DEEP-SEA DRELGINGS. 145 



charm of mystery and difficulty. And the microscopist 

 who tries to force from nature the secret of the infinitely 

 little, is led on by the same strange desire to discover 

 just those matters which nature has been most careful 

 to conceal from us. 



The energy with which in recent times men have 

 sought to master the problem of deep-sea sounding 

 and deep-sea dredging is, perhaps, one of the most 

 striking instances ever afforded of the charm which the 

 unknown possesses for mankind. Not long ago, one of 

 the most eminent geographers of the sea spoke regret- 

 fully about the small knowledge men have obtained of 

 the depths of ocean. ' Greater difficulties,' he remarked, 

 ( than any presented by the problem of deep-sea re- 

 search have been overcome in other branches of 

 physical enquiry. Astronomers have measured the 

 volumes and weighed the masses of the most distant 

 planets, and increased thereby the stock of human 

 knowledge. Is it creditable to the age that the depths 

 of the sea should remain in the category of unsolved 

 problems ? that its " ooze and bottom " should be a 

 sealed volume, rich with ancient and eloquent legends, 

 and suggestive of many an instructive lesson that 

 might be useful and profitable to man ? ' 



Since that time, however, deep-sea dredging has 

 gradually become more and more thoroughly under- 

 stood and mastered. Recently, when the telegraphic 

 cable which had lain so many months at the bottom of 

 the Atlantic was hauled on board the Great Eastern 

 from enormous depths, men were surprised and almost 



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