The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1873-05-07
The nenth Of the Ocean.

ing MOI only nave shllAAu1
seamen known how to reach the bottom
and fetch parts Of it up to the top from
great depths. but mathematicians have
given themselves the trouble to calcu-
late theoretically its average depth,
Button gave this at $40 fathoms, or
lao feet; Lacaille gives from l64 to
273 fathoms Laplace, enormously es-
timated the mean elevation of the land
at $3.50 feet-three times the height
now allowed by physical geographers-
thought the waters of the sea must be
of about equal depth--Young assigned
a depth of 2, 745 fathoms to the Allan
tic and about 3, 300 fathoms'to the great
South Sea. According to this estimate,
ether mathematicians add, the Pacific
must be at its deepest point fifteen and
a half miles in depth, which is scarce
" probable. But though little is
known of the greatest depths of the
oceans, we do know that their bottoms
are of unequal depth, and that they
contain mountains as we'll as vast roll
ing plains !; and Mr.. Reelus takes ad-
vantage of such sounds as have been
made to illustrate the wonderful inc
qualities of the bottom. If, he remarks,
the waters of the Mediterranean were
suddenly lowered about 10 fathoms, it
would be divided into three distinct
sheets of water Italy would be joined
to Sicily, Sicily would be united by an
Isthmus to Africa, the D~ardanelles and
the Bosph1rus would be classed, butt h
outlet of Gibraltar would remain in
free communication with the Atlantic
Ocean. If the level were lowered by
about $50 fathoms, the Egean, Euxime,
and the Adriatic would wholly disap-
pear, or only leave in their beds unim-
portant pools ; the remainder of tn,
Mediterranean would be divided into
seas like the Caspian, either isolated,
or communicating with each other by
narrow channels, and the terminal
promontory of Europe would be Joined
by the isthmus of Gibraltar to the
mountains of Africa. A depression of
about l, 100 fathoms would leave moth
ing but three inl md lakes-to the west,
a triangular basin occupying the center
of the depression between France and
Algeria; in the middle, a long cavity
extending from Crete to Sicily and
eastward, a hollow lying in front of the
Egyptian coast. The greatest depth of
: the Mediterranean, exceeding 2 200 faith
oms, lies to the north of the Syrtes, al
most in the geometrical center of the
basin.
Again, the British channel, that least
agreeable Of sea- to good Americans
wishing TO reach Paris from London, is
a narrow arm of the sea, which may be
considered as a mere accident of the
earth's surface. as a kind of maritime
trench, SO inconsiderable is its depth
compared with that of the ocean. In
order to form q true notion of the
depth of the Channel, compared with
its width, mi must imagine a miniature
of this sea drawn on a scale of one ward
for t%wo-thirds Of a mile, on a perfectly
horizontal surface. This sheet of water
would not have less than 547 yards of
length, and it's width would vary. &C.
cording to the coast lines, between SO
and $40 yards. And yet, n~otwithstand-
ing this considerable surface, the great
est depth would be less than two inches
ct the entrance. In the deepest hol-
low Of the Channel, between the hillock
rep esenting Start Point and that of the
Sept-Isles. it would be less than two
and a half inches. A sparrow could
hop this miniature sea-.
Considered as a whole, the North At
lantic is a depression whose sides de-
scend gradually toward a central hollow
situated between the coasts of the Uni.
ted States, the Bermudas, and the Bank
Of Newfoundland. A fall of the waters
of less than 10 fathoms would reveal
the submarine ground work upon which
France, Spain and the British Isles rest.
This is indeed the true foundation of
the European continent, for immediate
ly beyond this basement, which forms
the extreme angle of the Old World.
the bed of the sea, at an inclination of
about eight degrees, descends gradually
from 10 fathoms to 1,640 and 2,187
fathoms below the waves. A fall in its
level of 1,094 fathoms would diminish
the width of the Atlantic more than
half would leave the Gulf of Mexico
completely dry, and leave only an
elongated lake in the central part of the
Caribbean Sea. If the present level
were lowered by 21S7 fatholns, q CONT
nent separated from Europe and Ameri-
ca by two narrow channels, and extend
ing over a space of from about 1850 to
1850 miles, would stretch into the tor
nd zone and, by a remarkable coinci-
dence, would affect that ~peninsular con-
formation and southerly direction pre-
sented by Greenland, Scandinavia,
Italy, Greece, Arabia, India, and the
three great continents of the South. A ,
lowering of $3.50 fathoms would com
pletely unite Newfoundland to Ireland,
and consequently form a bridge between
the Old aud New Worlds. Even of the {
Central Atlantic there would remain $
only a narrow Mediterranean sea in
front of the Antilles and Guiana. Final =
ly, let the waters be lowered 1915
fathoms, and the northern part of the $
Atlantic would be reduced to a small !
triangular Caspian" situated between u
the Azores, the Bank of Newfoundland. t
and the Bermudas. /
Though the Pacific Ocean is scarcely c
l5f miles in depth, it is known to be in t