ADDENDA. 353 



Stream pour it into the Polar basin ? A conclusive answer would 

 be instructive. It is worthy of remark, that the water, both at the 

 top and the bottom, is lighter than sea-water in the torrid zone ; 

 fresh water has therefore been mixed with it since it last supplied 

 the trade winds with vapor. 



THE BASIN OF THE ATLANTIC, p. 265, (J 761. 



A collection of deep-sea specimens has just been obtained from 

 the telegraphic plateau of the Atlantic all the way across from 

 Newfoundland to Ireland. The United States steamer Arctic, 

 Lieutenant O. H. Berry man, was sent to sea last summer under 

 the law of 1849 (§ 689). She ran a line of deep-sea soundings 

 across the Atlantic, and reported bottom, Avith specimens, at some- 

 what regular intervals along the great-circle route from the offings 

 of Saint John to those of Valentia.* These treasures, on being 

 transmitted to the Observatory, were submitted to Professor Bai- 

 ley, of West Point, for microscopic examination. As usual with 

 all the specimens of bottom heretofore obtained from the deep sea, 

 these have turned out to be highly interesting, instructive, and 

 suggestive. The results of this cruise, as far as they may be re- 

 lied on, confirm all that has been said concerning the bottom of 

 the Atlantic, its soft character (§ 759), its quiescent state (§ 761), 

 and its adaptation (§ 714 and § 721) for a telegraphic cable. 



The first glance into these specimens from deep water revealed 

 the doings of the Gulf Stream, that hearse of the sea. The re- 

 mains of the tenants of the deep lie buried and scattered there in 

 piles and beds of vast extent. The specimens from Newfound- 

 land, as far out as the northeastern edge of the Grand Banks, 

 abound, for the most part, in Polar drift ; but as you get out far- 

 ther and farther into blue water, and midway in the Gulf Stream, 

 the calcareous organisms become more and more abundant. 



Professor Bailey, in a private note, thus speaks of these speci- 

 mens as they appeared at first sight : 



" I have only had a few hours this afternoon to look at the 

 * beauties.' From what I have seen of them, I judge that they 



* The depths reported with these specimens unfortunately were all wrong, and had 

 to be rejected as worthless. 



