31 C PHYSICAL GEOGRArHT OF THE SKA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



584. " WJiafs the use" of deep-sea soundings? — " Wliat is to bo 

 the use of these deep-sea soundings '?" is a question that often 

 occurs ; and it is as difficult to be answered in categorical terms as 

 Franklin's question, "What is the use of a new-born babe?" 

 Every physical fact, every expression of natuie, every feature of 

 the earth, the work of any and all of those agents which make 

 the face of the world what it is, and as we see it, is interesting 

 and instructive. Until we get hold of a group of physical 

 facts, we do not know what practical bearings they ma}^ have, 

 thorigh right-minded men know that the}^ contain man}^ precious 

 jewels, which the experts of philosophy will not fail to bring- 

 out, polished and bright, and beautifully adapted, sooner or later, 

 to man's purposes. Already we are obtaining practical answers 

 to this question as to the use of deep-sea soundings ; for, as soon 

 as they were announced to the public, they forthwith assumed a 

 practical bearing in the minds of men with regard to the question 

 of a submarine telegraph across the Atlantic. 



585. The telegraphic plateau. — There is, at the bottom of this sea, 

 between Cape Eace, in Newfoundland, and Cape Clear, in Ireland, 

 a remarkable steppe, which is alread}^ known as the telegraphic 

 plateau, and has already been made famous by the attempts to 

 run a telegraphic cable across the ocean upon it. In August, 

 1858, a cable was laid upon it from Valencia in Ireland to Trinity 

 Ba}^ in Newfoundland, and but a few messages were passed 

 through it, when it ceased to work. Whether messages can ever 

 be successfully sent, in a commercial sense, through such a length 

 of continuous submarine wire, is by no means certain ; but 

 that the wires of 1858 so soon ceased to pass any current at 

 -all was no doubt owing to the fact that the cable was constructed 

 upon erroneous principles. Its projectors, in planning its con- 

 struction, did not, unfortunately, avail themselves of the light 

 which our deep-sea soundings had cast upon the bed of the 

 ocean. 



58 G. The first specimens of deep-sea soundings. — It was upon this 

 plateau that Brooke's sounding apparatus brought up its first 

 trophies from the bottom of the sea. These specimens the 

 officers of the Dolphin 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 the late Professor 



