Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-04-21
THE OCEAN BOTTOM.
The Challenger Expedition and Deep sea
SGuutliugs.


The last and most important contri-
button to marine photography are the
deep-sea soundings of the Challenger
expedition, which has recently returned
to England after an absence Of three
years spent IN circumnavigating the
globe. Marine photography may be
said to be a comparatively new science,
the first deep-sea soundings on a Large
scale having been instituted by the gov
eminent of the United States, when it
sent Professor Agassiz and his party
IN the Hassler to sail around this con-
tinent during the spring and summer of
1873. The valuable physical, geograph-
zeal, ana geological results of the Jour
ney are well known and appreciated.
Shortly after the Hassler expedition
had left New York, the English Chal
lenger expedition, perhaps the most
thoroughly equipped and most compre
hensive of any ever organized, ttarted
on its tour round the world The geo.
logical results accomplished bv it have
been summed up in AN interesting lee
ture recently delivered befo the Roy
al Institution, London, by Pro
fessor Huxley. Abiding to. that
portion of the work of the expedi-
ton which relates to the distribution OF
life IN and at the lotion of the sea, and
Of the work which is being carried on
by living organism in building no the
solid crust of the globe, the Professor
showed that there was extending around
the poles a wide area of siliceous or flint
deposit, formed from enormous accum-
mutations OF the dead skeletons and
shells of diatomaceous plants invisible
organisms, which lived on the top Of
the sea, and existed In such numbers as
to cover it and the ice for miles with q
scum. The Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, too, showed that the whole of
that sea-bottom was covered for many
thousand square miles with deposit Of
uni1noWn thickness, also built up IN the
same, way. 1t is stupendous, he says,
to think of thousands of feet of rock
being formed from the accumulation
Of the shells aud skeletons Of invisible
aniInalcUlas, but when one thinks OF the
wide area mentioned, covered to an I'M
known depth with what might be
called the ash S Of these organisms,
the idea becomes almost Overwhelm-
ing in its vastness. Having established
the fact that certain things were,
they could be made the basis
Of deductve reasoning, without know
ing the howand why. Surprising, then,
a globe everywhere covered with water,
and 40 dry land at,all to be affected by
the motion Of the waves, and from
which sedimentary rocks could be
| formed. The sea surrounding the two
poles would be covered with thick
| layer Of these invisible animalcule, CON
stantly raining down their skeletons, on
| the sponge spicules on the bottom and
forming g siliceous deposit, while in the
! intermediate zone a calacareous or lime
stone deposits, would be forming IN the
same way. Thus, it seems by the
merest operation OF the lowest forms Of
| life, III a globe altogether covered by
sea, there might be five or six different
kinds Of rock formed on the sea bottom.
Summing up the bearing Of these dis
cOverles On geologic problems, Profess
sor Huxley contends that III all age )
there is no indication Of any other agen-
cy at work than natural causes; 40 evi-
dence in that brief period Of time regis
tered by the succession of stratified
rocks Of natu al forces having a greater
intensity than row.
Whatever may bethought of the con-
illusions at which Professor Huxley
arrives from the Challenger's examina-
ton Of the sea-b0ttom, there can be no
doubt as to the scientific value of deep
sOundings. 4 few decades Of 1t have
sufficed to sweep away a host of absurd
traditions and unWalTanted assump-
tons. The mountains and valleys which
fancy had duplicated at the bottom of
the ocean have disappeared. Our views
about the animal life, even at the
greatest depths, have undergone COM
plete revolution. The specific weight
of the water is 10 longer believed to be
SO enormous that cannon ball could
not sink below certain depth-a view
once deemed capable Of mathenA tical
demonstration. One of the earlier deep
sea sounders-Edward Forbes-still as
sumed all animal life to cease at a depth
of from 1900 to 1000 feet 1t was
submarine telegraphy that gave the
first practical direction to the investi-
cations and studies which are now
comprised under marine photography.
1t became necessary to examine the
bottom where cables were to be Land,
and thus specimens were obtained from
the bottom at greater depths than be-
fore. In 1861, when the Frenc:ll cable
between Africa and Sardinia was raised
from a depth of 5000 feet, it was found
covered with living snails, muscles, ETC.,
among which are many new species.
From that date de p-sea soundings
have been turned to excellent and vari-
Gus uses by science. They were first
Systematically conducted in 1868. when
the English steamer lightning was
sent, with the nat1lralists Carpenter
and Wyville Thompson, to the seas west
of the Orkney and Farce groups, where
soundlngs Of the submarine Arctic cur
rent discovered, at a depth of $50
fathoms, two different sea temperatures
and two distinct fanpae. Since then
discovery has rapidly followed dis
covery; and with the invention of drag
nets our knowledge in the physical,
geographical, and geological domains OF
science has been immensely enlarged.