Weekly Trinity journal., 1873-05-03
LIFE UNDER TEEE OCEAN WAVE.

hlNW HOClililS Ols 50 INC
ocean has within its bosom a life which
is never revealed except to long acquaint-
ance and an almost loving familiarity.
1t has life more multitudinous, quite as
wonderful, and not less beautiful than
that of the land. Its mountains rise
higher than Mont Blanc. Its valleys and
gorges are uuequalcd by those of the Leb-
anon, the Pyrinees, or even the Hima-
layas. 1t has great steppes and immense
plains, which rival those of North Amer
ica or Central Asia. 1t has vast and
ilimitable forests, which the eye Of man
has never discerned and never shall, in
their entirety-forests that are fuller by
far of busy life than the most prolific Of
the tropics. 1.-THE terrestrial forests"
says Charles Darwin, "do not contain
anything like the number Of animals that
those of the sea do" The surface of the
waters, which, plowed by storms, are
such source Of dread to man, are the
protection of these children of the mother
ocean. At $50 iathoms there is perfect
j. uniform temperature, the same in all
latitudes. No cold pierces this wonder
tul coverlet, no storm ever disturbs the
waters beneath. Here in their hidden
home, safe from the disturbances of this
upper life, are myriads of creatures, liv-
ing, marrying, dying warning one upon
the other; organizing into kingdoms, re-
publics, families; working in every form
of manufacture, as spinners, weavers, ar
chitects, builders ; endowed with myste-
rious instincts which are quite as wonder
ful in their way as our higher reason, and
bound together by mysterious ties which
we are equally unable to comprehend or
to call in question. SO true is it that the
mysteries Of science far outweigh those
Of morals and theology.
These inhabitants of the sea are found
in absolutely countless numbers. No
census Of old Oceans population ever has
been taken, or ever can be. They exist
in all waters, hot as we'll as cold, the
fresh as well as the salt. The mariner
in the tropic sea is startled to find the
ocean all about him growing luminous,
as though the very water beneath the hot
equatorial sun had turned to flame.
Flashes of vermilion-colored light dart
from the keel of his vessel as it plows the
surface Of tie waters, and streams of
light, like lightning, sparkle and play
upon its waves. If, overcoming his SUI
pcrs.tious fears by growing accustomed
TO the sight, he drops a bucket into the
luminous sea, he brings up what seems
less like water than like molten lead. 1t
lights the forccastle like torch. He
plunges his hand into the water. 1t
comes out covered with luminous parti
eles glitteling like diamonds full Of light
How innumerable must be these almost
inhnitesimal glow-Worms Of the sea, thus
~ convert the ocean into a sea Of light
Sometimes these tiny creatures tint,
INSTEAD Of illumining the sea. Insects
whose diameter is less than that Of hair,
300 of whom placed in line would not
make an inch in length, whiten the wa
tiers OF the ocean by their presence, and
make what the Dutch sailors call the
Milky Sea, or Sea Of Snow. In 1854, in
the Bay of Bengal, Captain Kingman
passed for thirty, miles through the mid
die Of large patch of sea white with
these creatures. Thirty miles of animal
cules 800 of whom would hardly consti-
tute an inch Seamen some times meet
with "red fogs," especially in The vicinity
of the Cape de Verd Islands. Ehrenburg
has examined this fog with his micro
scope. H. finds that its tint is given to
it by inhnitesimal shells of infusoria,
brought by the winds from the coasts of
South America. Let the reader imagine
ii he can, how many Of these shells, so
small as to be quite invisible to the naked
eye, there must be to produce a cloud
large enough and dense enough to perplex
the navigator. Now, are the plants less
minute or less numerous Frcycinct
and Turrel, when on board the corvette
La Cleote in the neighborhood of Tajo,
in the I.le of Lucan, observed an extent
of thirtX-five square miles Of ocean tinted
a light red. This c)lor proved to be due
to the presence Of marine plant so small
that in a square inch there were 25, 600, 600
individuals. As the coloration extended
to a considerable depth, it would be i'm
possible to form any adequate conception
of their number, still less to calculate it..
1t is the presence of similar natural dye
which has given to the Red Sea its name.
These minute objects, however, are by
no means confined to the surface Of the
sea, or tropical climates; they are found
in all ATTITUDES and in all waters. The
great rivers TEEN with them. The Gan
ges transports in the course of one year a
mass OF invisible infusoria equal in vol
anne to six or eight Of the great Pyramids
of Egypt. Water brought up from the
depth of Il 800 feet, between the Philip
pine and the Marianne islands, was found
To contain ll6 species. In the Arctic re-
gions, where the intense cold forbids all
other animal life, the infusoria are still to
be found, possessing a hardy constitution
which deies all climates. In the residu-
nm of blocks of ice nearly fifty different
species have been discovered. Alta depth
o the sea which exceed, the heighto of the
loftiest mountain, Hum boldt asserts that
there are to be found an innumerable
phalanx of animals, impereeptible to the
human eye.-Hdjper's Magaztne for
Nay.