A WONDERER UNDER SEA 9 



and round the circular earth, but no human being has 

 ever run a mile In four minutes. We can be pulled by a 

 single horse power, but to rise Into the air requires either 

 wings and an engine of many times that equine unit of 

 energy, or a bag of gas lighter than the atmosphere. We 

 have risen Into the thin upper air to a height of many 

 miles, and were still no nearer the stars, while in a few 

 hours we had to glide or tumble to earth again. Always 

 and forever, on earth or in the air, we must combat gravi- 

 tation. 



Our apparatus for conquering the under-sea Is simple. 

 We must first decide whether we are content to look 

 beneath the surface, or to descend sixty to eighty feet, 

 or to three hundred feet, or to a half mile. To reverse 

 this order, only two human beings have ever reached three 

 thousand feet, and this in a hollow ball, a bathysphere, 

 into which we were sealed, and where we made and 

 breathed our own air, looked out through windows, tele- 

 phoned up the wonders which we saw, and returned safely. 



If you must descend three hundred feet, a complete 

 diving suit is necessary, and many hours are required to 

 become used to the pressure at that depth and again to 

 return to the upper world. 



To add to our habitation of the earth's surface and the 

 air above it all the Kingdom of Five Fathoms Down is a 

 very simple matter. I would suggest a pair of rubber- 

 soled sneakers and a bathing suit, besides which a glass- 

 fronted helmet, hose and a pump complete the open ocean 



