202 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



ingenuity of man had as yet proved itself equal to the task. No 

 one had succeeded in penetrating, and bringing up from beyond the 

 depth of two or three hundred fathoms below the aqueous cover- 

 ing of the earth, any specimens of solid matter for the study of phi- 

 losophers. 



The sea, w^ith its myths, has suggested attractive themes to all 

 people in all ages. Like the heavens, it affords an almost endless 

 variety of subjects for pleasing and profitable contemplation, and 

 there has remained in the human mind a longing to learn more of 

 its wonders and to understand its mysteries. The Bible often al- 

 ludes to them. Are they past finding out ? How deep is it ? and 

 what is at the bottom of it ? Could not the ingenuity and appli- 

 ances of the age throw some light upon these questions ? 



The government was liberal and enlightened ; times seemed 

 propitious ; but when or how to begin, after all these failures, with 

 this interesting problem, was one of the difficulties first to be over- 

 come. 



425. It was a common opinion, derived chiefly from a supposed 

 physical relation, that the depths of the sea are about equal to the 

 heights of the mountains. But this conjecture was, at best, only 

 a speculation. Though plausible, it did not satisfy. There were, 

 in the depths of the sea, untold wonders and inexplicable myste- 

 ries. Therefore the contemplative mariner, as in mid ocean he 

 looked down upon the gentle bosom of the sea, continued to expe- 

 rience sentiments akin to those which fill the mind of the devout 

 astronomer when, in the stillness of the night, he looks out upon 

 the stars, and wonders. 



426. Nevertheless, the depths of the sea still remained as fath- 

 omless and as mysterious as the firmament above. Indeed, tele- 

 scopes of huge proportions and of vast space-penetrating powers 

 had been erected here and there by the munificence of individuals, 

 and attempts made with them to gauge the heavens and sound out 

 the regions of space. Could it be more difficult to sound out the 

 sea than to gauge the blue ether and fathom the vaults of the sky? 

 The result of the astronomical undertakings* lies in the discovery 

 that what, through other instruments of less power, appeared as 

 clusters of stars, were, by these of larger powers, separated into 

 groups, and what had been reported as nebulse could now be re- 



* See the works of Herschel and Ross, and their telescopes. 



