200 A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 



was SO lacking in actual power that it was useless for read- 

 ing and writing. 



There are certain nodes of emotion in a descent such 

 as this, the first of which is the initial flash. This came at 

 670 feet, and it seemed to close a door upon the upper 

 world. Green, the world-wide color of plants, had long 

 since disappeared from our new cosmos, just as the last 

 plants of the sea themselves had been left behind far over- 

 head. 



At 700 feet the light beam from our bulb was still 

 rather dim; the sun had not given up and was doing his 

 best to assert his power. At 800 feet we passed through a 

 swarm of small beings, copepods, sagitta or arrow worms 

 and every now and then a worm which was not a worm 

 but a fish, one of the innumerable round-mouths or Cyclo- 

 t hones. Eighty feet farther and a school of about 30 lan- 

 ternfish passed, wheeled and returned; I could guess Myc- 

 topbufn laternatum, but I cannot be certain. The beam of 

 light drove them away. 



At 1000 feet we took stock of our surroundings. The 

 stuffing box and the door were dry, the noise of the blower 

 did not interfere with the telephone conversation, the 

 humidity was so well taken care of that I did not need a 

 handkerchief over nose and mouth when talking close to 

 the glass. The steel was becoming very cold. I tried to name 

 the water; blackish-blue, dark gray-blue. It is strange that 

 as the blue goes, it is not replaced by violet — the end of the 

 visible spectrum. That has apparently already been ab- 



