The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-21

a-s
year ago, is the Aldrich Deep, and the
the deepest spot there found is to the
east of the Kermadecs and Friendly ISL
ands. Here the thin steel piano wire
used in soundings reached bottom at
depth of more than five geographical
miles. One has to pause and think be-
fore he can realize what such a depth
really means Compare with it the
greatest heights of the dry earth. Sink
Mount Everest of Himalayas here
in the sea, and it's extreme summit would
do no more than reach to the surface
of the water. Even though the sea
We're bare of water, it would be bold
man indeed who would dare to venture
into this awful valley, and though he
dared he might not live to tell the story
of his intrepidity. 1t is a curious fact
that the distance from the top of the
highest mountain to the bottom of the
deepest sea is over ten miles, so that
in reality, measuring from the earth's
deepest valley our highest mountains
have an altitude of ten miles. The sur
face of the earth is thus broken and
scared, and yet, compared with the
size of the planet, its deepest depths are
mere plow-furrows scratching its sur
face. There are many volcanoes on the
sea observation-disclosures that burst open
the sea floor, belch forth quantities of
molten earth, and are then choked out
ny Inc WdlSI. oOlllSblllltS sec
the results of these eruptions on the
surface, and sometimes so deep are the
disturbances that nothing ever reaches
the top or ruffles the peace of the seas
surface Then there are probably other
great commotions-vast avalanehes slip
ping from the steep mountains and
plunging thousands of feet, perhaps, into
deeper depths-avalanches that rush and
fall without a sound.
Deep dredgings show that most of the
sea bottom is a region of cold, the tenn
perature of the water, even at the equa-
tor, being sometimes below the freezing
point of fresh water. For time science
could not offer any satisfactory explana-
ton for this strange condition, but it is
now proved that the water of all the
oceans circulates steadily, not only in
the familiar superficial currents of which
the Gulf Stream is the most representa-
tive type, but in a slow and mighty
movement from the Arctic and Antarctic
poles, creeping southwark and north
ward along the sea bottom to the hot
regions of the equator, there rising to
the surface very slowly, and settling
northward and southwark toward the
poles, thus keeping up a constant cir
culation. The cold water of the frigid
zones absorbs air and carries it down.
ward to supply the creatures of the
deep sea with oxygen. If it were not
for this provision of nature, it is prob
able that life could not exist beyond
few hundred feet below the surface of
the water. The Black Sea- which has
no deep connection with the ocean, and
has, therefore, no such circulation, is
without deep-sea life, except bacterial,
its depths being filled with foul sulphur
charged water. 1t is estimated that over
90 per cent of the ocean floor has a
temperature lower than 40 degrees Fair
enheit, the freezing point OF fresh water
being 30 degrees Frequently, while in
! hot equatorial regions, the Challenger
/ dredges brought up great masses of this
| icy ooze for cooling the ships drinking
water The warmest of all bodies of
| salt water is the shallow Red Sea,
which has a temperature, even in its
! greatest depths, of 20 degrees. 1t some
times happens that great storms or VIC
lent off-shore winds displace the surface
water to such an extent that large
! amounts of cold water are brought up
| from the depths. In such cases the
| creatures of the deep sea meet their
doom, millions Of them being killed. In
1882, off the eastern coast of North
/ America, there was a sudden change OF
this character, and uncounted billions
of creatures, mostly tile-fish, were kill
ed, and ii was estimated that a layer
of their bodies six feet in thickness COW
cred the ocean bottom for many square
miles, a condition bringing forcibly to
mind Coleridge's lines
The very deep did rot: o Christ,
That ever this should be!
Yea, Shiny things did crawl with legs
Upon the Shiny sea-
The whole science of oceanography is
replete with fascination and wonder and
each year it appeals more strongly to
investigators as well as to the popular
mind. Professor Agassiz has just re-
turned from long voyage in the Pacific
on the United States ship Albatross A
. German expedition is now fitting out for
Antarctic exploration an English expedi-
ton win soon sail, and, as I have al
ready mentioned, Sir John Murray is
promoting a Scotch expedition And
thus oceanography, though new is be-
coming one of the great departments OF
natural science.
, cWater can be compressed only one
| twenty housandth of its bulk)