308 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



Physical problems cleep-sca souiidings had been overcome in other de- 

 tha? ol^^measuring partmcnts of physical researcli. These plans and 

 hav-e^X^n^ i^com"^ attempts served to encourage, nor were they fruit- 

 P'"^^^^- less, though they proved barren of practical results. 



Astronomers had measured the volumes and weighed the masses 

 of the most distant planets, and increased thereby the stock of 

 human knowledge. Was it creditable to the age that the depths 

 of the sea should remain in the category of an unsolved problem ? 

 Its "ooze and bottom" was a sealed volume, rich with ancient 

 and eloquent legends, and suggestive of many an instructive les- 

 son that might be useful and profitable to man. The seal which 

 covered it was of rolling waves many thousand feet in thickness. 

 Could it not be broken ? Curiosity had always been great, yet 

 neither the enterprise nor the 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 covering of the earth any specimens 

 of solid matter for the study of philosophers. 



565. The honor of the first attempt to recover specimens of the 

 The deep-sea sound- bottom from great depths belongs to Peter the Great, 

 ter the Great. of Russia. That remarkable man and illustrious 

 monarch constructed a deep-sea sounding apparatus especially for 

 the Caspian Sea. It was somewhat in the shape of a pair of ice- 

 hooks, and such as are seen in the hands of the " ice-man" as, in 

 his daily rounds, he lifts the blocks of ice from his cart in the 

 street for delivery at the door. It was so contrived that when it 

 touched the bottom the plummet would become detached, and the 

 hook would bring up the specimen. 



566. The sea, with its myths, has suggested attractive themes 

 A plan of deep-sea to all pcoplc iu all agcs. Like the heavens, it af- 



^ounding devised for , "^ "^ ° . n i • . n 



the American navy. loros an almost cudlcss Variety 01 subjects tor 

 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 alludes to them. Are 

 they past finding out? How deep is it? and what is at the bot- 

 tom of it? Could not the ingenuity and appliances of the age 

 throw some light upon these questions? The government was 

 liberal and enlightened; times seemed propitious; but when or 

 Low to begin, after all these failures, with this interesting prob- 



