Wonders of the Sea. 

 The sea occupies three-fifths of the surface of the earth. At the depth of aliont 3,500 feet 

 waves are not felt. Tlie teni])erature is the same, varying only a trifle from the ice of the jiole 

 to the liiirniug sim of the equator. A mile dowu the water has a jjressure of over a ton to the 

 square inch. If a box 6 feet deep were filled with sea-water aud allowed to evaporate under 

 the sun, there would be 2 inches of salt left on tlie bottom. Taking the average depth of the 

 ocean to be 3 miles, there would lie a layer of pure salt 230 feet thick on the l)ed of the Atlantic. 

 The water is colder at tlie liottom than at tlie surface. In the many bays on the coast of Norway 

 the water often freezes at the liottoni lieforo it does above. Waves are very deceptive. To look 

 at them in a storm one would think the water travelled. The water stays in the same place, but 

 the motiou goes on. Sometimes in storms these waves are 40 feet high, and travel 50 miles an 

 hour — more than twice as last as the swiftest steam-ship. The distance from valley to valley is 

 genei-ally fifteen times the height, hence a wave ;"> feet high will extend over 75 feet of water. 

 The force of the sea dashing on Bell Kock is said to be 17 tons for each square yard. Evapora- 

 tion is a wonderful power in drawing the water from tlie sea. Every year a layer of the entire 

 sea, 14 feet tliick, is taken up into the clouds. Tlie winds liear their burden into the laud, and the 

 water comes down in rain upon the fields, to flow liack at last through rivers. The depth of the 

 sea presents an interesting problem. If the Atlantic were lowered from 6,fi54 feet the distauce 

 from shore to shore would be half as great, or 1,500 miles. If lowered a little more than 3 miles, 

 say, 19,680 feet, there would be a road of dry land from Newfoundland to Ireland. This is the 

 plain on which the great Atlantic (tables were laid. The Mediterranean is comparatively sliallow. 

 A drying up of 660 feet wonld leave tliree ditferent seas, and Africa would be joined witli Italy. 

 Tlie British Chainiel is more like a pond, which accounts for its chopjiy waves. It has beeu found 

 difficult to get the correct soundings of the Atlantic. A midshipman of the Navy overcame the 

 difiiculty, and shot weighing 30 lbs. carries down the line. A hole is bored through the sinker, 

 through which a rod of iron is passed, moving easily back and forth. In the end of the bar a cup 

 is cut out, and the inside coated witli lard. Tlie bar is made fast to tlie line, aud a sling holds the 

 shot on. When tiie bar, which extends below the liall, touches the earth tlie sling unhooks, and 

 the shot slides ofl'. The lard in the end of the bar holds some of tlie mud, or wliatever may be on 

 the bottom, and a drop shuts over the cup to prevent the water from washing the sand out. 

 When the ground is reached a shock is felt, as if an. electric current had passed through the line. 

 Every square mile of the sea contains 120 million fish of various kinds. 



Aktificial Sba-wateu. 



I have made numerous experi- 

 ments with a view to keeping fisli 

 alive in artificial sea-water, with 

 only partial success. 



In sea-water, prepared according 

 to chemical analysis, the fish became 

 blind and only lived a few days. In 



water brought 



to a standard - 



..gi^u up to a 

 strength with refined salt made from 

 sea-water, the more liardy kinds of 

 fish did very well, and in water made 

 with SonthalFs sea-salt, or the salt 

 obtained from the Geelong works, 

 the fish seemed as much at home as 

 in their natural element, and in this 

 water I also got sea-weeds to grow ; 

 so that the possession of a marine 

 Aquarium is not dependent on 

 proximity to the sea-shore. 



