Evening star., 1925-08-04

top Mount Everest. king of noun
tains, is $4,000 feet above sea Level.
If Mount Everest were removed nd
cast into the sea- near the Island of
Guam, FIVE Washington Monuments
end on end, set upon its highest prom
ontory would fall short of reaching
above the waves
The vast prairies of our Midwest
appear endless: the steppes of Siberia
extend mile after mile. "as level is
the ocean" so far as mans ewes can
detect, yet they are but little expanses,
rolling uneven. in comparison with
the plains of the sea bottom, which
are so level that water poured upon
them could not find a way to move.
Their decline, for hundreds of miles
is less than 9 inches TO the mile
The sea level, Is the sea, level? No
for when the barometer measures the
atmospheric pressure and tells US that
the pressure is heavier than normal
over certain area. that means that
the air weighs upon the ocean sur
face unequaly, and makes low wal
leyS on the surface. Or. the winds
blow and pile up water in great
ranges. Or, the rivers pour out their
floods and make burrows miles in
width and hundreds of miles in length.
and the winds blow over the great
ocean currents and divert them from
their natural courses
+ x
Certain scientists of Washington
discredit the report said to have come
from Capt. Beehe of the ArCturtIS
to the effect that the Humboldt Cur
rent has ceased to exist because the
Arcturus did not find il a few weeks
ago. They say that ii had simply
been blown out of its usual course. as
winds do affect the water TO depth
of some 200 feet.
The Humboldt Current is weak
flow paralleling the west coast Of
South America and flowing north
ward from the Antarctic region. II
is extremely cold near the shore hut
warmer farther west. This is eX-
planned on the theory that the cold
water flows along the ocean bottom
and is constantly rising to the surface
as it strikes the shelf of the continent:
there, upon the surface. it flows north
westward and the surface water be-
comes warmer. A strong wind from
the east tends to drive the flow west
ward. and owing to the weakness of
the main current, it ceases TO run
close TO the shore while the wind
blows
The Importance of the shifting of
the current lies in its effect upon the
| land along the coast; temperatures
are modified and rains have followed
so that II these conditions were per
manent Peru and Chile would become
as fertile as the United States.
X Y
| This phenomenon illustrates how
science has only touched the edges Of
| knowledge of the meteoroIogv of the
oceans. and the possibilities of weather
/ being affected by conditions in ocean
regions where we have no observa-
| tion stations within thousands Of
miles. Science knows even less of the
/ life conditions of the fishes and NAM
mails of the oceans, upon which so
much of human prosperity and food
depends.
Much is said of the importance Of
| conservation of food resources upon
! land, but almost nothing has been con-
sidered of conservation of sea re-
/ sources. Epidemics attack land ami
mails; they undoubtedly also decimate
the seas. yet men know nothing of
their presence. Tagging of thousands
! of fish has demonstrated that most
| fish are not migrant, but remain with
| in few miles of one locality; hence
| local measures of conservation would
| not seem to be futile Wider meas
ures may be agreed upon information
| ally to protect the worlds vast sup
| plies of food in fishes which do roam
| the vastly deep.
Illustrating the effects of pro1igate
| fishing, it is noted that from 1906 to
| 1913 a British trawler averaged a
daily catch of a ton of fish. During
the World War fishing was controlled
| and the supply so increas sed in the
ocean that the daily catch averaged
3,4S3 pounds, but within two years
| following it dropped to 2,173 pounds,
and two years later 1929 it was only
| 1,56s pounds.
! The sea is not inexhaustible, and
science will yet be called upon to point
| methods of conservation and stimula.
tion of its crops to Offset the i'm
| proved methods Of depletion.
toopyri11is25, byP.uI Y. ccllinsl