Fergus County argus., 1898-12-14
PHOTOS.
Pictures Have Been Taken Success
fully Under Water.
Artificial Light Can Be Employed
Great Benefits May Be Obtained
In the Examination OF
Sunken Wrecks.

The extent of The surface of the earth
covered by water is vast, since it by far
surpassSs that OF the ury land. what
dc we know of this p2II or the globe
4-.SGen by the seas ana oceans? very
.u.e, il must oe admitted. Except along
,.4e immediate eGge OF these immense
uSvis wn,ch can be eNpioreo III diving
uSlis, the means which Ia GI..IistS have
al IAeir disposal Tor the examination
=. these depths are most ruuimentary.
=, ,ooSuy can go down into them, as ,he
.r>---.4Gous pressure of the water rem
ue.s Uiis impossible. For long time,
;Ay4 eIore, i; was imagined that the
..-1tom of the sea was one vast extent
=. mud, without the presence of living
| tAings; but numerous scientific eNpeoI-
lions finally proved that such was not
| The case, and that multitude of Curl
Gus and even fantastic animals were
| TO be found there.
The product of even single catch,
| including many sharks, as made by us
al the Arago laboratory, convinced me
| hat at the depth of 500 meters the bot
| tom of the ocean is full of life. All these
big sharks (Centrophorus ganulosus)
are carniyorous. In order to live these
| animals must eat other animals; SO
there must be many other animals
| whence these come, although we know
| almost nothing about them.
AS regards the sea, the naturalist is
| in the same situation as would be an in
habitant of the moon who could live in
ne ethereal space. but could not breathe
| the air which envelops our earth. Let
us suppose that this voyager from the
| ethereal regions should come in contact
| with our atmosphere. He would float
| above the highest strata without being
| able to penetrate them, separated from
| the earth by the gases which surround
| it. What must he do if he wishes to
| know something of what exists below
| the layers of cloud which hide our globe
| from his view? He would do as our
| naturalists have done - construct
| dredges and nets, and, having weighted
| them, would let them down like the
anchor of a balloon, and try to pull them
| along the surface of the earth. Do you
think that with such primitive instru-
ments he would obtain very precise
ideas of the terrestrial globe? Every
| agile animal would flee before the APP
| trievably caught in some oak, rock or
| lofty factory chimney, might bring
back, after having scraped for some
| time along the surface of the earth, bits
| of leaves, pebbles mingled with soil.
etc. all of which. however, could give
| only very vague idea concerning the
| constitution of the globe.
Up to the present time our natural
| lists have done hardly more than this.
| Though it is quite true that the appa-
| ratus used is as perfect as possible,
and that the most illustrious students
of nature have displayed in their labors
an ingenuity which I should never
| dream of calling into question, at the
bottom the proceeding is the same in
both cases. They drag the rudimentary
instruments blindly through the depths
| of the seas.
What n change will come over the sit
uation the moment it becomes possi-
BILE to let down to the bottom of the
ocean a Photographic apparatus provid-
ed with powerful artificial light! Al
though this camera will rot be able to
| bring back pictures of wide extent. rlay
it not succeed in satisfactorily photo
graphing 100 sn'are meters of space?
And will not such photographs contain
| most precious fund of information?
Everything leads one to believe that
it Will soon be possible 10 construct
photographic apparatus which will ac-
complish its work successfully at any
Gerth of water. But without going n
far as this, and without launching
forth into the hypothesis which have
not yet been realized. it may be assert
ed that submarine photography can al
ready produce useful results.
In the immediate vicinity of the
coasts the photographing of landscapes,
the interiors of grottoes. animals
caught in their medium, furnishes the
student useful and precious informa-
ton; and from an industrial point of
view one may see how it can be en-
ployed practically. Suppose, for in
stance, a ship to be at the bottom of
the sea. How are we to know its exact
position, and to determine the extent CT
the damage which it has suffered? \
good submarine photograph would be
more valuable to the engineers than all
the information which divers could fur
nish.-Prof. Louis Boutan, in Century.
Solar Facts md Figures.
-. l.