Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1873-05-06

OF, ~, Tue ocean mas WlL!llil rs sbbSoID
a life which is never revealed except
to long acq1aissaaee and ana almost
Liv;iig familiarity. Il has a lie
more nuItitudinous, quite So Won
deriul, aud not less beautiful Than
that of the land. It's mountains rise
higher than Moat Blanc. Its valleys
and gorges are uneqtslicd BY thoseFf
the Lebanon, the Pyrenees, or even
the Hymalayas. 1t has great steppes
and immense plains, which rival
those Of North America or Central
Asia. II has vast and illimita6le
forests, which the eve of man has
never discerned, and never shall, in
their entirety-lnrestS That ase fuller
by far of busy life than the most pro-
life Of the tropics. "The terrestrial
Forests" says Charles Darwin edo
not contain any Thing Ike the num-
Der of animals that those of the sea
do. g" The surface Of the waters,
which, plowed by storms are such
source OF dread to man, are the pro
tcctioD Of these children of the moth
err ocean. At $50 fathoms there is a
perfectly III form temperature, the
same in all attitudes. No cold pier
ces this wonderful coverlet. no storm
ever disturbs the waters beneath. -
Here in their hidden home, safe from
the disturbances Of this upper life.
are mYriadeS Of creatures, living,
marrying, dying; warning one upon
the Othcf; organizing into Kingdoms,
republics, families; working in every
form Of manufacture, as spinner
I weavers. architects. builders; en-
lowed with mysterious instincts which
are quite as wonderful in their way
as our higher reason. and bound to-
! gether 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 inha bitants Of the sea are
found in absolutely countless num-
berS. No census of old Oceans pop
uIation ever has been taken. or ever
can be. They exist in all waters, the
hot rs we'll as the cold, the fresh as
well as the saut. The mariner in
the topic sea is startled to find the
ocean all about him growing lumin-
Gus, as though the very water be-
meath the hot equatorial sun had
turned to flame Flashes of vermi
ion colored light dart from the keel
of lis vessel as it plows the surface
of the water. and streams Of lighE
like lightning sparkle and play upon
its waves. If, overcoming his super
stilious fears by growing accustomed
to the sight, he drops n bucket into
the luminous sea, he brings up what
seems less like water than like molten
lead. 1t lights the forccastle like a
torch. He plunges his hand into
the water. 1t comes out covered
with luminous particles glittering like
diamonds full of light. How innu-
merable must be these almost infni-
tesimal glow>worms of the sea, thus
TO convert the ocean into sea Of
light!
Sometimes these tiny creatures
tint instead of ilumining the sea-
Insects whose diameter is less than
that OF a hair, 500 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, r.
Snow. In 1854, in the Bay of Ben
gal. Captain Kingman passed for
thirty miles through the middle of a
large patch ofsea white with these
creatures. Thirty miles of animaIcu>
les 800 Of whom would hardly cou>
stitute an inchl Seamea sometimes
meet with fred fogs," especially in |
the vicinity of the Cape de Verd |
Islands. Nuremberg has exemined |
this fog with his microscope. lie |
firds that its tint is given to it by |
infinitcsimal shells of infuSOra.
brought by the winds from the coasts
of South America. Let the reader
imagine, if he can. how many of these
shells, 50 small as to be quite invisi-
bic to the naked eye, there must be
to produce a cloud large enough and
dense enough to perplex the naviga-
tor. Now, are the plants less mi
mute or less numerous? Freycinct
and Turrel, when on board. the cor
yette La Creole in the neighborhOod
of Tai0, in the Isle of Lucan, OBJ
served an extent Of thirty>five SCARE
miles of ocean tinted a light rcd -
This color proved to be due to the
presence of marine plant so small
that in a square inch there were
$4,000. 900 individuals. As the COL
Grafton extended to q considerable
depth, it would be impossible to form
any adequate conception OF their
number. still less to calculate it. 1t
is the presence of n 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 to tropical
climates; they are found in all lat
tudes in all waters. The great rivers
TEEN with them. Tie Gauges trans
ports in the course of one year q
mass Of invisible infusoria equal n
Solume to six or eight of the great
Pyramids of Egypt. Water brought
up from the depth of 2l, GOO feet, be-
tween the Philippine and the MARI
anne islands, was found to contain
lie species. In the arctic regions,
where the intense cold forbids all
other animal life, the infus0ria are
still to be found. possessing hardy
constitution which defes all climates
In the reSiduum of blocks Of ice near
ly fifty different species have been
At depth of the sea
which exceeds the heioht oe The lof.