194 A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 



from seven-eighths of a ton in the water to two and a half 

 tons in the air, a strain which if too suddenly initiated 

 might easily dislocate some part of the machinery. 



On the present seventh of August the bathysphere 

 swung overside at about 11:30 a.m. Less than an hour and 

 a half later the cable record indicated that the sphere was 

 dangling at a depth of 3020 feet. Mr. Barton electrically 

 exposed 400 feet of film, and after a total of three hours 

 of blazing sun, alternating with driving rain and chilling 

 breezes, the bathysphere was again on deck. I peered in 

 through the cold, dripping windows and could see that the 

 test was perfect. Neither windows, stuffing box, nor door 

 had leaked a drop; the camera's eye had blinked for five 

 minutes, and now the film lay coiled within, with no one 

 knew what secrets of fish or the lights of fish concealed 

 in its silver coat. The card of the atmosphere recorder 

 told the story of the air temperature during the round trip, 

 beginning with 91° Fahrenheit at the surface and touching 

 51° in the chilled, lowermost depths, while for some reason 

 the humidity needle indicated saturation point at the bot- 

 tom of the dive. 



Thus the way was satisfactorily cleared for our coming 

 descent. 



The promised squalls appeared next day and kept on 

 reappearing. We made many last minute changes. The 

 extraordinary efficiency of the new blower and chemicals 

 and the suggested radical reduction in amount of oxygen 

 rather awed us, and I thought it would be a good idea to 



