§ G04, G05. THE BxVSIN AND BED OF THE ATLANTIC. 325 



The consen-ators of offices which they perfoim, be regarded as compen- 

 *''® ^^^- sations in that exquisite system of physical ma- 



chinery by which the harmonies of nature are preserved. But 

 the treasures of the lead and revelations of the microscope present 

 the insects of the sea in a new and still more striking light. We 

 behold them now, serving not only as compensations by which 

 the motions of the water in its channels of circulation are resru- 

 lated and climates softened, but acting also as checks and balances 

 by which the equipoise between the solid and the fluid matter of 

 the earth is preserved. Should it be established that these mi- 

 croscopic creatures live at the surface, and are only buried at the 

 bottom of the sea, we may then view them as conservators of the 

 ocean ; for, in the offices which they perform, they assist to pre- 

 serve its status by maintaining the purity of its waters. 



604. Does any portion of the shells which Brooke's sounding 

 The anti-biotic view ^^d briugs up from the bottom of the deep sea live 

 the most naturaL thcrc ; or are they all the remains of those that 

 lived near the surface in the light and heat of sun, and were burica 

 at the bottom of the deep after death ? Philosophers were divid- 

 ed in opinion upon this subject. The facts, as far as they went, 

 seemed at first to favor the one conjecture nearly as well as the 

 other. Under these circumstances, I inclined to the anti-biotic hy- 

 pothesis, and chiefly because it would seem to conform better with 

 the Mosaic account of creation. The sun and moon were set in 

 the firmament before the waters were commanded to bring forth 

 the living creature ; and hence we infer that light and heat are 

 necessary to the creation and preservation of marine life ; and since 

 the light and heat of the sun can not reach to the bottom of the 

 deep sea, my own conclusion, in the absence of positive evidence 

 upon the subject, has been, that the habitat of these mites of things 

 hauled up from the bottom of the ^reat deep is at and near the 

 surface. On the contrary, others maintained, and perhaps with 

 equal reason, the biotic side of the question. Professor Ehren- 

 berg, of Berlin, is of this latter class. 



605. This is an interesting question. It is a new one ; and it 

 The question stated, bclougs to that class of questious which mere dis- 

 cussion helps to settle. It is therefore desirable to state both 

 sides — present all the known facts ; and then, provided with such 

 lights as they afford, we may draw conclusions. 



