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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1922. 
  

  

  much 
  difference 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  lengths 
  required 
  and 
  the 
  costs 
  of 
  laying 
  

   and 
  repairing 
  what 
  kind 
  of 
  the 
  ocean 
  floor 
  they 
  are 
  to 
  lie 
  upon. 
  

   What 
  a 
  foolish 
  business, 
  for 
  instance, 
  it 
  would 
  be 
  to 
  lay 
  a 
  cable 
  into 
  

   a 
  hole 
  like 
  that 
  sounded 
  by 
  the 
  Nero 
  in 
  the 
  Pacific, 
  if 
  it 
  could 
  just 
  

   as 
  well 
  be 
  avoided. 
  

  

  The 
  matter 
  is 
  not 
  even 
  altogether 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  field 
  of 
  romance. 
  

   Once 
  in 
  a 
  while 
  a 
  new 
  island 
  appears 
  or 
  an 
  old 
  one 
  sinks. 
  Coast 
  

   lines 
  go 
  up 
  and 
  down, 
  slowly 
  it 
  is 
  true, 
  but 
  perceptibly 
  enough 
  to 
  

  

  Fig. 
  1. 
  — 
  Diagram 
  showing 
  the 
  method 
  of 
  taking 
  depth 
  soundings 
  with 
  the 
  hydrophone. 
  

  

  illustrate 
  for 
  us 
  those 
  grand 
  natural 
  processes 
  of 
  uplift 
  and 
  erosion 
  

   which 
  laid 
  down 
  beds 
  of 
  marine 
  fossils 
  now 
  thousands 
  of 
  feet 
  above 
  

   sea 
  level 
  as 
  at 
  the 
  Grand 
  Canyon 
  of 
  Arizona. 
  Plato 
  in 
  his 
  "Timseus" 
  

   tells 
  a 
  tale 
  some 
  Egyptian 
  priests 
  told 
  him 
  of 
  a 
  lost 
  island 
  called 
  

   "Atlantis 
  " 
  as 
  big 
  as 
  Asia 
  Minor 
  and 
  Libya 
  together 
  which 
  ages 
  be- 
  

   fore 
  had 
  existed 
  " 
  beyond 
  the 
  Pillars 
  of 
  Hercules," 
  which 
  meant 
  out 
  

   in 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Straits 
  of 
  Gibraltar. 
  Plato 
  even 
  described 
  

   the 
  ideal 
  commonwealth 
  and 
  the 
  powerful 
  armies 
  of 
  Atlantis 
  and 
  its 
  

   conquests 
  along 
  the 
  shores 
  of 
  the 
  Mediterranean. 
  But 
  the 
  island, 
  

   as 
  the 
  priests 
  said, 
  had 
  been 
  overwhelmed 
  by 
  the 
  ocean 
  long 
  before, 
  

  

  