THE BASIN AND BED OP THE ATLANTIC. 327 



ical force, and no more ; that this force is not veiy great ; and, 

 unless it were sufficient to overcome the pressure of deep-sea 

 water, their separation could not go on, and that, consequently, 

 there is a certain depth in the sea beyond which animal decom- 

 position or vegetable decay cannot take place. In support of 

 this view, they referred to the wfell-known effects of pressure in 

 arresting or modifying the energies displayed by certain chemical 

 affinities ; and in proof of the position that great compression in 

 the sea prevents putrefaction, they referred to the fact well- 

 known to the fishermen of Nantucket and New Bradford, viz., 

 that when a whale that they have killed sinks in shallow water, 

 he, as the j)rocess of decay commences, is seen to swell and rise ; 

 but when he sinks in deep water, the pressure is such as to 

 prevent the formation of the distending gases, and he never does 

 rise. Some of these specimens have come from depths where the 

 pressure is equal to that of 400 or 500 atmospheres. Specimens 

 have been obtained by Lieutenant Brooke, in the Pacific, with 

 *' fleshy parts " among them, at the depth of 3300 fathoms, and 

 where the pressure is nearly 700 atmospheres. We have brought 

 up fleshy matter from the deep sea as deep down as we have 

 gone ; and we may infer that if we were to go to 4000 fathoms, 

 we should still find pulpy matter among the dead organisms 

 there. At that depth, or a little over, common air, according to 

 " Mariotte's law^' would be heavier than water, and an air-bubble 

 down there, if any one may imagine such a thing, would be 

 heavy enough to sink. Under such conditions, and wdth the 

 antiseptic agencies of the sea, the fleshy matter of these infusoria 

 might be preserved at the bottom of the deep sea for a great 

 length of time. 



612. Arguments from the Bible. — Moreover (§ 604), the anti- 

 biotics pointed to the first chapter of Genesis to show that light 

 and heat were ordained before the waters were commanded 

 to bring forth. Hence they maintained that light and heat are 

 necessary to marine life. In the depth of the sea there is 

 neither light nor heat, wherefore they brought in circumstantial 

 evidence from the Bible to sustain them in their view. 



613. A plan for solving the question. — This was an exceedingly 

 interesting question, and we could suggest but one way of 

 deciding it, which was this: Many of these little organisms 

 of the sea are in the shape of plano-convex discs; all such, 

 when alive, live with the convex side up, the flat side down ; 



