The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-11
Ass...z,. Exploring -Expsdllioa.

Agssssz's Exploring Expeditions.
The exploring expedition under Agsssi&
which recently left our shores has gotten
into the field of it's labors, and, az our
readers are aware, we are beginning to reap
some Of the first fruits of what promises TO
be a fine harvest of science. To the recently
published letter from the commanding savant
Of the expedition to Professor Pierce he seems
much elated over the discovery Of q curious
nest of fish secreted In ball Of floating Gulf
weed, picked up by an officer Of the Hassler.
the steamer which bears the investigating
party.
The marine life so carefully stored away in
this ball of sargassum Is so precious that tho
eggs are wrapped up with the materials Of
which the nest itself is composed, and a. these
materials are living Gulf weed, the hsh-oradls.
rocking upon the deep ocean, Is carried along
as an undying arbor, affording at tho same
time protection and afterwards food for Ito
living freight"
Small and Insignificant as this discovery
may appear to be at first, It may lead to tho
solution of some of the most important prob
lens of marine life. It Is the opinion OF
some naturalists that the larger animals OF tho
deep, such as the whales, are mainly fed BY
the food transported from the tropics to the
Polar Ocean. For the right whale Of COM
merce the tropical ocean is as impossible az q
"sea Of fire." and it is known that his habitat
10 far towards the extremer ATTITUDES. It
is yet unexplained mystery how the 10y
ocean can support In its chilly depths suoh
swarms Of whales and other marine fauna a.
have been seen In 1t. 1t would seem highly
probable that the discovery Of Agsssiz proves
that the tropical basin of tho Atlantic ID q
great storehouse and granary of vegetable and
animal food, and that the hosts of marine
life marshalled around tho Pole are supplied
with it through the channel of the Gulf
Stream. In this case the hot current of the
Atlantic, In its now much disputed and widely
discussed volume and extension as an ocean
current, is indirectly brought under the lens
of Agassiz.
But more Immediately important dis.
covery is announced by tho exploring
party in the nature of the Gulf
weed, in which are deposited the stores Of
animal life. It has heretofore been q vexed
question with scientific men whether this
sargassum was Indigenous to the ocean or
grew only upon the rocks " hich rise out of it's
foam. Agassiz distinctly states -four OBJ
servations favor the view of those who be-
lieve that the floating weed Is derived from
plants torn from the rocks upon which sar-
gassum naturally grows. I made very
simple experiment. which seems to me to
settle the matter. Every branch Of the sea-
weed which is deprived of its floats at once
sinks to the bottom of the water, and
these floats are not likely to be the
first parts developed by the spores"
After examining a large quantity of the
Gulf weed he says he did not see branch,
''however small, which did not exhibit dis
tinct marks of having been storm from q solid
attachment" The important conclusion the
explorer draws-viz., that the sargassum can
not multiply while floating, and that what 10
met with in the West Indies has been torn
from the rocks-very clearly establishes the
old view Of Humboldt, that the Gulf Stream
10 ouppucu Wy tu0 voot uOW VI Wut0Ib LTOm
the Antarctic Ocean, which moves off tho
Cape of Good Hope and the west coast OF
Africa. If the sargassum was q native
growth of the Sargasso Sea, and did not bear
the marks noticed by Agassiz, we might con-
clude that it was washed from the Sargasso
Sea by the North African current aud drifted
westward by the trade winds. We, Of
course, cannot, as yet, fully interpret the few
results reported from this new expedition;
but the facts already published by Professors
Pierce and Agassiz may prove Of great value
to photographic science.
It was through the observations Of the
habits and habitat of the whale that the Gulf
Stream was discovered-a discovery of inestt-
mable value to commerce-and we apprehend
much more may be learned even from the ami
malcule of the sea than is now dreamed of In
our philosophy.
The whole public are deeply interested in
such Investigations, and 1t is of the utmost
importance to the interests of science and
commerce and navigation that the limits Of
the trade winds, the laws Of storms In the
tropics, the volume, velocity and temperature
of the equatorial current and such like practi-
cal problems, be settled by the new expedi-
ton.