296 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOKOLOGY 



rolling waves' many thousand feet in thickness. Could it not be 

 broken ? Curiosity had always been great, yet neither the enter- 

 prise 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 solid specimens of sohd matter for the 

 study of philosophers. 



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

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

 STthe Great. of Eussia. 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 pcoplo in aU agcs. Like the heavens, it 



sounding devised for re t i i_ ^^ • j_ o i • i ' r 



the American navy, anords an almost endlcss variety oi subjects tor 

 pleasing and profitable contemplation, and there has remained in 

 the human mind a lono^ing 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 

 how to begin, after all these failures, wth this interesting problem, 

 was one of the difficulties first to be overcome. It was a common 

 opinion, derived cliiefly from a supposed physical relation, that the 

 depths of the sea are about equal to the heights of the mountains. 

 But this conjectm-e was, at best, only a speculation. Though 

 plausible, it did not satisfy. There were, in the depths of the 

 sea, imtold wonders and inexplicable mysteries. Therefore the con- 

 templative mariner, as in mid-ocean he looked down upon its 

 gentle bosom, continued to experience 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. Neverthe- 

 less, the depths of the sea stiU remained as fathomless and as 

 mysterious as the firmament above. Indeed, telescopes of huge 

 proportions and of vast space-penetrating powers had been erected 



