The Nevada journal. [volume] (Nevada City, Calif.) 1851-18??, 1857-08-07
The Paths of the Sea.

The Pains OF Cn6 Sea,
The following will give some idea of
the eloquent lecture of Lieutenant Mau-
ny on "The Paths of the Sea-" recently
delivered in the principal cities in the
u. S.
Wonders ofMe Sea Bottom.-But let
US pass from the deep above to the deep
below. The lead is let down to the bot
tom of the sea, and it is curious to see
the work that is going On there. Beau
tiful coral islands are built up there
perhaps part of one, if we could dis
sect it, would be found to have come
down the Mississippi, from the Rocky
Mountains, or to have been borne upon
the bosom of the great Amazon, from
the tropics of South America; or, in
deed, parts in that island may have
come from every part of the world, by
routes which, if we could trace them,
would seem wonderfully long and
strange. In the cell which one Of these
little animalcula has built for itself, we
should recognize part of the Table
Rock from Niagara, and sand from the
Holy Mountains. 1t may contain mat
ter from the Euphrates, from the sunny
plains of southern Europe, from the bat
tie fields of the Danube and the Nile. or
from the soil of classic Italy. We know
all this, because mariners. have told us
of the islands these corals have built up
they seem to have been at work in the
sea ever since the waters were gathered
together in one place, and looking at
the work they have done, the islands
that have been built up, we have a
proof of their eternal diligence and per-
severance. 1t appears that we had no
idea of the operations that were carried
on in the depths Of the sea till we began
to explore it with lead and line, and now
it seems great charnel-house. Every
body who has stood upon the shore of
the sea has desired to fly away upon its
waves, and learn what there is beyond
it; or, if possible, to dive below, and
learn what there is beneath it.
Depth oftAe Ocean.-Till recently all
was conjecture about the depth and for
nation of the bottom Of the sea; it was
supposed that it might be as deep as
mountain is high; but as to the charac-
ter of the bottom, they left that to poets
brains to picture. Some supposed it
scattered over with gold, gems, anchors,
dead mems bones, ETC., but Brooke's
lead teaches a different story; it shows
that all such things are covered up and
buried, deep down, many feet, by shells
and animalculp. Everywhere where
this admirable sounding apparatus of
Brooke has been, in has brought up
shells and the corpses of the dead. A
single quill may bring up thousands
nay, millions of these shells they are
so small that it requires the minutest
microscope to discover them; they can
not be seen when alive. The bottom of
the deep is covered over with their car
cases they have obeyed the command
ment which was given on the fifth day:
"Multiplv and bring forth abundantly."
Never before now does history give an
account of any attempt being made to
measure the depth of the sea. Chance
circumstances caused me to attempt it,
and thinking it might result in good, 1
continued the attempt. Congress then
passed an act directing the Secretary of
the Navy to set apart and direct one
vessel to continue these soundings for
the purpose of assisting in perfecting
these discoveries, and also to allow the
whole navy to assist in making the in
vestigation in so far as they could with
out interfering with their proper duties
In order to get at the bottom of the sea,
they got some common Irvine and tied
thirty-two pound ball to it; then letting
it down into the sea, they waited to see
how much line would run out, and con-
sidered the length of that line measured
the depth of the sea at that point. The
Irvine and ball were left in the sea. As
soon as the deep sea soundings were
commenced, we found we were in new
field; we found that system would not
do; experiment showed us that when
the cannon ball was at the bottom the
Irvine continued to run out, and that the
larger the ball the slower the Irvine
would run. The difficulty of getting it
down was not because of the increased
QeuSltN VI illc NdlcIy SlllCC tDctt Cslll OlIl1
be compressed very slightly, but be-
cause that when the cannon-ball had
gone down mile, it had to drag mile
of Irvine after it. Then we used the
same kind of Irvine and the same weight
of ball for every experiment, but we
found sometimes that the Irvine would
never run out. A vessel one day was
sent out to take soundings, or measure
the depth of the sea at particular spot;
they began at sunrise, and, as the cap
tain was very patient man, they staid
there till sunset, the Irvine still running
out, so they came back and said they
guessed there was no bottom there
This was before we discovered the I'M
der currents
Instruments for Examining tie Bot
tom Of tie Sea.-By the use of proper
leads we now know the structure of the
bottow of the sea along the North Pa
cifc, as well as along the Atlantic. The
most peculiar thing in the North Allan
tic is n ridge from Newfoundland to