THE OCEAN UNEXPLORED AND UNEXPLORABLE 245 



only of the myriad tribes inhabiting the sea, but of 

 the millions of higher creation on the land. 



And knowing this, we need not be too much 

 troubled about our ignorance of the proximate causes 

 of these great motions, whether changes of surface- 

 temperature, or gales, or cosmic upheavals, or the 

 ceaseless revolution of the earth upon its axis; we 

 must be content to know that these currents exist, 

 and that their action is wholly beneficent in its opera- 

 tion for the well-being of the globe. Of one thing we 

 may be certain, from the very best of evidence, which 

 is, that the ocean is a vast laboratory for the manufac- 

 ture of those often invisible matters which make for 

 health, as well as being the great deodorizing recep- 

 tacle for all the filth of the world. It is true that 

 mother Earth also deodorizes, changing the foulest 

 forms of refuse into wholesome food, but she does it 

 at a terrible price, and the process is most disagreeable 

 under the best conditions ; whereas, in the vast bosom 

 of the ocean, this cleansing, health-renewing process 

 goes on continually, perfectly ; and those whose life is 

 spent upon the sea surface or near its shores know 

 full well what an elixir of life is continually ascending 

 from its limpid waters. 



Now, in the foregoing, I have assuredly no wish to 

 belittle the wonderful work done by the Challenger 

 expedition and kindred efforts. iThey have accom- 

 plished an amazing amount of work, and have added 

 largely to our sum of scientific knowledge by even the 

 blind gropings that they have been able to make in 

 a few spots scattered over the vast ocean bed. For 

 one thing, they have dispelled several old and well- 

 worn fallacies connected with the depths of the ocean, 



