Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-05-08
The Mysteries of Deep Sea Life.

an inner self, a hidden life, that casual
acquaintance know nothing of, so the
ocean has within it's bosom a life which
is never revealed except to long ac-
quaintance and an almost loving famili-
arity. 1t has a life more multitudinous,
quite as wonderful, and not less beauti-
full than that of the land. Its noun
tains rise higher than Mont Blanc. Its
valleys and gorges are unequaled by
those of the Lebanon, the Pyrenees, or
even the Himalayas. 1t has great step
pes and immense plains, which rival
those of North America or Central Asia.
1t has vast and illimitable forests. which
the eye of man has never discerned. and
never shall, in their carbohydrates
that are fuller by far of busy life than
the most prolific of the tropics. "The
terrestrial forests" says Charles OAR
win, edo 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 a source of
dread to man, are the protection of these
children of the mother ocean. At $50
fathoms there is a perfectly uniform
temperature, the same In all latitudes.
No cold pierces this wonderful coverlet,
no storm ever disturbs the waters be-
meath. Here in their hidden home, safe
from the disturbances of this upper life,
are myriads of creatures, living, marry
ing, dying !; warning one upon the other;
organizing into kingdoms, republics,
families; working in every form OF
manufacture, as spinners, weavers,
architects, builders endowed with mys-
t~erious instincts which are quite Won
derful in their way as our higher reason, |
and bound together by mysterious ties
which we are equally unable to compre-
bend. OF to call in question. So true is
1t that the mysteries of science far out
weigh 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 be-
meath 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 the waters, and
streams of light like lightning sparkle
and play upon it's waves. Ii, overcom-
ing his superstitious 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 ~forecastle
Like a torch. He plunges his hand into
the water. 1t comes out covered with
luminous particles glittering like dia-
monds full of light. How innumerable
must be these almost infinitesimal glow
worms of the sea, thus to convert the
ocean into a sea of light
Som etimes these tiny creatures tint
instead of illumining the sea. Insects
whose diameter is less than that of a
hair, 300 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, Capt. King
man passed for thirty miles through the
middle of a large patch of sea white with
these creatures. Thirty miles of ami
m~alcules, 800 of which would hardly con-
stitute an inch! Seamen sometimes
meet with cred fogs," especially in the
vicinity of the Cape de Verd Islands.
Ehrenberg has examined this fog with
his microscope. He finds that its tint
is given to it by infnitesimal shells of
infusoria, brought by the winds from
the coasts of South America. Let the
reader imagine, if he can, how many of
these shelf, so small as to be quite in
visible 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? Freycinct and Turrel, when
on board the corvette La Creole in the
neighborhood of Tajo, in the Isle of
Lucan, observed an extent of thirty-five
square miles of ocean tinted a light red.
This color proved to be due to the pres
ence of a marine plant so small that in
a square inch there were %, OF 900 in
: dividuals. As the coloration extended
to a considerable depth, it would be i'm
possible to form any adequate concep-
ton of their number still less to calcu-
late it. It is the presence of a similar
natural dye which has given to the Red
Sea It's name. These minute objects,
however, are by no means confined to
the surface of the sea, or to tropical
climates they are..found In all ATTITUDES
and in all waters. The great rivers TEEN
with them. The Gauges transports IN
the course of year a mass OF invisible
lnfusoria equal III volume TO SIX or elghb
of the great Pyramids of Egypt. Water
brought up from the depth of 21,600
feet, between the Philippine INC the
Marianne Islands, was found to con-
tain one hundred and sixteen species.
La the Arctic regions, where the intense
; cold forbids all other animal life, in
fusoria are still to be found, possessing
a hardy constitution which deies all
/, climates. In the residuum of blocks of
ice nearly fifty species have been dis
covered. At a depth of the sea which
exceeds the height of the ~loftiest noun
tain, Humboldt asserts that there are
to be found an innumerable phalanx of
animals, imperceptible to the human
eye.-Lynaan Abbott, an Harper's
Magazine for M0y.