250 HISTORY OF 



at other times, when the water was troubled and 

 thick, it was as dark as night below, so that he 

 was obliged to keep a candle lighted at the bot- 

 tom. But there is one thing very remarkable ; 

 that the water, which from above was usually 

 seen of a green colour, when looked at from be- 

 low, appeared to him of a very different one, 

 casting a redness upon one of his hands, like that 

 of damask roses* a proof of the sea's taking its 

 colour not from any thing floating in it, but from 

 th e different reflexions of the rays of light. Upon 

 the whole, the accounts we have received from 

 the bottom, by this contrivance, are but few. 

 We learn from it, and from divers in general, that 

 while the surface of the sea may be deformed by 

 tempests, it is usually calm and temperate below ; t 

 that some divers who have gone down when the 

 weather was calm, and came up when it was 

 tempestuous, were surprised at their not perceiv- 

 ing the change at the bottom. This, however, 

 must not be supposed to obtain with regard to 

 the tides, and the currents, as they are seen con- 

 stantly shifting their bottom; taking their bed 

 with great violence from one place, and deposit- 

 ing it upon another. We are informed, also, 

 by divers, that the sea grows colder in proportion 

 as they descend to the bottom ; that as far as the 

 sun's rays pierce, it is influenced by their warmth ; 

 but lower, the cold becomes almost intolerable. 

 A person of quality, who had been himself a 

 diver, as Mr Boyle informs us, declared, that 



Newton's OplJcs, p. 56. f JBoyk, *<& m- p. 2*v. 



