B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 57 



2V00 fathoms, with a line consisting of a steel wire of No. 22 

 gauge. This was 0.03 of an inch in diameter, weighed twelve 

 pounds per statute mile, and broke with a weight of 252 

 pounds. To the end of the wire was attached a piece of 

 hemp cord, which carried the weight, so that the wire did 

 not touch the bottom at all. The wire was wrapped around 

 a wheel. The danger of breakage was considered very slight, 

 especially if by coating the wire with some non-oxidizable 

 material its rusting be prevented. 18 A, Aug. 30, 1872, 606. 



DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES. 



According to Dr. Carpenter, if we go deep enough in the 

 open sea we shall always find the temperature as low as 32 ; 

 but in inclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean, the deeper 

 and colder water, circulating from the poles, can not enter ; 

 therefore the lowest bottom temperature is determined by 

 the lowest winter temperature of the surface. Scarcity of 

 life in the Mediterranean he considers to be owing to a de- 

 ficiency of oxygen in the water, due to its combining with a 

 large quantity of organic matter brought down by the riv- 

 ers and emptying into it. Thus, while in the Atlantic we 

 usually find 20 per cent, of oxygen and 40 per cent, of car- 

 bonic acid, in the bottom waters of the Mediterranean there 

 is often only 5 per cent, of oxygen and over 65 per cent, of 

 carbonic acid. He considers the Red Sea and its neighbor- 

 hood the hottest region on the earth, the temperature of the 

 surface water rising to 85 or 90, and the bottom tempera- 

 ture being about 71, corresponding to the greatest winter 

 cold. Outside of this sea, however, in the Arabian Gulf, the 

 bottom temperature is 33. Dr. Carpenter thinks that, as 

 the lowest bottom temperature of the Red Sea is as high as 

 71, living corals should occur there at greater depths than 

 any where else in the w r orld. 15 A, August 24, 1872, 240. 



CURRENTS OF THE BLACK SEA. 



Some time ago Dr. William B. Carpenter, on theoretical 

 grounds, concluded that a strong surface current runs out- 

 ward from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus, the Sea 

 of Marmora, and the Dardanelles into the iEgean, this cur- 

 rent being obviously the result of the elevation of the level 

 of the Black Sea by the enormous volume of fresh water dis- 



C2 



