The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-02-13
WONDERS Of DEEP
SEA BOTTOM SHOWN
Prof. c. c. NuttIng, Head Of Zoolo0l-
X cal Department of Iowa State
University Is tho
Speaker.
HE WAS ON ALBATROsS
Professor Nuttlng Explained condi.
tions as Found on the Sea Bottom
and illustrated His
Lecture.

I
A trip under the sea at the depth OF
1000 fathoms and a glimpse OF the
ed an audience at the Y. w. G. A.
auditorium Friday evening. Prof. G.
&. Nutting, head Of the geological de-
partment of the state University Of
Iowa, conducted the trip. Professor
Nutting was member of the expedi- |
ton which made the trip to Hawaii
on the United States steamer Alba |
tross. The lecture was illustrated and |
many of the slides were made from |
snapshots taken on this trip by Pro-
fessor Nutting. The lecture proved |
most interesting, and 1t was the regret |
OF the student branch, under whose |
auspices the lecture was given, that |
there was not larger number present |
to enjoy the talk.
Miss Tirza Dinsdale, general secre- |
tary of the association. introduced
Professor Nutt1ng, and expressed re-
greet at the smallness OF the audience.
She recalled the fact that Professor
Nutting was one of the three original
founders of the extension work Of the
state university.
! Professor Nutting has an interest
ing way of. presenting a subject, and
his talk avoided any semblence of a
purely scientific report, and was in
instead most interesting exposition
on deep sea life, and was interspersed
with many amusing incidents of the
trip on the Albatross.
U. 8. Expeditions Best.
That the bottom of the sea has only
been scratched was the way Profess
sor Nutting expressed the results OF
the Investigations. But these, scratches
have shown much of the life and the
conditions Of the bottom of the sea.
A Norwegian naturalist was the first
to take up the work. The English
government sent out expeditions In
the Challenger, made over warship.
The United States has done more
than other nations In deep sea obser-
vations, and has fitted out boat, the
Aibatross, manned by naval officers.
which has done considerable work
4 along this line The Albatross was
the first vessel to be built exclusively
for this deep sea investigation.
The apparatus Of the Albatross was
described and later pictured on the
screen. The sounding machine was
Explained in detail. Aggassfz discov-
cred that piano wire attached to a
cannon ball would not be DETECTED by
the currents, and this is the form
the sounding machine is used In now.
By an Invention, there is hole drill
ed through the cannon ball which car
r1es a cylinder. When the cannon
ball hits bottom, catch releases the
cylinder, and 1t and the piano wire
are brought up to the deck, the cylind-
er containing samples Of the bed.
Cannon Balls on Bottom.
Professor Nutting suggested that
the paleontologists Of the future would
find all those cannon balls on the bed
of the sea and would try to figure out
what terrible naval battle had been
fought centuries before. He thought
that they might come about as close to
, solution as the psychologists Of to-
day do in their piecing together of the
past ages.
, There were pictures OF the trawl.
and of the instruments used in finding
r temperature.
. Deep water, Professor Nutting ex-
planned, was 1000 fathoms or more.
The expedition Is concerned with the
physical conditions Of the water and
the pressure measurements were in
teresting Cold also enters into the
calculation of the deep sea observers.
Ooze brought up from this great depth
even in the tropics Is SO cold that
one finds it painful to plunge hands in
to the mud. ...'
Absence Of Sunlight.
There is an absence of sunlight even
as close to the surface as 200 faith.
oms, as experiments with Photographic
plates show. But there must be some
light at the bottom because the fish
and all life have eyes, and without
light there would be no use for eyes.
Life in our caves are blind, Professor
Nutting said, but there were rare
! speciments of blind life in the deep
sea.
There were brilliant colors in the
life OF the deep sea, although it was
not evenly put on as it is in fish which
live near the surface He spoke OF
.. the phosphoresent fish. and of the
. beautiful effects produced through life
with this characteristic.
Sea life like other forms Of life, is
: carniverous, he said. He spoke Of the
. survival OF the flttest, and showed one
picture where a fish had even swallow
, ed fish larger than 1t. Various speci
, mems of sea life as brought up by the
trawl of the Albatross were shown
, and Professor Nutting said that prac
: tically every haul brought two ne"
/ species.
{ Among the stereoptican pictures
= shown were slides taken from snap
t shots which Prof Nutting took on the
\ y, n