498 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



life ; and there are in the depths of the ocean 

 tracts without any animated occupants, the 

 counterparts of the lofty and barren mountain 

 elevations of the earth. 



The researches of Sir James Ross have shown 

 that as deep down as six thousand feet ani- 

 mated beings exist; but we are not therefore 

 to understand that all marine creatures can 

 endure the vast pressure of a superincumbent 

 bed of water so thick as this. Dr. Williams, 

 in some ingenious experiments, has shown that 

 the pressure of the ocean exercises a most im- 

 portant influence upon the distribution of life 

 at the bottom. On subjecting water in a glass 

 vessel containing a gold-fish to a pressure of 

 four atmospheres, or about 60 Ibs. to the square 

 inch, the fish became paralysed. From a num- 

 ber of experiments upon different fishes the 

 following conclusions were arrived at: 1. 

 That round fishes having an air-bladder cannot 

 without injury be exposed to a pressure of 

 more than three atmospheres. 2. That the use 

 of the air-bladder is not so much to regulate 

 the specific gravity of the animal as to resist 

 the varying force of the fluid column, and thus 

 to protect the viscera and abdominal blood- 

 vessels against excess of pressure. 3. That 

 flat-fish exhibit a limited capacity only for sus- 

 taining pressure. It is stated that the animals 



