t THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN . 29.5 



mechanician of New York, constructed, according to a plan which 

 I furnished him, a deep-'sea sounding apparatus. To the lead was 

 attached, upon the principle of the screw propeller, a small piece 

 of clock-work for registering the numher of revolutions made by the 

 Httle screw dm-ing the descent, and it ha\ing been ascertained by 

 experiment in shoal water that the apparatus, hi descending, would 

 cause the propeller to make one revolution for every fathom of per- 

 pendicular descent, hands provided with the power of seK-registration 

 were attached to a dial, and the instrument was complete. It 

 worked beautifully m moderate depths, but failed in blue water, 

 from the difficulty of hauling it up if the line used were small, and 

 from the difficulty of getting it down if the line used were large 

 enough to give the requisite strength for hauhng it up. An old sea- 

 captain proposed a torpedo, such as is sometimes used in the whale 

 fishery for blowing up the monsters of the deep, only this one was 

 intended to explode on touching the bottom. It was proposed first 

 to ascertain by actual experiment the rate at which the torpedo 

 would sink, and the rate at which the soimd or the gas would ascend, 

 and so, by timing the interval, to detennine the depth. Tliis plan 

 would aftbrd no specimens of the bottom, and its adoption was 

 opposed by other obstacles. One gentleman proposed to use the 

 magnetic telegraph. The v\ii'e properly coated, was to be laid up 

 in the sounding-line, and to the plummet was attached machinery, 

 so contrived that on the uicrease of every 100 fathoms, and by means 

 of the additional pressure the circuit would be restored, somewhat 

 after the manner of Dr. Locke's electro-chronograph, and a message 

 would come up to tell how many himdred fathoms up and down the 

 plummet had sunk. As beautiful as this idea was, it was not simple 

 enough in practical application to answer our purposes. 



564. Greater difficulties than any presented by the prol^lem of 

 Physical problems dccp-sca soundings had been overcome in other 

 Tat'of nSsur?n" departments of physical research. These plans and 



the depth of the sea attempts scrvcd to encourae;e, nor were they fruit- 

 have been accom- 1 tt^p i • i m. 



pushed. less, though they proved barren ot practical results. 



Astronomers had measured the volumes and weighed the masses of 

 the most distant planets, and mcreased 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 mth ancient and eloquent 

 legends, and suggestive of many an instructive lesson that might 

 be useful and profitable to man. The seal Avhich covered it was of 



