The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-26
The Depths of the Ocean.

Among the explora tions and discov
cries of recent years not the least are
| those that have been carried on at thu
bottom of the ocean. What we have
learned of this region is all the more
remarkable because it is so inaccessi'
bic, and when we remember that the
bed of the ocean constitutes nearly
three ffths of the entire surface of the
globe the scientific interest of these eX-
plorations-which have been confined
chiefly to the past fifty years-is ap-
parent c. c. Nutting contributes ar
article describing their result to the
Revue Scientific august 81 and We
translate the following paragraphs:
The study of the ocean depths pre-
sents almost insurmountable difficulties
and has required the elaboration of new
instruments and special apparatus in
which the Americans. and especially
Captain Sigsbee, have taken a large
part. What we now know of the depths
of the sea has been found out with
the aid of the following devices:
I'D The sounding apparatus. To
attach a weight to the end of a line and
drop it to the sea bottom seems a very
simple operation. In reality to do it
properly has required all the ingenuity
of the most skilful engineers. Sigs-
bees sounder, with immovable weight
and cord consisting of piano wire, has
given excellent results in taking exact
soundings and in bringing up specimens
of the sea-bottom.
"(2) The thermometer. Various kinds
of thermometers have been invented to
resist the enormous pressure that ex-
lists at the bottom of the sea and to
register the maxima and minima of
temperature. 1t is not rare to bring up
one of these costly instruments with
it's bulb broken by the terrible pres
sure of the ocean depths.
"(3l The bottle for water specimens.
Devices have been invented for bring
ing from the depths samples of water
protected against all admixture with
the water of other depths. Here also
the water bottle of Captain Sigsbee has
been of great service; it is so arranged
that a specimen of water may be taken
at any desired depth, the bottle then
closing automatically and remaining
Theoretically sealed so long as it is not
opened with the hand.
30 The drag. for collecting speci-
mems of the living animals of the sea-
bottom
"(5) The trawl. a kind of large net
shaped like basket, used on soft bot
toms, over. which it passes without
buryfng itself in the mud.
"(6) The tangle-bar, to sweep rocky
bottoms on which the other instru-
ments would be destroyed or often lost
1t is a series of long brooms that retain
in their tangled hempen fibers all sort
of things, from coral to fish
With the aid of these six instruments
we are told, the sea has been sounded
its temperature has been measured. anC
samples of water and soil from It's
greatest depths have been obtained, as
well as specimens of the creatures
that inhabit them. What we have thu:
learned about it is summed up by the
writer as follows:
The depths of the sea are nearly a
the freezing point; they are subject tc
enormous pressures and displaced by
slow currents moving from the pole Il
the equator. They contain oxygen II
sufficient quantity to sustain ANNA
life and are deprived of sunlight. l.
it possible to conceive a less com
Portable habitat for animal population
No, from our point of view; but it must
not be forgotten that we are neither
fish nor mollusks, and that everything
depends on adaptation TO the sur
rounding medium"
As to the topography Of the sea-bot-
TOM there are few sudden depressions
or elevations except near the con
tinents; in general it is a vast plain
covered with layer composed chiefly
OF the remains of minute organic
creatures, largely the rhizopods, which
furnish food to so great part OF
i marine anjma-s- Over this lies a faky
material once supposed to be a kind
Oh PR aord Al organism, and named by
Huxley Bathybius. It is now known
not to be living matter, but it is GER
fanny organic and consists Of the
partially decomposed remains Of marine
creatures, It serves as food for in
Vulnerable beings and is hence Of great
Importance. AS to the creatures that