The Penn's Grove record., 1893-12-29
The Atlantic a Gigantic whirlpool


It has long been known that waters Of
the Atlantic Ocean are a sort of whirl'
pool on a gigantic scale, the csntrai
point Of which is a short distance to the
southwest Of the Azores. Just as In the
case Of an atmospheric cyclone, there
exists in the middle Of this aqueous vor-
tex a region where the fluid OF the sea
has scarcely any motion, so that bottles
or other floating objects entering it are
apt to remain there indefinitely, sinking
finally to the bottom. For miles there
about the surface of the ocean is GOV
cred with what is commonly known az
'tgulf, weed" large areas of 1t having the
appearance of a drowned meadow, or
which one might imagine it possible to
walk. This enormous vegetal accamu-
lation was formerly supposed to be made
up of plants torn away by the Gulf
Stream from the shores OF the Bahamas
and OF Florida, but it Is now known
that the weed grows and p~ropagates
while freely floating on the water. 1t
teens with multitudinous forms of life.
Not least interesting of the myria | cres.
lures which inhabit it are certain curious
nest building fishes. They have arm
like ioie fins, with which they cling tn
the weed, making their nests by binding
to lether globular masses OF 1t IS dig a,
Dutch cheeses. This they accomplish
by means of long gelatinous strings
which they form for the purpose, finally
dspositing their eggs in the centre
OF the sphere thus composed. The
weed itself is upheld by bulbs filed with
air, which serve as flo1ts.
Shrimps aud crabs swarm in ths weed,
and they as we'll as the fishes are colored
yellow and white III spots like the weed
itself, for protective purposes. Sex
worms similarly tinted are found there
also IN great numbers. All of the AMI
mals which dwell in this strange Sar-
gasso Sea seem to be either yellow and
white or else perfectly transparent.
There are transparent cutie, fish, trans
parent shrimps, and transparent worms.
One can see through them as clearly "a
il they were made OF glass. Tnere are
also pelagic sea .aue nonss that have the
bases by watch their kin1 cling to rocks
on shore so modified as to form chambers
c~unrs'uiug ar and thus acting as floats
to sustain them on the surface. Glant
jellyishes-grest sacs four feet long
with walls of transparent jelly su inca
thicx-Iive in the weed, and 81 phos-
phorescent are they that at night one can
write mis- name on one of them and Il
will presently come out in letters Of fire.
1t is very odd to fnd insects in the open
ocean thousands Of miles from land
wingless, long-leggei, black ''skatlng-
bugs" of a species closely allie to those
, whica dash about on the surface of fresh
water ponds. On the bottom Of tbs
ocean, beneath this vast field of weed
filled with animals living and dying, All
immense deposit of animal and vcgetst
remains must be gradually form'ug.
Should that part of the floor of the sea
be upheaved at some future time Dy vol
c.uic action, it would furnish mines o:
manure sufficient to f~ertilize the farms OF
the world. Surprising that it were pos
sible economically to fetch to Europe o.
America great quantities of this watef
plant which now floats useless, it wou','
be enormously valuable as a fertilizer.