Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-02-06

of earth, save only the earthquake and
volcano, can disturb it, The specimens
of deep sea soundings, for which we are
indebted to tie ingenuity of Lieutenant
Brooke, are as pure and as free from the
sand OF the sea as the snow fake THAI
falls when Il is calm upon the sea is from
the anst Of the earth. Indeed, these
soundings suggest the idea that the sea.
like the snow-eloud with its flakes in a
calm, is always letting fan upon lis bed
showers Of these microscopic shells: and
we may readily imagine that the sunless
wrecks which strcw It's bottom are. in the
process of ages, lid under this ieecv
eessT'aes, presenting the rounded appear
ancc which Is seen over the body of the
traveller who has perished in the snow
storm. The ocean, especially within
and near the tropics, swat1ns with life
The remains Of It's myriads Of moving
things are conveyed by currents. and
scattered and lodged in the course Of
time all over its bottom. This process.
continued for ages, Las covered the
depths oi the ocean rs with mantle.
consisting of organisms as delicate as the
macled frost, and rs light as the undrin-
ed snowflake on the mountain. Wber-
ever this beautiful sounding-rod has
reached the bottom Of the deep sea.
whether in the Atlantic or Pacific. the
bed Of the ocean has been found of a
down-like sofiness. The lead appears
to sink many feet deep into the oozy
matter there which has been strained
and filtered through the sea water This
matter consists Of the skeletons and
casts of insects Of the sta OF microscopic
minuteness. The fact that the currents
do not reach down to the bottom Of the
deep sea; that there are no abradinr
agents at work there. save alone the
gnawing tooth Of time; that rope of
sand, if stretched upon the bed of the
ocean, would be cable strong enough to
hold the longest Geographic wire that art
can draw these, with other discoveries
made in the course Of the investigations
carried on in the photographed depart
mcnt Of this Office concerning the physics
OF the sea, and already announced in its
official publications and correspondence,
are likely TO prove Of great practical
value and importance in Submarine tele-
graphy-a line Of business only in the
first stage Of its infancy, but deeply in
teresting to the whole human family: for
IN It's bearings and results it touches
most nearly the progress Of man in the
march that Is leading him upward and
The notion was that a tele-
graphic cable must be Of great strength
10 resist and Withstand the forces of the
sea. Nereupon the conducting wire.
after being coated 10 insulation with cut-
ia-pereha, was encased in wire hawser
or cable stoEt enough to hold tie largest
seyeuty-iour' to her anchors. These
cables were very expensive in their man
bulky for stowage, unwfeldv for
handling, and difficult to lay. Il was
such wire-laid cable tfat the Tele-
graphic Company lost in the laying be-
.ween Newfoundland and Cape Breton.
a 1885; and it Is such one-wire-laid.
.tia and larger than a mans arm--that
he French have twice attempted to Law
n the Mediterranean, and twice lost
But now we have learned, in the course
'l these investigations, that all the obsta-
les iHierposed by the sea to the laying
'f submarine telegraphs lie between the
.urfaee and the depth Of a few hundred
athoms below; and that these are not
o be mastered by force, bor overcome
1y that tensile strength of wire-drawu
opes, bot that, with a little artiGee, they
aill yield 10 a mere thread. Ii is the
use OF man-of-war and the little nauti-
as IN the hurricane-the one, weak in
Is airength is dashed to pieces; the 9th
.r, strong in its weakness, resists the ut
most violence Of the storm, and rides as
.aiely through it as though there we're no
'agiDgs in the sea. Therefore, It may
low be considered as a settled principle
n submarine teleaaphy that the true
character Of a cable for the deep sea is
lot that Of an iron rope as large as
mans arm, but single copper wire, or q
ascicle Of wires, coated with gulta-per-
,ha, plant and supple, and not larger
han a lady's finger.