Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-05-01
Life under the Ocean Wave.

AS every man carries within himself
an inner self, hidden life, that causu-
al acquaintance know nothing of, so
the ocean has within its bosom a life
which is never revealed except to long
acquaintance and an almost loving
familiarity. 1t has a life more multi
tudinous, quite as wonderful, and not
less beautiful than that of the land
Its mountains rise higher than Mont
Blanc. Its valleys and gorges are I'M
cqualled by those Of the Lebanon, the
Pyrenees, or even the Himalayas. 1t
has great steppes and immense plains,
which rival those of North America
or Central Asia 1t has vast and il
limitablc forests, which the eve of
man has never discerned, and never
shall: in their entirety-forest that
are fuller by far of busy life than the
most prolific of the tropic. "The ter
restrial forests says Charles Darwin,
edo not contain any thing like the
number of animals that those of the
sea do" The surface of the waters,
which, plowed by storms, are such a
source of dread to man, are the pro-
lection of these children of the mother
ocean. AT $50 fathoms there is per
fectly uniform temperature, the same
in all ATTITUDES. No cold can pierce
this wonderful coverlet, no storm ever
disturbs the waters beneath. Here in
their hidden homes safe from the dis
turbances of this upper life, are myri-
ads Of creatures, living, marrying,
dying; warning one upon the other
organizing into Kingdoms, republics,
families working in every form of
manufacture, as spinners, weavers,
architects, builders endowed with
mysterious instincts which are quite as
wonderful in their way as our higher
reason, and bound together by mysteri-
GUS 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, the hot as
well as the 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 fame
Flashes Of vermilion-colored light dart
from the keel of his vessel as it plows
the surface of the waters, and streams
Of light like lightning sparkle and play
upon its waves If, overcoming his
superstitious fears by growing ac-
customed 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 fore.
castle like torch. He plunges his
hand into the water. 1t come out
covered with luminous particles gilt
tering like diamonds full of light
How innumerable must be these al
most infnitesmal glow-worms of the
sea, thus to 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 a
hair 800 of whom placed in line
would not make an inch in length,
whiten the waters 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 middle of a
large patch of sea white with these
creatures. Thirty miles of animalcules
800 of whom would hardly constitute
an inch ! Seamen sometimes meet
with "red fogs," especially in the Vi
oin,fv of tho CoDo 10 VorJ T,lo,J,