THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN. 245 



it ? and what is at the bottom of it ? Could not the ingenuity 

 and appliances of the age throw some light upon these questions? 



684. The government was liberal and enlightened ; times seem- 

 ed propitious ; but when or how to begin, after all these failures, 

 with this interesting problem, was one of the difficulties first to be 

 overcome. 



685. It was a common opinion, derived chiefly from a supposed 

 physical relation, that the depths of the sea are about equal to the 

 heights of the mountains. But this conjecture was, at best, only 

 a speculation. Though plausible, it did not satisfy. There were, 

 in the depths of the sea, untold wonders and inexplicable myste- 

 ries. Therefore the contemplative mariner, as in mid-ocean he 

 looked down upon its gentle bosom, continued to experience sen- 

 timents akin to those which fill the mind of the devout astrono- 

 mer when, in the stillness of the night, he looks out upon the stars, 

 and wonders. 



686. Nevertheless, the depths of the sea still remained as fath- 

 omless and as mysterious as the firmament above. Indeed, tele- 

 scopes of huge proportions and of vast space-penetrating powers 

 had been erected here and there by the munificence of individuals, 

 and attempts made with them to gauge the heavens and sound out 

 the regions of space. Could it be more difficult to sound out the 

 sea than to gauge the blue ether and fathom the vaults of the sky ? 

 The result of the astronomical undertakings* lies in the discovery 

 that what, through other instruments of less power, appeared as 

 clusters of stars, were, by these of larger powers, separated into 

 groups, and what had been reported as nebulae could now be re- 

 solved into clusters ; that, in certain directions, the abyss beyond 

 these faint objects is decked with other nebulas, which these great 

 instruments may bring to light, but can not resolve ; and that there 

 are still regions and realms beyond, which the rays of the bright- 

 est sun in the sky have neither the intensity nor the force to reach, 

 much less to penetrate. And what is more, these monster instru- 

 ments have revealed to us, in those distant regions, forms or ag- 

 gregations of matter which suggest to some the idea of the exist- 

 ence of physical forces there that we do not understand, and which 



* See the works of Herschel and Ross, and their telescopes. 



