Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/48

 22 animalcule like a shrimp,—so far his microscopic observations agree with mine; but he does not conjecture (as I do) that the small globules are the spawn, which afterwards assume the tadpole, and subsequently the fish shape. I wish I had seen his pamphlet before, as I should then have observed more closely.

28th.—What a night has passed! Incessant thunder, lightning, and wind, accompanied with torrents of rain and hailstones of a very large size. Sleep was out of the question. I was frequently on deck to observe the vivid flashes of electric matter, which illuminated the ocean around; and on one or two occasions I saw a steady light, which sailors call Jack-o'-the lanthern, continuing at least ten minutes on the mast-head. During this storm we sailed ten knots an hour, shipping a tremendous sea occasionally.

Do you ever think of me? I hope you do, at least in your morning and evening petitions to the Throne of Grace. I think of you, and pray for you every time that I offer up my prayers and thanksgivings for myself.

October 1st.—I have been in a poetical mood again; yet dissatisfied with the labours of my brain. Last night (when I wrote them) I thought my lines sublime,

To-day I think some of them bordering on the ridiculous. Between the two, you know, there is