, the most minute objects were distinctly visible. Day broke very slowly, and the sun rose of a fiery and threatening aspect. Rain followed. Captain Bonnycastle caused a bucket of this fiery water to be drawn up; it was one mass of light when stirred by the hand, and not in sparks as usual, but in actual coruscations. A portion of the water preserved its luminosity for seven nights. On the third night, the scintillations of the sea reappeared; the sun went down very singularly, exhibiting in its descent a double sun; and, when only a few degrees high, its spherical figure changed into that of a long cylinder, which reached the horizon. In the night the sea became nearly as luminous as before, but on the fifth night the appearance entirely ceased. Captain Bonnycastle did not think it proceeded from animalculæ, but imagined it might be some compound of phosphorus, suddenly evolved and disposed over the surface of the sea. It had probably been that peculiar form of electricity known as the glow discharge, of which the author once saw a very remarkable instance. M. E. Becquerel assures us that almost all substances are phosphorescent after being exposed to the sun if instantly withdrawn into darkness, and that it depends upon the arrangement of the particles and not upon chemical action. The salts of uranium give the same kind of phosphorescent light as that produced by the violet rays of the solar spectrum. A solution of the bisulphate of quinine emits a yellow phosphorescent light, whereas the fluorescent light of that liquid is blue. The colours of these two kinds of light are generally complementary to one another.