The Princeton union., 1890-12-25
In THE OCEAN DEPTHS.
A TERRIBLE SQUEEZE DOWN
THERE.
Interesting Things About tho Submarine WorlL
deep Sea Lamps-A Pressure That
Crushes Glass to POwder-Stlll E
,ss There's Animal Life There.

10 any one that has an imaginative
nature the ocean is perhaps the great
est OF natural wonders. 1t is difficult
to Imagine it possessed with life, or
something akin to it. 1t has it's moods,
its fancies; to-day is calm, unruffled
and serene; Tomorrow, torn by emo
tions, rent by seeming passion-a ver-
table demon seeking to destroy, beat
ing itself down in impotent rage.
SO vast body of fluid, distributed
over different zones where opposite
conditions obtain and preserving its
general size, evaporation and flood,
seemingly equal, can but excite the
wonder of all thinking people. Five
miles depth of solid water, with it's
zones OF temperature, its vast rivers,
hot and cold, its strata of deposits. it's
little understood conditions, is surely
mystery difficult to solve, and until
within few years it has been a sealed
book.
Twenty years ago the ocean was
thought by the majority of people to
be vast body Of water, warm enough
at the surface to permit life and sup
port 1t, but at the greater depths life
was supposed, from the enormous
pressure, to be impossible. The mathe-
matician proved it by a simple calcu-
latlon, so nature was here at fault
Vast areas of inter-oceanic space were
entirely useless, devoid of life. incap-
able OF supporting it. a gloomy, dark,
| unfathomable region, almost beyond
human comprehension.
Modern science has controverted all
this, and as mysterious as the ocean
was the revelation of its wonders has
made it still more the object OF curious
attention. We know that it attains a
depth in some parts of from five to six
miles, possibly more. We know it be-
cause it has been measured, and we
have gained some idea of the pressure
from the fact that glass instruments
| lowered into the greater depths have
been reduced to powder, and iron,
copper, wood and rope are twisted,
bent and frayed.
| The temperature at these great lis
tances from the surface is just above
the freezing point. If it were possible
for man to descend five miles below
| the surface he would find himself in
| this low temperature, and still sup
posing him to withstand the pressure,
he would be in the same condition
| that man would be- on shore with
| twenty or thirty carloads of pig-iron
piled upon him. This is of course not
supposable, yet it may convey some
idea of the state of things in the sub
marine world.
| The human explorer would not be
unaccompanied in his travels. As far
as he could penetrate he would pro-
badly find living creatures adapted by
nature to withstand these extraordin-
ary conditions. He would find this
abysmal realm, so long considered an
abode of darkness, cleaning with
lights. Every movement would result
in blaze Of illumination, as if he
were gifted with the light-producing g
| power. Every animal in this uncanny
world would seem consumed by some
internal fire, appearing here and
there in ttful CLEANS, so that far from
being involved in gloom the deep sea
is veritable land of enchantment full
of strange and wondrous lights.
Almost every animal, or every
branch Of the animal kingdom to be
more precise, contains these curious
living lamps. They are found in all
parts Of the ocean. Almost invisi BILE
at the surface. they display their gold
en- spleEdors upon the waves crest,
are hurled aloft by the gale, and
appear to be the wraiths of the ocean.
Peer into the depths as we float along
on some warm summer night, and the
watery armament appears dotted with
living lamps, comets, shooting stars
aud spheres. while far away thei,
numbers multiply, and the nebula is
reproduced.
These spectres might we'll seem the
reflection of the stars overhead, but
they are parts of the Illuminating
economy OF the ocean. In southern
seas the most remarkable scenes may
be witnessed, though in the cold wa.
ters of the north I have observed ex.
hibitions that excelled any have seen
in the Pacific or the Gulf of Mexico.
AS has been suggested these ligh,
bearers belong to almost every branch
or group OF animals. In the deep se1
the most striking and marvellous forms
are the fishes, and Judging from the
few that have been brought to the
surface by the deep sea dredger:
and appliances OF scien lists. we may
we'll consider them the most remarlza
BILE OF all living creatures.
To withstand the pressure at grea
depths, which may be roughly STATED
as amounting to Il ton weight on TIN
square inch for every 5000 feet o
depth. the fishes are constructed upol
| A. o:,,lo - nv