Ellsworth American., 1907-05-08
THE OCEANS BOTTOM.
Conditions That Prevail in AbysmaI
Depths.

Depths.
The bottom Of the ocean presents
number OF conditions which do not at
nrst sight seem to be at all favorable to
lie. rhere is no sunlight, there is low
temperature, the supply Of oxygen must
De scanty, the pressure Of the deep is
enormous, being roughly speaking, q ton
per square inch for every thousand
iatnoms OF depth. Some Of the specimens Of
the Aioatross, therefore, must have lived
under the conditions Of two and one
fourth tons pressure to every inch OF sur
isce' we ourselves live and do our work
under . pressure Of fifteen pounds and we
90 not feel 1t.
IN mct, we are 10 accustomed to it that
ON going to the top Of mountain whore
the atmospheric pressure II much less, We
afe Al anected BY weakness called
mountain sickness". On the other hand,
We Try working in pressure that is too
srest We are anected BY the caisson dis
case. Inc TACT that our bodies arc per-
meeoie 70 normal pressure makes 1t not
inconvenient tor 40 70 live In our atmos-
PneEs. IN way snat u comparable the
oeeP - nsnee nave Deen ntted to the con-
oitions OF pressure that obtain at the bot
TON ot tne 80.
judged ny our standards their tissues
AE0 Aess nfms tneR bones more cartilagl-
nous; tner scales thinner and the whole
Oody IN some cases almost gelatinous.
inese are % they are viewed In our at
mosphere, but 1t IL believed that when
'uD1ecsed 10 nign pressure the body be-
comes nrmer and the bones more solid, 90
inst IN their haunts they are comparable
Win our nshes at the surface. ).
30 Tar - temperature 10 concerned,
nshes seemed TO b htted to endure the
colo, ana nave oeen taken rom the water
four or nve degrees below thirty-two de-
grees Fahrenheit.
How the creatures OF the oceans bed
get their oxygen has not been absolutely
determined. Surface and running water
hold mechanically . quantity Of oxygen
besides that which enters into the water
- one OF Its chemical constituents. Un-
der the conditions OF pressure 1t would
seem a. II the oxygen in suspension must
be lost, 30 that some have been OF the
opinion that the deep sea animals must
supply themselves with the necessary gas
by chemical decomposition of the water.
Specific organs for this purpose seem not
to have been noted as yet.
DR.. Garman shows that the quantity of
oxygen consumed by the creatures is
much lessened, since he finds that the
sbysmal fishes have various notifications
of the breathing apparatus. There are
smaller oxygenating areas, the lamine are
reduced in number and in some species
there is smaller number of gills. All
these point to reduced capacity for con-
suming oxygen. Besides this DR.. Garman
calls attention to the fact that there is
light at the bottom due to q number OF
causes, probably in part chemical action
and reaction. These processes may aid
decay (or oxidizing) OF organic matter, SO
that the quantity OF oxygen needed may
Of itself be smaller.
Then again the chemical processes may
themselves contribute to the needed sup
ply. There seems no doubt about the
processes OF life being shorn Of q portion
of their activity, and the deep sea animals
are more deliberate in the circulation OF
their blood, and more sluggish in their
movements. This must of necessity be
condition befalling those which live in
medium so dense, where the resistance to
movements is considerable, but it affects
all the creatures so that they are probably
in equilibrium a. at the surface. Prob
ably no one Of the denizens Of the deep
sea is at disadvantage on account of its
greater inertness.
To the question Of the illumination of
the bottom of the sea, DR.. Garman has
made important contributions. They are,
it is true, but the merest by-product of
his enormous work OF examining the
great stock Of fishes collected by the
Albatross, incidental to which there has
been the description of more than $50