210 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



precious jewels, which science or the expert hand of philosophy 

 will not fail to bring out, polished, and bright, and beautifully 

 adapted to man's purposes. Already w^e are obtaining practical 

 answ^ers to this question as to the use of deep-sea soundings ; for 

 as soon as they were announced to the public, they forthwith as- 

 sumed a practical bearing in the minds of men with regard to the 

 question of a submarine telegraph across the Atlantic. 



446. There is at the bottom of this sea, between Cape Race in 

 Newfoundland and Cape Clear in Ireland, a remarkable steppe, 

 which is already known as the telegraphic plateau. A company 

 is now engaged wath the project of a submarine telegraph across 

 the Atlantic. It is proposed to carry the wires along this plateau 

 from the eastern shores of Newfoundland to the western shores 

 of Ireland. The great circle distance between these two shore- 

 lines is one thousand six hundred miles, and the sea along the 

 route IS probably nowhere more than ten thousand feet deep. 

 This company, it is understood, consists of men of enterprise and 

 wealth, who, should the mquiries that they are now making prove 

 satisfactory, are prepared to undertake the establishment forth- 

 with of a submarine telegraph across the Atlantic. 



447. It was upon this plateau that Brooke's soundmg apparatus 

 (§ 437) brought up its first trophies from the bottom of the sea. 

 These specimens Lieutenant Berryman and his officers judged to 

 be clay ; but they took the precaution to label them, carefully to 

 preserve them, and, on their return to the United States, to send 

 them to the proper bureau. They were divided : a part was sent 

 for examination to Professor Ehrenberg, of Berlin, and a part to 

 Professor Bailey, of West Point — eminent microscopists both. I 

 have not heard from the former, but the latter, in November, 1853, 

 thus responded : 



448-. " I am greatly obliged to you for the deep soundings you 

 sent me last week, and I have looked at them w^ith great mterest. 

 They are exactly what I have wanted to get hold of. The bottom 

 of the ocean at the depth of more than tivo miles I hardly hoped 

 ever to have a chance of examining ; yet, thanks to Brooke's con- 

 trivance, we have it clean and free from grease, so that it can at 

 once be put under the microscope. I was greatly delighted to 

 find that all these deep soundings are filled with microscopic 

 shells ; not a particle of sand or gravel exists in them. They are 



