Evening star., 1947-08-05
BY Prof. Aueuste Piccord

by Tror. Auquste Ficcord
(copyrisht. i947, by North American News
| paper Alliance.)
BRUSSELS, Aug. 5.-The most
important part of all ocean,
ography is checking the depth
of seas.
In shallow seas this is easy: One
lowers a weight at the end Of line.
But as We plumb greater depths We
find the various currents carrying
the weight with 1t, exaggerating the
distance to the bottom: heavier
weights help, but it is difficult at
great depth to judge the precise
moment when the end OF the line
touches the ocean bed.
The pressure gauge is better
check. This heavy instrument Is
dropped into the sea and when it
hits bottom 1t automatically regis
ters the water pressure, drops ballast
and floats back to the surface, where
1t is fished out and the depth Is
determined by the pressure marked.
But this Is a time-wasting method
Acoustic systems are better. A
supersonic signal from the ship hits
the bottom and bounces back. Since
the speed of sound in water Is
known, the elapsed time between
sending the signal and hearing it
again gives q precise depth. With
the modern automatic apparatus,
sending several signals second, a
clear tracing of the ocean bottom
can be obtained as the ship moves
over varying depths.
But oceanography is an Unsuitable
science, constantly asking for more
facts. And the various devices
oceanographers have used would fill
museum: gadgets to get samples
of water, of slime, of fish at various
levels, of temperatures nets,
baskets, boxes, anything that can
be lowered on a line.
But often the scientist wants to
60 beneath the waves himself, to
see with his own eyes what takes
place there.
The principle of the diving suit
is well known, but $50 feet is prob
ably the deepest man can go in such
a device. and even then there Is
danger from the great pressures
and their after effects. Rigid
armored diving suits may allow a
man to 60 down perhaps 800 feet,
but such a suit seriously hampers
activity.
Williamson's submarine obserya-
tory was steel ball with a big win
dow which hung perhaps so feet
beneath a ship at the end of
wide steel tube. A ladder down the
flve-foot wide tube led into the
observatory and, since the tube re-
manned open, the observer could
stay there in comfort to watch sub
marine life. But there was a very
decided limit to the depths this
contraption would reach!
Let us skip the combat submarine:
it brings too many unhappy mem
ories!
Beebe's Record Cited.
None of these devices, however,
helps us reach any great depth. To
achieve this, the scientist must be
shut into a rigid, watertight box
and lowered into the ocean at the
end Of cable. Premier exponent
of this method to date has been DR..
William Beebe of the New York
Geological Society who reached a
depth of over 5000 feet in "bathy-
sphere" with an inside diameter of
4 feet inches and walls 11z inches
thick
If one thinks back over the var
ious devices used to explore the
he lived in the first block OF Third
street NE.
According to police, Bunch was
first arrested in 1906 on a charge of
assault with a dangerous weapon.
He has been arrested since then
three times on disorderly conduct
charges, II times on drunk charges
and once on an intoxication charge
which carried higher collateral
According to his record, Bunch was
under mental observation in 1918.