CHAP. V.] DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 209 
siderable expense. We must still, therefore, depend 
mainly upon some form of sounding apparatus for 
the gradual accumulation of observations which will 
give us in time a consistent idea of the nature of 
the bottom of the sea throughout. <A simple instru- 
ment which will bring up a surface sample of a 
pound or so, from a depth of 2,000 fathoms, with- 
out much trouble and with some certainty, is still a 
desideratum. 
In the year 1818, Sir John Ross, in command of 
H.M.S. ‘ Isabella,’ on a voyage of discovery for the 
purpose of exploring Baffin’s Bay, invented a machine 
“for taking up soundings from the bottom of any 
fathomable depth,’’ which he called a ‘ deep-sea 
clamm.’ <A large pair of forceps were kept asunder 
by a bolt, and the instrument was so contrived that 
on the bolt striking the ground a heavy iron weight 
slipped down a spindle and closed the forceps, which 
retained within them a considerable quantity of the 
bottom, whether sand, mud, or small stones.’ On 
the 1st of September, 1818, Sir John Ross sounded in 
1,000 fathoms, lat. 73° 37’ N., long. 75° 25° W. The 
soundings consisted of ‘ soft mud, in which there 
were worms, and, entangled on the sounding-line, at 
the depth of 800 fathoms, was found a beautiful Capué 
Meduse.” On the 6th of September Sir John Ross 
sounded in 1,050 fathoms, lat. 72° 23’ N., long. 
73° 075’ W., and the clamms brought up 6 lbs. of very 
1 A Voyage of Discovery made under the Orders of the Admiralty 
in His Majesty’s Ships ‘Isabella’ and ‘ Alexander,’ for the purpose of 
exploring Baffin’s Bay, and inquiring into the Possibility of a North- 
west Passage. By John Ross, K.S. Captain Royal Navy. London: 
HSL OS py. LS: 
