In Ocean Depths 



endure a good deal of alteration in the degree 

 of pressure, whether from air or from water ; but 

 they cannot bear very abrupt changes. Hearts 

 and lungs need time for growing accustomed to 

 a fresh condition. In early days of diving this 

 was not understood, and some divers lost their 

 lives through being too hurriedly hauled up. 



The same has been noticed in animals brought 

 quickly from great depths. They have been con- 

 stantly found in the net or trawl, dying or dead, 

 their bodies swollen and even bursting from the 

 lessening of pressure. It was natural that at 

 first the belief should arise of Life being in those 

 parts impossible. Now we know that animals 

 die in the act of being drawn up, and that they 

 live and flourish in profound depths, unaffected by 

 the vast load of water. 



The weight that a man can endure is not to 

 be compared with what fragile sea -creatures 

 thrive under. Beyond a depth of some two 

 hundred feet or more, the pressure becomes too 

 great for any human beings ; yet animals are 

 found at depths of three or four miles. But the 

 fact that man breathes air, and that animals in 

 the sea breathe, in a sense, water, makes an 

 enormous difference in their power to resist 

 pressure. 



45 



