The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-01-25

The Mighty Depths OF Its Basin and Won
derful Waves Measured.
The sea has always been al in
tsressiDg study. With the inven-
tiou and improvement of special
scientific instruments many valua-
BE facts concerning the depth Of
the ocean, its bed, tidal movements,
waves, etc, have been ascertained.
Ocean, in recent article on the sea
says:
At the depth of about $500 feet
waves are not felt. The tempera-
ture is toe same, varying only a
trias from the ice of the north pole
to the burning sun Of the equator.
A mile down the water has pres
sure of over a ton to the square
inch. fla box six feet wids were
filed with sea water and allowed to
evaoorate under the sun, there
would be two inches Of salt left on
the bottom. Taking the average
depth of the ocean to be three miles,
there would be layer Of pure salt
230 feet thick on the bed of the
Atlantic. TIE water is colder at
the bottom than a: the surface. In
many bays on the coast Of Norway
the water often freezes at the bottom
before it does above.
Waves are very deceptive. To
look at them in a storm one would
think the water travelled. The
water stays in the same place but
the motion goes on. Sometimes in
storms these waves are forty feet
high and travel fifty miles an hour
more than twice as fast as the
ssifsess stea nship. The distance
from valley To valley is generally
fifteen times the height, hence a
wave fse feet high will extend over
seventy Eve feet Of water. The force
of the sea dashing on Bell Rock is
saia TO be seventeen tons for each
square red.
Evaporation is a wonderful pow
er in drawing the water from the
sea. E.ery year layer Of the en-
tire sea, fourteen feet thick, is taken
up into the clouds. The winds bear
their burdens into land, and the
water comes down in rain upon the
fields, to flow back at last through
rivers.
The depth of the sea presents an
interesting problem. IF the Allan
tic were lowered for 1854 feet, tie
distance from shore to shore would
be half as great, or 1900 miles. II
lowered a little more than three
miles, say 1880 feet, there would
be road Of dry land from New
foundland to Ireland.
This is the plane on which the
great Atlantic cables were laid. The
Mediterranean is comparatively
shallow. A drying up of $50 feet
would leave three different seas
and Africa would be joined with
Italy.
The British channel is more like
pond, which accounts for its chop
py waves. It has been found diff,
cult to get the correct sousdings oi
the Atlantic. A midshipman Of the
navy overcame toe difficulty, and
shot weighing thirty pounds carried
down the line. A bole is bored
through the sinksr, through which
a rod of iron is passed, moving
easily back and forth. In the end
of the bar cup is dug out and the
inside coated with lard. Tae bar
is made fast to the line and sling
holds the slot on. When the bar
which extends below the ball
touches the earth, the sling unhooks
and the shot slides off. The lard in
the end of the bar holds some Of the
sand, or whatever may be on the
bottom, and a drop shuts over the
cup to keep the sand in. Whes the
gruond is reached a shock is felt, a.
if an electric current bad passed
through the line.